“The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!” Psalm 110:2
Matthew Henry called this psalm “pure gospel.” But when you read it, it doesn’t sound much like the gospel that is being communicated in the church today. Psalm 110:1 declared that Jesus is King of all the earth and has initiated a campaign to subdue all His enemies making them His footstool. Today’s text shows that Jesus is using the church to accomplish this dominion mandate and that it is a process.
The rod of His strength issues forth from Zion. Zion is the eschatological Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, which is the church. This truth is also seen in Psalm 2, which is the second most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. “Yet, I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.”(Psalm 2:6) It goes on to say that His King is His begotten Son, and all the nations are His inheritance which He will rule with a rod of iron.
The rod of his strength for earthly kings are their soldiers who are sent out to extend the kingdom of the king and enforce his rule, establishing his dominion. For King Jesus the rod of His strength is the church empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill the New Covenant dominion mandate expressed in the Great Commission. (Matthew 28:18-20)
Ruling in the midst of His enemies means that extending His dominion is a process. However, the fact that it is a process doesn’t change the reality that He has already been granted the entire earth as His inheritance. He is defeating His enemies in order to possess what He already has been given the right to govern. The obvious question then is who are His enemies?
The first enemy that comes to mind is likely Satan. Satan is indeed an enemy of God, but he is not the only one. Satan only works to deceive and to inflame the greatest enemy of God, sin. Our own sin is being made a footstool. The world is also called the enemy of God. The world in this case being the structures and doctrines of fallen humanity that set themselves against God. The world is anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. (2 Corinthians 10:5) The final enemy is death itself.
All these enemies are already defeated as the New Testament clearly shows. God is working in and through His church to basically put them out of their misery. Victory is assured. One day this work will be finished, and Jesus’ reign will be perfectly established, no longer in the presence of His enemies, but in the presence of His people perfectly submitted to His rule in the great victory celebration of eternity.
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn