The Lordship of Christ

(Article for publication week of 2-27- AD 2014)
 

 "The LORD said unto my Lord, 'Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool' " (Psalm 110:3).

Our text this week is one of the most quoted texts in the New Testament. Our Lord Jesus Christ quoted it to the unbelieving Jews in Matthew 22:44 to prove His Deity. Peter also quoted it on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:34. In this Psalm we are permitted to eavesdrop in the Holy of Holies and hear God the Father speak to God the Son.

 

If you will get your Strong's concordance and do a quick word study, you will see there are two different Hebrew words translated "Lord" in our text. The first is "Jehovah" which is generally translated into English with all capital letters. The second is "Adonai", which is generally translated with only the "L" capitalized. Both words truly designate the Deity, but the translators help us in the distinction of the capital letters. What we have in Psalm 110 is the Father speaking to His Coequal and Eternal Son. We have in our text a clear proof of the Tri-Unity of God. God is One in His Being, but Three in His Personality; He is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, One Glorious God, yet Three Glorious Persons. God has communion with Himself, and interacts with Himself. So we see in our text. Whether or not an anti-Trinitarian can be saved we leave to the Lord Who knows infallibly who are His. But since our Lord commands us to judge men by their fruits, we cannot receive any into our fellowship who deny the doctrine of the Trinity as the Bible clearly teaches (I John5:7; e.g.).

Now hear what God the Father says to God the Son. "Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool." The Lord Jesus Christ has eternally subordinated Himself to God the Father to be the Sin Bearer and Substitute for His people. He died for our sins, and was buried and rose again the third day. He has now ascended back to His rightful Throne in Heaven. There He now sits, for His work of redemption is finished. He sits on a throne to rule over the universe and to intercede for all who receive Him by faith. One Day He will return to raise the dead, judge all men, and finally take His elect people to live and reign with Him forever. All those who are His enemies, He will trample under His omnipotent Feet and send them to the Lake of Fire forever to be punished, really and consciously. It is a dreadful thing to be an enemy of Christ. Though he lets you cumber the earth now, He will finally exercise His Lordship over you and make you His footstool.

Those who receive Christ by faith as their Lord and Saviour are most happy to have Christ rule over them. They would not want it any other way. Here is a fundamental difference in the saved and the lost- the saved are just tickled to death that Christ is their Lord, and the lost are mad about it. Dear reader, in reality there are only two kinds of people, those who are Christ's friends and loyal subjects, and those who are His enemies and are in rebellion against their Lord. Which are you?