Our Glorious King-Priest
Nick Owens, September 6, 2026
Psalm 110
Intro:
Have you ever known someone whose life was caught up in self-destruction? Maybe you’ve known someone who has struggled with an addiction of some kind. Often, it’s so complicated and can feel so overwhelming – how do you really help?
So many things are at work keeping this person trapped. There are certainly life patterns that a person caught up in addiction is stuck in – there are destructive choices they have made and continue to make. But then there are ways of thinking that play into this too. What they believe plays into it the addiction – for example, what do they believe about themselves? How do they view themselves? How do they tell their story?
But it’s more complicated than that – there’s not only choices and beliefs that might keep a person stuck, there are deeply engrained patterns from potentially years of choices that make it harder and harder to break from…….. And there are likely various outside forces and circumstances at play too — Past trauma, abuse, ways they’ve been hurt;
What are their relationships like – past relationships, present relationships?
What kinds of broken relationships and hard circumstances has played into the place where they find themselves? What kinds of relationships and people do they have in their life now? And are those people helping them to move toward wholeness and healing or backward toward bondage and destruction.
No wonder it feels overwhelming. If we step back and consider the various forces of evil that seem to trap people through bad choices, patterns of thought, inner urges and pulls. If we step back and consider forces outside the person that are keeping them stuck – it is often an overwhelming mess.
If you, in the depths of your being, have longed for people to be made right. If you’ve longed for destructive patterns to be broken, wrong thinking transformed, inner susceptibility toward destruction, healed. If you’ve longed for freedom from the forces of evil – both those working in us and those forces outside working against us. If you’ve longed for the end of evil and the healing of human beings made in God’s image….
You may not know it, but you have longed for a King-Priest.
And a King-Priest is what Psalm 110 is all about.
A King-Priest is someone who is so intimately close and near to God that in his priestly role can mediate relationship with God; he can help people draw near to the God; he can make a way for healing, forgiveness, wholeness; And yet as King he is able to carry out justice and establish righteousness – he can set things right. He is able to crush the forces of evil. Only a King-Priest can deal with the brokenness and evil out there and the brokenness and evil in here – in such a glorious way that things are both set right and people find healing and wholeness and being restored to God.
You see – we need a King-Priest. Our world needs at King-Priest. And the Scriptures tell us –Jesus Christ is our glorious King-Priest.
This is our last week before we jump into the book of Acts next Sunday. And throughout this mini-series leading up to our study of Acts we’ve looked at various OT texts that are critically important for taking in who Jesus is and for understanding the Story of Jesus that Acts tells.
And the Psalm we’re looking at this morning is one of those foundational texts. You may not know this – but Psalm 110 is the most quoted text in the NT. If you were to gather the writers of the NT into a room: Paul is there, and Luke, and John the writer of the Gospel and the book of Revelation, whoever wrote the letter to the Hebrews – along with the rest – and you said – ok guys, you get one text from the OT to tell us about the identity and work of Jesus – who Jesus is and what he has done, is doing, and will do……. One could make the argument that Psalm 110 would be the text. If you’ve ever read through the NT book of Hebrews, significant sections of Hebrews takes Psalm 110 and uses Psalm 110 unpack the significance of Jesus – Jesus, the King-Priest.
So this morning as we try and take in and hear what Psalm 110 tells us about Jesus – I’d like to begin by thinking together, First, about – The story of a King-Priest in the Bible, and then, 2nd, what it means for Jesus to fulfill that story and be our glorious King-Priest.
The Story of a King-Priest in the Bible –
The story goes all the way back to the very beginning – in the beginning – Adam was a king-priest – humanity was made to be king-priests. You see the King side of this in the call to rule over God’s creation in Gen 1 – God makes humanity in his image, he blesses them, and says – Be fruitful and multiply – fill the earth and subdue it, Rule…… Rule over the animals, Rule over my creation; Rule as my image bearers – reflecting my rule over all I have made. Humanity was made to be kings.
But humanity was also made to be priests. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden of Eden, a holy space, a sacred space. If you keep reading in the OT when the tabernacle is built under Moses or later the temple under Solomon – the tabernacle and temple have artistic imagery resembling the garden of Eden. We are to see that Eden was like a temple. And humanity was put in the garden to “work it” and “keep it” – language used later in the OT to speak of the work of priests. God put humanity in a sacred space – in a temple; And God gave them priestly work. Humanity was made to be priests.
So……Humanity as King-priests were to be those who on the one hand were near to God, having God’s glorious face shining upon them, belonging to him, made holy through their relationship with God…. and they were to shine that light and spread that holiness to all creation through their rule.
But with the entrance of sin into the world, all of this gets messed up. The priests are exiled from God’s presence, unable to draw near like they could before they sinned. And very soon after – we see the corruption of power, the use of wicked violence, and what kingly rule looks like when it’s disconnected from a relationship with God.
And as the story moves on after humanity sinned, apart from a few unique instances, like the mysterious figure Melchizedek in Gen 14 who was a king-priest, foreshadowing Jesus, for most of the OT in Israel these roles are kept separate. And for good reason. We see numerous examples of how kings so often fail to carry out the role of a king – of establishing justice and righteousness and living by God’s instruction – so often they did the opposite – abusing power, hording wealth, making foreign alliances and leading the nation into idolatry.
The story of kings is, a story of failure.
Those called to be priests didn’t do much better – whether we think of Nadab and Abihu from Lev. 10, right at the beginning of the Levitical priesthood; or the corrupt sons of Eli the priest in 1 Samuel. Or later in the OT story of prophets like Malachi or Ezekiel – who called out the failure of priests through their idolatry, or allowing improper sacrifices, or failing to teach the people what God had said. The story of priests is also one of failure.
It would appear that even half the role is still too much for humanity broken by sin.
And yet – both are so needed – they were needed when God had called his people, Israel, to be a “kingdom of Priests” to be King-Priests as a nation – Ex. 19:6 –
This is what humanity needs – what the world needs – God’s rule – his justice and righteousness to be done on the earth – But to truly do that, people must be near God, God’s face shining on them, transforming them to be more and more like him. Only then will righteousness blossom, evil be dealt with, and the healing and flourishing of humanity come about.
As the OT story develops, from the original intent for Adam and humanity, to the roles of kings and priests in Israel and their failure – we come to Psalm 110 and this glorious prophetic hope of one who would actually sum up—bring together— both roles, in himself.
We hear in this text – God speaking to Jesus Christ, speaking to his Son. No other king from David’s line could even come close to fulfilling what is said in Psalm 110. We hear, what it means for Jesus to fulfill the story and be our glorious King-Priest.
(ILLUST) – The opening of this Psalm makes me think of one of the characters in the Harry Potter series. This past spring Liam started reading through the Harry Potter books and then the family began watching the movies. The character this text makes me think of is Professor Sybill Trulawney, one of the teachers at Hogwarts School of Magic. If you’ve seen the movies, her character is played by Emma Thompsan. She is the professor of Divination – That is, she teaches the students about how one can use magic to see into the future. There are a few instances where she goes into a trance, and starts speaking with a different voice, a kind of scary voice, and she makes a prophesy about what was to come in the future.
Now, let me be clear, David isn’t using magic, and I have no reason to believe he spoke with a strange voice – BUT……. the conversation he hears, and what he writes here is a profoundly mysterious supernatural prophesy.
Remember David lived around 1000 b.c. – a thousand years before Jesus. And David is given supernatural revelation from God – to allow him to hear what God says to his Son and about his Son.
It’s like David, in this Psalm is allowed by God to eavesdrop on a conversation where God speaks to his Son.
- 1 we read –
Psa. 110:1 The LORD says to my Lord:
God – the Covenant LORD – speaks to this king who would come from David’s line, and David calls this coming king from his decedent – “my Lord”, which is something a father would never say about one of his sons or one of his decedents. In that culture, the father always had the higher rank, the higher status. Who could this coming king be? He’s a king; he’s one of David’s decedents, and yet David calls him “my Lord” – David recognizes this coming king will be his Lord, will be far greater than David.
In the NT Gospels Jesus quotes this Psalm to make this exact point – just a few days before he is crucified, Jesus is in Jerusalem and there is a confrontation with the religious leaders of his day. The religious leaders are trying to trap him with various questions, trying to get something they can use against him to have him killed. And in the midst of this, Jesus says to them – Let me ask you a question….. The Messiah, the Christ, the king promised in the OT, whose son is he? The religious leaders answer him with the obvious answer that everyone knew – He’s the son of David.
To which Jesus responds, How is it then that David, calls him Lord? And then he quotes this verse from Psalm 110 – The LORD says to my Lord.
If David calls him Lord, how is he also his son?
They don’t know how to answer him….. they stop asking him questions.
You see, this is mysterious – somehow this King would be a decedent of David and yet far far greater than David – and there would be an incredible unity between God and this King. Notice what this Psalm tells us about – the King-Priest – who he is –
There is a oneness – a unity between God and this King-Priest – in v. 1 God declares, – “Sit at my Right Hand” – you will be near me and be in the position of authority and rule with me. And while you sit in that place of authority with me – I will work to make your enemies a footstool for your feet – I will subdue your enemies under you.
There is a oneness, a unity – v. 2 The King-Priest will rule in the midst of his enemies – But it is God – the LORD – who sends the king’s scepter – the symbol of his royal power from Zion.
Notice v. 5 – now it says “The Lord” referring to God, is at the right hand of the King-Priest. In v. 1 it was the King-Priest who was at God’s right hand. Now it is God who is at his right hand. And like the earlier verses, again, in v. 5 and 6 we see God near his King-Priest and at work by his side.
And isn’t this what we see in Jesus? – Jesus who says – I am in the Father and the Father is in me. I and the Father are one. If you have seen me you have seen the Father.
Jesus, our glorious King-Priest is one with God –
He’s unlike any of the kings or priests before him.
In v. 1 we heard the glorious declaration that this future ruler would sit in the place of ultimate authority – which is a shocking declaration –
But then in v. 4 – there is an equally shocking declaration where we hear God say he will be a priest forever.
That may not sound shocking to us – but you have to imagine in a world like their world where priests came and went, priests died – Unlike all the other priests this priest will be a priest forever. He will be so much greater than any priest the people have ever known. And he will be greater than any King they have ever known – ruling with an authority like no other king before him –
Here is a person who – As a Priest, he is near God, he is able to mediate relationship with God and help others draw near to God….. But as king – he has authority and can rule perfectly carrying out God’s good rule. So united with God – so one with him – that everything he does carries out the will of God.
And as the rest of the Psalm describes – this glorious King-Priest – will bring an ultimate end to all evil – to all that stands against God.
We read in v. 5 and 6
Psa. 110:5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
That might sound a bit graphic – especially the filling with corpses part……..We read this language and perhaps feel a bit uncomfortable – But the point being made here, especially to the original audience who would have been familiar with bloody battles and hand to hand combat, is to communicate the complete victory this king will accomplish. This king won’t just win a victory – he will decimate and shatter the forces of evil in this world. He will put an end to the evil which stands against God and God’s good purposes for his creation.
If we go back in the story to Gen 3 – when humanity turns from God and sins. God promises that there will be one who would come and redeem, make right what had been lost through sin. There would be one who would bring the final victory against the serpent and the forces of evil.
Gen 3:15 – God says to the serpent – to Satan – I will put enmity between you and the woman – between your offspring and her offspring, you will strike his heel, but he will crush your head.
God says – the serpent will strike the heel of this promised redeemer – but he will crush the serpent’s head.
If you look at v. 6 of this Psalm – the last phrase – where it says, “He will shatter chiefs…..” literally it translates – “He will shatter the head over all the earth” –
This is the hope of this Psalm – Jesus the King-Priest – will bring an end to all evil. He will shatter the serpent’s head – wherever evil has it’s grip in the world – the Son of God – will win the ultimate victory.
But ……Where are we in this story of the King-Priest? Because we live in a world where evil still obviously exists, where we still struggle with sin, where we don’t have to look very far to see evidence that all has not yet been made right.
And this is a tension we will see as we begin the book of Acts next week.
Because Jesus, the promised King-Priest has come into this world, doing the work of his Father, bringing the kingdom of God.
When Jesus went to the cross and died for our sin, he won the victory over the powers of evil.
And God raised him from the dead, and Jesus ascended –
That’s where we are in the story – the King-Priest has ascended, which is the time when this Psalm really begins to be fulfilled.
This is something we’ll think about more in a few week’s time in Acts – the Ascension.
But for this morning….
When Jesus Ascended – he didn’t go on break, he wasn’t taking a much needed vacation – in the Ascension – The one who was the promised King-Priest – stepped into that role, stepped into the reality of what Psalm 110 foretold.
It’s in the Ascension that Jesus sits in the place of Authority.
It’s in the Ascension that Jesus in his Priestly role – intercedes and prays for you, makes it possible for you and me to come before God – to draw near to God for help.
It’s in the Ascension that Jesus begins to carry out his rule in this world.
So, in….
Acts 2 – Peter preaching to the crowds on the day of Pentecost quotes from Psalm 110 – saying that Jesus was raised and ascended to God’s right hand – this confirms that he truly is the promised messiah from the OT. And what that means is – you must repent. You must turn to the King-Priest – –
He is in the place of authority, you must stop resisting him; you must stop going your own way. Turn to him and you will find forgiveness. You will find mercy and grace. You will find a King who can break the power of sin and establish his reign in your life. You will find a gracious priest who truly understands and who opens the way for you to draw near and find healing, wholeness, by being restored to God.
In Eph 1:20 – Paul refers to this Psalm as he writes about Christ – risen from the dead, seated at God’s right hand – in the place where he is above all rulers and powers – at work as he extends his rule to all places – through his body….. the Church….
Jesus is defeating evil – not so much by filling the world with bodies, with corpses – – He is defeating evil by filling the world with His Body….. the church
He’s defeating evil by converting enemies into friends, those far away stuck in sin – into those brought near and made part of his family –
Did you notice in v. 3 of Psalm 110 – If you a Christian – you’re in this Psalm – God speaking to his Son says – You’re people will offer themselves freely in the day of your power.
That’s happening right now. Amazing, right?! We didn’t have to be here this morning – you know there is this amazing thing called Brunch – you could probably be there right now ……. You could be all sorts of places…. And yet you are here.
I’ll just say – I love coming here. I love being here together – I love what we get to do together – We get to offer ourselves to God. We get to serve Jesus. We get the privilege of playing a role in extending the rule and reign of Jesus as we participate in the church.
We do this freely – we give ourselves, our gifts, our treasures because the King-Priest is glorious and beautiful – I’m grateful to belong to him.
Just one more reference…… In 1 Peter 2 v. 9 – Do you know what Peter calls us?
– a royal priesthood.
If you’ve turned to Jesus – through being united to him by faith – you are a king-priest in him. You are being restored to what God intended for human beings from the beginning.
I want you to think about that gift and calling – Parents…
You’re King-Priests to your kids – in the way you exercise gracious rule and managing your house. Sometimes it is so exhausting, but as you labor, and work, and serve your kids – as you pray with them and for them, as you teach them about Jesus – You’re living out that identity – in Jesus – I’m a king-priest.
When we serve the church – for example praying. It is so important that we pray. And I’m sure many of you do pray – you pray for our church, for people – you pray for people who are going through various challenges – you pray for staff or other leaders – you pray for outreach – like next week’s block party, or an upcoming jazz conversations –
When you pray you are joining with your glorious King-Priest – Jesus, who intercedes for us – you are joining in the mission of the King-Priest.
So often the work of ministry and the work of the church is slow and outwardly not overly impressive.
But things like caring for each other, praying for those in your community group; seeking to grow yourself and help others to grow in a discipleship group – You are living out your identity as one who belongs to THE King-Priest – and you are part of the defeat of Evil – Again isn’t that amazing?! Loving our church, giving ourselves, building up the body, inviting others to come – taste and see the goodness of God – we are participating in what Jesus is doing in the world – extending the rule and reign of our glorious King-Priest – Jesus.