The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
The verse is a prophecy of the Messiah and His redemptive work, His kingdom and His second coming. The rod of strength is His powerful scepter sent forth from Zion, which is heaven, the heavenly New Jerusalem and capital city of His kingdom. To rule in the midst of enemies is to reign with authority among opposers while enemies still surround Him, not only among the good. His present rule is priestly, gracious and peaceful upon His Father's throne in the heavenly sanctuary after the order of Melchizedek, distinct from His later work as king upon His own throne. In that gracious rule He gathers a willing people in the day of His power, fulfilled in His exaltation and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to deliver them from their sins, until when His intercession and judgment work is finished the Father sends the rod, commands Him to rule among His enemies, gives them to Him for destruction, and crowns Him king.
Wording and Historical Setting
Psalm 110 is prophetic throughout of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Messianic psalm concerning the Saviour and His work of redemption for humanity and belonging to the prophecy of Christ's kingdom. It looks forward to the Messiah serving as priest and sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, with its language about priestly order distinguishing His priesthood as after Melchizedek's order, not as Melchizedek himself nor as a successor to Himself. It is counted among the psalms containing prophecies of the second coming of Jesus Christ and is recommended for reading alongside other passages about the Messiah. The psalm was written by David, whose Davidic origin was sanctioned by Jesus as part of the inspired and infallible Word of God.
The verse belongs to a prophecy of Christ's ascension, when after triumphantly entering the New Jerusalem He took His place on His Father's throne. Zion is heaven, the heavenly Zion and New Jerusalem, the capital city of Christ's kingdom, from which the rod is sent forth. The rod is His powerful scepter, the rod of His strength and rod of iron, and its sending with the command to rule among His enemies marks His coronation as king at the close of His priestly work and His transition from priest to king. That kingly authority includes delivering His people and bringing His enemies to judgment, judging and executing them, and this rule over the nations with a rod of iron precedes and is immediately connected with His coming, when His enemies are broken in pieces, distinct from His peaceful priestly rule on the Father's throne.
Ruling in the midst of enemies means reigning with authority among opposers while enemies remain around Him, not requiring Him to live only among the good. He rules with strength from Zion while His enemies remain around Him, the nations and His enemies being given to Him by the Father when He finishes serving as priest at the Father's right hand, after which He returns to earth and breaks them in pieces. The verse shows the Son of God existed before He came to this earth as a personal being with bodily form and image, having the same form as God the Father. From the very first it belonged to the first and most important subject kept before the prophetic eye, the coming Messiah and the manner of His arrival, teaching the Hebrew nation to look forward to a brighter and better age. It presents the Messiah as a Prophet-King who would stand at the head of the nation and deliver them from the power of their common enemy.
The psalm is an incorruptible key composed to open the rest of Scripture, turning only to the lock of the mystery of God manifest in the flesh but justified by the Spirit. It reveals out of fall and resurrection, sin and righteousness, ascension and descension, height and depth, first and last, beginning and ending, flesh and spirit, wisdom and foolishness, strength and weakness, mortality and immortality, Jew and Gentile, light and darkness, unity and multiplication, fruitfulness and barrenness, curse and blessing, man and woman, kingdom and priesthood, heaven and earth, all-sufficiency and deficiency, God and man, and out of every unity made of two, the great two-leafed gate that is the sole entry into the city of God, the New Jerusalem, into which none but the King of Glory can enter. As the porter opens the door of the sheepfold, whoever enters by it is the Shepherd of the sheep.
Priesthood and Coming Kingship
The verse concerns the Melchizedek priesthood and the High Priest ministry in the heavenly sanctuary in the true tabernacle. The psalm as a whole looks forward to the Messiah serving as priest and sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. Its language about priestly order distinguishes that priesthood carefully: Christ is a priest after Melchizedek's order, not Melchizedek himself nor a successor to himself. That priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, ministered in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, superseded the Levitical priesthood when the true heavenly ministry replaced the earthly sanctuary service.
The change took place at the termination of the seventy weeks cut off from the 2300 days. There the shadow of good things to come ceased at the cross, the offering of bulls and goats gave place to the great sacrifice, and the tabernacle made with hands gave place to the true tabernacle in heaven with its anointing, its sacrifice, and its minister.
Christ's present priestly office is upon His Father's throne, in contrast with and distinct from His later kingly office and work upon His own throne. His priestly rule is peaceful and gracious, a sitting and ruling as priest upon His throne with counsel of peace, exercised from heaven at the Father's right hand in the kingdom of grace until human probation closes. His strength and rule go forth from Zion in heaven, from where He comes, and His ruling among His enemies with a rod of iron over the nations is distinct from that peaceful priestly rule on the Father's throne. That iron rule precedes and is immediately connected with His coming, when His enemies are broken in pieces.
In that gracious rule He gathers a willing people in the day of His power, fulfilled in His exaltation and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Seated on God's throne in heaven He carries out the priestly work of delivering His people from their sins. This work continues before He is crowned king and returns to redeem His people from death and free the earth from the curse, for redemption is not complete until then.
His rule as priest at His Father's right hand has a limit, and when His enemies are made His footstool that priestly position will cease. When His work of intercession is finished His enemies are then delivered to Him for destruction and He is crowned king. God sends His powerful scepter from heavenly Zion and commands Him to rule among His enemies, and that command marks the transition from priest to king, with kingly authority including judging and executing His enemies. This royal rule follows the priestly work of securing His people's acquittal and the blotting out of their sins in the investigative judgment.
In setting up the kingdom the Father's only work is conferring the throne and kingdom on the Son and putting His enemies under His feet, and that conferring is accomplished in heaven before the second advent. The Father sends out the scepter of Christ's strength and commands Him to rule among His enemies, marking the change from priestly work to kingly authority. All else — ruling, ordering and establishing the kingdom received from the Father, delivering His people and bringing His enemies to judgment, and dashing, breaking and destroying His enemies — is the work of the Son after receiving the kingdom from the Father in heaven before His return.
The coronation is for the execution of judgment, enthroning Him to rule in the midst of His enemies. Christ exalts His people to share with Him in that kingly dignity and judgment work and to participate with Him in that judgment. As the Melchizedek priest who will judge the nations and wound the heads of many countries, the promised Seed carries out this work through His church, which bears His name and is commissioned to continue His work on earth.
Prophecy Fulfilled Through Time
Dominion is given to Christ when Jehovah sends forth the rod of His strength out of Zion with the command to rule in the midst of His enemies. He thereby receives dominion on earth and rules amid His enemies, and His coming marks the day of His power when His people are willing, holy, beautiful, numerous and bright. Then the saints rise and refresh the world like morning dew.
His rule with strength from Zion goes forth in glory, wrestling with the powers of darkness and triumphing over the heathen and all its enemies. That ruling amid enemies fits the history of the early church in Acts 5 through 12. It includes rebuke of sin and wonder-working after sin was rebuked, trial before the council and the choosing of deacons, Stephen's witness in life and word and death and the scattering of the disciples to bear the truth, the conversion of Saul and the coming of the Gentiles to the light, answered prayer for Peter in imprisonment and judgment upon the wicked king.
His strength and rule go forth from Zion in heaven, from where He comes, and He rules among His enemies with a rod of iron. This rule over the nations breaks and destroys the opposing nations rather than converting the world. It precedes and is immediately connected with His coming, when His enemies are broken in pieces, and it is distinct from His peaceful priestly rule on the Father's throne. The sending of the rod out of Zion and ruling in the midst of enemies also figures the complete overthrow of the wicked after Zion, the New Jerusalem, the capital city of His kingdom, comes down to earth. At that time the resurrected wicked live upon the earth for a brief little season and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and the sending forth of the rod of strength and the ruling in their midst indicate their complete overthrow.
The verse is a prophecy of the Messiah and His redemptive work, His kingdom and His second coming. The rod of strength is His powerful scepter sent forth from Zion, which is heaven, the heavenly New Jerusalem and capital city of His kingdom. To rule in the midst of enemies is to reign with authority among opposers while enemies still surround Him, not only among the good. His present rule is priestly, gracious and peaceful upon His Father's throne in the heavenly sanctuary after the order of Melchizedek, distinct from His later work as king upon His own throne. In that gracious rule He gathers a willing people in the day of His power, fulfilled in His exaltation and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to deliver them from their sins, until when His intercession and judgment work is finished the Father sends the rod, commands Him to rule among His enemies, gives them to Him for destruction, and crowns Him king.
Wording and Historical Setting
Psalm 110 is prophetic throughout of the Lord Jesus Christ, a Messianic psalm concerning the Saviour and His work of redemption for humanity and belonging to the prophecy of Christ's kingdom. It looks forward to the Messiah serving as priest and sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, with its language about priestly order distinguishing His priesthood as after Melchizedek's order, not as Melchizedek himself nor as a successor to Himself. It is counted among the psalms containing prophecies of the second coming of Jesus Christ and is recommended for reading alongside other passages about the Messiah. The psalm was written by David, whose Davidic origin was sanctioned by Jesus as part of the inspired and infallible Word of God.
The verse belongs to a prophecy of Christ's ascension, when after triumphantly entering the New Jerusalem He took His place on His Father's throne. Zion is heaven, the heavenly Zion and New Jerusalem, the capital city of Christ's kingdom, from which the rod is sent forth. The rod is His powerful scepter, the rod of His strength and rod of iron, and its sending with the command to rule among His enemies marks His coronation as king at the close of His priestly work and His transition from priest to king. That kingly authority includes delivering His people and bringing His enemies to judgment, judging and executing them, and this rule over the nations with a rod of iron precedes and is immediately connected with His coming, when His enemies are broken in pieces, distinct from His peaceful priestly rule on the Father's throne.
Ruling in the midst of enemies means reigning with authority among opposers while enemies remain around Him, not requiring Him to live only among the good. He rules with strength from Zion while His enemies remain around Him, the nations and His enemies being given to Him by the Father when He finishes serving as priest at the Father's right hand, after which He returns to earth and breaks them in pieces. The verse shows the Son of God existed before He came to this earth as a personal being with bodily form and image, having the same form as God the Father. From the very first it belonged to the first and most important subject kept before the prophetic eye, the coming Messiah and the manner of His arrival, teaching the Hebrew nation to look forward to a brighter and better age. It presents the Messiah as a Prophet-King who would stand at the head of the nation and deliver them from the power of their common enemy.
The psalm is an incorruptible key composed to open the rest of Scripture, turning only to the lock of the mystery of God manifest in the flesh but justified by the Spirit. It reveals out of fall and resurrection, sin and righteousness, ascension and descension, height and depth, first and last, beginning and ending, flesh and spirit, wisdom and foolishness, strength and weakness, mortality and immortality, Jew and Gentile, light and darkness, unity and multiplication, fruitfulness and barrenness, curse and blessing, man and woman, kingdom and priesthood, heaven and earth, all-sufficiency and deficiency, God and man, and out of every unity made of two, the great two-leafed gate that is the sole entry into the city of God, the New Jerusalem, into which none but the King of Glory can enter. As the porter opens the door of the sheepfold, whoever enters by it is the Shepherd of the sheep.
Priesthood and Coming Kingship
The verse concerns the Melchizedek priesthood and the High Priest ministry in the heavenly sanctuary in the true tabernacle. The psalm as a whole looks forward to the Messiah serving as priest and sitting at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. Its language about priestly order distinguishes that priesthood carefully: Christ is a priest after Melchizedek's order, not Melchizedek himself nor a successor to himself. That priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, ministered in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, superseded the Levitical priesthood when the true heavenly ministry replaced the earthly sanctuary service.
The change took place at the termination of the seventy weeks cut off from the 2300 days. There the shadow of good things to come ceased at the cross, the offering of bulls and goats gave place to the great sacrifice, and the tabernacle made with hands gave place to the true tabernacle in heaven with its anointing, its sacrifice, and its minister.
Christ's present priestly office is upon His Father's throne, in contrast with and distinct from His later kingly office and work upon His own throne. His priestly rule is peaceful and gracious, a sitting and ruling as priest upon His throne with counsel of peace, exercised from heaven at the Father's right hand in the kingdom of grace until human probation closes. His strength and rule go forth from Zion in heaven, from where He comes, and His ruling among His enemies with a rod of iron over the nations is distinct from that peaceful priestly rule on the Father's throne. That iron rule precedes and is immediately connected with His coming, when His enemies are broken in pieces.
In that gracious rule He gathers a willing people in the day of His power, fulfilled in His exaltation and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Seated on God's throne in heaven He carries out the priestly work of delivering His people from their sins. This work continues before He is crowned king and returns to redeem His people from death and free the earth from the curse, for redemption is not complete until then.
His rule as priest at His Father's right hand has a limit, and when His enemies are made His footstool that priestly position will cease. When His work of intercession is finished His enemies are then delivered to Him for destruction and He is crowned king. God sends His powerful scepter from heavenly Zion and commands Him to rule among His enemies, and that command marks the transition from priest to king, with kingly authority including judging and executing His enemies. This royal rule follows the priestly work of securing His people's acquittal and the blotting out of their sins in the investigative judgment.
In setting up the kingdom the Father's only work is conferring the throne and kingdom on the Son and putting His enemies under His feet, and that conferring is accomplished in heaven before the second advent. The Father sends out the scepter of Christ's strength and commands Him to rule among His enemies, marking the change from priestly work to kingly authority. All else — ruling, ordering and establishing the kingdom received from the Father, delivering His people and bringing His enemies to judgment, and dashing, breaking and destroying His enemies — is the work of the Son after receiving the kingdom from the Father in heaven before His return.
The coronation is for the execution of judgment, enthroning Him to rule in the midst of His enemies. Christ exalts His people to share with Him in that kingly dignity and judgment work and to participate with Him in that judgment. As the Melchizedek priest who will judge the nations and wound the heads of many countries, the promised Seed carries out this work through His church, which bears His name and is commissioned to continue His work on earth.
Prophecy Fulfilled Through Time
Dominion is given to Christ when Jehovah sends forth the rod of His strength out of Zion with the command to rule in the midst of His enemies. He thereby receives dominion on earth and rules amid His enemies, and His coming marks the day of His power when His people are willing, holy, beautiful, numerous and bright. Then the saints rise and refresh the world like morning dew.
His rule with strength from Zion goes forth in glory, wrestling with the powers of darkness and triumphing over the heathen and all its enemies. That ruling amid enemies fits the history of the early church in Acts 5 through 12. It includes rebuke of sin and wonder-working after sin was rebuked, trial before the council and the choosing of deacons, Stephen's witness in life and word and death and the scattering of the disciples to bear the truth, the conversion of Saul and the coming of the Gentiles to the light, answered prayer for Peter in imprisonment and judgment upon the wicked king.
His strength and rule go forth from Zion in heaven, from where He comes, and He rules among His enemies with a rod of iron. This rule over the nations breaks and destroys the opposing nations rather than converting the world. It precedes and is immediately connected with His coming, when His enemies are broken in pieces, and it is distinct from His peaceful priestly rule on the Father's throne. The sending of the rod out of Zion and ruling in the midst of enemies also figures the complete overthrow of the wicked after Zion, the New Jerusalem, the capital city of His kingdom, comes down to earth. At that time the resurrected wicked live upon the earth for a brief little season and surround the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and the sending forth of the rod of strength and the ruling in their midst indicate their complete overthrow.