"Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments..."
~ Psalm 110:3a
This psalm of David is recognized as one of his Messianic Psalms; perhaps his most recognized Messianic Psalm. This means that it is prophetic in nature, revealing the coming Messiah. It does not take long to recognize that David is not here speaking about himself or any other human king or any mere man. He instead is speaking of the Incarnate ‘God-Man’, the One promised to come.
Jesus himself states in the gospel accounts, that David wrote this psalm “in the Spirit” and that it is in reference to the Christ (Matthew 22:41-46). The pharisees of Jesus’ day had very consequential misperceptions about the Christ who was to come. And they had led many astray with them. We know this to be true because Jesus said so (Matthew 15:14, 23:13-15) and we know of their ultimate rejection of him leading to his crucifixion (John 19:15-16).
The Hebrew word Mashiach means “Anointed One”. The word Mashiach is where we get our word Messiah. The Mashiach was to come from the line of David and fulfill the roles of Prophet, Priest and King. The Mashiach is LORD and Judge of all. We can see this and more in this short psalm. I invite you to look and see Jesus here in this psalm. As David did, rightly place yourself beneath God and his Messiah Jesus Christ.
[A note on verse 1: “The LORD says to my Lord”…the first LORD is God the Father, YAHWEH. He is speaking to the Lord, God the Son, Jesus the Messiah.]