Joseph D. Klotz

WEDNESDAY AFTER THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Title: Christ, our High Priest, is Enthroned at God's Right Hand
Text: Psalm 110
Preached: 7 October 2026

In the name of Jesus; Amen.

Introduction

Tonight we're going to take a look at Psalm 110. This isn't one of the appointed readings. But, since Jesus actually quotes it in the Gospel lesson, it's a good idea for us to consider why He did so, and what it means. In the Gospel lesson, Jesus and the Pharisees ask each other questions. The Pharisees try to entrap Jesus with a question about the Law. They fail, of course; Jesus answers rightly. Jesus and the Pharisees agree about the Law; that it requires us to love God with our entire being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus then asks the Pharisees a question about the Christ, the long-expected Messiah who would come and save His people. They got the answer to the question right too. They identified the Christ as the Son of David, which he is. But what they got wrong was this: they thought that that's all the Christ would be; the Son of David, a powerful ruler who would restore the glory of the nation of Israel. Jesus, however shows us that...

THE CHRIST, OUR HIGH PRIEST, IS ENTHRONED AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND.

I. Christ Reigns for Us (vv. 1-3) II. Christ Will Come for Us (vv. 4-6)

I. Christ Reigns for Us

David, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus explains in the Gospel, writes, "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'" (Psalm 110:1).

When Jesus talks with the Pharisees about who the Christ is, He quotes to them this Psalm. He says that David, writing as a prophet, calls his own descendant something more than just his physical descendant. God would seat the Christ at His right hand. The Christ is indeed the Son of David; but He is also the divine Son of God.

David continues, "The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth" (Ps. 110:2-3). And so, Christ rules in the midst of His enemies. Christ was anointed to His task at His baptism, after which the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in the form of a dove. During His earthly ministry, Jesus proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of God. He told the leaders and teachers of Israel that the kingdom of God was in their very midst; it was already among them.

As we know, though, Jesus' kingdom is not of this world. After His death on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for sin; after Jesus was raised from the dead for our justification, having defeated the enemies of sin, death and the devil, He ascended to the right hand of the Father; to His throne, from which He reigns.

But we are still here in this world; we are still waiting for the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, as St. John writes in Revelation 11. And we sometimes fear those enemies that Christ has defeated as though He does not reign. We submit to sin as though we are helpless; gratifying the desires of our flesh; thinking that it is by those means that we will find fulfillment. We listen to Satan who whispers to us that we are not worthy to belong to God; that God cannot possibly love us because of our sinfulness and corruption; that we must make things right between us and God. And even we Lutherans are subject to these temptations and doubts. But when we look at Christ; when we survey His cross, we see the love God the Father has for us.

We don't need to conquer Christ's enemies for Him. If it were left to us to defeat all those enemies that assail us, all the sinful desires, all the thoughts of doubt we have about our standing before God, all the things we do to try and make up for the lack of righteousness that we have, we would be utterly lost. Christ has defeated all these things, sin, death, and Satan, by His death on the cross; the head of the serpent who caused us to be subject to sin and death through Adam in the garden is crushed.

II. Christ Will Come for Us

David continues, writing, "The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: 'You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek'" (vv. 4).

Jesus, our king, is also our priest. He does what priests do, only perfectly. He makes sacrifice for sin. And that sacrifice is Himself. As the Easter hymn says, "Christ the victim, Christ the priest. Alleluia!" He also, having been born under the Law as a man, fulfilled it perfectly for us, redeeming us from the curse of the Law. And now, our great high priest, Jesus, the Christ, does what the high priest does. He goes into heaven itself, the Most Holy Place, into the presence of God the Father, by means of His own blood, and He intercedes for us. "We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense -- Jesus Christ the Righteous One" (1 John 2:1).

And this Lord, the Christ, who is at God's right hand, fights for us. He defends me against all danger, and guards and protects me from all evil. Just because He has defeated Satan, does not mean that Satan isn't still dangerous. Scripture tells us that he is prince of the power of the air. He roams around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He still tempts us, trying to get us to sin; to fear, love, and trust in anything other than God. It's an easy task for him as long as we live in this world, and have a corrupt and sinful human nature. But our Lord Jesus, the Christ, is at God's right hand. And our Lord, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, is also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. He was tempted by Satan and overcame it with the Word of God. When we are tempted by Satan, and the desires of our flesh, we have one like us seated at the right hand of God who knows our temptations. And by God's Word Christ calls us to repentance for our sin, forgiving our sin and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

And Christ will one day return to judge the nations. That day of judgment, which to our sinful nature sounds so scary, is a source of hope and joy for the Christian. The one who judges is also the one who voluntarily became man in order to bear our sin and be our savior.

On the Last Day Christ will raise me and all the dead. He will give eternal life to me and all believers. But to the enemies of Christ; to those who reject God's gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation that are in Christ, and instead fear the things of this world; love and pursue the fulfillment of their fleshly desires; trust in their money, or their position, or the good things they think they have done to cause them to stand before the throne of God's judgment; to those who have worshiped the created things instead of the Creator, that Last Day will be a terror. "The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings on the day of his wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth" (Psalm 110:5-6).

Conclusion

In spite of the fact that, not only the Pharisees, but all of fallen humanity rejects Christ because of our sinful nature, Christ comes to us. Jesus came to give His life as our ransom on the cross. Jesus comes to us today in Word and Sacrament, calling us to repentance; giving us that forgiveness He won for us and for all mankind on the cross; converting us; regenerating and sanctifying us by our baptism; sustaining our faith by His very body and blood which He gives to us in the Lord's Supper. And Jesus will come again in glory, our anointed prophet, priest, and king, to judge both the living and the dead. And we can rejoice at that thought, because our Advocate with the Father, the one who has redeemed us by His own blood, is the one who will be our judge.

In the name of Jesus; Amen.