Psalms 110:6, commentary and pictures

Psalm 110:6 foretells that when Christ's priestly intercession ends the Father gives Him His enemies and crowns Him King to execute judgment upon the wicked. In the day of His wrath as King of kings He judges among the heathen nations, destroys His united enemies, fills the places with the slain, and shatters ruling heads over many countries. This is a literal overthrow of the kingdoms opposed to Him at His second coming, not their conversion by the gospel, for ruling them with a rod of iron means breaking them like a potter's vessel. The crushing of the head over the wide earth is His final triumph over Satan the chief ruler, eradicating evil and saving His people by the cross. His immortal saints are exalted to sit with Him, determine the measure of guilt and punishment, and share His work of ending war and sin to set up His one everlasting kingdom that fills the whole earth.

Words and Priest-King Setting

Psalm 110:6 belongs to a prophecy of Christ's kingdom, and the whole psalm is prophetic of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a Messianic psalm that explicitly describes the Saviour's work of redemption for humanity. It stands with God's promises to David concerning his seed and the establishing of his house, kingdom, and throne forever, pointing to the Messiah as David's heir and everlasting king.

The psalm presents Christ as great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek when he ascends to heaven, and his priestly work precedes his later taking up of kingly authority at his coming again, by virtue of which he judges mankind. That ministration in the heavenly sanctuary is performed in the person of the Lord Jesus by the Melchisedec order of priesthood in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. At the very point where the shadow ceased at the cross, about the close of the seventy weeks, the Levitical priesthood was superseded by the priesthood after the order of Melchisedec, marking the transfer from the tabernacle made with hands to the true tabernacle. Psalm 110 makes prominent Christ's priestly office and work upon his Father's throne before the second advent, in contrast with his kingly office and work upon his own throne.

The Hebrew word rendered fill means to completely fill and to be full of. The phrase dead bodies denotes dead souls, showing that soul can be used for a person who has died. The word rendered wound means to pierce through, strike through, dash to pieces, shatter, or crush.

Judging among the nations means administering the divine government, not primarily pronouncing sentence, although pronouncing sentence follows. The resurrected and exalted Son carries out that administration over the living and the dead and over the visible and the invisible world, executing judgment according to the principles of his gospel by which the secrets of men are judged and all mankind are condemned or acquitted. That judging includes judging his people and the fatherless and oppressed.

The verse shows Jehovah judging among the nations, illustrated in the fall of Babylon and the giving of the kingdom to Darius, and He as truly judges every soul. Men may deny that judgment, hide it from their eyes, and shut it out of their hearts by greed and lust and pleasure, but sooner or later the hand of God will write upon the palace wall of every sinful, impenitent soul.

Judgment Wrath and Triumph

The judging of the nations takes place after the intercessory priestly work is finished, when the Father commits judgment to the Son and gives His enemies into His hands to destroy as He is crowned king. It belongs to the transition from priestly office to kingly rule, when the everlasting kingdom is given to Him and He takes up kingly authority at His coming. The coronation is for the execution of judgment upon the wicked, a work entered upon by Christ with His saints after the saints are made immortal and received into the Father's presence in the New Jerusalem for the marriage supper. The immortal people are exalted to share His kingly dignity and sit with Him in that judgment work to determine the measure of guilt and punishment for each wicked person, not to decide who is saved or lost, because the Father has already decided that by making the saints immortal and leaving the rest unworthy of eternal life for the second death.

In the day of His power and wrath as King of kings and Lord of lords, He judges among the heathen nations, destroys His united enemies given into His hand, fills the places with the slain, and wounds ruling heads over many countries. This is the exercise of kingly power to judge the nations and then destroy them after judging them, when wicked kings fall before Him. Only those whose sins have been blotted out can stand in that day. The One to whom dominion is given is the One who judges with widespread death and the striking down of rulers.

This is the literal overthrow of the kingdoms opposed to Him at His second coming, not a conquest by the gospel or by human agents. When the nations are given into His hand He strikes down kings and destroys earthly powers in the day of His wrath, and their receiving Him as ruler is their defeat and punishment, not their conversion. Ruling the nations as such only with a rod of iron that breaks them in pieces like a potter's vessel is punishment, not conversion, since conversion comes only through the love of God ministered by the Holy Spirit through the Word, not by iron force that shatters. The promise to the overcomer to rule the nations with a rod of iron belongs to Christians of all ages with special reference to the coming of the Lord, and is fulfilled in this judgment scene in the day of wrath when the field is left covered with the slain and rulers over many lands are crushed.

The wounding of the head over a great country points to Satan as the chief ruler, whose name is bound up with the crushing described by the word for wound, meaning to pierce through, strike through, dash to pieces, shatter, and crush. His punishment beneath the feet of God's people marks Christ's ultimate triumph over Satan, the eradication of His enemies from the kingdom, and the salvation of His people by virtue of the cross of Calvary. By that cross Jehovah redeems Adam's failure and seats Christ as priest-king upon Adam's forfeited throne, in the midst of the oath making Him a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. God smites through wicked kings in the day of wrath to prepare the way for Christ's kingdom, executing judgment upon the heathen, meaning all who are not children of the kingdom.

Christ carries out this work through His church, which bears His name as the promised Seed and is commissioned to continue His work on earth, and the Son takes the overcomer in with Himself so the saints participate with Him in the judgment of the wicked. It belongs to the day of God's power when God's people shall be willing to be used by Him and be co-workers with Him. This gives encouragement to the oppressed in the present time.

The execution of wrath delivers from the common enemy as the work of the coming Prophet-King, wipes sin out of the world, and ends wars by displacing all nations. It is followed by the setting up of His everlasting kingdom as one kingdom under one Ruler, like the stone cut out without hands, which fills the whole earth and continues forever. It presents the victory of His kingdom over the heathen and the overthrow of its enemies as part of His work in glory.