Holy Swagger

“The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Ps. 110:1). 

Where is Jesus right now? We confess the answer every single week: He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. And what is Jesus doing at the right hand of God the Father? He is reigning until all of His enemies have been put beneath His feet. The Psalmist says the Lord has sent His rod of strength out of Zion to conquer all of His enemies. 

And Paul says that the last enemy that will be destroyed is death (1 Cor. 15:25-26). That enemy will be destroyed at the resurrection of the dead. On that last day, every man, woman, and child marked with the blood of Jesus will rise with incorruptible bodies to live forever. 

This is not some kind of vague hope – that we hope someday everything work out somehow. No, these facts were established beyond doubt by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, nearly 2,000 years ago. We serve the King who knows all things, including the way out of the grave. We serve the King who now holds the keys of death and Hades, so that even death and Hades serve Him. He opens and shuts, He kills and makes alive, so that every life serves Him perfectly. 

The Psalm says that the Lord has sworn and He will not relent. Jesus is our High Priest forever. He goes before us. He intercedes for us. He fights for us. No one escapes the Sword of His mouth. All are pierced through, but we are the ones who have died and come back from the dead already. We were blind but now we see. We were lost but now are found. We know the battle plan. Death and resurrection. 

So we are not merely here to survive, because our King is not merely surviving. Psalm 110 ends with a holy swagger. Our King drinks from brooks along the way of His campaign and lifts up His head in victory. And so you must do the same. Fix your eyes on Your King. His head is lifted up. Have you lifted up your hearts? Good. Now lift up your heads. The King of Glory is here with us. We are in His company. We have been marked in the waters of baptism. We belong to Him, and therefore, we are more than conquerors.

Photo by Simone Pellegrini on Unsplash