The King We've Been Waiting For: What Psalm 110 Reveals About Every Longing in Your Heart

When our pastor was five or six, his parents took him to Chuck E. Cheese. Distracted by the games and the big singing robots, he wandered off. Then, suddenly, he realized he was lost. He technically knew where he was, he was still at Chuck E. Cheese, but being lost was never about location. It was about being separated from the people who loved him and were in charge. That's what made him panic. He needed someone to step in.

That feeling doesn't go away when we grow up. We long for someone we can trust to lead us, make us right with God, fix what's broken. This week, in our Snapshots series through the Psalms, we landed on a passage that speaks straight into those longings: Psalm 110. The big idea: Jesus is the answer to what our hearts have always longed for.

A King to Rule Us

Psalm 110 opens with David, Israel's greatest king, writing: "The Lord says to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'" Kings didn't call other people "Lord," they called God Lord. So who is David talking about? That question sat unanswered for centuries, until Jesus. In Matthew 22, Jesus quotes this exact verse to the religious leaders testing him, and no one can say a word in reply. He wasn't winning a debate, he was revealing his identity. He's not just David's descendant, he's David's Lord. To everyone who has ever felt lost and needed someone bigger in control, he says, "I am your king. Follow me."

A Priest to Reconcile Us

If Jesus is this holy King, how can people like us, who've messed up and hurt others, get access to him? Psalm 110 answers: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." That should have raised eyebrows, kings and priests were never the same person in Israel. But here, the King is also the Priest. Hebrews shows us this finds its fulfillment in Jesus. Earthly priests died and had to be replaced; Jesus lives forever as our priest. They offered sacrifices again and again; he offered himself once, as the final one.

Think of the relationship you can't fix on your own, where you need someone to step in on your behalf. That's what Jesus does for us with God. We don't just get information about him, we get direct access, which is part of why we're leaning into a season of prayer right now, including a churchwide night of prayer on Wednesday, August 26.

A Judge Who Will Make It Right

Even reconciled, something in us still aches. Forgiven people still live in a broken world, still grieve, still watch injustice flourish, still ask, "Will anyone ever make this right?" Psalm 110 ends with the Lord judging nations, not because God delights in judgment, but because evil doesn't get the final word. God does. Jesus already won the decisive victory through the cross and resurrection, and we're waiting for the day he returns to finish what he started. If you've ever looked at pain and thought, this isn't how it's supposed to be, that instinct is telling you something true. Jesus says, "I am the judge, and I will return and make things right."

Worship, Not Just Memory

King. Priest. Judge. Every one is an answer to a longing we didn't invent, we just feel it. It's why the early church couldn't stop coming back to Psalm 110, the most quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament. That's why communion isn't a ritual we repeat, it's a declaration that Jesus is exactly who this psalm promised. We don't come to the table just remembering what Jesus did. We come worshiping who he is.

Sit with this in the week ahead: Where have you been trying to lead yourself instead of following the King who already has you? Is there a relationship that actually needs a mediator? What ache have you stopped bringing to God because it feels too big?

Join Us This Sunday

Bring those questions with you into a service. Calvary Church gathers at two campuses: Souderton at 9:00 and 10:30 AM, and Quakertown at 9:30 AM, with a livestream available if you can't make it in. Missed this week's message? Catch up at calvary-church.com/messages.

We exist to continue what Jesus started, connecting people to God and to each other. Come as you are, and let's continue this together.