The National Anthem of Israel

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth, and sometimes outside of the studio we see deer, sometimes we see turkey, sometimes we see baboons.

I was in India once. I was in India several times, but once when I was in India at a particular occasion,

I looked outside at the YMCA. There were monkeys everywhere. I don't think they were baboons, but they were monkeys.

But anyway, outside today, there's some construction electrical company working on the power lines, and I have to record now.

So, anyway, you can tell this isn't a rerun, Fred, because in the background there's, if you listen carefully, you'll hear some trucks.

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Now, I don't know about you, but the Star -Spangled Banner. Do you like it?

Don't you like it? It is our national anthem, and it actually comes from a lyric from Defense of Fort McHenry, which was written in 1814 by someone who was a lawyer slash poet, a lawyer poet.

Who was a lawyer poet that I know of? Jack Kerouac? Francis Scott Key, and he had watched

Fort McHenry get bombarded by the

Royal Navy in the Baltimore Harbor. Well, that was during what war?

What war was that? That was the War of 1812. Makes sense. It was 1814. He wrote it and then we put that poem to a

British song written by John Stafford Smith. And by the way, there are four stanzas to that song.

We usually only sing one. Woodrow Wilson recognized it for official use for the

United States Navy. That was in... Oh, I'm actually mistaken.

Recognized for official use by the United States Navy in 1889 and by U .S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

And then by Congressional resolution, May, that is March 3rd, 1931, it became our national anthem.

And then President Hubbard Hoover, he signed that.

I like the last stanza, so let me read it to you. Oh, thus be it forever when freemen shall stand between their loved homes and the war's desolation.

Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven -rescued land praise the power, capital

P, that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must when our cause is just, and this be our motto, in God is our trust.

And the star -spangled banner in triumph shall wave o 'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

That is the star -spangled banner and aren't you glad I didn't sing it?

Israel had a national anthem. I'm not talking about modern Israel. They probably have one as well.

But I'm talking about ancient biblical Israel. They had what was in essence a national anthem.

And if you had to guess what song that they rallied behind that they would sing at every coronation of every king, what book, from what book, from which book, from fence book?

They didn't have face book. From what book did it come from? Did it come from which book?

Did it come? It came from the Psalms. That was their song book, of course, and they had a song in the book of Psalms that was kind of like their

Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone knew it. You'd get a new king and you would sing that song and this song, this psalm, is the most quoted psalm in all of the

New Testament. So if you had to guess which psalm that was, Celebration of the

Greatness of the King. Oh to have a king like this psalm talks about.

You would say that would be, of course, Psalm 110.

Psalm 110. Some think this psalm is the basis for the entire book of Hebrews, that this psalm is the theme for the book of Hebrews.

One commentator said it is the text of the Epistle of Hebrews. This is the text that he elaborates upon, that really undergirds all of the thoughts in the

Epistle to the Hebrews. And what we're going to do today is take a look at Hebrews chapter 1 verse 13, where this psalm is quoted.

It was referred to earlier. It was alluded to in chapter 1 verse 3, but now it's directly stated.

Remember what's going on in the book of Hebrews. Jesus Christ is being shown as superior, and He is superior to the prophets, and now in this section,

He's superior to the angels. And what I like in my study this week is the focus back to Psalm 110.

Since Psalm 110 is so important, don't you think you would like to know it better? And that's going to be our goal today on No Compromise Radio, is for you to get to know

Psalm 110 better, so that you can understand Hebrews better, you can understand the background of Israel and what she would expect in her kings.

And this particular section in Hebrews, Jesus is shown as sovereign, and He is shown as the ruler, and He is shown as the victor over all enemies, because He is the

Messianic King. And aren't you glad, in the middle of all the stuff that's going on in our society today, that Jesus is going to conquer?

And He will rule all His enemies.

So, if you have your Bible this morning, is it morning for you still? Perpetual mornings.

Notice the truck has now made no more sounds. Psalm 110 is quoted here in Hebrews 1 13.

And to which of the angels has He ever said? This is the last part of the bookend, not the first part of the bookend, that'd be in verse 5 of this chapter, starts off the same way.

And to which of the angels has He ever said? In other words, He, the Father, hasn't said this about any angel.

This section is talking about the deity of Christ, the eternality of Christ, the son -ness of Christ, and the angels are not sovereign, they are subjects, they are servants.

The angels don't create, they're created. The angels don't sit at the right hand of the

Father, they attend. They may be swirling around the throne, but that particular seat is for the

Son and the Son alone. To what angel did God ever say, sit at my right hand?

Here's Psalm 110. Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

This is a climax to the section here in chapter 1, it's almost at the very end of chapter 1.

There's another verse that talks about ministering servants sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.

Angels serve, but this particular Son, He sits. To which angel did

God ever say, did the Father ever say, you sit here at my right hand?

And He has been, the writer of Hebrews, has been giving us one

Old Testament quote after another, trying to prove the point from the

Old Testament. And doesn't that make sense, since they were Hebrews, and they would be cognizant of the fact that God has spoken in the

Old Testament, and God is speaking through the

Old Testament. Jesus is the Sovereign One, and even the Old Testament affirms that.

Jesus is the Son, and the Old Testament affirms that. Jesus is God, and the

Old Testament affirms that. What we have is the great chapter that quotes

Psalm 110 as the final quotation in this long series of quotes from the

Old Testament. All right, Psalm 110. Now, before I talk about it in particular, it's alluded to in verse 3 of chapter 1.

How about chapter 8? Now, the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the

Majesty in Heaven. There is another allusion, allusion. Chapter 10, verse 12, but when

Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

There, in chapter 10, verse 12 of the same book, is another allusion to this psalm.

It undergirds the entire book. Chapter 12, verse 2, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Everywhere you look, this psalm is weaved through, woven through, webbed through.

You see it sprinkled throughout this entire book. No angel has heard these words.

Gabriel didn't hear the words. Michael didn't hear the words. What are some other angel names?

Well, no other angel names of the Bible that I know of, but if we were just making up, Raphael, he never heard that.

This is a royal psalm, Psalm 110. There's going to be a king in the line of David who is a great king, and the people could sing about that king.

The people could celebrate that kind of king. Matter of fact, he's going to be the

Messiah. Psalm 110, if you were to go there in your Bible now, or you can just listen to me at 1 .5

speed. I listen to podcasts at 1 .5 speed. I listen to sermons regularly because I want to stop and think, and I'm just not trying to absorb the information.

Podcasts, though. Crisis Center, I listen to 1 .5 speed. White Horse Inn, I listen to at 1 .5

speed. This American Life, I listen to at 1 .5 speed. Those are 1 .5

speeds. But sermons, I listen to regularly. So if you want to listen to NoCo, 1 .5 speed is fine.

I heard that James White does that and Fred Butler, so they're in good company. Now, what you can't get in the

New Testament is the differentiation between the word Lord and Lord in verse 13 of Hebrews 1, but it's a quote from Psalm 110, verse 1.

And in Hebrew, you can, not the book of Hebrews, but in Hebrew, you can see it. You can even see it in your

English Bible, although it's an awful way they do it. Psalm 110, verse 1. The Lord, Yahweh, all caps, said to my

Lord, lowercase o -r -d, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.

Yahweh says to Adonai. This is

David recording this conversation between Yahweh and Adonai, and this psalm, like I said, is quoted all over the

New Testament, especially in the book of Hebrews. Yahweh says to the

Davidic king, sit at my right hand. Sit at the place of honor.

Sit at the place of majesty. Sit at the place of authority.

Sit at the throne until the enemies are made your footstool.

David's king rules over God's people. And if we could have such a great king like this, such a righteous king, such a sovereign king, the nation would be happy.

Of course she would. The nation would be full of joy. This eternal king, verse 2, the

Yahweh, the Lord, it sounds weird, the Yahweh, but Yahweh sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.

Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power in holy garments from the womb of the morning.

The dew of your youth will be yours. Now, of course, we have poetic expressions.

This is probably, this womb of the morning is according to the ESV study bible, probably a poetic expression for the east or for the dawn, which is when the dew appears.

A poetic term for refreshment. And if that's the case, you have the king giving refreshment because he is powerful.

You wouldn't be tired and worn out if you had a king that was powerful. If you had a weak king, you might be.

Side note, the people will offer themselves freely. Some Arminians have glommed on to that passage.

Like Adam Clark, this verse has been woefully perverted. It has been supposed to point out the irresistible operation of the grace of God on the souls of the elect, thereby making them willing to receive

Christ as their Savior, a doctrine which he utterly discards. And this freely business is at the center of some controversy, and sometimes we like controversy, no compromise radio, when we have the early the intro of Frenoko, that controversy is the controversy that our controversy, as some say, that Machen would talk about.

We're not talking about arguing over things. We're talking about in the heat of theological thinking, we've got to think the right thing.

That's why we have controversy in our intro. I'm going to switch the intros pretty soon. Now Spurgeon was no

Arminian, and here this little rabbit trail I find interesting. He said regarding Adam Clark trying to use this verse for Arminianism.

Well, my dear Adam Clark, we are extremely obliged to you for your remark, but at the same time we think that the text has not been woefully perverted.

We believe that the text has been very properly used to show God makes men willing. For if we read our

Bibles rightly, we understand that men by nature are not willing. For there is a text you're extremely fond of, which we do not think belongs to you, and which says, ye will not come to me that you might have life.

And there's another text we should like to put you and your brethren in mind of. No one can come to me except that the

Father who has sent me draw him. If he would remember that, we think, even though the text does not teach it, you might at least have some respect for the doctrine.

But it says God's people shall be willing in the day of God's power. And from the fact that no man is willing by nature, we infer from this text that there must be a work of grace making men willing.

If men are not willing by nature, and yet these individuals who serve the Lord are willing, are volunteers, are willing in the day of his power, then the

Holy Spirit must have performed a work upon them to make them willing.

Spurgeon. That's so true. The Lord has sworn, verse 4,

Yahweh has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

So now look what happens. Isn't this fascinating? Isn't this wonderful? You have a king.

The Messiah is a king and he's also a priest. And we could look at other passages to see that he's a prophet, but here now we have the king priest language.

Can you now say to yourself, oh, priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Is that not talked about in the book of Hebrews as well? We have the king who's a sovereign protector, who's the governor as it were, of course more than just a typical governor, a capital

G governor, and now we've got a priest. We have a monarch priest, a priest who makes mediation.

He is the mediator. The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind.

Now it goes on to talk about the military victories of this warrior king.

When the warrior king fights, then there's going to be victory.

Is that not a messianic theme in the Old Testament? You know that some of the

New Testament folks seeing Jesus were very saddened to think that he dies on a cross without accomplishing this great feat of wiping out the enemies.

I mean there's Rome right there in the land, and of course they were not seeing the the valleys in the mountains of eschatology.

They were just looking at the peaks. The Lord is at your right hand, verse 5 of Psalm 110.

He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. Now it's back to Adonai.

This is the section where the Lord will do something, a conquering king.

He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

And he is a king priest, but he is a regular person too. Did you notice?

He will drink from the brook by the way, therefore he will lift up his head. David knew, because he was inspired by the

Holy Spirit, that Yahweh would say to David's Lord, sit at my right hand.

That's fascinating. And to be back in the book of Hebrews, no one, no angel, no created being has ever had that said.

To which of the angels has God ever said that? To none. God never says to an angel, sit at my right hand.

God does not do that. The writer of Hebrews, he's thinking about a king priest, he's thinking about the high priest, and he's thinking about Psalm 110 because it undergirds everything.

This king that sits at the right hand of the Father will make enemies a footstool.

That's kind of a cool metaphor, isn't it? You have the king placing his foot on the neck of a vanquished king to show that he triumphs.

Joshua 10, 24, and 25 give us an idea of this kind of language. It came about when they brought these kings out to Joshua that Joshua called for all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.

So they came near and put their feet on the necks. Joshua then said to him, do not fear or be dismayed, be strong and courageous, for thus the

Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight.

Vanquish kings, submitting to the great king.

This is a good context in the book of Hebrews that suffering Christians need to hear this.

Would this encourage Christians going through trial or discourage them? Would this encourage

Christians who are suffering at the hands of persecution? Would this encourage or discourage?

It's good for us as well. You look around and you see all the crazy things that are going on and you think

Jesus will one day subdue all his enemies. Jesus reigns.

If you are belittled or ostracized because of Jesus, he will return. He will make all wrongs right.

He is David's greater son, the Messiah.

And this psalm, Psalm 110, alluded to all over in Psalm in Hebrews.

You have the Messiah as exalted son, sitting as king priest next to the father, ruling over all his foes.

Any angels want to step up to bat for that kind of job description or that kind of honor or position of authority?

The answer is no. Now, if it's not clear to you that this is talking about Jesus, the

Messiah, well, you've got to go back up and read from verse 1 of Hebrews 1 through verse 12, and you'll think, oh, now

I see it again. But to even give you more help, Jesus takes

Psalm 110, verse 1, which was thought of as messianic, and he applies it to himself.

This is used by Jesus to prove that he's a Messiah in Matthew 22 or in Mark chapter 12.

They've been asking Jesus all kinds of questions. They've been trying to trap him, and now it's

Jesus' turn, and it says in Mark chapter 12, verse 35, and Jesus answering began to say, as he taught in the temple, how is it that the scribes say that the

Christ is the son of David? Now it's time for Jesus' trick question, and he doesn't trick them with an old obscure verse in the

Old Testament and genealogies or something like that. He goes to the most popular psalm, maybe the most popular part of the

Hebrew Bible in those days. He goes to John 3 .16. If somebody asked today, you know, what about this?

He goes to the popular one. This is the psalm. Yahweh says to this great king, well, what does he say, and how does he go about saying it?

We're going to have to learn that next time, because the 24 and one half minutes go by quickly on No Compromise Radio.

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