This

coming Thursday will mark Ascension Day on the calendar of the

church. Forty days after Easter Sunday, Jesus ascended into heaven,

leaving his disciples to do the work of his church on earth. In

today’s psalm reading, we have a glimpse of that day from King

David, who wrote this psalm.

Jesus

is in the genealogy line of King David. About 1,000 years before

Jesus was born in Bethlehem (David’s hometown), David gave thanks

and praise to God as he wrote this psalm.

Jesus

links himself to this psalm in the gospel of Matthew. He asks the

religious leaders and teachers, “Whose son is the Christ (or,

Messiah)?” They all answer that the Christ is the Son of David.

Jesus then asks how that son can be called a lord over King David. To

back up his point, Jesus quotes Psalm 110:1, which they know is a

prophecy of the Messiah, who would one day sit at God’s right hand.

The teachers are silent. They don’t know how to answer. (See

Matthew 22:41-46.)

The

answer is in the fact that Jesus has always been with God the Father.

He has always been the Son of God, even before he became the Son of

David. As Colossians 1:17 puts it, “He is before all things, and in

him all things hold together.”

Isn’t

it amazing and humbling that the triune God was working out this

story from the beginning of time?