The Scripture behind the Scripture
The LORD Said Unto My Lord
Psalm 110:1, where the Lord invites David's Lord to sit at his right hand, is the most frequently cited Old Testament verse in the New Testament. Jesus presses it in Matthew 22:44, Peter preaches it in Acts 2:34, and Hebrews 1:13 uses it to crown its argument.
“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”Psalm 110:1
“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?”Matthew 22:44
“For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,”Acts 2:34
“But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?”Hebrews 1:13
In its own place
In its own place. Psalm 110 is titled a psalm of David and is a royal psalm celebrating the king whom God exalts. Its opening line is unusual, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The first Lord is the personal name of God, and the second is a title of honor for the king, David's master. To sit at the right hand of God is to be given the place of highest authority and favor, sharing in God's rule. The psalm goes on to promise the king victory over his enemies, dominion from Zion, and, remarkably, an eternal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. In its original setting it exalts the Davidic king as God's appointed ruler, seated in a place of unmatched honor and destined to triumph. Yet the language strains beyond any ordinary monarch. No mere king literally sits at God's right hand or holds a priesthood forever. Read within Israel's hope, the psalm points toward a coming anointed one whose reign and priesthood would be greater than David's own, which is precisely the tension Jesus later exploits.
Where the New Testament takes it up
This is a direct quotation, and it saturates the New Testament. Jesus himself uses it in Matthew 22:44 to pose a riddle to the Pharisees. If David, by the Spirit, calls the Messiah my Lord, how can the Messiah be merely David's son? The question presses that the Christ must be more than a human descendant, greater than David, though also his offspring. Peter quotes it in Acts 2:34 at Pentecost to explain the resurrection and ascension, arguing that David did not ascend into the heavens but that the risen Jesus did, seated now at God's right hand. Hebrews 1:13 caps its case for the Son's supremacy by asking to which of the angels God ever said, Sit on my right hand. The apostles follow the Greek text, and the crucial phrase is consistent between Hebrew and Septuagint. The New Testament reads the seating at God's right hand as accomplished in the ascension, so that Jesus now reigns while his enemies are being put under his feet. This single verse became the church's shorthand for the exaltation of Christ, and it undergirds nearly every mention of Jesus at God's right hand throughout the Epistles and Gospels.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. The New Testament sees Psalm 110 fulfilled uniquely in Jesus. He is the descendant of David whom David calls Lord, both son and sovereign, human and more than human. His resurrection and ascension are his enthronement at God's right hand, the place of shared rule the psalm described. From there he reigns until every enemy, including death itself, is made his footstool. The waiting until in the verse frames the whole present age, in which Christ is already enthroned yet his kingdom's full triumph is still unfolding. And because Psalm 110 joins kingship to priesthood, it presents a Savior who both rules and intercedes, seated in majesty yet pleading for his people. The most cited verse in the New Testament is, at heart, the announcement that the crucified Jesus is Lord of all.
Questions people ask
Why is this the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament?
Because it captures in one line the exaltation of Jesus. His resurrection and ascension were understood as his enthronement at God's right hand, so the verse became the church's core confession of Christ's present reign.
What is Jesus arguing in Matthew 22?
That the Messiah is greater than David, since David under the Spirit calls him Lord. The Christ is David's son by descent yet David's Lord in dignity, a tension resolved only in one who is both truly human and truly divine.