FOOTSTOOLS

by Chris Courtney

“The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” – Psalms 110:1 (ESV)

Try to imagine the scene: the upstairs room is crowded with people who are in the midst of an experience unparalleled in human history.  Jesus, their Messiah, has been wrongly convicted by a kangaroo court executed in the most painful and humiliating fashion possible.  It would be hard for anybody who had seen His beaten and bloody body hanging on that cross to believe that this man could keep His promise and rise again on the third day.

But rise He did!  He spent forty more days appearing before people, showing them His scars and filling them with faith anew.  He did not leave them hanging.  After ascending into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit on the day we now remember as Pentecost to fill and fuel and empower the believers in that upper room.  They saw the power of God working within and throughout them.  No more fear of the angry Jewish leaders or the ruling Roman overlords.

Then Peter stands up.  Peter, who had so often made such a fool of himself by trying to please Jesus in all the wrong ways.  Peter, who despite his protestations otherwise, denied ever having known his Lord and Savior three times in rapid fire succession.  Peter, the once brash young man who lobbed off the slave’s ear in the garden, now has traded in his personal bravado for true boldness – strength found through the Holy Spirit.

And when Peter spoke to the first church, he spoke with an authority he had never possessed before.  He explained what they had just been through.  He showed them Who Jesus Christ really was (is) – the fulfillment of the Old Testament.  The long awaited Messiah:

32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33  Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.’ 36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” – Acts 2:32-39 (ESV)

It is amazing the power available to us, if we will only submit to the LORD.  God keeps His promises.  And we need to remember that, no matter what we face in life, we will share in Christ’s eternal victory is we remain faithful and seek God first.  Yahweh / Jehovah – our God and King, God of the Jews, our Father – has seated our Lord and Savior Jesus at His right hand.  And He will return, to make footstools of His enemies.