I first encountered the idea that Psalm 110 explains the delay in Jesus’ return through an online presentation by John Lennox. He argued that Psalm 110 provides a key biblical explanation for why Jesus remains in heaven until the appointed moment when all enemies are finally subdued as He returns in visible glory.
There have frequently been “face-palm” moments in my life while studying the Scriptures. Many of them come under the heading of “why didn’t I think of that?” The most recent one came as I was listening to a random post featuring the brilliant John Lennox, who was the guest of a very respectful atheist whose name eludes me now. The host, who may have been culturally Jewish, was conceding that one could make an argument about Jesus dying and coming back to life. His particular difficulty was in the notion of Jesus ascension into the heavens.
Why wouldn’t the Messiah just keep on doing the messianic thing and save the Jews from the Roman occupation? Why go away and promise to come back much later?
My own question along those lines is a different one in context rather than in fact. Jesus obviously knew He was going away for a time and would come back, or the parable of the tenants and the vineyard would make no sense. Nor would the parables of the talents or the ten virgins make sense.
But where in the Bible Jesus and the Jews read (what we Christians usually call the Old Testament) would that idea even occur? In other words, how would a disciple of Jesus explain Jesus’ absence from the Holy Scriptures to a fellow Jew? John Lennox points out that the answer is in a Psalm that Peter himself quotes in Acts 2: Psalm 110. The King James Version says Psalm 110 this way:
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.
The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
Psalm 110 is widely accepted as a messianic psalm that was composed by King David himself, as Peter acknowledges. In Acts 2:29 Peter notes that David himself had not ascended to heaven, leaving it to a later descendant, whom Peter identifies in verse 36 as “this Jesus, whom you crucified.” The key idea is from Psalm 110:1, which Peter quotes in verses 34 and 35.
For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
And it is at that moment that the crowd is “cut to the heart.” The ascension of Jesus is the very thing that convinced 3,000 people to put their trust in Jesus, now identified as “a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek, seated at the right hand of the LORD.
And so an important answer to the Jewish that Jesus cannot be their messiah because He hasn’t freed them from Gentile oppression is found in the basic messianic prophecy of Psalm 110. He is interceding for His people spiritually from the power center of the universe until the times of the Gentiles are complete.
When will that happen? The clues are found in the books of Daniel, Revelation Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians 2. Happy hunting!
You can find my own understanding of the timing of Jesus’ return in the video Understanding When Jesus Will Return.
John Valade 
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