The Apostle Peter wrote to Christians, “Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.” (2 Pet. 20-21). David prophesied about the Lord Jesus Christ in this psalm and may not have really understood what he was writing.
How do we know this was a prophecy? We know it because Paul quotes verses 1 in Heb. 1:13; “And God never said to any of the angels, ‘Sit in the place of honor at My right hand until I humble Your enemies, making them a footstool under Your feet’.” In Hebrews 5:6, Paul quotes verse 4 of this psalm; “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
There are two names for God used in this text; YAHWEH is translated LORD and Adonai is translated Lord. If you look closely at the style of type used, you can see the difference. YAHWEH is also translated Jehovah in many places; it was the name God gave to Moses when he was in the desert herding sheep, and it means, “I AM”.
Verses 1-4 refer to the activities of God the Father. Here the Father gives four promises to the Son. The first is the promise of the Father to humble the enemies of the Son. The second is to extend His kingdom far beyond the walls of Jerusalem. The third is that His people will willingly serve the Son and there will be no surrender but added strength in holiness each day to defeat the enemy. And the fourth is that the Son is the High Priest of all believers; the old system was just a foreshadowing of what God wanted for His people, and Christ is the fulfillment (see Heb. 4-10).
Verses 5-7 tell us the activities of the Son. In verse 5, Christ will stand at the right hand of believers to protect them. In verse 6, Christ will punish nations who reject Him. And, in verse 7, Christ and His people will be refreshed along their journey; Christ will give His people springs of living water (John 4: 13-14).
Sometimes we get discouraged in our lives either because we face disappointments and hardships, or we work in the church till we are exhausted and we don’t see results, or we are not being fed the word of God that encourages us. We need to remember that God is with us and we will be victorious if we do not give up. “Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2:9-11 (NLT)