“The LORD said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalm 110:1). Jesus specifically used this verse to refer to his divine origin (Matthew 24:41-45). In his message about the resurrection of the dead, Paul used this verse to conclude that Christ had defeated all enemies, including death (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).

The issue that I believe David was trying to resolve in Psalm 110 was the eternal nature of God’s kingdom. David had spent most of his life establishing God’s kingdom on earth. In the end, I think he realized that ruling over people was a divine act that only Christ, God in human flesh, was capable of doing.

Part of what makes eternity unfathomable to us is the concept of death. Paul labeled death the last enemy because he wanted us to understand that Satan uses death to change our perspective of life. He wants us to think of life as temporary, something that comes to an end.

David’s view of death is revealed in 2 Samuel 12:20-23. After his child died, David knew he would see him again:

Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

The word translated go in 2 Samuel 12:23 is hâlak (haw – lak´). Halak means to walk. “Essentially, this root refers to movement without any suggestion of direction” (1980). David expected to go somewhere after he died and that he would be able to reconnect with people he had known during his life on earth. David did not perceive death to be an ending, but a continuation of some sort to the life he already had.