Psalm 45
This psalm is known as the Marriage or Love Song. It points to Messiah the Prince as the Royal Bridegroom, and to His church as His bride. The first half of the psalm reveals Christ as a Warrior and Bridegroom; the second half speaks about His bride.
The Spirit of Prophecy gave this song to David to write concerning Christ. David’s heart burning within Him, motivated by the flame of love, wrote of love and of war. Although David says he will write of things pertaining to the king (perhaps himself), He directs his thoughts to Christ. He writes of the excellencies of Jesus: “You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You for ever” (Psalm 45:2). Christ is the favorite of heaven. Yet for our sake He became one of us. Because He is blessed for ever, so are we. He has the blessing, and He has it for us. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
Grace was poured into Christ’s lips. Grace was given that He might know how to speak a word in season to those who are weary. The Father awakened Him morning by morning that He might be instructed in what to say and how to say it (Isaiah 50:4). From that grace came those gracious words that spoke to and blessed those who heard (Luke 4:22).
Not only was grace poured into His lips, but it was poured into His heart for strength and encouragement. Grace kept and qualified Jesus for His work as Savior and Mediator. And from His fullness of grace, we receive (John 1:16).
The Bridegroom is a Man of war who is victorious over all His enemies (Psalm 45:3-5). He comes to the field of battle to rescue His bride-to-be. She being in captivity needs to be set free before He can marry her. She, being in captivity to Satan and to self, needs to be delivered. Christ does it by the power of the “sword,” which is His word. There is a sense in which even she must be conquered. She must be submissive to her Heavenly Husband. He is to be the head of the household of faith. The converting and controlling power of His word must capture her heart. There must be a willing obedience on her part, controlled by her appreciation of Him. In other words, she must learn to love Him. It does not come naturally.
The cause in which Christ is engaged is that of truth, meekness and righteousness (verse 4). These are the principles of His character that were lost by man. These Christ came to retrieve and rescue and to restore within His bride that she might be all glorious within. He proposes to do this with the everlasting gospel in these last days (Revelation 14:6-12).
Because Christ is the truth, and is meek and righteous, it is from Him that His spouse learns meekness that she might be clothed in His righteousness. Because of these, she shall prosper and stand by His side as His bride. But first His word must be allowed to work in her heart. The word sets up truth within her heart to rectify her mistakes; meekness to control her passions; righteousness to control her heart, and consequently her life.
Before the word can do its work within the heart of His bride-to-be, the arrows of conviction must penetrate her hardened conscience and fasten there with the piercing sharpness of the granite point of the arrow, and bring her to her true condition. She must be startled by her condition and then be brought into loving submission to the Man-of-war, the Bridegroom, the One who truly loves her.
Psalm 45:6, 7 are quoted in Hebrews 1:8, 9. From this we learn that it is God the Father who says to the Son in this psalm, “Thy throne O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre” (KJV). Our Mediator, the Son of Man, is God. His kingdom is eternal, and He shall rule on this earth forever. All the opposition from the gates of hell shall not prevail against Him. His rulership is one of righteousness. Whatever Christ does, He will never wrong a single subject of His kingdom. He loves righteousness and He loves to do righteousness. He hates wickedness and He will eventually eradicate it from the universe where righteousness shall reign in every heart and in every place. And that work of righteousness is peace and assurance forever (Isaiah 32:15; Romans 5:1).
Christ was anointed with the oil of gladness. He was anointed above all others, whether they are kings or priests or even angels. The Spirit of God was given to Him without measure to qualify and to enable Him for His work. He came to preach and to deliver the captives (Isaiah 61:1; 11:2). Christ was filled with the oil of gladness, He delighted to carry out the work He was sent to do. Even the horribleness of the cross was endured for the joy that was set before Him, which joy was in seeing men and women, boys and girls, in His kingdom forever because they respond to His unconditional pursuing love (Hebrews 12:2). He is satisfied with the travail of His soul (Isaiah 53:11). The salvation of sinners is His joy. The holy angels rejoice over the salvation of sinners (Luke 15:10), but Christ’s joy is even greater.
Notice His robes of state as they are described in Psalm 45:8. They are not depicted in terms of the pomp of purple, gold and silver. His robes are not for decoration. They are noted for their pleasantness. They smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia. These elements were compounded both in the oil and in the incense of the sanctuary. Both represented Christ’s righteousness—the incense representing His robe of righteousness by which He justifies and clothes us, the oil representing the Holy Spirit of righteousness by which He anoints and sanctifies us.
The character developed in Christ during His lifetime on earth is represented by the making of the incense. Just as the typical priests in days of old put the ingredients of the incense together to offer as a sweet smelling offering in behalf of the people whom they represented, so did Christ in reality. Both the oil and the incense were so sacred that no one was to make anything that resembled or smelled like them (see Exodus 30:23-38). The lesson from the symbols is that there is no place in God’s plan for our salvation for any merit on our part, or for any counterfeit righteousness that may resemble Christ’s. No merit accrues from man. It is Christ only. Only Christ and His righteousness. And those who are clothed with His righteousness will proclaim that all encompassing subject. It will swallow up every other.
His ointment, His incense, draws souls to Himself, and this makes Him precious in their sight (Song of Solomon 1:3, 4; 1 Peter 2:7). Out of heaven’s “ivory palaces” there wafts to earth the fragrance of Christ’s righteousness. This fragrance is enjoyed by His followers on earth. Every good thing done by the believer is surrounded and made acceptable by this cloud covering of righteousness. Christ is “all and in all” (Colossians 3:11).
Psalm 45:9 depicts the church as His queen standing by His side. By an everlasting covenant He has betrothed this woman to Himself. She stands at His right hand, the place of honor. She is seen clothed in a garment woven with gold thread, even the gold of Ophir, the most pure and precious and valuable on earth. This is Christ’s bride. This is the Lamb’s wife. His graces are her ornaments. In Revelation 19:8 they are compared to fine linen, clean and white. Both the linen here and the gold of Ophir represent the purity and the costliness of Christ’s grace and righteousness by which we are clothed.
Although they are free, they are not cheap. They cost Christ everything. Heaven itself was not considered of more value than was the lost race. His form of God was not considered, by Himself, of more value than mankind. He laid aside His form as God to take upon Himself our nature to redeem us (Philippians 2:5-7). He will retain our redeemed nature forever. Forever He is the Son of Man. We are indebted to Jesus forever for the costliness of the garments by which He clothes us.
To Him we owe our redemption. Our adorning is not because of corruptible things such as silver and gold and diamonds—the base things of earth, but to the precious blood of the Son of God. Even now He is knocking, ever knocking, at the door of His bride’s heart, inviting her, counseling her to receive the gold tried in the fire, the white raiment, the anointing oil and the gift of repentance (Revelation 3:18-20)—this that she might stand at His side in honor clothed in the garment He prepared for such an occasion, even the garment of the fragrance “of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces.” She too will be glad with the joy that makes the Bridegroom delighted.
The last part of the psalm is addressed to the royal bride-to-be. In verse ten she is counseled to consider what has been said, and to incline her ear to what He will say to her. Just as a man and his bride are to separate from friends and family in the earthly order of things when they marry in order to become one flesh, so it is in the heavenly wedding. Christ and His bride are to become one. Christ has eyes only for her. He waits patiently for her to have eyes only for Him. Christ submitted Himself to her level. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). He came to dwell with us as “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He became one of us. Christ gave up everything for His bride.
Now He longs to see that same kind of submission on the part of His bride to Himself. This is the only way the marriage can last for eternity. She must renounce all others and have desires only for Him in accordance with the law of marriage. He renounced all for her. Will she not respond in a favorable decision to Him?
She is not to retain her affection for the things of this earth. Neither is she to covet a return to them. When she responds to His love, she will realize the delight He has for her. He desires the beauty that will come to her as the result of responding to Him. He is concerned for this beauty. This is the beauty of character. His concern is that if she should turn again to her old ways, her beauty will become blemished. There is no place for an amalgamated religion. It must be pure and undefiled.
The bride, the church, is to be subject to Christ as the wife is to the husband. This is the reverence, the love and the honor of which Paul writes in His letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 5:24-31). The husband is to love, cherish, and protect his wife as Christ does the church. The church in turn ought to cherish and love Him.
God who said to His Son, “Thy throne is forever and ever” now addresses the church who, because of being espoused to His Son, He now calls His daughter (Psalm 45:10, 13). She is “all glorious within” and covered with a garment of woven gold. As mentioned above, the gold is that which comes from Christ. It is the gold of faith that works by love and is tested in the fires of affliction (see Galatians 5:6; Revelation 3:18; 1 Peter 1:7). This is the faith that justifies and sanctifies and glorifies. This faith is always associated with Christ’s righteousness given in justification and sanctification, which entitles and fits the bride for marriage to Christ. The glory within is seen without. The glory within is the character of Christ woven into the fabric of her character. God’s glory is His mercy and graciousness, longsuffering, goodness and truth (Exodus 33:18, 19; 34:5, 6).
God speaks of the honors He designed especially for His daughter.
The riches of the universe are laid before her. Her wedding shall be celebrated with a great deal of honor and joy. She shall be brought into the palace of the King of the universe (Psalm 45:14, 15). Even now the inhabitants of the universe are on tiptoe. They await the coming of the bride to the King’s palace and the wedding of all weddings.
In the completion of the mystical body, when the church, the Lamb’s bride-to-be, responds to His love, He knocks at the door of her house and calls to her: “Open for Me, My sister (i.e. spouse), My love, My dove, My perfect one.” Then shall the longing of Christ be satisfied (Song of Solomon 5:1, 2; Revelation 3:20). Then will go out the invitation:
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Then he said to me, ‘Write blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’” (Revelation 19:7-9).
This will be the day of His wedding, “The day of the gladness of His heart” (Song of Solomon 3:11; 2:8). On that day He will break into singing just “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Isaiah 62:5). Yes, the singing Savior “will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17, KJV). On that occasion God’s paean (an expression of feeling by calling on others to rejoice) will be answered as His people from every nation, kindred, tongue and people break into rapturous praise as they unite with God in His song of rejoicing:
“Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You shall see disaster no more” (Zephaniah 3:14, 15).
Psalm 45 ends with unending praise. The praise of this marriage will be perpetual in the tribute of Christ, the Bridegroom for His bride, and in the admiration and appreciation she has for Him. “I will make your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the people shall praise you forever and ever” (verse 18).