And we’ll begin with our New Testament reading this evening, so please turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter one. And we’ll read verses one through nine. Hebrews chapter one, verses one through nine. Listen to this. This is the very word of God. Long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, you are my son, today I have begotten you? Or again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all God’s angels worship him.
Of the angels, he says, he makes his angels winds and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the son, he says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
And now turn to that psalm that most of which we just sang. Please turn to Psalm 45. And that’s the passage, that’s the psalm that we’ll consider during the sermon this evening, Psalm 45. To the choir master, according to Lilies, a masculine of the sons of Korah, a love song.
My heart overflows with a pleasing theme. I address my verses to the king. My tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. You are the most handsome of the sons of men. Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore, God has blessed you forever. Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty. In your majesty, ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies. The peoples fall under you. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. Your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces, stringed instruments make you glad.
Daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor. At your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear. Forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him.
The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people. All glorious is the princess in her chamber with robes interwoven with gold. In many colored robes, she is led to the king with her virgin companions following behind her. With joy and gladness, they are led along as they enter the palace of the king. In place of your fathers shall be your sons. You will make them princes in all the earth. I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore, nations will praise you forever and ever.
That’s the reading of God’s word. Let’s pray for his blessing upon our consideration of it now. Father in heaven, we come now to this psalm, this royal psalm. that speaks so clearly of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We ask you to exalt Him before the eyes of our faith tonight as we consider this glorious psalm together. And may Christ be honored and glorified. And may we be built up in our faith and built up in our love for Christ. We pray in His name. Amen.
Many of you may remember the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Maybe some of you are a little bit too young to remember that. But most of you remember it. And there have been other more recent royal weddings. But that, I think, at least in my lifetime, was the creme de la creme.
Some of the other royal weddings more recently have had a little bit of controversy mixed in. But when Prince Charles the Prince of Wales at the time, married Lady Diana, the whole world was watching. There’s so much hoopla surrounding that event, all the spectacle, there’s news coverage, all the grandeur, and all, you know, everything that everybody’s so fascinated with about the royal family and the royalty there. in England was all on display. This event and many of the preliminaries were broadcast worldwide, and there was enthusiastic commentary on it, commentary on the prince, commentary on the soon-to-be princess, and all the splendor of the ceremony, including the processions going to the venue for the wedding.
Westminster Abbey, wasn’t it? So well, Psalm 45 is about a king. And it’s about his princess, his queen, his bride. And it’s about their wedding. No one can convincingly identify the original context of this psalm, if there was a some other actual wedding in mind, I guess maybe the strongest case could be made for Solomon and his marriage to the daughter of Pharaoh.
But remember that this psalm, like all the psalms, is God’s Word. It’s breathed out by His Spirit. It’s prophecy. And both Christian scholars and Jewish scholars agree that this psalm is messianic. It’s just that our Jewish friends don’t realize that their Messiah has come. And the Messiah to which this psalm points is Jesus of Nazareth. But everybody understands this psalm to be messianic. And it’s very possible, I think this is where I stand on this. It’s possible that this psalm is simply and only messianic prophecy.
In other words, it didn’t have an antecedent in a human earthly wedding at all. And so all the more it points to Jesus. This was what Charles Spurgeon had to say about that, you know, and people’s efforts to say, oh, this was originally about Solomon’s wedding, or it was, you’d be surprised at some of the other hypotheses that are out there. But here’s what Spurgeon said. He said, some see here Solomon and Pharaoh’s daughter only. They are short-sighted. Others see both Solomon and Christ. They are cross-eyed. Well-focused spiritual eyes see here Jesus only. I like that. And that’s where I stand on this.
And because this psalm is all about Jesus, and And then by extension, it’s about us because it’s about his church, which is his bride. This Psalm is very relevant for Christians today. And what it teaches is that redemptive history is steadily moving toward the certain triumph of Jesus Christ and the consummation of his union with his church. Redemptive history is steadily moving toward the certain triumph of Jesus Christ and the consummation of his union with his church.
And the three things we’re going to consider this psalm under, the three points would be as follows. First of all, the person and work of King Jesus. The person and work of King Jesus. Secondly, his holy bride. And thirdly, the kingdom without end. So first of all, let’s see what this psalm is really chiefly about. It’s about Jesus. It’s about the Messiah. It’s about the King. And we know that Jesus is the King. And so this psalm teaches us about the person and work of King Jesus.
I mentioned a moment ago, I guess, in the prayer, that this psalm belongs to a category of psalms, sometimes known as royal psalms, because they speak specifically and very pointedly to the anointed one, the king. Among the royal psalms, the most obvious royal psalms would be, for instance, Psalm 2, where the Lord sets his anointed on his holy hill and says to him, ask of me and I will give you the nations as your inheritance. And then there’s Psalm 110. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. Those are Royal Psalms. Psalm 45 is one of the Royal Psalms.
And all the Royal Psalms look beyond even if there’s an earthly antecedent. such as David. Even if there is one in any given case, all of the royal psalms look beyond earthly kings to the anointed one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfills them all. And so this psalm is really about Christ.
So when we come to verse two, it speaks of the beauty of Christ. You are the most handsome of the sons of men, it says. Now, we can think of other people in Scripture throughout the history of God’s people that were noted in particular for being handsome.
The Scripture says that Joseph was a very handsome man. That’s why Potiphar’s wife set her eyes on him. When Israel asked for a king, God raised up Saul for them for a time. Saul, we’re told, was a handsome man. David was ruddy and handsome, the scriptures say. And then maybe the one that takes the cake would be Absalom. He’s just said to be more handsome than any of anyone in Israel. He’s just a really good looking guy, Absalom.
Now, Christ’s beauty, isn’t and wasn’t necessarily like that, especially when we consider other things we find in Scripture, Christ’s beauty isn’t essentially a physical beauty. Even if he was a good looking man, we don’t, we obviously, you know, we’re even prohibited to do images of him to create representations of him, which there would be no profit in it, it would actually be a positive violation of God’s law. But when, when Scripture makes reference to Christ and his appearance. The only references we have to that would be in the Old Testament prophecy where in Isaiah 53 verse two, foretelling the Messiah, it says, he had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him.
Now, part of the point there is people were drawn in multitudes to Jesus, but it wasn’t because he is this great looking charismatic guy. you know, not the kind of face that would appear on the cover of GQ magazine. They were drawn to him because of his teaching, because of his righteousness. And it’s possible if we if we take Isaiah 53 to literally, it’s possible that he was actually a very plain looking man, maybe even unattractive. I don’t know. I don’t want to offend anybody’s sensibilities about that. But when we think of the beauty of Christ, it’s not about his physical appearance. Christ’s beauty transcends that.
The beauty of Christ rests in his own love for the unlovely, for me, for you. The idea that Jesus loves me, And we can know this because His Word tells us so. That’s the beauty of Christ, that He’s a friend of sinners, that He loves us. Christ’s beauty rests in the fact that He would lay down His life for us so that we could be with Him for eternity.
And it speaks of His grace. The second half of verse two says, grace is poured upon your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever. Now in the Hebrew, that phrase, grace is poured upon your lips can be translated, grace flows from your lips. But either way you translate it, it’s inevitable that our thoughts go to that passage that we saw in Luke chapter four not all that long ago. Remember when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth. And it says, that all spoke well of him and they marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And some of our English versions say, the gracious words that were falling from his lips. So that takes us right back to Psalm 45. Grace flows from the lips of the king. And then when we get to verses three through five, we see that this king, this anointed one that the psalm speaks of, is a warrior.
He’s a warrior king. But he exerts his military might to advance truth, the text says. Ride out and victoriously for the cause of truth. And he stands for the meek. This is no tyrant, in other words. He promotes righteousness. That’s how he exercises his power. That’s the end to which he exercises his power for truth and meekness and righteousness.
And so one commentator said, the pattern set for the Davidic king is that he would be unrelenting in his protection of the poor and of the weak. This is a king who defends the helpless. Another thing we see about this king, as we’re considering this psalm in terms of sort of a Christology, what it says about the person and work of King Jesus, we find out the king that Psalm 45 is talking about was a man. Verse two, you are the most handsome of the sons of men. He’s a man of flesh and blood. But the psalm also introduces the idea that he’s no mere man.
So in the last part of verse two, it says God has blessed you forever. Maybe that’s not quite as explicit because we could even say the same of ourselves. We are blessed forever because we’ll spend eternity in glory with the one who gave his life for us. But as we continue through the psalm, we see other references to Eternal things, references that can’t speak of anything to do with a mere man. For instance, in verse 6, it says, your throne is forever and ever. And then look at verse 17, I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore, nations will praise you forever and ever.
All these statements that pertain to eternity are spoken to or spoken of someone who comes from among the sons of men. For his throne to be everlasting, he has to be an everlasting person. So somehow, this man is an eternal man. He’s an eternal being, an eternal person. And it gets more intriguing than that.
If we look at verses six and seven, your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.
What we have here is a Messiah who is God, and yet worships God. The only way for that to be so is someone who, in a very primitive Old Testament understanding, is both man and God. God and man. Now, the psalmist isn’t disoriented. In verse six, he’s addressing the king and calling him God. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. But in verse seven, therefore, God, your God, has anointed you. The words are chosen carefully. The psalmist isn’t confused. The Holy Spirit is the author here. These words are very precise.
And the only solution to this mystery is Christ. This mystery is only resolved. This conundrum is only unraveled in Christ himself. And so what we read in verse 6 of Psalm 45, we also read in the book of Hebrews chapter 1. That makes it abundantly clear that all of this is about our Lord Jesus. Now, granted, this is not a thorough study of the person and work of Christ. This wouldn’t pass muster for a systematic theology text. But it does present the glory of Christ, places the glory of Christ before our eyes as a king who is God and man, and a king who promotes righteousness. So that’s the person and work of King Jesus.
But then we have his bride. As we come to our second point, his holy bride, as we sing in the Church’s One Foundation, from heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride. We see the bride here. Now, the Old Testament, on a number of occasions, depicts God as a husband and the people of Israel as his bride.
That same exact imagery, as you well know, carries over into the New Testament with the church as the bride of Christ. She’s referred to in this psalm as the queen, but she’s also referred to as a princess in verse 13, which suggests that this queen is of royal lineage herself.
And we read of the homage of Tyre being brought to her. And the homage of Tyre is a messianic motif, because Tyre was this very significant city to the north of Israel. It was a very wealthy city. It was a major trade center. And so that nation. although smaller and in most ways inferior to Israel, especially when Israel was at the height of its power. It was a very wealthy nation and in a lot of respects kind of came to represent the wealth of the nations and all of its influence.
And here in the psalm, we have Tyre seeking the queen’s favor, which indicates that she is reigning alongside the king. And all this opulent imagery that we see in the text, it says the queen stands next to the king in gold of Ophir. Not all gold is created equal. So that’s why the Psalms say that God’s word is more to be desired than gold, yay, than much fine gold. There’s gold and then there’s really good gold. The gold of Ophir had the reputation of being some of the best gold there was, maybe the best. And that’s what the queen is wearing here, gold of Ophir. And it says she’s dressed in these robes that are interwoven with gold. And so that opulent imagery represents the spiritual riches of the church.
And above anything else, what is the, what are, if we think of the spiritual riches of the church, above all else, that must refer to the righteousness of Christ. which is a theme running through this psalm. We see righteousness again and again. Righteousness of Christ, His perfect righteousness that’s imputed to us, imputed to His church, but also the personal holiness, which is righteousness. And we have to be careful there, and I know that probably a tendency for most of us to say, wait, wait, wait, don’t throw my righteousness in there. I’m trusting only in the righteousness of Christ. And I say, amen.
But what we read in Revelation 19, 8, for example, as the Bride of Christ, the Church, the Bride of the Lamb is presented, it says in Revelation 19.8, it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. So because of Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to us, His people, we also are able to truly do, in the power of His Spirit, truly do good works.
And we’re rewarded for those. And they are righteousness. And that’s what all this imagery represents, what it depicts for us. Gold of Ophir, the queen is bedecked with. You also see that the bride’s procession, which we find in verse 14, where her virgin companions following behind her with joy and gladness, they’re led along as they enter the palace of the king. The bride’s procession parallels the king’s procession. as he processes out in majesty to get the victory over the nations. So the grandeur of the bride corresponds to and is derived from the grandeur of the king. We see too that the psalm begins with the king on his throne and it ends with the bride beside the king.
And in Psalm 2, excuse me, verse 10, verse 10, we read, hear O daughter and consider, and incline your ear, forget your people and your father’s house. That’s a call to this bride to abandon her past allegiances. And what it means for us, what the significance of that is for us, as Christ’s people is it’s a call to us to renounce the world. It’s a call to us to renounce all things for Christ. To give up everything for him so that we can be his holy bride.
Well, the king and his holy bride enjoy, will enjoy a kingdom that has no end. That’s our third and final point, the kingdom without end. We read of the king riding out victoriously, which signifies the establishment and the securing of his kingdom. Throughout history and including history that we read in the Bible, each time a new king accedes to the throne, There’s a period of time in which he has to secure his reign. He has to make sure that his enemies, his opponents, anyone who might be a threat in some way to his reign is put out of the way or dealt with one way or another.
And the psalm portrays Christ doing that for his kingdom. Although for him, it’s not much of a contest. There’s no question. There’s no doubt about the security of his kingdom. But the psalm portrays that way, him establishing and securing his kingdom.
And the cause for which he stands in his kingdom, again, is truth, meekness, righteousness, and Because of that, the king’s enemies that are spoken of in the psalm would be anyone who opposes those things. Anyone who’s opposed to the truth. Anyone who’s proud. And haughty. Because he goes out for the cause of meekness. Anyone who opposes righteousness, those are the enemies of the king. And they’ll fall. Peoples, it says, peoples will fall under you. And that can be taken two ways. And I think it’s intended both ways. In other words, these aren’t mutually exclusive aspects of this thing. When it says peoples will fall under you, that first of all, certainly speaks of the defeat of enemies. It speaks of the defeat and the demise of those who refuse to bow to the King. But I think it also speaks of people who fall down in willing submission to the King.
It’s like Jesus’ own exposition of that foundation stone that God laid in Zion. a tried stone, precious cornerstone. And when Jesus was describing that stone, he says, the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. The stone does two things. It destroys opponents, but it also humbles and unites those who are being joined to and submitting to Christ. That stone of stumbling.
So the point being is that this King, and we know to be the Lord Jesus, he’s going to rule over all. Christopher Ashe, writing on this psalm, said, this war, the one that’s alluded to in the psalm, this war is fought for truth in a world of lies, for meekness in a world of pride, and for righteousness in a world of injustice. His victory, Christ’s victory, will usher in a new creation, the new creation. So when his victory is complete, that’s when the new heavens and the new earth will come in. And he will sit on his glorious throne, and his throne, Psalm 45 teaches us, is forever.
Think a moment about the covenant God made with David. He said, he promised David that one of his descendants would sit on his throne forever. And that can’t possibly be fulfilled in anyone else but Jesus. And so when it says in verse 16, in the place of your father shall be your sons, you will make them princes in all the earth. That’s fulfilled in the church. That’s fulfilled in you. It’s being fulfilled in you and will be fulfilled in you because God through Christ is making us to be kings and priests to our God.
And in that other Royal Psalm, Psalm 2, We’re told that Jesus receives the nations as his inheritance. And so the psalm closes with the words, therefore nations will praise you forever and ever. When the angel appeared to Mary and announced that she’s gonna have a son, one of the things that the angel said to Mary was, of his kingdom, there will be no end. and that’s where history is headed.
That’s the trajectory of all of human history. I said in the beginning, redemptive history is steadily moving towards that certain triumph. And redemptive history, I like that phrase, I like that term because it’s not like a subset of history in the big sense. In fact, history is actually a subset of redemptive history, because God’s redemptive history extends into eternity past in the Council of the Trinity before there was anything, before anything was created. And then it extends into eternity. So history is actually smaller than redemptive history.
And all of redemptive history is steadily moving toward the triumph of Jesus Christ. Christ will triumph over all of his enemies. He’ll draw all of his elect to himself. He’ll come again to judge the living and the dead, and he’ll usher in his kingdom of glory.
So Psalm 45 is especially about the king. He’s the focus. He’s the subject of it. But Psalm 45 is also spoken in the hearing of the queen. It addresses the queen. Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear. Because this psalm is written for the queen to exalt the king in her sight. Or as one author put it, to thrill the queen’s heart over her beloved.
Reflecting on the words of this psalm can help us in the same way. meditate on Psalm 45, in order to elevate your king in your own estimation. You are the church, you are his bride. So how do we wean ourselves from the world? And how do we put to death our love of the things of the world? The way to do it is to grow in love for Christ, and the Psalm will help. It’s the greatest of all blessings to be in union with Christ. It’s the greatest of all blessings to be reconciled to God through Christ.
And his love is unchanging. It never grows cold. He himself never changes. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. And already today, because of his gospel, because of his work that he’s begun in us, we already enjoy union with him. But that union, will be completed and perfected when he returns for us.
Let’s pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for King Jesus. Lord, turn our eyes away from the things of this world and fix our eyes on the beauty of Christ and of his holiness. Lord, help us to seek To purify ourselves through the means of grace that you supply.
Help us to strive for holiness, that we might be that holy bride. And we look forward to this kingdom that’s gonna have no end. We’re so thankful that you have assigned us a place in it. So help us more and more eagerly to look forward to it and to point others to it as well. This we ask in Jesus’ name, amen. A lot of the same imagery that we found in Psalm 45 is found in hymn number 471. So take your Trinity Psalter hymnal, turn to 471, and let’s conclude our worship service by singing, The Sands of Time Are Sinking, 471.