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Scripture Reading: Psa. 45
I. Psalm 45 presents a complete view, a full picture, of Christ’s beauty, which is in Christ Himself (vv. 1-8), as unveiled in the four Gospels (in the stage of His incarnation); in the church, His wife (vv. 9-15), as revealed in the Epistles (in the stage of His inclusion); and in all His sons, the overcomers as the princes (vv. 16-17), as seen in Revelation (in the stage of His intensification):
А. This psalm praises Christ not only concerning the things that are of Him directly but also concerning the things that are of Him indirectly, as manifested through His church and His overcomers.
B. Our speaking well of the church and the believers is also a praise to Christ — cf. Num. 23:21; 24:9b.
II. “Hear, O daughter, and see; and incline your ear; / And forget your people and your father’s house; / Thus the King will desire your beauty” — Psa. 45:10-11a:
А. All the local churches must learn how to hear and how to forget, how to hear the Spirit’s living, up-to-date speaking and how to forget the past — the old relationships, the old ways, and the old background.
B. The more we forget the past and go on with the Lord in a new way, the more beautiful we become in the King’s eyes.
III. Psalm 45, the highest and greatest of all the psalms, is one of the psalms of the sons of Korah, a song of love according to the melody of lilies:
А. The great work of God is to restore the desolated building of God and to recover “the sons of Korah” by transforming rebellious ones, through His unlimited mercy and grace, into Christ’s overcomers to make them the constituents of His bride, His overcoming queen — Num. 16:1-3; Psa. 42, title; 106:16; 1 Chron. 6:33-37; Psa. 88, title; Rev. 19:7-9.
B. If we are those who affectionately love the Lord, we eventually become His love, His favorite — S. S. 1:1-4, 14-15; 2:4.
C. A lily denotes a pure, simple, single life of trusting in God — vv. 1-2; Matt. 6:28-29; cf. 1 Kings 7:17-19.
IV. If we have an affectionate love for the Lord Jesus, our tongue will be the pen of a ready writer, ready to write our love for Him and our praise to Him with our experience and enjoyment of Him according to all that He is — Psa. 45:1; Matt. 12:34b; 2 Cor. 3:3, 6; Isa. 6:5-7.
V. The psalmist praises Christ the King in His fairness; Christ is fairer than the sons of men — Psa. 45:1-2 cf. 27:4b; S. S. 5:9-16:
А. Grace is poured upon Christ’s lips — Luke 4:17-22; cf. Eph. 4:29-30.
B. Because the man Jesus is fair, sweet, and full of grace, God has been moved to bless Him forever — Rom. 9:5.
VI. The psalmist praises Christ the King in His victory — Psa. 45:3-5:
А. In the eyes of Satan and his fallen angels, Christ is the mighty One who has girded His sword upon His thigh, the One with majesty and splendor as signs of His victory — v. 3.
B. In His splendor Christ rides on victoriously because of truth, meekness, and righteousness; regardless of what the situation is on earth, regardless of what the nations are doing, Christ is riding on triumphantly, prosperously; from the day of His ascension He began to ride on, and He will continue to ride until He comes back in victory — v. 4a; Acts 5:31; Rev. 6:2; 19:11-16.
C. His right hand performs awesome deeds; Christ’s awesome deeds include His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension; everything that the Lord Jesus does, whether great or small, is awesome — Psa. 45:4b.
D. His arrows are sharp in the heart of His enemies, and the peoples fall under Him — v. 5; cf. Rev. 6:2.
VII. The psalmist praises Christ the King in His kingdom — Psa. 45:6-7:
А. As God, Christ’s throne is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of His kingdom — v. 6; Heb. 1:8.
B. As the King, Christ has loved righteousness and hated wickedness, and God the Father has anointed Christ with the oil of gladness above His companions — Psa. 45:7; Heb. 1:9.
VIII. The psalmist praises Christ the King in the sweetness of His virtues — Psa. 45:8; cf. 1 Pet. 2:9:
А. All His garments smell of myrrh and aloes and of cassia — Psa. 45:8a:
1. Garments signify Christ’s deeds and virtues; myrrh and aloes signify the sweetness of His death; and cassia signifies the fragrance and repelling power of Christ’s resurrection.
2. The way to experience Christ in His crucifixion by the power of His resurrection is by the Spirit Himself, who is in our spirit — cf. S. S. 2:8-14; Rom. 8:16; Phil. 3:10.
B. From palaces of ivory, harpstrings have made Him glad — Psa. 45:8b:
1. Palaces signify the local churches; ivory, a bone-like substance, signifies the resurrection life of Christ (John 19:36 cf. S. S. 7:4; 4:4; 1 Kings 10:18); and harpstrings signify praises.
2. The local churches are beautiful in the eyes of the Lord and are His expression, and they are built with the resurrection life of Christ; from the local churches come the praises that make Him glad.
IX. The psalmist praises Christ the King in the praising of the queen with the daughters of kings among the king’s most prized (honorable) women and the virgins, the queen’s companions — Psa. 45:9-15:
А. The queen typifies the church, especially the overcomers, as the unique wife of Christ, and the honorable women around the queen signify Christ’s overcoming guests; this indicates that the bride of Christ is actually a group of overcomers — vv. 9-10:
1. The daughters of kings signify the believers of Christ in their royalty.
2. The king’s most prized women signify the believers of Christ in their honor and majesty.
B. The king desires the queen’s beauty; the queen’s beauty signifies the virtues of Christ expressed through the church — v. 11:
1. The beauty of the bride comes from the Christ who is wrought into the church and who is then expressed through the church — Eph. 1:17-23; 3:16-21; 5:25-27.
2. Our only beauty is the shining out of Christ from within us; what Christ appreciates in us is the expression of Himself — Phil. 1:20; 2:15-16; Isa. 60:1, 5; cf. Exo. 28:2.
C. In Psalm 45 the queen has two garments:
1. The first garment is the gold of Ophir, the woven work inwrought with gold — vv. 9b, 13b:
a. This garment corresponds to Christ as our objective righteousness, which is for our salvation — Luke 15:22; 1 Cor. 1:30; Isa. 61:10.
b. The queen’s being covered with gold signifies the church’s appearing in the divine nature — Psa. 45:9b; 2 Pet. 1:4.
c. The garment of woven work inwrought with gold signifies that the Christ who has been dealt with through death and resurrection is the righteousness of the church to meet the righteous requirement of God for her to be justified before God — Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3:26.
2. The second garment is the embroidered clothing — Psa. 45:14a:
a. This garment corresponds to Christ lived out of us as our subjective righteousnesses, which are for our victory — Rev. 19:8.
b. As our subjective righteousnesses, Christ is the One dwelling in us to live for us a life that is always acceptable to God — Phil. 3:9; Matt. 5:6, 20; Rom. 8:4; cf. Psa. 23:3.
c. The garment of embroidered clothing signifies that the church will be led to Christ clothed with the righteousnesses of the saints to meet the requirement of Christ for their marriage — Rev. 19:8; cf. Matt. 22:11-14.
D. The king’s daughter is all glorious within the royal abode, and the virgins will enter the king’s palace — Psa. 45:13a, 14-15:
1. The king’s daughter is the queen, signifying the church, and her being all glorious within the royal abode signifies the glorious church taking Christ as her royal abode — v. 13a; John 15:4a.
2. We take Christ as our abode, we become His abode, and this mutual abode eventually becomes the palace, which signifies the New Jerusalem — 14:23; 15:5; Psa. 45:15b; Rev. 21:3, 22.
X. The psalmist praises Christ the King in the praising of His sons, His descendants — Psa. 45:16-17:
А. “In the place of Your fathers will be Your sons; / You will make them princes in all the earth” — v. 16:
1. Here fathers signifies Christ’s forefathers in the flesh, sons signifies the overcomers of Christ as His descendants, and princes signifies the overcomers of Christ as His co-kings, who will reign with Christ over the nations — Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6.
2. Only Christ the King reigning on the earth with the overcomers as His helpers in the kingship can solve the problems of today’s world — Isa. 42:1-4; Hag. 2:7a.
B. Christ’s name will be remembered in all generations through the overcoming saints, and Christ will be praised by the nations through His overcoming and co-reigning saints — Psa. 45:17.
