Can you remember the songs you chose for your wedding? They should represent the love you have for one another to your gathered guests. They can create atmosphere.
Every Breathe You Take, by the Police, was, and maybe still is, wildly popular at weddings. Have you listened to it? Here is a sampling of the lyrics:
Every move you make, and every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I’ll be watching you
Since you’ve gone I’ve been lost without a trace
I dream at night, I can only see your face
I look around but it’s you I can’t replace
I feel so cold and I long for your embrace
I keep crying, “Baby, baby, please”
Oh, can’t you see you belong to me
How my poor heart aches with every step you take
Not exactly a romantic love song. It’s clear she left him, broke her vows, but he thinks she “belongs” to him. It sounds like he is sinking into a sociopathic despair. She might need to go into WitSec. It’s just creepy.
Psalm 45 is “a song of love” between a groom and his bride. It’s a wedding song. While it might have been sung at the ceremony of a Hebrew king, it most certainly looks forward to the wedding that is a prominent feature in the Second Coming of Jesus to earth. In the Revelation, we read, “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 righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ “(19:7-10).
“The Lamb” is a name of Jesus Christ. It is used of Him around twenty-nine times in the Revelation. He is the Groom.
A “saint” is anyone and everyone who has been drawn to Jesus by the Cross, by which He is the Savior of all men – especially those who believe.
Psalm 45 is an old fashioned love song that has staying power, written by a saint in love with the Lord that he’s talking about, under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit.
The song has these two movements:
In verses one through nine, the song calls your attention to the majesty of the Groom’s arrival.
The remaining verses are about the beauty of the bride as she appears with Him.
I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 Your Groom Will Be Revealed In His Majesty, then #2 Your Groom Will Then Reveal You In Your Beauty.
#1 – Your Groom Will Be Revealed In His Majesty (v1-9)
Merging two lives into one sounds so romantic. But Bono is apparently disappointed that fans don’t see how utterly unromantic are the lyrics of the U2 song, One. “I have certainly met a hundred people who’ve had it at their weddings. I tell them, ‘Are you mad? It’s about splitting up!’ ” The lines like “We’re one/ But we’re not the same/ We hurt each other/ Then we do it again” aren’t really wedding material.
As we proceed, think of Psalm 42 as our more appropriate wedding processional song.
Psa 45:1 To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Lilies.” A Contemplation of the Sons of Korah. A Song of Love. My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
David delivered this psalm to “the Chief Musician.” I wonder how many songs were submitted by various artists? There are extra-biblical books that aren’t considered inspired. There must have been extra-biblical psalms. Solomon, for example, wrote a thousand songs; but only one is in the Bible. David must have certified this one inspired before submitting it.
“Set to ‘The Lilies.’” This may have been a well-known tune. Or it may refer to a stringed instrument of a certain shape.
“A Contemplation of the Sons of Korah.” We’ve said before that this means the Sons of Korah were the particular worship team selected to perform certain psalms.
“A Song of Love.” More than love, it is a song for the wedding of the beloved.
“My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.”
This reads like an intro to the song itself. David often wrote of his despair; of his exile; of the suffering of his soul. This psalm had a very “good” theme.
“My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” I’m sure that God didn’t always give David the same experience in songwriting. We don’t know if this song came to him all at once, or a little at a time. We do know he had to be “ready” to write it down. I envision him being interrupted in his kingly business to jot down bits and pieces of it.
As we get into the song, there is something we must bear in mind. This song was undoubtedly sung at royal weddings. It’s first application was as a popular wedding song.
But it is immediately obvious something more was going on. In verse six, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” You cannot really say that about any earthly king.
The writer to the Hebrew Christians was inspired by the Holy Spirit to quote from this psalm, applying it to Jesus, cementing the truth that it looks beyond any earthly wedding.
It’s thus OK for us to read back into it the fuller revelation we have in the completed Word of God. At the same time, we want to preserve the beauty of the psalm as a love song by not over-doing it.
Psa 45:2 You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever.
All true of Jesus:
“Fairer” is a great romantic word we rarely use anymore. One of its meanings is, “attractive.” Jesus had and has an attractiveness. He attracts people to Himself, because He loves them, and died for them.
“Grace is poured upon Your lips.” No one ever spoke the way Jesus did. Anything you think He said or says will be overflowing with grace.
“God has blessed You forever,” in that the wedding of the Lamb and His saints is what all human history has been moving toward; and it will last forever.
Psa 45:3 Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, With Your glory and Your majesty.
I think it’s cool when the groom gets married in uniform. The groom-king in this psalm was girt with a sword. It anticipated Jesus, in His Second Coming.
In His case, His “sword” is the word He speaks, conquering a hostile world gathered against Him.
He’ll “ride” a great, white steed at His Second Coming.
Psa 45:4 And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.
Because Jesus humbled Himself to come as a man, His Father’s right-hand of authority was upon Jesus so He might embody truth, humility, and righteousness, thereby prospering – succeeding – as our Savior.
Psa 45:5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies; The peoples fall under You.
Our future wedding procession will be unusual. We return with Jesus at the height of the Battle of Armageddon on the earth.
You might say that it is a destination wedding: “You’re invited to the wedding of the ages, to be held in the Valley of Megiddo, at the Battle of Armageddon. Dress is your robe of righteousness. You’re saved for the date.”
The armies of the world turn on Jesus; they are destroyed, easily.
Psa 45:6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
Eternity… With Jesus… In glorified bodies that have free will but that can no longer sin… Righteousness restored to God’s fallen Creation. Huge “Wow!” factor.
Psa 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
Trinitarian note: “God” the Father anointed Jesus; and that anointing was by the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Father; Son; Spirit. One God; three Persons.
To be full with the Holy Spirit means to have an inner, unspeakable gladness.
No one ever lived so filled with, so led by, the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the example.
As a man, Jesus loved all that was right, while hating all that was wrong. I interpret that as meaning He was motivated by righteousness to go to the Cross to destroy wrong once-for-all.
Psa 45:8 All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, Out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.
Jesus doesn’t rent a tux that doesn’t fit. He’ll have specially made, specially scented, garments. Being “glad” is again highlighted.
Psa 45:9 Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.
Remember – this psalm was not wholly written for the Second Coming. We aren’t looking to make very statement prophetic. Forcing the “Kings daughters” to mean something is one way analytics can ruin this psalm. This could describe the weddings of any number of Hebrew kings.
It is a good segue to the second movement of the psalm.
We are not accustomed to a wedding that focuses so much attention on the Groom. How can you not first see Jesus, proceeding from Heaven, sword-girded, upon His steed, preceding but leading His blood-bought, declared righteous, glorified bride, to establish, rule and reign over the Kingdom of God on the earth?
#2 – Your Groom Will Then Reveal You In Your Beauty (v10-17)
Wedding ceremonies are essentially reality makeovers. Saying “Yes!” to the Dress… picking out an Amazing Wedding Cake… asking Whose Wedding is it, Anyway… and potentially turning into Bridezillas.
As for grooms, around these parts its more like My Big Redneck Wedding.
In the remaining verses, here comes the bride.
Psa 45:10 Listen, O daughter, Consider and incline your ear; Forget your own people also, and your father’s house;
It’s a more jealously romantic way of saying you should make your family and friends subordinate to your marriage. Applied to us and Jesus, we must put Him undeniably first, sometimes at the cost of losing family and friends.
Jealousy. We think of it as something bad. I’m glad that God is jealous over me – loving me fiercely, protectively.
Psa 45:11 So the King will greatly desire your beauty; Because He is your Lord, worship Him.
This contains yet another clue the psalmist was looking at an eternal wedding. The Groom deserved worship – something reserved for God alone.
BTW: Since the Groom is Jesus, this is a statement of His Deity.
Psa 45:12 And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; The rich among the people will seek your favor.
Psa 45:13 The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace; Her clothing is woven with gold.
Psa 45:14 She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors; The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You.
Psa 45:15 With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; They shall enter the King’s palace.
These four verses sing like they are wholly about a real royal wedding in Israel. There is nothing here to indicate that Jesus’ Second Coming with His bride is being described. I’ll again say that we must be careful to not read into the Bible things that aren’t intended.
Psa 45:16 Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons, Whom You shall make princes in all the earth.
Sounds like a toast to the groom that he would have many royal sons in the kingdom.
Now that is something we can apply to our union with Jesus. By our preaching the Gospel, revealing the King, those who believe become sons and daughters in the Heavenly family, kingdom kids.
It’s a new metaphor. We are like a bride; but we are also like sons and daughters. God uses many metaphors, smilies, types, and illustrations to show us what a relationship with Him is like.
Psa 45:17 I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; Therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.
A future King, and His bride, who will go on through generations, then forever and ever. That’s exactly how things are going to go:
The “generations” hints to the one-thousand year reign of Jesus from Jerusalem over the post-Tribulation world.
“Forever and ever” is eternity.
We should each be stunned by the statement, “the King will greatly desire your beauty.” Not our natural beauty, but the beauty Jesus makes us over to. He sees us after His work is through.
The Christian life is a makeover:
You were born “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). You might say you are the Corpse Bride.
When Jesus comes into your life, you are born-again, “made… alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5).
Over the course of your new life, you “are being transformed into the… image [of Jesus] from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (Second Corinthians 3:18).
When Jesus comes to resurrect and rapture the church, “we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (First Corinthians 15:51-52) when “the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (First Thessalonians 4:16-17).
In Heaven, “we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (First John 3:2).
Maranatha!