Psalm 45 is a love song – according to the superscription which reads: “To the choirmaster: According to Lilies. A maskil of the Sons of Korah; A love song”. Think about what a good love song does for your heart.
For those of you who have found a spouse, a love song might remind you of the love that you share between the two of you. But a good love song can also create a sense of despair or loneliness if you have experienced an absence of love or if you have experienced a love gone wrong. A love song can also cause you to dream of what it might be like to experience a love that never ends. Music has a profound effect on our emotions; it can make us feel all sorts of things from anger to sadness to joy to anticipation.
Not only is this Psalm a love song, but the Psalmist is absolutely overjoyed to write this song. His heart is literally overflowing “with a pleasing theme” (he feels a sense of overwhelming pleasure) and he also says that his “tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe” (vs. 1). He is so excited to write this song because his heart is full of the image of a majestic groom and a beautiful bride on their wedding day.
Think about all the beauty, and all of the anticipation and all of the joy of a wedding day. Think about the butterflies in your stomach as the groom takes his place up front waiting for his bride. Think about the sense of awe when the doors swing open and the bride in all her beauty enters the room. A wedding day is a day that is full of anticipation, beauty, excitement, and joy.
You see, most scholars believe that Psalm 45 was written to help Israel remember the day when King Solomon married his bride, and our Psalmist is literally poised with anticipation and excitement as he thinks about what he is going to say about the King and his Bride as they walk down the aisle to be united together in marriage.2
While it may true that Solomon’s wedding day is the setting that sets the tone for this Psalm, it becomes obvious that this Psalm is about so much more than the royal wedding of a human king and queen. Israel could definitely read or sing this Psalm and be reminded of King Solomon’s wedding day, but I think they would also read or sing this Psalm in anticipation of a future wedding in Heaven between God and his bride. I think this is the way we should study this Psalm – in anticipation and excitement for the day when we are fully united to Jesus in Heaven.
You can see that this Psalm is about so much more than an earthly wedding especially when you pay attention to the language of verses 6 – 7 where it becomes increasingly clear that Solomon’s wedding is meant to help us to look forward to the return of Jesus (our groom) – the one whose throne is eternal and the one who has been anointed by God (vv. 6 – 7) – the one who will come back someday to be eternally united to his bride for all eternity (according to Eph. 5).
What do you think that day will be like? What do you think it will be like to be the bride of Jesus? What do you think it will be like to see Jesus for the very first time? I think it will be just like what the Psalmist says when he says that his heart is overflowing with words about the King and the queen and their offspring. I think it will be a day when everything we have ever longed for comes to fruition in ways that are hard to express. Look at how the Psalmist describes the King on his wedding day!
1My heart overflows with a pleasing theme; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 2You are the most handsome of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever. 3Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and majesty! 4In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds! 5Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; the peoples fall under you. 6Your throne, O Lord, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 8your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; 9daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. 10Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house, 11and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him. 12The people of Tyre, will seek your favor with gifts, the richest of the people. 13All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. 14In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her. 15With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king. 16In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth. 17I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
#1: THE KING ON HIS WEDDING DAY (VV. 2 – 9)
In verses 2 – 9 our Psalmist describes the king on his wedding day as the most handsome of men whose words are full of grace, he is a mighty warrior with his sword on his side and he rides in victory across the earth (vv. 2 – 3). He is totally committed to truth, humility, and righteousness and the activity of his life is nothing short of awesome (v. 4). He opposes and crushes his enemies with arrows that never miss the mark of the center of the heart, his throne can never be overthrown, he loves everything that is pure, and he hates everything that is dirty (vv. 5 – 7).
He has been chosen and anointed by God and his clothing is full of the fragrance of the purest cologne that money can buy (vv. 7 – 8). He enjoys good music on “stringed instruments” (maybe he loves good rock and roll or good old-fashioned blues) and the women around him are women of honor (they are not sleazy gold diggers) – not to mention the Queen herself who is covered in the finest gold on the face of the planet (vv. 8 – 9).
The King on his wedding day looks like the perfect man. He is pleasing to the eye, he is committed to godliness, he is opposed to evil, he knows how to dress himself well, he loves good music, the women in his company are honorable ladies, and his Queen is radiant in all her beauty. In a word, the King on his wedding day is absolutely awe inspiring. When you see him you are left speechless and in awe of his majesty.
To be in his presence is to be in the presence of absolute perfection. Nothing is broken in this man. He does not have that look about him that makes you wonder if he is there for his own pleasure or not. You can tell by the women in his company that he actually loves, and cares, and protects those who are the vulnerable among us.
You never question his loyalty, and you never fear what an enemy might do to you, because this King is the perfect vision of a man. This man will never leave you, forsake you, use you, exploit you, demean you, condemn you, abuse you, neglect you or be ashamed of you. This man will love you, care for you, protect you, and nurture you. This King is the perfect vision of a real man. The same is true of his soon to be Queen; she is the real deal!
#2: THE QUEEN ON HER WEDDING DAY (VV. 10 – 15)
Look at how the Psalmist describes the Queen on her wedding day in verses 10 – 15. The first thing our Psalmist does is he instructs the queen to be thoughtful, to listen, to leave her father’s house, and to submit to her king, and he promises that if she follows his instructions, then the King will fall in love with her beauty (vv. 10 – 11).
In other words, the Queen will be beautiful if she is thoughtful, if she listens, if she resists her old life, and if she submits to her king. How good it would be if believers practiced these things: Thinking about Jesus, listening to Jesus, resisting our old lives of sin, and submitting to Jesus as the King of our lives. The bride of Christ is never more beautiful than when she practices wholehearted devotion to her King!
Our Psalmist moves on with his description when he points out that the Queen in all her beauty will attract the attention of the wealthiest people on the planet because she is committed to purity in the privacy of her own home (vv. 12 – 13). Her purity literally attracts wealthy people from around the world.
She is clothed in robes of pure gold and sparkling colors in the company of her friends who know what it means to strive for holiness, ,purity and faithfulness (vv. 13 – 14). The joy and the gladness that surrounds the Queen and her company is the direct result of year upon year of looking forward to her wedding day; she has labored hard to be ready to present herself to her husband as a pure gift of love, and devotion, and faithfulness. The Queen on her wedding day is the perfect vision of beauty.
#3: THE OFFSPRING OF THE KING AND QUEEN (VV. 16 – 17)
Can you imagine what kind of offspring this couple will produce? Our Psalmist says that the offspring of the King and the Queen will be like royal princes and that they will bring honor and glory to the name of the King for generations which will cause the King to be praised for all of eternity (vv. 16 – 17).
Charles Spurgeon recognized that when the church – the Bride of Christ – was fully committed to Jesus as her Husband and King, then and only then would the power of the gospel spread throughout the earth as though princes were traveling like ambassadors for the one true kingdom of the cross.3The offspring of the King and the Queen are nothing less than the disciples that are being reproduced in the earthly ministry of the church whose sole purpose is bound up in praising and worshipping and extending the kingdom of the King.
CONCLUSION…
When I think about the picture that the Psalmist paints here of the King and the Queen on their wedding day and the offspring that are being produced through the union of Jesus and his bride – the church – I am kind of left with a feeling of awe and anticipation.
As awe inspiring as a majestic wedding day can be here on this earth – nothing can compare with what the future wedding day of Jesus and his Church will be like. And yet, I recognize that we all struggle day in and day out with our own pursuits of what seems glorious, and beautiful, and breathtaking, and joy-giving. What causes me to lose focus on the anticipation, joy, and awe of my current and future union with Jesus?
We desire and pursue relationships, wealth, power, prestige, comfort, security, and a whole laundry list of noble pursuits that can make the anticipation of a wedding day seem small by comparison. There is nothing wrong with these pursuits, necessarily, unless those pursuits cause us to sing songs about them to the neglect of our praise and worship of our crucified, risen, and returning King.
There is nothing and no one that is more desirable than our crucified, risen, and returning Savior. I think that when we find ourselves bogged down in the anticipation of earthly things, or the despair of lacking earthly things, we need only to catch a fresh vision of the King and the Queen on their wedding day and the offspring they are called to produce.
I think we would do well to take note that Jesus is the best King we could ever hope for because he gave his life as a ransom for us while we were still stuck in our sin so that we could become his perfect and beautiful bride. All that we have to do is fully surrender to him time and time again as we think upon him, listen to him, resist our old lives, and devote ourselves to making disciples who act like princes throughout the earth to the glory and the praise of God.
So, what is it that causes you not to anticipate the coming of our King? What earthly pursuits have watered down your excitement for Jesus? Have you been experiencing some kind of loss or despair over something that have lost or have lost hope of ever gaining? I know I find myself in one of these places periodically.
Sometimes I get so focused on seemingly good goals that I forget that I am just passing through this life and headed towards a wedding day with Jesus in the future. Other times, I experience something really awesome on this side of heaven and I forget that I am not in heaven yet and that there is a day in the future where Jesus and I will be together forever and that day will absolutely blow the doors off any awesome day on this earth.
All I know is that this journey towards that wedding day is full of potholes and muddy roads. But this passage encourages me and it reminds me once again, that God not only sees you and me in Christ, as his perfect and beautiful bride and that he has been faithful to us in the cross of Christ and that he will continue to be faithful to us in the return of Christ so that we might experience the full victory of the empty tomb of Christ.
We have to remember too, that God is also making us into that perfect bride. God, in Christ Jesus, is the one who completes the work of sanctification (beautification) that he begins in his bride. That wedding day – maybe not so far in the distant future – will be a beautiful day for sure because on that day the King will be forever united to his Queen and their offspring will sing praises of the King’s glory throughout the kingdom!
My prayer is that we all would catch a little of the Psalmist’s excitement and that our hearts would overflow with anticipation for the day when the church, the Queen of Christ would be united to Christ the King for all of eternity. And I also pray that out of that sense of anticipation and excitement, that the Bride of Christ would practice thinking upon Christ, listening to Christ, resisting the old life, and submitting to Christ. If the church would catch this vision of the perfect King and then practice wholehearted submission and devotion to her king, then I believe she would be more beautiful than ever amidst a world that is ugly and broken. – Amen!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 Richard D. Phillips, Psalms 42 – 72, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2019), 24-26.
3 Ibid., 32.