GOD'S KING
GOD’S KING
Those psalms, or parts of psalms, which give us utterances of Christ personally have a unique place in the affections of the saints. But there are other psalms which are exceedingly attractive because they have as their theme Christ Himself, and what stands in immediate relation to Him. Psalm 45 and Psalm 72 have this character, and Psalm 110 may also be thought of in this connection, and as giving what we have not anywhere else in the psalms, that Christ would be Priest after the order of Melchisedec by Jehovah’s oath. But of all these Psalm 45 is the most personal and intimate. Psalm 72 and Psalm 110 have an official character; they speak of the King and the Priest. But Psalm 45 gives personal touches which are not found in the same way elsewhere; so that it is unique in its presentation of the incomparable moral beauty of Christ, the fragrance of all His garments, and, if one may so say, His domestic surroundings where His affections are at rest in the royal apartments.
A beautiful feature of this psalm is that the affections of the saints are portrayed here abstractedly in unmixed purity. That is, we are in presence of a state of soul where nothing whatever is active but the heart’s engagement with an Object — or objects — which are most delightful. It is not that the speaker or singer himself is viewed in the psalm as a participator in what he describes. It is in no way what the King has done for him, or the relation in which he stands to the King. He is simply the composer or the singer, abstracted for the time from any thought of himself, but having a heart welling forth with a good matter touching the King. He does not think of himself as in the scenes which he describes, but his heart is full of what he describes. It is a peculiarly blessed experience in which no subtle element of self remains to intrude upon the delight which love finds in an Object, or objects, which give it supreme satisfaction. I think God would have us more often in this happy abstractedness from ourselves; not thinking exactly of our part in the precious things made known to us by the Spirit, but thinking of the delightfulness of the things in themselves. When we reach that point we have the truest participation in the things. It seems to me that “Upon lilies” in the title of this psalm has reference to the purity of affections which can look at things in this abstracted way. It [p. 48] is like Paul thinking of the one Man, and the chaste virgin which he had espoused, and which he desired to present to Christ. So the bride, the Lamb’s wife, is shown to John; he was permitted to look at it as one for the moment abstracted from it. We shall never have a full view of either Christ or the assembly until we learn to look at them in this way.
This is one of the psalms of instruction which will have a special place when “they that are wise among the people shall instruct the many”, Daniel 11: 33. The “Maschilim” of that future day will have acquired through exercise the gain of the “Maschil” Psalms, of which Psalm 45 is one. There is a course of spiritual instruction in the “Maschil” Psalms which will make “Maschilim”, or “wise” ones, of those who are taught of God in that day. They will have their own personal exercises of a humiliating nature also, for “some of the wise shall fall, to try them, and to purge and to make them white, to the time of the end”, Daniel 11: 35. But they will acquire a great appreciation of Christ as Psalm 45 opens up to their hearts. For this psalm applies to a time before the kingdom is actually established in millennial glory, for there are enemies still to be subdued, and the “daughter” has still to hearken, and to forget her own people and her father’s house, so that the King may desire her beauty.
It is a psalm which could not be taken up until the King had been seen in a position in which He could be compared with the sons of men. The King is a divine Person who has become Man that He might be the Vessel of divine grace as having grace poured into His lips. He is seen as receiving from God all that revelation of grace which flowed in such abundance from His lips when He was here in man’s lowly guise. But He also loved righteousness and hated wickedness. He would not deviate from righteousness, whatever it might cost to pursue it; indeed, He would die to establish it as the basis of all the divine actings in grace towards sinful men. And He hated wickedness (or, lawlessness) so much that He would become a sacrifice for sin, to put it away from before God according to divine holiness.
Can we wonder that God has blessed Him for ever? Though despised and rejected by men, even by those for whom He died, He has been blessed in heavenly exaltation at God’s right hand. He is sitting there until the time comes for Him to gird His sword upon His thigh, and subdue all His enemies.
[p. 49] This psalm is what an instructed heart has learned touching Christ; a heart, too, that has proved mercy in being delivered from the doom of apostasy, for the psalm is “Of the sons of Korah”. Such a heart wells forth with a good matter; it does not think of itself, or of its own blessings, but gives itself to composing something touching the King. What I can compose concerning Christ is really the measure of my spiritual wealth. Composing suggests a careful and considered production, and this should be the character of what is said in the assembly. I do not mean that one should prepare a form of words to utter in the assembly, but what one says there should be the outcome of what we have considered. The understanding enters into it, so that “five words” may be much more profitable than a long discursive utterance. But the heart is welling forth; it is not a cold mental composition. But it is orderly, and there is a flow about it; the psalmist compares his tongue to the pen of a ready writer. We have all noticed in writing how one thought suggests another, and one thought flows into another. I believe this is the divine way in spiritual composition: it is in blessed contrast with formal utterance. The first chapter of Ephesians gives a wonderful example of spiritual composition. From verse 3 to verse 14 is all one sentence; then from verse 15 to chapter 2: 7 is another sentence. It would be very difficult to put a full stop in anywhere to break the flow of connected thought. I think it would suggest the kind of utterance which might have fallen from Paul’s lips in the assembly. It seems to me that in the assembly there should be a definite flow; the Spirit being referred to as a river would suggest this. That is, there would be spiritual continuity; not a sudden break on to something else, but each contribution linking on with what has preceded it. It would be well sometimes if a brother did not go too fast or too far, but should leave room for some one to go farther. The “five words” principle would lead us to think that we need not attempt to cover all the ground that is possible. If the saints are to be instructed and edified, the ground covered by ministry must not be too extensive. We have to be sober in considering what capacity there may be to receive.
It is precious to see that the King has companions (verse 7). The epistle to the Hebrews links on with this presentation; see Hebrews 1: 9; Hebrews 3: 14. It belongs to the interval between [p. 50] the King being presented in lowly grace, moral beauty and perfection, and His appearing as King of kings and Lord of lords. There are “ivory palaces” and “royal apartments”; there is the thought of entering into the King’s palace, and of being “brought in unto thee”. It is an internal view of things rather than the public glory of the kingdom, though the latter is perhaps hinted at in verses 16 and 17. The King is coming back presently, according to verses 3 - 5, with His sword girded to bring the standard of truth and meekness and righteousness to the adjustment of everything here.
But in reigning He will be the expression of all the rights of God, so that His throne is the throne of God, and He is personally addressed as God. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever”, verse 6. As we know, this is one of the scriptures adduced in Hebrews 1 to assert the deity of the Messiah. But it is immediately followed by a verse which equally asserts His humanity, for it says, “God, thy God”. In the affectionate worship of the assembly both must have place. It is as Man that He has loved righteousness and hated wickedness, and that He has been anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions. One great object of His becoming Man was that He might have companions to participate in His anointing. I understand this to refer to His companions sharing in His joy in God. The Spirit was given to Him by the Father; He was the first to receive the promise, so that He has the pre-eminence in this, as in all else. I believe the anointing here refers to something subsequent to His exaltation. His “gladness” is connected with His place in heaven as risen, as seen in the end of Psalm 16 and the beginning of Hebrews 12; also Psalm 21: 6. It is consequent upon every moral question being settled; it is an anointing which He can share with His companions, but in which He is above them. Whatever spiritual joy His saints have, He has more of it than they have. How blessed to think of this in the assembly! So that now we see Him on the side of His companions, but pre-eminent there. The assembly takes up all this in a way that surpasses what any other family of saints can do.
Then myrrh, aloes and cassia suggest that He is clothed in the affections of His companions with the abiding fragrance of His sufferings in love. But “ivory palaces” result to yield Him joy. Ivory is the product of death, and as the saints [p. 51] know what it is to bear about in the body the dying of Jesus the local assemblies will acquire the character of “ivory palaces”. And “stringed instruments” are there also — the hearts of the saints tuned to sound many varied but harmonious notes, and the skill with which they are touched yielding gladness to the King.
This leads to the introduction of the queen in verse 9. So far as I know, the assembly never bears this title in Scripture, nor the remnant of Israel. Queens are mentioned in the Song of Songs 6: 8, 9, but there they have a secondary place. As a matter of strict interpretation I should suppose that “the queen” might refer to the place Jerusalem will have in the millennial kingdom, for to the daughter of Zion and the daughter of Jerusalem it is said, “Thy King cometh to thee”, Zechariah 9: 9. He came to her once in lowly grace to woo and win her, if it had been possible, but she refused the approaches of His love then. But in a coming day she will be brought to the King in perfect suitability to be His accepted queen. And “the virgins behind her, her companions, shall be brought in unto thee”; it has been suggested by one well taught in the Scriptures that these will be the cities of Judah in that day of joy and gladness. But in applying this figure to the present time the assembly is the only company that is femininely correspondent with Christ. She alone answers to such a dignified relation. We may say of her that she is in gold of Ophir, and as “the king’s daughter” she is of royal lineage so as to be suitable in quality to be queen. Every one of those who compose the assembly is of divine generation. And the assembly can be viewed as glorious in the royal apartments, for her clothing is of wrought gold. Her origin and her suitability are entirely of God, and I believe that in saying, “her clothing is of wrought gold” the thought is that she has put it on; she is consciously in an acceptance which is wholly divine. “Wrought gold” as a type is very precious, because it is not only wholly of God intrinsically, but it is also wrought by God, so that the skill of God appears in it as a whole and in every detail. And the reality goes beyond the type, for the saints today are not only divinely clothed, but they themselves are wrought of God for that scene of glory.
Verse 12 widens out to bring in “the daughter of Tyre with a gift”, and to say that “the rich ones among the people,
shall court thy favour”. This has something of an evangelical touch, for it shows that those far off acquire wealth so as to come up with appreciation of the wonders which grace has wrought. One of the first marks of a work of God in souls is the recognition that there are those who have been wonderfully blessed by Him. I think He is pleased to give to men the sense that those whom He has accepted may well be regarded as persons whose favourable interest is something to be coveted.