Chapter 7—Psalm 45
From Psalms which speak in part of the past and present, we turn next to two which speak wholly of the future. The Lord's present place we learn from Psalm 110, and the deductions to be drawn from such a position, the New Testament opens out to us. There we are directed to a different subject—the reappearance in person of the Lord Jesus on the theater of these events, connected with His humiliation and death.
There is a peculiarity about Him in this respect that is predicated of no one else. In common with thousands, nay, myriads of God's saints, He passed away from this scene by death. But of Him alone it is revealed that, having gone out of the world by that door, He shall stand again in person upon this globe. When He returns to reign, His heavenly people will come with Him (Zech. 14:5; 1 Thess. 3:13), for seated as John saw Him in the vision, on a white horse, the armies of heaven will follow in His train (Rev. 19:11-14), and the saints of the high, or heavenly places, shall take the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—even forever and ever (Dan. 7:18). But of none of the heavenly saints, who have gone down into death, is it predicted that they shall tread again on this earth. The Lord Jesus, however, will. On the Mount of Olives, from which, in the presence of His disciples, He went up to heaven, He will again stand; and, in keeping with the circumstances of that day, creation shall acknowledge, by commotion, the presence of her Creator and Lord (Zech. 14:4-5).
Man's place, after he has died, knows him no more. Not so with the Lord Jesus Christ. At Jerusalem He died; at Jerusalem shall He reappear; and the city of the great King shall welcome with acclamations His return in power, moved with a more real and deeper emotion than when the populace, on the occasion of his triumphant entry on the ass's colt, asked of the multitude, "Who is this?" Their question betrayed ignorance of what they ought to have known, and unconcern about Him, without whom their blessings can never be enjoyed. "Ye shall not see Me henceforth," said the Lord, apostrophizing Jerusalem, "till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." Concerned she will be then on His return, and will welcome it with gladness (Matt. 23:39), herself to be known henceforth by a new name, Jehovah Shammah; that is, Jehovah is there. Of the associations of the Lord Jesus with Jerusalem this Psalm treats.
How different were the feelings of the psalmist, as he sung by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost about the return in power to Jerusalem of David's Son and Lord, from that manifested by its inhabitants when the Lord entered it in accordance with the terms of Zechariah's prediction. Great indeed was his emotion, as looking through the vista of ages, he described the personal appearance of One whom he had never seen, but with whose Person he will be made acquainted, and whose triumphal progress he will with his eyes behold. "My heart is inditing [or has bubbled up] a good matter." What interest this had for him! Evidently he was full of it. The things he had made about the King stirred his soul to its very depths; and like one whose thoughts are engrossed with his subject, he mentions not the Lord by name, but at first only tells us of one of His titles, as if all must know equally with himself to whom the appellation of the "King" rightly belongs. To the writer, all was plain as, under the immediate guidance of the Holy Ghost, he penned the words which clothed, by divine appointment, the thoughts of the Spirit of God. His tongue was the pen of a ready writer. Thus the words we read are the words he uttered, written down probably by himself, that the inspired prophet and the reader might rejoice together.
Two leading thoughts form the subject of this song—the personal description of the Lord Jesus returned from heaven to earth, and the beauty and adornment of the Queen, Jerusalem, in the days of her restoration to Jehovah's favor. Now she is as the wife put away for her transgressions (Isa. 50:1); then she will be the wife publicly acknowledged, having Jehovah for her husband (Isa. 54:4, 5) and clad in her beautiful garments (Isa. 52:1).
On Zion the King had been firmly set by God's decree (Psalm 2:6); from Jerusalem the word is to go forth (Isa. 2:3); and here we have a description of the metropolis of the whole earth, as the Queen at the Lord's right hand, clad in gold of Ophir (Psalm 45:9). When facing death as man and Messiah in Psalm 102 He looked forward to Zion being rebuilt, and to Jehovah's praise being declared in Jerusalem. Now we see how fully that will be accomplished, and how the words of Isaiah will be fulfilled—"Thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken." Isa. 62:12. In the day of her distress she was called an "Outcast... Zion, whom no man seeketh after." Jer. 30:17. Here she is described as sought out indeed, for the rich among the people are to entreat her favor (v. 12) and the daughter of Tire, that city, the synonym for commercial greatness and wealth, will be there with a gift, the substance of the world being then placed at Jerusalem's disposal.
But not only will earthly wealth flow to her, and temporal possessions be her portion, but what is far more valuable, she will possess an attraction for the King, who is here said to desire her beauty. All glorious within the house, her clothing of wrought gold, brought unto the King in raiment of needlework, surrounded by the virgins, her companions, how changed will her appearance and condition then be from what it was when Isaiah first described her (chap. 1:21.23). God's purposes are unchangeable; therefore He will fulfill His mind about her.
But how can such a change be brought about so that the polluted one, divorced for her transgressions, should become an object of beauty for the King? The close connection between Isa. 53 and 54 suggests the answer. In 53 we have the Lord's atoning work mentioned; in 54 the future glory of Jerusalem is described; and in 55 the grace which can be available for Jews and Gentiles is set forth, for what concerns Jerusalem and men is dependent on that mighty work treated of in 53. Hence we can understand how truly she will be an object of delight to Him whose death has availed for her. For though her filth will be washed away by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning (Isa. 4:4), she will owe all dealings with her for blessing to the atoning sacrifice of Christ. To deepen the sense of God's grace in the heart of the daughter of Zion, and surely in ours too, we read nothing in the Psalm about Jerusalem, but of her beauty and change of condition. Her Lord's joy in her (not hers in Him) is that of which the psalmist makes mention.
An analogy may here be traced between Jerusalem, the wife, and the Church, the bride, the pearl of great price. Both owe their position and relation to the Lord, to His death for them. To possess the Church He died, and to present her to Himself an object of beauty and of delight forever He still labors. To be to Jerusalem a husband, after all her sins and idolatry, He died; but with her Jehovah had relations before the cross, whereas the Church had no existence till after his death. Thus, though there is an analogy, there is also a great difference. Of Jerusalem it is written, "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee." Isa. 54:7. Divorced once, she will be publicly owned as the wife when the Lord returns in glory. The Church is now only the bride; her marriage has yet to take place. Restoring grace Jerusalem will know, and forgiveness of all her past iniquities. Jehovah's wrath she has experienced, of which the Church, the bride, has known, and will know, nothing. On earth, as the wife, Jerusalem will be enriched with the world's substance, and have the place of pre-eminence above all other cities on the face of the globe, being the joy of the whole earth; yet she will only be the footstool of Jehovah. The Church, however, then above, will be the center of government for the universe, and not merely for the earth—giving light even to Jerusalem below her-for through her crystal walls' the light of the glory of God will illumine continually the city on earth (Rev. 21; Isa. 60:20).
Jerusalem thus described as the Queen, telling of the complete putting away of her defilement, and the full favor of Jehovah again, and that to be enjoyed forever, we have also in this Psalm the personal description of the King as He will appear to men on earth. How He will appear when He comes into the air for His saints, we read not, for that has to do with heaven; but how He will look when earth again beholds Him, the Word of God does reveal to us. His coming out of heaven, Rev. 19:11-16 describes; His personal appearance as King at Jerusalem, this Psalm depicts. There is, of course, a reason for this. Called here "The King," and rightly so, Scripture tells us that another will arrogate to himself that title, and by that name be known. The prophets Isaiah (30:33; 57:9) and Daniel (11:36) so speak of him, the antichrist of the future for Israel, the false prophet, who will support the blasphemous pretensions of the beast, for apostate Christendom (Rev. 13:11-17). He will claim to be the Messiah, and be received by the apostate portion of the Jews, (John 5:43; Zech. 11:16, 17) so we can understand the importance of the description, personal and moral, of Him who is God's King, that the faithful may be on their guard, and be kept from following an apostate people.
On Christians who know what their hope is, and whence they are to look for its fulfillment (1 Thess. 1:10; Phil. 3:20), the presence of a man upon earth, claiming to be the Messiah, would have no effect. For from heaven He will come for whom we wait, and into the air, not to the earth, will the Lord descend when He comes to take us up to be forever with Himself (1 Thess. 4:17). But to the faithful remnant, who rightly will expect the appearance of Messiah upon earth, the importance of a personal description of Him, whom another will have been impersonating, all must admit. The current will run so strong in that day of abounding apostasy, that, without grace to stem it, the godly will be unable to keep their feet. The feelings of a saint, and his difficulties at that time, we have told us in Psalm 73. "My feet," he confesses, "were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped."
With the usual features of the antichrist, or false prophet, we are made familiar by the New Testament in 2 Thess. 2 and Rev. 13 Self-exaltation or desire to be looked upon as God and working miracles in support of his claim will be characteristics of the false king. Power to put forth in connection with, and under the protecting hand of the first beast, the imperial ruler or head of the Roman earth, will antichrist wield to make all apostatize, and to worship the image of that which Scripture, to show its moral character in God's eye, calls a wild beast, whose only object and aim is the gratification of itself at the expense and injury of others. At that time there will be two beasts, so-called—the one the head of the Roman earth, the other the pretended Messiah (Rev. 13). How different are the features of this horrid beast from those to be displayed in Him whom he will dare to impersonate! Though lamblike in outward appearance, yet his voice will betray his origin and his acts. Deceiving the world will indicate to God's saints his parentage.
Of the true Messiah we have, in Isa. 52:14, a description as He once appeared upon earth—"His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." We know how true that was. Isaiah and other writers predicted His sufferings when in humiliation; and we can point to Him alone as the One in whom they were all fulfilled. How correct will this description of Him which we have in the Psalm prove to be, time will show. "Thou art fairer," we read, "than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee forever." When manifested to the world all will see who is the King of God's choice. His personal appearance will mark Him out as the Head to whom all creation is to be subject. Grace, truth, meekness, and righteousness, are characteristics of the King. Oppression, deceit, arrogance, and persecution of God's saints, even unto death, will be features by which antichrist will be known. Comparing the ways of the latter when in the zenith of his power, with the picture given us in this Psalm by the Spirit of the true Messiah, the saints of that day will see that they have still to wait for the One who will correspond to the psalmist's description. The world may be captivated by false prophets and miracles, and many of the returned remnant may be ensnared (Daniel tells us, "the many"; that is, mass of them), so great will be his influence and apparently convincing his claims; but the true Conqueror and Hope of Israel, the godly among them will still desiderate. What their trials will be, Psalms 52.59 in some measure recount. What the deliverance will be, Psalms 45.48 in some degree depict; the answer to the cry of the afflicted saints is found in Psalm 44. The King is described in 45; God's presence in Jerusalem is announced in 46; the conquest and subjection of the nations to Israel is declared in 47; and the security of Zion from all attacks of her foe is celebrated in 48.
Who then is "the King?" He is a man, the virgin's Son, David's heir, Abraham's seed; He is God also, as verse 6 proves. To Him it can be said, "Thy God," speaking of His humanity, and, "0 God" speaking of His deity. Antichrist has never yet been seen on earth; but the Christ has been on this globe. "Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness" (v. 7), speaks of His character and ways when here in humiliation. Here then we see the end of a life in dependence upon God Meek, He was faithful at all cost to Jehovah; so dominion and might are to be His, nay, are His now, and the world will become part of His inheritance. What a thought for those in trial in all ages, as they read in the Word what the Lord was, and what He will be some day. He was meek and righteous; He will be King, and execute judgment. As in the history of Joseph, so it will be exemplified in that of the Lord, that waiting for God, time ends in deliverance by God's power, salvation by God's good pleasure.
As might, conquest, and dominion will be His in that day (vss. 3-5) so a throne too which endures forever He will have, and the right, as Father of His people (Isa. 9:6) to make them princes over all the earth; for of him, the King, not of Jerusalem, does verse 16 speak. So great, so glorious will be His kingdom on earth; that not as with sovereigns now will His ancestors be spoken of. David and Solomon will reflect no luster on His reign, for men will perceive that He is the fountain of power in Himself. The glory that has been will not be remembered, for the surpassing glory which will then be first and only seen in Him. With glory will be fame. His name will be remembered in all generations; therefore shall nations praise Him forever and ever. A sun we read of here which rises and never sets. None before Him have attained to that pre-eminence, nor will any after Him, for He will have no successor. In the last occupant of David's throne the glory will culminate, but never decline.
The marked difference between antichrist and the Lord we have briefly noticed. The portion of each, when God shall stop the reign of lawlessness and cut short the trials of His elect, the Word also foretells. Cast alive into the lake of fire will be the doom of antichrist (Rev. 19:20); anointed by God with the oil of gladness above His fellows will be the portion of the Christ (v. 7).
But some may ask, what part do we have in all this? Christ's glory and Christ's kingdom do concern us. The Psalm does not touch on the heavenly portion; but it does just intimate the existence of heavenly saints. It speaks of the King's fellows, and we know from Heb. 3:14 who these are. In Psalm 16 the Lord calls them saints; in 22 He speaks of them as His brethren; here they are styled His fellows; in each place the proper term is used for the subject in hand. If He speaks of the class with which He would associate on earth, He calls them saints, separated unto God from the evil around them. When about to leave earth for heaven, He surnames them His brethren that, though deprived of His presence outwardly, they might know the relationship which He acknowledges to exist between God Himself and them. And here, when the day of trial is looked at as over, and the day of His glory is about to dawn, we learn that those will not be forgotten in the time of His greatness who confessed Him in the days of His rejection. Saints, describes the class morally; brethren, describes the relationship between Him and them; and fellows, declares the association that will forever exist between Him and them. As His brethren, God, who is His Father, is theirs also; as His fellows, the kingdom, which belongs to Christ, they will share with Him.