Psalms 8

Chapter 8. The Royal BridegroomPsalms 45A little bit of broken glass is sufficient to reflect the full glory of the sun; so human love, a poor fragment at best, helps us to rise to that love divine of which it is the feeble type, the earthly foretaste of the marriage of the Lamb. The Bible is a love story, and the great objective point to which it moves forward is the rapture of the Bride and the marriage supper before the throne. In the beautiful story of Adam and Eve, the wooing and wedding of Rebekah, the sacred idyll of Ruth and Boaz, the exquisite poem of the Canticles, the parable of the virgins, the marriage of the king’s son and the beautiful vision of the Apocalypse, we find it running like a golden thread. The earthly figure is only the shadow. The reality is the union of the whole Church with her glorious Lord and Head. This is the theme of the 45th Psalm. It is the story of the heavenly Bridegroom and His Bride, the Church. There are three points in the prophetic picture on which we shall dwell: the Bridegroom, the Bride and the offspring. Section I—The BridegroomThis is a picture combining the elements of strength and sweetness, so seldom found together in any human character. Some people are strong without being gentle; others are sweet without being stable. This picture combines both elements in perfect harmony, like the solid mountains with their ribs of adamant and their covering of moss, verdure and bloom. The Stronger Qualities

1. The first of these is righteousness. “You love righteousness and hate wickedness” (Psalms 45:7). There can be no permanent love for one unless it is founded on esteem, and that esteem based on the sterling qualities of uprightness and moral worth. We cannot permanently love an unrighteous person. This glorious Bridegroom comes to us in all the attractions of perfect purity, uprightness and infinite holiness. We can rest with implicit confidence upon His infallible integrity, and know that He is always right. Truth is also essential to the confidence of love. We must be able to rest on the word of the one we love; not only upon his word, but upon his absolute sincerity, honesty, frankness and faithfulness. We must know that he is thoroughly consistent and unchangeable in his love. Our Bridegroom is the embodiment of faithfulness. He is called True and Faithful (Revelation 19:11). His lightest word will be fulfilled. His very thought is absolute fidelity. He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Even “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13). Has He given us a promise? We can rest upon it forever. Has He given us a right to trust Him anywhere? He will never change. Has He encouraged us to lean upon Him? We may lay our whole weight upon His faithful breast and know that He will never fail us. Others may change, but He is changeless, our truehearted and everlasting Friend. Victorious power is another quality. He rides forth as a Conqueror amid His enemies and ours. There is none can stay His hand from working. There is none can resist His will. Other friends may want to help us, but they are not able. There is nothing that He cannot do for His Bride. He could speak worlds into existence for her if necessary, and His lightest command would banish in a moment all her adversaries. He is her Vindicator and Defender, and none can dispute His will. His friendship means eternal safety, eternal victory. All power is given unto Him in heaven and in earth. Those who are the objects of His love can never have cause to fear. Who would not have such a Friend? And, oh, who would refuse to be His bride? He has kingly and sovereign power. He has supreme authority. He has the right to exercise His power without resistance. The eternal Father has invested Him with all authority and dominion. His will is supreme above all this vast creation, and all shall yet crown Him “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). This is the Bridegroom that offers you His love. His Gentler Qualities
2. The first of these is His beauty. “You are the most excellent of men” (Psalms 45:2). There are fair faces and noble forms among the sons and daughters of men, but He is fairer than them all in the loveliness of His spirit, and even in the beauty of His person. If His very name can thrill the heart with such delight, what must His person be? All beauty of human loveliness came originally from His hand and must somehow be in His person. All that is beautiful in the sunshine and the stars, the loveliness of nature and the beauty of art, is but the reproduction of something which was originally in Him. A photograph can combine in one face the beauty of 20, so that the single picture expresses the charm of each different face combined in one. Ancient art sometimes gathered up in one single form the loveliness of man or woman in its Venus or Apollo; but, oh, what must that beautiful face be that can combine all the beautiful faces of earth lighted up by the glory of Deity! Sometimes we catch a glimpse of the radiance that streams from it, but that face itself we have not seen except through the revelation of the Spirit as He brings the full conception of its loveliness to the heart. Then, language is too poor to describe the view of Jesus which the heart sometimes catches even here. A poor dying retarded man caught a glimpse of its glory, and for weeks he could only cry amid his wandering thoughts as his face every few minutes would light up, “Yon lovely Man; I want to go to yon lovely Man.” The great and good Dr. Anderson, of Boston, Secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions, often said for weeks before he died, “I have such a longing to see the face of Jesus.” Some day we shall see it, and it will be ages before we shall want to look away to any other. Another quality is His gracious words. “Your lips have been anointed with grace” (Psalms 45:2). What a singular beauty there is in the words of Jesus, even if there were no deeper reality behind them! When did poetry frame such sentences as some of the promises that fell from the Master’s lips? “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). There is music in their very sound, and their sweetness can never die. But how much sweeter when they are spoken to the heart by the Holy Spirit! Oh, how the memory lingers on some of these gracious promises whispered to us in some hour of sorrow, turning all our darkness into day and lifting us up into praise and victory! “In your majesty ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness” (Psalms 45:4). This is more than beauty. This is grandeur, sublimity, loftiness, glory. But, notwithstanding, there is nothing in it that overawes or repels, for it is all so blended with meekness and gentleness that it attracts and rests us. How often we see these elements combined in the character of God: “Our Father,” the gentleness; “in heaven,” the majesty (Matthew 6:9); “a Lamb,” the meekness; “standing in the center of the throne,” the almightiness (Revelation 5:6). He is a glorious King. He is a mighty Conqueror. He is the majestic God. But He is our Beloved, our Husband and our Friend. Sometimes we look at some distinguished man, or meet with some lofty personage, and yet we wonder at the freedom and simplicity with which we can think of him, because we know him as a friend is known. A little child can lie in the bosom of a queen and forget the monarch in the mother. And so the Bride can rest upon the heart of the King, and know that to her He is only her beloved. And so Christ will let us come as near, and even amid His transcendent majesty, see only the Savior who died for us and the Friend who loves us. Another one of His gentler qualities is gladness. “Therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy” (Psalms 45:7). There are some natures that are so joyous and radiant that we love to be with them. Their very presence sheds gladness all around them. Jesus, our royal Bridegroom, is full of gladness, and to be in His presence is to have fullness of joy. They who dwell in His presence are ever happy and triumphant. In our darkest hours, could we but see His face, it would be lighted up with victory and rest, and we would wonder at our own fears and cares. There is nothing more beautiful in the picture of His life than the radiant gladness that ever shone upon His face, and lighted up His spirit even in the most trying hours. When all around seemed dark and threatening, He could rejoice in spirit, and, forgetting all His sorrows, could say, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). Even on the cross His joy triumphed over pain and death, and “for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame” (Hebrews 12:2). The psalm also points to His sweetness. “All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia” (Psalms 45:8). Fragrance is the most exquisite and delicate of material things. It is the very soul of the flower. It expresses, better than any other earthly things, the idea of sweetness; that blending of joy and love which no other word could so well express; that quality which draws us to persons because of their loveliness, and sheds upon us such delight and comfort from their spirit. It is like the atmosphere of spices that filled the Most Holy Place—burning spices and clouds of incense. It is that which makes the hour of prayer so sacred and sweet, and surrounds us in our closet with such a deep, delightful sense of the divine presence as nothing else on earth affords—more delightful and more sacred than the closest intimacy of human friendship, and the most perfect fellowship of kindred hearts. This is the spirit of Jesus; and if we are clothed in His garments, it will be our spirit, too, and, like His, all our robes will smell of myrrh and aloes. These spices are significant. The myrrh was used for the dead, and the aloe is a bitter plant. The myrrh tells of the sweetness that comes from self-crucifixion, and the aloes of the bitter sweet that comes out of sanctified sorrow, while the cassia speaks of the other qualities of loveliness which fill the Savior’s heart and hold us to His bosom. Such is the royal Bridegroom, “outstanding among ten thousand” (SS 5:10); “he is altogether lovely” (SS 5:16). Well might the tongue flow as “the pen of a skillful writer” (Psalms 45:1); well might the heart glow with love and joy as he drew the picture of his glorious King and sweetest Friend. Many another heart has felt the same indwelling of the Savior’s love, and oft has sung or felt: Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills my breast; But sweeter far Thy face to see, And in Thy presence rest. Section II—The BrideWe have her call. “Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house” (Psalms 45:10).
3. She is to “listen.” Why is this call so expressed? It is because the voice is so soft and low that if she does not listen diligently she will not hear it. Jesus calls with a still, small voice; and if we are immersed in worldly thoughts and cares, we will miss His call. The voice which calls the Bride is not a loud voice. The lover whispers his suit, and she must listen with open ear or she will lose the whispered words of love. How often have we missed the Master’s sweetest voice because we have not listened!
4. She must not only “listen” but “consider.” This word literally means “to sit down together.” She must sit down with Him and let Him talk to her. She must let His message sink deep into her heart. She must think. Ah, how little we meditate and let the Lord’s message sink deep into our spirit! True consecration and deep spiritual life must begin in contemplation and deep communion in the secret place of the heart. “In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent” (Psalms 4:4), is the Psalmist’s appropriate word. But she must also “give ear.” This means a willingness to hear; this means a direction of the heart to the call. Sometimes we refuse the call; we would rather not hear. We are afraid we will be called away from the world and sin, or from some choice of our own self-will; but if we will “give ear,” if we will be willing to listen and catch the voice of God, we will receive His messages and be led into the closer place of His love and fellowship.
5. There must be a separation. “Forget your people and your father’s house” (Psalms 45:10). There is something that must be given up before she can know His love and come into the fullness of His blessing. Every high spring rises from a corresponding depth. God loves the place of sacrifice. The place on which the temple rose was the spot where Abraham had given up his child and his all to God; therefore God immortalized it forever. The place where redemption was founded was the cross of Calvary. So in each of our lives, the everlasting memorial which God is preparing for us will spring out of some experience of separation and sacrifice. We cannot have both the earthly and the heavenly. How much are we to give up? All, and then God will give back in Him whatever He chooses to give, no longer as it was before, but from henceforth as linked with Him. Abraham received back Isaac, but not to be the same; he was no longer his Isaac, but God’s. It is not merely giving up, but a glad giving up, a turning of the heart and affections from every other direction because of the greater attraction which draws us to Him, even as the bride no longer desires even the joys of home and the companionship of father and mother in comparison with the transcendent delight of her husband’s society.
6. We have her consecration. “Honor him, for he is your lord” (Psalms 45:11). She gives herself entirely to Him; she recognizes Him as divine; she worships Him. It is the dedication of all her being to One who is not only her Lover but her Lord.
7. Much is said about her wardrobe. First, her robes are all glorious within. It is her inner adorning that is emphasized. Outwardly, and in the sight of men, she may seem common and unattractive, but her inner adorning is all glorious. Her heart is pure, her love is heavenly and divine, her spirit is as beautiful as His own. “Her gown is interwoven with gold” (Psalms 45:13). Gold is the symbol of the divine. This tells of the holiness and the loveliness that are not mere human virtue, but the very nature of God Himself, and the work of the blessed Holy Spirit; the imperishable qualities that come not from human effort, but from the indwelling life of Christ Himself within the heart. Not only is her clothing of gold, but it is “interwoven with gold.” It is not ready-made clothing, but it is made expressly for her. It tells us of the grace which provides for each of us a heavenly robe exactly adapted to our own life. We are not all dressed alike, but God has given each of us a special provision of grace which He has for none besides. He adapts Himself to us with special care, and meets our every need with infinite provisions of His grace. He is ever working for us. His own loving hands provide for each emergency and meet each new situation. As the actors upon the stage have different robes for each new act, which they have simply to put on and wear, so the grace of Jesus Christ has provided for each of us “everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) for every occurrence that meets us. Again, we read of the raiment of needlework. This suggests to us the thousand little stitches which enter into our daily life, and the provisions of God’s grace are as minute as the threads in your garments. There is nothing too small for God’s mercy to provide, not by hours even, but by moments. We may live in Him and take Him for each new moment as it comes.
8. We have her intimacy with Him and His delight in her. “She is led to the king” (Psalms 45:14). “The king is enthralled by your beauty” (Psalms 45:11). This is the best of it. What are her garments, her companions, her other joys, compared with the joy of His presence, fellowship and love? We read of the virgins, her companions. We may be virgins, or we may be the Bride. She has companions. “The Daughter of Tyre will come with a gift” (Psalms 45:12). This tells of the business of the world. Tyre was the type of earthly commerce. It means prophetically that a day is coming when the wealth of the world shall be at the feet of the Bride of the Lamb, and we who have given up all for Christ shall control and possess what others now prize so highly and risk their all to gain. Next, we have the entering into the palace of the King. “They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king” (Psalms 45:15). Oh, how the vision rises before us: The bridal procession, the joyful songs, the glorious Bride, the welcome of the Savior, the happy meeting to part no more, the joyful greetings on that eternal shore, the entering never to go out again. Oh, will you, will I be there? There is another question: How are we answering the call now? “Listen, O daughter, consider” (Psalms 45:10). “Will you go with this man?” (Genesis 24:58). God help us to answer as did Rebekah of old, “I will go” (Genesis 24:58). Section III—The OffspringThere is a glorious offspring from this marriage. “Your sons will take the place of your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land” (Psalms 45:16). We do not enter upon the meaning of this glorious prophecy, the generations in the ages to come that shall be born of the Bride of the Lamb; but it is enough for the present to know that all we can be as Christians, and all that we can do to bring others to Christ, is the fruit of our own union with the Lord Jesus. “That you might belong… to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God” (Romans 7:4). Every soul that we bring to Christ ought to be begotten of our love, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and be the real offspring of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Not until we know Him in His deepest intimacy, as the Bridegroom of our heart, can we know all the fullness of His power, and can we be to others all that He would have us be. Beloved, what place are you taking? The place of the virgins or the place of the Bride? The virgin may be pure, but the Bride is something more. She has the marriage love, the bridal robes and the nearness which no others can know. This is the high calling which we may accept and which we may miss. May the Lord Himself enable us to understand the kingdom to which we are called, and not to come short of the highest place to which mortals have ever been raised, and to which angels dare not aspire! “Listen, O daughter, consider” (Psalms 45:10), a still, small voice is whispering to you. “Forget your people and your father’s house. The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord” (Psalms 45:10-11).