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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/psalm-45/
Psalm number 45. Beautiful psalm, and the subject, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ, and looking forward to his millennial glory. So let's read from verse one. To the chief musician upon Shushanim, for the sons of Korah, Maskell, a song of loves, my heart is indicting a good matter.
I speak of the things which I have made, touching the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore, God hath blessed thee forever.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty, and in thy majesty, ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the people fall under thee. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity.
Therefore, God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. King's daughters were among thy honorable women.
Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Hearken, O daughter, and consider and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people and thy father's house. So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy lord, and worship thou him.
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift. Even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. The king's daughter is all glorious within. Her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework.
The virgins, her companions that follow her, shall be brought unto thee. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought. They shall enter into the king's palace. Instead of thy father shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore shall the people praise thee forever and ever. The Lord will bless the reading from his word. All, I'm sure, have got a handout, a little outline of our thoughts on the psalm.
Let me say a word, first of all, about the arrangement of the psalms in general. Most will know that the psalms fall into five books. Our brother John at Toronto last weekend was bringing that out. And the significant thing of that is that the first book, or the first psalm in each of the books is characteristic of that book.
You can trace those characteristics throughout the remainder of that book. So Psalm 45 falls within book two. And Psalm 42 commences book two. So that's gonna be characteristic of what the content of book two is.
How does it start? As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. So right away, in book two, we have the thought of aspirations. There are links here as well with the book of Exodus.
The five books of the psalms link with the five books of the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. Genesis will be book one. Exodus, then, is book two. So putting that into Psalm 42 and that thought that we've had already, it's the thought of a slave longing for freedom.
The shackles are to be broken. And the slave is looking forward to being emancipated dispensationally. Israel looking for the liberty that she'll be brought into when Messiah appears, and she embraces her Messiah, the coming king, in that coming day.
Now, the arrangement of the psalms. Then the aspirations, you'll see as you read down through the psalm, there is the aspiration that the king would be prosperous over his enemies, and that he would reign forever and ever, two times over, we get that, and that his kingdom would be marked by righteousness.
A scepter, a right scepter, is the scepter of thy kingdom. And then we have his queen brought in at the latter part of the psalm that she should share his glory, is another aspiration. So these things will reach fulfillment, I take it, in the millennium, when restored Israel is brought into the enjoyment of a new relationship with the Lord, with her Messiah.
And there will be then the admiration of the king. You have it there on your handout. I've noted the excellency of his person, and we want to spend some time on that this morning as we consider the excellency of his person, and the equity of his rule.
When he establishes his kingdom, his kingdom will be marked by equity and justice and righteousness, and the eternality of his throne as well, as has already been mentioned. Now, his personal glories, his glories are brought out in the psalm as well.
We might refer to his moral glories in verse two, thou art firmer than the children of men. There are as well what is called his official glories. When you think of his office as the king, as Messiah, and you have references then to the warrior king, you have his sword, you have his scepter, you have his throne, you have his anointing mentioned here as well, verses three, six, and seven.
In verse six as well, his divine glory. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. And you'll remember that that is taken up in Hebrews chapter one, verse eight, and there it is quoted. And so we have this psalm is very definitely a messianic psalm in that quotation.
Quotations are found in the New Testament as relating to our Lord Jesus Christ, his divine glory. And then when we come down to verses eight through nine, there's his mediatorial glory. With those references to Myrrh out of the ivory palaces, we love to think of that in terms of his incarnation.
All thy garments smell of Myrrh. Interesting that God saw to it that the Myrrh was noted at his birth. They brought unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and Myrrh. And it was there at the cross as well when they offered him that drink that included Myrrh, but he would not drink.
And then not only that, but in his death, they brought Myrrh and aloes, about 100 pound weight. So let me just make mention here of the title. I'd thought that maybe I'll just go through the title quickly.
And our brethren, if they want to go back on that, that's fine, otherwise we'll start in at verse one. You'll notice it's to the chief musician. Now the title of the Psalms are inspired, so it's part of the inspired text.
This is to the chief musician. We don't know exactly who that might be. 55 times in the Psalms you have it to the chief musician. The director of temple music. So he was a man, at least, who will get the music right.
We could say that. He's gonna be accurate in getting the music right. And when we speak of our Lord Jesus, we need to bear in mind, we need to be accurate when we're handling his person. Best to stick to the language of scripture and to the teaching of the word of God.
Upon Shushanim, and your margin may indicate that word simply means lilies. Lilies were flowers of beauty and purity. And they were noted for their tenderness and for their glory that was all their own.
So this may relate to the melody or the tune of the Psalm that it would be put to. Some have suggested it is a reference to a musical instrument with six strings. That may be. But the musical meaning is not entirely clear.
With regards to lilies, of course, they bloom in the spring. And that would link, perhaps, with Passover, with the thought of redemption. You could explore that in your thinking. But lilies, they grow in different settings.
And I've noted down there some of the settings, perhaps, in which they're found. And they link with the four lily psalms that we have. Psalm 45 here, it's the lily of the field. His glory is emphasized.
And you remember the Lord Jesus said that Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. And there's none arrayed like him. Then Psalm 60, it's found, the word is found in the singular.
And there the content would indicate the lily of the garden. And it's a thought of victory in that psalm. Psalm 69 that we're familiar with. Save me, O God, for the waters are coming onto my soul. It's down in the valley, isn't it?
And the lilies would grow in the low, swampy places in the mire. Brings us to Calvary in our thinking. And then Psalm 80, the lily among thorns. And the thought in that psalm is tears and trouble. And so the lilies, they grew in different places and symbolic of different aspects that would relate to our Lord Jesus Christ in these locations.
Now, you notice as well that it's for the sons of Korah. Korah was noted back in the Old Testament in the books of Moses. He's linked with rebellion. And yet what grace to bring the sons of Korah in to sing about the king in his glory and in his beauty.
The grace of God is seen. Masculine is the thought of it's for instruction. And there is both devotional truth here. And there is doctrinal truth as well that we can explore as we move through. Then it's a song of loves.
And some have suggested this was likely sung at a royal wedding in a historic setting. A literal bride being brought to the king. And she becomes the queen, of course. And it would have perhaps a historic reference.
But a greater than Solomon is here if this is about Solomon. Some have suggested it may be Solomon or it may be Hezekiah. But a greater than Solomon is here and we certainly want to focus upon the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we'll come to verse one. And maybe I'll just pause at this point, see if our brethren have anything further to add to the comments on the title. All right then, verse one. My heart is indicting a good matter.
And the thought there is his heart is boiling over. It's stirred up, it's overflowing. As he considers the king. And no doubt it's the thought as well of inspiration. He is very conscious that he is being moved by the spirit of God and recording that which is welling up within him of praise and of worship to the king.
The good matter is in hand.
Brother Psalm here, Brother William, is actually going to lend himself to the very thoughts of God. Because verse number one, at the beginning of the Psalm, he says, I speak. Verse number two, therefore God.
Verse number two again, hath blessed thee forever. At the end of the Psalm, God is speaking. And God says, I will. At the end of the Psalm, we've got the, therefore shall the people. And at the end of the Psalm, we have forever and ever.
So at the beginning of the Psalm, we've got the meditation of the one who's thinking about Christ. And they're acquiescing with the very thoughts of God that will be seen at the end of the Psalm. That's very applicable for ourselves, isn't it?
Yes, very good, Brother John. Yeah, there's no doubt, this is the pen. He's going to take up the pen and record these beautiful thoughts that God has given to him as his heart and his mind is in concert with the very thoughts of God.
So we don't actually know who the author is, humanly speaking?
Not that I'm aware of, Larry. Certainly the Spirit of God. Sure, yeah. What he has made, the thought there evidently is the thought of workmanship in composing. This is a skilled composition. It's not just casually written down, but very carefully crafted by the guidance of the Spirit of God as touching the King.
There is a sense too, isn't it, that I know you've mentioned, it's going to be mentioned in the book of Hebrews. When we get to verse number six, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. One of the things that has been often noted about the book of Hebrews is whilst it's a written composition, it comes across as an oral meditation.
An example of it would be, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. And we got the same principle here, Brother William, don't we, because in verse number one, he says, my tongue. We've got the oral thing, and he says, it's the pen of a ready writer.
So the meditation orally is then going to become a written composition. And we can see the parallel between the book of Hebrews. Very good.
We also don't want to miss the fact that this could be just a practical example of our own worship, right? So what's happened is that there's something inside that he's meditating upon. He takes the time to put it together.
And in taking time to put it together, then he expresses it, and that comes out as worship. And I think we just need to remember that when we're truly worshiping, there's something of the mind of God that goes in, we meditate on that.
And then after we've meditated upon it and put it together, we express it to God as worship.
Very good. So brother, how do we get the mind of God in a very simple way? How do we know what is the mind of God?
Okay, so I take it that this bubbling up, perhaps not literally, but figuratively, is the idea of a pot. And in order to get the pot to bubble up, you need to apply heat. But when you apply heat, you need to have something in the pot, or it's just going to burn, right?
So putting the word of God in. Mm-hmm. I take it when we are meditating on the person of Christ from the scriptures, we're getting the mind of God as relates to his son. Right. So the mind of God as relates to his son is going in, the heat is the meditation, and the expression is worship.
Very good, very good.
Not so much the thought of a carefully crafted sermon presented in our prayers. Correct. But rather the overflowing of a heart in devotion to him. Mm-hmm.
It's rather amazing, isn't it, that God allows men to share in thoughts of his son. And it lifts our spirits, and because we can express it outwardly as well, it will certainly affect those about us. And that's such a precious thing.
So he wastes no time, just one verse in which he mentions himself here. And then he gets right down to the subject matter, and he addresses the king directly. So we have the thought of his moral glory being brought out when he says, verse two, "'Thou art firmer than the children of men.'".
We often sing it, and how true it is. "'No mortal can with him compare among the sons of men. "'Firmer is he than all the fair "'that fill the heavenly train.'". He's uniquely beautiful in the eyes of God.
And as we take on the mind of God, too, he's uniquely beautiful to us.
So are there two things being brought out, Brother William? When did Christ become the king? And the second thing then, is this anticipating incarnation? When we're looking at this, do you wanna touch those two things, the kingship of Christ, and then the aspect of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus being considered right here in the psalm?
Mm-hmm.
Yes, very good. He was always earmarked, if that's the right word, marked out in the eternal counsels of God as the one who would be son of man, who would have universal dominion. And that is, incidentally, an eternal title of the Lord Jesus, son of man.
Even though he takes on humanity at the incarnation, literally, when he enters into a body, right? That took place at the moment of conception, Mary's womb. So the Lord Jesus has eternally been in the mind of God, marked out to be the king, and into humanity he comes, and God will give dominion to a man, a literal man, Hebrews chapter two.
Have you something further?
Very happy with that. So as son of Abraham, he's heir to the throne, or the land. As son of David, he's heir to the throne. As son of man, he's heir to the world. And as son of God, he's heir of all things.
That gives us the four aspects of the Lord Jesus. Very good, John.
This word, go ahead, brother.
Just while you're on that, you had son of man as an eternal title, son of God also an eternal title. Mm-hmm. But the other two, son of Abraham, son of David, at incarnation, or no?
Yes, yes. Yes, okay, good. That's what I had. I was just gonna say the word fair in the King James is translated handsome in some of the other versions, but to me, it's not so much as physical beauty, but as character.
Mm-hmm. Moral beauty.
Moral beauty, yeah. Right. Right. In Isaiah 53, Larry, let me ask you this. They saw no beauty in him that they should desire him. How do you understand that?
I take it outward. Beauty. There was nothing particularly striking about him, like a movie star, you know? But it's his character that has won us, and we see great beauty in him.
Right, right. And they were looking for a victorious messiah, and when he came in lowly guise, they didn't find that attractive at all, right?
As fair as Adam would have been in that first creation, and as wonderful as that man who was first from the hand of God, we could never write a psalm like this about him. There are so many flaws that show up, and there's such failure for God, but oh, the blessedness of considering this man.
Amen.
So his moral excellence here, his sinlessness, his holiness, he is absolutely spotless and pure, and out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So his next expression here is grace is poured into thy lips.
You remember that in the lifetime of the Lord Jesus, man wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. His speech was marked by grace.
I have thought that bubbling up was rather like a fountain, like there's no end to it. You can't get right to the end, expressing the glories of the Lord.
So when it comes to the excellence of the person of the Lord Jesus, the scripture always presents him as going above and beyond. If it's gold, it's fine gold. If it's silver, it's refined silver. If it's meal, it's fine flour.
And here we have it again, Brother William, don't we? In all the moral excellence of the Lord Jesus, he's fairer than any and all of the children of man. Amen.
Therefore God hath blessed thee forever. There's that thought of eternity again. So the one who became man will eternally remain man. He entered into something that he will never relinquish when he took upon him humanity.
So the attractiveness of this person. Let's keep moving, time will run out quickly. Verses three to five then, the advent of victory. And we enter upon his official glories. He's the mighty warrior, the warrior king.
You'll remember that historically, when the kingdom was established, there were two kings that stand out for their excellence. There was David, the warrior king. And then there was Solomon in his glory.
And really those two need to be combined to give you a picture of Messiah. He is the warrior king, but he's also marked by eternal glory. So verse three, then, gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty.
This is an aspiration for him to be vindicated among the nations. And where would this take us to then in our Bibles?
Revelation 19. Amen. Yes, as he comes as conqueror.
Upon that white horse, the heaven is open, here he comes. The king of kings, the Lord of lords. And from his mouth there goes that sharp sword with which he will smite the nations. So you have the sword here, and you have him riding, O most mighty, with thy glory and majesty.
And in thy majesty, ride prosperously. In Revelation 19, he's sitting upon that white horse. Brody, you weren't at our conference, so I'm gonna ask you, is that a literal white horse? I wasn't at your conference, so I wouldn't have to answer it.
That's why I stayed away. Well, if it's literal, take it as literal, I guess. The parallels go on, though, too,.
When he talks about a scepter. I know the scepter is directly quoted in Hebrews 1, but the rod of iron in Revelation 19 is the same word for a scepter that we have here, and in Hebrews 1, so the parallels remain, even down into the next section.
So you have in the first verses, what his friends think of him, his meekness and so on, but now you have his enemies. Yes. How he's going to deal with his enemies. Yes.
Sorry, John? No, go ahead, William. He is most mighty. There's none that can withstand him. When he comes as the victor, there's no army on earth. Even all the armies of earth will be gathered, and they're no match for him.
Just the spoken word of his mouth will vanquish them. John?
So we would anticipate with a king, William, the insignia of kingship would be a crown. The interesting thing here that with this king, the insignia that links to his royalty is a sword, and that has precedent, actually, in kingships of the past.
They would bring out a sword at the moment of coronation and present that sword to the king as the insignia that links to the kingdom. One of the things that's noted here is thine arrows are sharp, because the arrows that are linked with Christ have been introduced in one of the servant's songs.
Isaiah 49. In Isaiah 49, those arrows are hidden. They're hidden in the shaft. They're hidden in the quiver, and they're kept there. The arrows now are not being kept out of sight. The arrows are now being produced to put down the enemies that have risen up against God and against his Christ.
So would you take it consistent with that, John, that the king wasn't just political. He was the military leader in all of these cases.
So there's the sword and his might. There's his splendor and majesty, and that will be established through his strength. But notice, because of truth and meekness and righteousness. Now, why must he prevail because of truth, of meekness, unrighteousness?
Any thoughts on that?
I thought maybe that it's not just, when he puts down his enemies, it's not just with anger. It's with meekness and so on. Right. It's also a contrast against the prevailing rule of the day when he arrives, right, which will be in deception, which will be in unrighteousness, which will be in pride.
Now he's coming in an account of truth and righteousness and meekness. Right.
So he taught that the truth shall set thee free. When he comes in his second advent, he's coming as the liberator of planet Earth. He's the only one worthy to open those seals and open the book and reclaim planet Earth.
So truth must prevail. His meekness, he was marked by meekness when he was here. But meekness must be vindicated. They abused him, he took it meekly. But there's a day of vindication coming. And then the thought of righteousness, that demands justice.
Payback for planet Earth, what they did to the Lord Jesus, what they have done in their rebellion against God and against his anointed all through the centuries. It's payback time.
He's coming in righteousness. There have been rulers that have been characterized by glory and majesty and much pomp, but not characterized by truth, meekness and righteousness. So with the Lord Jesus, these qualities are seen.
So the sword and the majesty of Christ would link us to Matthew's gospel. The truth that would bring us to John's gospel, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. The meekness would take us to Mark's gospel, the meekness of the servant character of Christ.
The righteousness would link us to Luke's gospel, where the perfect manhood of Christ is seen in his righteousness. And so we have all four of the aspects of Christ coming out here in the psalm.
Very good, very good. So you mentioned verse five already, John, thanks for moving us on. Thy narrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies, whereby the peoples fall under thee. When the Lord Jesus comes, you remember Matthew 13, the angels shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend.
There's the rooting out of the evil first, and then there's the establishment of his kingdom. So there's the putting down of the enemies, every enemy will be under his feet.
So you highlighted the plural here, peoples. When you find that in the text, what are we being introduced to?
Nations. Well, it's goyim, the nations, is that what you had in mind?
The nations, correct. So here we have the nations being put under, and then finally we have the nations all worshiping in the kingdom. Right, very good. Those that survive. Yes.
Anything further, brethren, on this before we move? Anything from the audience? Any comments, questions? Speak now, or forever hold your peace. Right, let's move then. Verses six and seven. Thy throne, O God, quoted in Hebrews 1, verse eight.
Thy throne, O God, a proof of the deity of the Lord Jesus. By the way, if ever you're confronted with those that come knocking on your door and dispute the full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. So thy throne, O God, that's the seat of his eternal divine power and rule.
He is both the sovereign God, and he will be seen to be the sovereign man.
So is this his throne on earth, Brother William? Is this him coming to Jerusalem to take the kingship, or to take what we would say is just the visible aspect linked to his kingship? Is that how we understand it in the book of Hebrews?
Yes, Hebrews 2. Hebrews 1, I'm still in. Yeah, but when you get to Hebrews 2, he says he has not put in subjection the world to come to the angels, the world to come whereof we speak. So he's looking forward in Hebrews to the coming kingdom.
So Hebrews 1 says, when he bringeth in again, that's into that world that you've been talking about in Hebrews 2, when he bringeth in again the first begotten into the world, he saith. And just after that quotation in Hebrews 1, he brings out this quotation from Psalm number 45.
So the throne of Christ, because he is God, was an eternal throne, but there's no doubt about it that then it's going to have a visible manifestation on earth when he comes to set up his kingdom. That's right.
Now, back to David and Solomon. The kingdom was in embryo form, if you will, at that time in history. And it is said of Solomon, 1 Chronicles 29, then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord, Jehovah, as king instead of David, his father.
But a greater than Solomon is here. God always had this in mind, the Lord Jesus sitting upon the throne of rule and dominion.
Wouldn't this have been an encouragement to the Lord when he was on the cross and facing death, but thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Very good. The joy set before him. He'll speak in another place about my father's throne.
And he speaks about his disciples or those who are overcomers sitting with him on his throne. So there are a lot of different thrones to be deciphered there, but the eternal throne is connected with the Hebrews 1 passage.
As John said.
Now the scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Charles III is going to sit there upon the throne and they're gonna put a scepter into his hand and an orb. Those are symbols of power. And so we have the symbol of absolute righteousness and integrity here.
It's a right scepter. Hebrews calls it a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom.
And it's highlighted by the fact that he loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. And it's really the righteousness, a kingdom established in righteousness that is ruled in righteousness that will have no lawlessness that will be marked by peace.
So the righteousness must come first. Amen. So the scepter takes its character from the king, the one that holds it.
Amen. Amen. So what you just quoted there, Brody, that would be the outworking of holiness. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity. That's what holiness does, isn't it? Sure, yes. Anointed with the oil of gladness above thy fellows, the Hebrew writer brings in the thought of angels there as thy fellows, those heavenly beings.
So the Lord Jesus is infinitely superior to angels.
Would you be happy if we saw the three offices? And he's greater than any who have gone before because the prophet was anointed in the Old Testament. And of course, the priest, he was anointed in the Old Testament.
And you remember the king was anointed. And yet, even though others have been anointed, there is one just like we have considered fairer than the children of men. This one is greater than all who have preceded, who have been anointed.
Christ stands so unique and distinct, even amongst companions that have gone before him.
Right, very good, very good. And some might even take you into chapter two of Hebrews and those who he's happy to call his brethren, he is above them as well, right? But I take it that those that come before is very relevant.
Just by way of application in verse seven, is there a principle of loving righteousness and hating wickedness and enjoying gladness, joy, as far as we're concerned?
Yes, there's the oil of gladness then. Yeah, as linked with the loving righteousness and hating wickedness. So if we are in that state of soul, in communion with our Lord, where we are also loving righteousness, hating iniquity, there will be joy in our hearts.
Amen. It's the fruit of the spirit, right? Very good. Moving to verse eight then, moving from the administration of his kingdom now to his apparel that is fragrant, all like garments, smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia.
And we get some help with these ingredients and what they might be pointing to.
You did mark out the myrrh three times in his life, the myrrh and aloes two times in his life, right? Myrrh might have the sweetness, the aloes, the bitterness, but it's just the overwhelming fragrance that all of this together would present.
It could also be that it's not just the smell, it's that the actual content of these garments is actually woven together of these things, right? So it's not just speaking of that which it emanates, it's the very character of Christ are these things, right?
And those two ingredients that you've highlighted were found in equal weight in the holy anointing oil. So that links to our previous verse, anointed with the oil of gladness above my fellows. Bill, you were going to come in there?
I thought you were coming in.
Okay. Well, I was just thinking, maybe it's nothing to do with this, but your garments smell from where you've been. You said of the Hebrew palaces, so it must be something that, you know, if you're in a place where there's an odor, sometimes it clings to your garments.
But it shows that that's all I was thinking about.
You frequently wear nice odors, right? Your fragrance, you always wear nice fragrances. Yeah, when you're Irish, you know.
It really is something that could be devotional for us too. Our brother yesterday took us to the alabaster box that was broken. I can't help but think about that connected with the cross because that fragrance would still have been on his feet at Calvary.
There was a fragrance connected with Calvary. And when the stone was rolled away, I like to see them coming around a corner. I don't know if there's a corner in the scriptures where they come around, but they could smell.
There would be a smell coming from that of these aloes and the myrrh that Nicodemus and Joseph had applied. It's just a fragrance of Christ in his death, the fragrance of Christ in his resurrection. And now we have the fragrance of Christ in his conquering, in his reign.
It pertains to everything about him. In the song of Solomon, his lips drop sweet-smelling myrrh. Amen.
Remembering mine affliction. My soul hath them always in remembrance and is bowed within me. There will always be that about him that reflects something of what he has gone through in sufferings.
Brother, could you give us some help with ivory palaces? To me, that's an unusual expression.
It is, and it's curious as to where that comes from. Ivory was certainly a very luxurious material, as linked with kings. And there is a reference to Ahab, the king who had a house of ivory. And then Solomon, he had a throne of ivory overlaid with gold.
So it is linked with kingship and linked with that throne.
What had you in mind? I don't know, because it says out of the ivory palaces. He's coming from whatever these ivory palaces are.
Right, right. We often link it with heaven and his incarnation. The thought of luxurious kingship would lend itself to that as well.
John, did you use something of that? No, very happy with the Ahab link there, Brother William. In fact, that presents quite a contrast in the psalm, doesn't it? Because he was a man that made Israel to sin, and he was linked with rebellion in his life.
And instead of that, as our brother Larry has intimated, here's one, and he's moving forth now from ivory palaces. And evidently, in the ivory palaces, there were those who were delighting his heart, because whereby they have made thee glad.
I'm not so sure that that's a reference to the myrrh and the aloes and the cassia. I take it there were companions that were associated with him now, coming forth in his majesty,.
And they have delighted his heart. Right, so the picture seems to be the king is coming out of magnificent, opulent palaces with these fragrant garments upon him. He's accompanied with attendants. He's accompanied with the sound of festive music.
And it's a scene of rejoicing. Now, Revelation 19, he's coming to make war. But nevertheless, there's a gladness with that too. It's a day of vindication.
I allow my mind sometimes to be a bit rogue in the sense that as I think on this, I'm meditating just what it's gonna be like when he comes forth for us. And what we shall see, and what we'll consider, and how our souls will thrill at the very sight of him whose beauties fill all eternity.
Amen. The garments of Christ's brother, William, are quite a study in the Scripture, isn't that right? And we move right from his birth, because there was something given to him at his birth, wrapped in swaddling bands and laid in a manger.
And from the beginning of the life of Christ, where he was given those swaddling clothes, right until the moment in the upper room where he took a linen cloth. And then he moved forward to the cross and they removed his garments.
They'll never remove these garments. God has given these garments to Christ. And thank God when he comes forth in his majesty, all his garments in that day show the insignia of the mighty warrior.
So let's move to the assembly of attendance, as we've called them here in verse nine. King's daughters are among thy honorable women. I take it that that's indicating the high rank of those that will be held in honor in his kingdom.
The high rank of those that will be held in honor in his kingdom. And then upon my right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. The queen as a concert. Brody, you had a thought, I thought on that, the concert link there, consort, S-O-R-T, not concert.
Yeah, it's not the concert of the queen.
Right. It's the idea that her connection with royalty is through the marriage to the king. Right. Yeah, the word is specific, I think.
This Ophir is quite a link, isn't it, brother William? It's not introduced too, too much in scripture, but some would maybe even tentatively suggest that you're going to places in the Middle East like Saudi Arabia or some of those places that maybe linked Ophir to it.
If that's the case, then we even see some of the Arab nations bowing and coming into this concert with the great king.
That may be, John. I had thought that that would have come in with the king's daughters. Yeah, sure. Or the virgins further down, the attendants. But the queen herself, I take it in interpretation and view of the manifestation of Christ in that coming day, the queen will be Israel restored.
Israel is restored, entering into the earthly aspect of the kingdom. So the survivors, the remnant of Israel, restored, looking for Messiah, and now beautified even with the millennial temple, beautified by the millennial temple and the worship of God.
Israel brought into this spousal relationship with Messiah, with her Lord. Then who are the king's daughters? I took it that that was those who are of high rank and held in honor in the kingdom. Okay.
So not necessarily daughters of this king, but daughters of other kings who will send them to the kingdom.
Right, the word daughter is used in the prophetic references sometimes to people. Yes. People and even cities as represented of nations. So Israel restored as the queen. For example, Hosea chapter two, that prophecy that deals with Israel in her unfaithfulness, yet it anticipates a day when the Lord says, I will betroth thee unto me forever.
Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. Isaiah 62 verse five, as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
The context, Israel restored. So there will be a new relationship that Israel restored will enter into. A covenantal, covenantal, covenantal relationship when she enters into the benefits of the new covenant.
What I have in mind is this. Jeremiah chapter 31 where you read about the new covenant. There is a little expression here, there's a little expression there that speaks about, it will not be like the old covenant, Sinai, the law given, which was conditional upon their obedience.
It won't be like that. And then you get an expression like this, though I was a husband unto thee. That covenant of the law brought in a spousal relationship to which Israel was unfaithful by her disobedience.
Now the new covenant, I take it, incorporates now a new spousal relationship. And you have these metaphors that I've just referred to in the prophets that cast it in that light. It's a covenantal relationship that will last forever.
It's unilateral. God will do this. It's not conditional. He'll write his laws upon their hearts, put them within their soul. His spirit within them. A very intimate relationship. You follow?
In a spiritual sense. So we have seen precedence of this, brother William, the king being crowned and the queen mother has been there. Is that the picture that we're looking at here? That there will be a link with Christ forever.
That's Christ and his bride. There is another that's brought in alongside to witness this, and that's the queen in the context. We would describe her as the queen mother. And so you've got, whilst the church is not found in the Old Testament, we see pictures of the church in the Old Testament.
And we know from the New Testament that Christ and his bride will be together forever.
Right, there is the bride, the lamb's wife, which is clearly a heavenly scene. Revelation 21, however you look at that. But there's the heavenly scene. This is earthly, I take it. Israel restored on earth in this relationship to her Messiah.
So there is that which answers to it in heaven.
So we are under the new covenant now, would you say? Because God has done a work on our heart, just as he's going to do a work in Israel.
We are, strictly speaking, brother Bill, as you know, we're not strictly parties to that new covenant. It is made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, Jeremiah 31. But we are beneficiaries under it, in that that new covenant was inaugurated by the blood of Christ.
And it is the only way in which sins can be cleansed, we were hearing in the gospel, is through the blood of Christ. So we already benefit from that. Israel will yet enter into the good of that in that coming day.
Sorry, Bill. I was going to say Paul was a minister of the new covenant. That's right, he was, that's right. I would still say we come in for it now, but anyhow.
So Hebrews 8, brother William, where you've referenced, the reference is, I will make it with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In Hebrews 10, where those words are quoted, that's omitted. Yes, okay.
And the reason why it's omitted in Hebrews chapter 10 is just exactly to show us that we come into the benefits ahead of time of the new covenant. So when we sit this morning and we see the cup that's upon the table, that cup is the cup of the new covenant, which is shed for you.
Right. So the Lord Jesus is never spoken of as the king of the church. But nevertheless, we hope we're appreciating truth regarding him as the king. Because in that coming day, when he is manifested, that rejoices our hearts.
You see.
Are we subjects in his kingdom now? We are subjects. Even though we may not use that expression. Right. Okay.
The normal view of the kingdom is that future manifest kingdom. You need to keep that in mind when we come to the scriptures like Matthew 13. Keep that in mind. When it speaks of the kingdom, the normal view is the future manifest kingdom.
But let's move. Our time's running out. So shall thy king greatly... Oh, sorry. Verse 10. Hearken, O daughter. I take it this is addressing the queen. And consider and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people and thy father's house.
Now you can see how that would be relevant in terms of a literal marriage. A young woman marrying the queen. I take it that what we have here is an exhortation that she is to give him, her king, her Messiah, her ear.
Israel, in that coming day, her ear will be opened. Her heart will be opened. She is to forget her people and her father's house. She is to be taken up only with him. And her former claims will be forgotten.
You have that reference in Isaiah. The former things will not be brought into remembrance and so on.
So we have a number of attendance here, Brother William. Our brother Brody, he referenced the plural peoples just further up, the nations. Here in verse number 10, forget also thine own people is not plural, it's singular.
Verse number 12, even the rich among the people, the nation of Israel, singular. But along with the nation of Israel and the nations that will come, the daughter of Tyre will be there. Are we learning that Gentiles also will bring and do homage to the person of the Lord Jesus?
Amen, yes. Yes, indeed. Isaiah 60.
Yes, yes. What time is it? Oh, we're there, okay. The daughter of Tyre, the daughter of Tyre. Let's touch on that. You remember, Haram, king of Tyre, brought the cedar wood and brought all manners of precious things down to David for the construction of the temple.
You better just summarize these last verses.
I'm not gonna get them in. Well, I was waxing eloquent there. Yeah, okay, right. So you have the daughter of Tyre, Gentile in character, but also bringing in that which is precious, a gift. And the rich among thy people shall entreat thy favor.
So I take it that there will be nations that will provision restored Israel in that coming day. They will provision her. They'll bring precious things to her. She'll be the head of the nations and not the tail anymore.
She'll be linked with the Messiah who's ruling. The king's daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought gold. She will enjoy fully being clothed with the garments of salvation. We enjoy that presently, don't we?
And we worship him. He is thy Lord and worship thou him. We do that now gladly with open hearts. And we trust the Lord will indeed guide us in our worship of him this morning. Notice the last verse, verse 17.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore shall the people praise thee forever and forever. The kingdom will never be shaken. It's an everlasting kingdom. But we have the privilege even now of remembering his name, don't we?
And just a few minutes we'll sit around himself and we'll remember him looking back, but also looking forward because we do this until he come. So thank you, brethren, for your help this morning. We'll just close in prayer.
Our Father, we come before thee just now in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for this lovely portion that has been before us that has directed our thoughts and meditation upon the king in all his beauty.
We remember that they crucified him and put above his head that title. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. They did it in mockery, but how true it is, Father. He is the one that has ever been marked out as the one who would rule and reign from the river to the ends of the earth.
We thank thee that we are associated with him as our Lord and we look forward to seeing him in all his beauty and we shall not only see him, but wonderful thing is we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.
Grant us help then this morning to remember him further as we give thanks now for our meditation in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.