Title: The Royal
Wedding
Text: Psalm 45: 6-17
Date: August 8, 2019
Place: SGBC, NJ
Subject: The Royal Wedding
In order for us to
see that this King is King Jesus and this queen is his bride, the church, let’s
first hear what God the Father said to Christ in verses 6-7. The Hebrew writer tells us this is God the
Father speaking to his Son, the Lord Jesus.
Psalm 45: 6: Thy
throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is
a right sceptre. 7: Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore
God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
The Man Christ Jesus
is the King who is God, whose dominion is forever. He has always been King of God’s spiritual
Israel from everlasting—he was born King—“where is he that is born King of
the Jews?” (Mt 2:2) He served God
the Father as King and redeemed his people as King. Now, “he has by inheritance obtained a
more excellent name than [the angels and than all]” (Heb 1: 4). Therefore, Christ reigns upon his throne
in heavenly Jerusalem as King. John
saw a Lamb as it had been slain sitting upon a throne. (Rev 5: 6).
And Christ’s scepter is a righteous scepter. God the Father would only commit the rule
over his Church to the King who rules justly—"for the throne is
established by righteousness” (Pro 16: 12).
Christ loves righteousness and hates iniquity. Thereby, he established his throne in
righteousness by establishing his people in righteousness. He did so by his obedience to the Father
unto the death of the cross—“Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” This
not only means God anointed Christ with the gifts of the Spirit but also that God
exalted Christ above all his people for his obedience unto the death of the
cross.
Philippians 2: 9:
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name: 10: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11: And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.
David as a king was
made after the pattern of Christ to typify the King of kings. David’s kingdom, Israel, was made after the
pattern of Christ’s kingdom, the Israel of God.
When God spoke to David, promising his throne and his kingdom would be
forever, God spoke of Christ who David typified and of Christ’s kingdom which
Israel typified (2 Sam 7: 12-13; Acts 2: 29-36). Christ was King before David. He was King after David died. And Christ is still King and will be forever. Even David knew this. Likewise, the Israel of God, existed before
the nation Israel was formed and shall last forever.
Christ kingdom is
made up of God’s elect redeemed by his blood out of every kindred, tongue,
and people and nation under heaven (Rev 5: 9).
You and I who believe by his grace are citizens of his kingdom.
Colossians 1: 1:
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light: 13: Who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Ephesians 2: 19: Now therefore ye are no more strangers and
foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, [citizens of heavenly
Jerusalem]
Philippians 3: 20:
For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
When, at last, Christ has called out all his redeemed
then shall come the marriage supper between our King and his Queen. John heard
a voice come from the throne.
Revelation 19: 6: And
I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. 7: Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him:
[this marriage ceremony is all about the Husband, King Jesus] for the marriage
of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8: And to her was
granted [given] that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for
the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. [the righteousness of Christ
granted to us through faith in his blood] 9: And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
So by God-given faith, in our text “we see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honour; [because he has] by the grace of God [tasted] death for
every [one of his elect] (Heb 2: 9)
Proposition:
So this royal wedding is the marriage supper of King Jesus and his Queen, his
bride, the church.
In the past few years, we have seen some beautiful
marriage ceremonies between some of our young men and women in this
congregation. We have seen the groom
decked out handsomely, seen the bride adorned for her husband and we have seen
the matrons and maids of honor wearing their very best. But nothing compares to the wedding we see in
our text. And what we see by faith now, brethren, one day we shall behold
face-to-face at the marriage supper of the Lamb.
THE KING IN HIS ROYAL APPAREL
Psalm 45: 8: All thy
garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces,
whereby they have made thee glad.
God our Father describes our King and Husband in his
royal apparel in his ivory palaces.
Scripture speaks of “the savor of Christ.” Here God the Father declares Christ to be a
sweet savor unto God—"All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and
cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.”
When God speaks of
sinners fallen in Adam he calls us an abomination—that is, we stink. But the smell God the Father speaks of in our
text is the holiness and righteousness of Christ’s person by which his offering
and sacrifice is a sweet-smelling savor unto God.
The Father speaks of
Christ’s dwelling places as “ivory palaces.”
Wherever Christ dwells it is an ivory palace—a snow-white, sinless
palace. When Christ tabernacled among
us, his body—his human nature with his divine nature—was an ivory, holy palace
without sin, filled with the savor in which God delighted, which made Christ’s
sacrifice and offering sweet to God.
Ephesians 5:2…Christ
also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Christ dwells in his
preachers making us to preach Christ and him crucified alone, which makes his
earthen vessels an ivory palace, filled with the savor of Christ. Paul said,
2 Corinthians 2:14:
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and
maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15: For we
are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that
perish: perish: to the one we are the savor of death unto death; to the other the
savor of life unto life. And who is
sufficient for these things?
When Christ takes up
abode in his regenerated child, creating in us a new man, Christ creates in us
an ivory palace in his holiness and righteousness. Through faith, God imputes the righteousness
of Christ to us so that God smells the savor of Christ’s garments.
One day Christ shall
return and take us to heaven into that ivory palace of his presence where this
wedding shall take place. Then we shall
be perfectly conformed to Christ’s image and adorned in his garments smelling
exactly as he smells.
Here is the point, it
is the savor of Christ’s garments on us whereby he is made glad toward us—"All
thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces,
whereby they [thy garments] have made thee glad.”
The other day, I was
talking with one of the men about how it is assuring to know the Spirit has
given you the message when you find other old saints who saw the same thing you
see in scripture. I found this scripture in Ezekiel where God said,
Ezekiel 20: 41: I
will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people,
and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will
be sanctified in you before the heathen.
I read John Gill who
wrote, "Their sins being expiated by the sacrifice of Christ, which is
unto God for a sweet smelling savour; and their persons being, clothed with the
robe of his righteousness, and the garments of his salvation, all whose
garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia; the Gospel being the savour of
life unto life unto them; and the savour of the knowledge of Christ being
communicated to them by it; and also the savour of his good ointments, the
graces of the Spirit, being imparted to them.”
I had no idea brother Gill would quote our text when speaking of Ezekiel
20. But it sure gave me assurance that
the Spirit of God has given me the message when I saw that he wrote exactly
what I had seen in our text.
THE QUEEN IN HER ROYAL APPAREL
Psalms 45: 9: Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women:
upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir…13: The king's daughter is all glorious
within: her clothing is of wrought
gold.
This is the wedding party. The king’s daughters are the matrons of honor
and the queen is the bride. The queen
pictures the church as a whole; the honourable women picture each particular
believer who together make up the church.
Brethren, we who have been given life and faith in Christ
are “the king’s daughters.” I had
to look this up. When I was jotting down
my notes, I almost said we are maids of honor.
But I found that an unmarried woman is a maid of honor while a married
woman is a matron of honor. You probably
already knew that but I did not. Since
we are espoused to Christ, which before God is the same as being married, we
are matrons of honor. And notice, we are
not the queen’s matron of honor like the ladies are who stand with a bride in
our day. But we are Christ’s matrons of
honor—“the king’s daughters were among thy honorable women.” This wedding is to the honor of Christ
our Husband. Therefore, each individual
believer is typified as the husband’s honorable women. Also, each believer together, makes up the
church—the queen—the King’s bride.
By God’s free grace, in Christ, our position is one of
highest honor—“upon thy right hand.”
Christ is seated at God’s right hand and we in him. As God the Father declares in this Psalm,
Christ is also God, and we are there at his right hand. What amazing grace! Christ our King found us cast out of God’s
presence, ruined in our sins. But Christ
by his precious blood and righteousness has made us to be in the most honorable
place, at his right hand.
It is because we are adorned in the most valuable
garments—“gold of Ophir.” Ophir
was a place where gold abounded. The
gold was even more valuable to men because it came from that place, called
Ophir (1 Ki 9:28; 10:11; 22:48; 1 Chr 29: 4; 2 Chr 8:18; 9:10). Scripture uses
“gold of Ophir” when describing something invaluable. Job compared wisdom to gold of Ophir (Job 28:
12-19). Before God and his holy law,
through faith in Christ, we are clothed in the most valuable garment ever made
on this earth, the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ!
But not only has
Christ made us righteous outwardly before the law, Christ has made us holy and
righteous inwardly in regeneration by creating a new man by his indwelling
presence—"The king's daughter is all glorious within”—that is by the righteousness and holiness
Christ himself is within us. Then he
speaks of her outward clothing—"her clothing is of wrought gold”—that
is Christ’s righteousness worked out by him and imputed to us
through faith.
You see, to be accepted of God, we
have to be holy and righteous—within and without. We must be justified before the law so that God will not impute sin to us.
And we must be sanctified within so that we have a spirit in which is no guile. Christ worked both and he is both. Christ is made unto us Righteousness and
Sanctification (1 Cor 1: 30).
NONE
SHALL BE LOST
Psalm 45: 12: And the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift, even the rich among the people
shall intreat thy favour…14: She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of
needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto
thee 15: With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter
into the king’s palace. 16: Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children whom
thou mayest make princes 17: I will make
thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people
praise thee for ever and ever.
Remember, this is God
the Father speaking to his Son, Christ Jesus the King. Due to Christ justifying all God’s elect, God
the Father assures our King that not one shall be lost for whom Christ
died.
He says, “And the
daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift”—Tyre was a seacoast city, a
mart of Gentile nations (Is 23: 3) The
daughter of Tyre represents God’s elect Gentiles, redeemed by Christ, and
called by the Spirit. The gift we
bring is Christ alone, along with praise to his holy name. God promises Christ, “Even the
rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.” Not many wise, rich or noble are called
(1 Cor 1: 26). But God does have some
elect among the rich who Christ redeemed and even they shall be in the
wedding. But all will be made rich by
the unsearchable riches of Christ alone.
God promises his Son
that the queen, the church as a whole, “She shall be brought unto the king
in raiment of needlework.” The
custom in those days was for the groomsmen and matrons of honor to bring the
bride to the bridegroom. So we, the
church of God, shall be brought unto Christ our King. We shall be brought “in raiment of
needlework.” You ladies who
sew know that needlework is intricate, finger work. The whole church shall be robed in raiment of
needlework made carefully by the hand of Christ alone.
Therefore, seeing
that the whole church shall be brought to Christ our King, it means each
individual believer shall be brought.
God the Father promises Christ our King, "the virgins, her
companions that follow her, shall be brought unto thee.” Though in Adam, and in ourselves, we each
played the harlot, each individual believer has been made a chaste virgin unto
Christ by Christ. The apostle Paul, as
Christ’s minister, is a type of the groomsmen who brought the bride to the
groom. So Paul said of the saints, “I
am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor 11: 2).
What will be our
spirit as we are being brought to Christ?
God the Father says to our King, our Husband, “With gladness and
rejoicing shall they be brought.” Remember, the smell of Christ’s own
garments is what makes him glad toward us.
What is it that fills us with gladness and rejoicing? The same thing. Christ and his sweet-smelling righteousness
freely imputed to us fills us with gladness and rejoicing over him.
“They shall enter
into the king’s palace.” Brethren think on this.
One day, we shall enter into God’s very presence and behold God in the
face of Christ Jesus with our own eyes!
After all the wonderful descriptions of heaven given to us in scripture,
I guarantee you that those glowing descriptions shall fall short of what it
will be like when behold our King face to face and are perfectly conformed to
his image.
Last time we saw how
these last verses applied to Christ, as God the Father promised him of these
things. This time let’s see how these
promises apply to us who Christ has saved.
God the Father promised Christ our King that through his bride he would
have many children which would not only be God the Father’s children but also
Christ’s own children, “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children.” That means we who have been born of Christ’s
incorruptible seed through the preaching of the gospel are not only God our
Father’s children, we are Christ’s children.
He is our Everlasting Father, our everlasting last Adam (Is 9: 6).
Then God the Father
promised Christ that due to Christ justifying his people, it was just for
Christ to make his people princes unto God, “whom thou mayest make princes.” That means we shall sing the new song
even as the apostle John heard in the Revelation of Jesus Christ which he was shown,
“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to
open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God KINGS and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Re 5:9-10).
At last, God the
Father promised Christ “I will make thy name to be remembered in all
generations: therefore shall the people praise thee forever.” That means God our Father will keep us and
never let us forget Christ’s name: therefore we shall never cease to praise our
Redeemer forever.
Now, everything we have seen here concerning that great
marriage supper of the Lamb is summed up by the apostle Paul, when he wrote of
how Christ our Husband loved his bride, the church:
Ephesians 5: 25:
Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself
for it; 26: That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by
the word, 27: That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without
blemish. [all glorious within and without, smelling of his garments] 28: So
ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife
loveth himself. 29: For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and
cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church [arraying us carefully, meticulously
in the raiment of needlework]: 30: For we are members of his body, of his
flesh, and of his bones.
GOD’S WORD TO EACH MEMBER OF CHRIST’S CHURCH
Psalm 45: 10:
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own
people, and thy father’s house; 11: So shall the king greatly desire thy
beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
Sinner, would you and
I be in this marriage in that day?
Christ is the Husband, the Savior of the body. The only way we shall be saved is by
submitting to Christ in faith. When God
speaks into our hearts, commanding, “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and
incline thine ear” then are we made willing to submit to Christ our Husband
and trust him alone to save us. Oh, that God might speak in power right now!
A bride has to leave
mother and father and cleave to her husband. Why? God ordained it to typify the
necessity of Christ’s bride forsaking all and cleaving to Christ. Christ said,
“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me:
and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:
37). What does that mean? He said, “So likewise, whosoever he be of
you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Lu 14: 33). It means there can be no competition for our
heart’s affection. We must love Christ
preeminently; forsaking our persons for Christ’s person; our will for Christ’s
will; our works for Christ’s works. Oh,
that God would speak in power right now and make us like Levi! Scripture says when Christ commanded Levi to
follow him, before as yet Levi moved a toe, in his heart, “He left all!” Then “rose up, and followed him“(Lu 5:28).
Scripture says, “Without
faith it is impossible to please God.”
But what God our Father is commanding the bride to do here is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to him alone. That is the only way to please God. God the Father says, “So shall the king
greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.”
Amen!