This is the first in a series of Christ-centered devotional meditations on Psalm 45.

Christ tells us that: The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son (Matthew 22:2 EHV). St. Paul tells us that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, by cleansing her with the washing of water in connection with the Word. He did this so that he could present her to himself as a glorious church, having no stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but so that she would be holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27 EHV). And this is all given to us in stunning images towards the end of the book of Revelation. When Christ returns for His Bride, the Church, to consummate the marriage eternally, the heavens themselves thunder with the shout of celebration because the wedding of the Lamb has come. His bride has made herself ready, and she was given bright, clean, fine linen to wear (Revelation 19:7-8 EHV). And then the Church is pictured as a bride adorned for her husband; walking down the aisle, as it were, from heaven itself (Revelation 21:2).

Ancient and Medieval Christians, and the Reformers, were agreed that the breathless love song of the Old Testament, the Song of Solomon, is an image-in-verse of the love between Christ and His Bride, the Church. I would suggest that in moving us away from this interpretation, with embarrassed apologies that the church could be so stupid for 1800 years, modern exegetes have actually done us a grave disservice, and we ought to repent of their folly.

But another exquisite love song of Christ and His Church is found in Psalm 45. This psalm speaks of Christ, first from the perspective of His awed Bride (vv1-9); then Christ speaks words of admonition and comfort to her (vv10-15); and finally, from heaven the Father pronounces His blessings upon the Son and His bride (vv16-17).

Let us consider this lovely Psalm, its example of how the Church ought to praise our Savior; how we should be should behold our Bridegroom through the eyes of faith, and treasure Him in our hearts; and above all its other excellencies, the sweet Gospel it proclaims to us, as we eagerly hope for the day when we shall appear before Him as a glorious church, having no stain or wrinkle or any such thing, but … holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:27).

Note: My reflections on this Psalm, unless otherwise indicated, will be from the Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV), simply because that’s what I have in front of me currently.

The Church’s love for Christ bubbles over in Song (vv1-2)

The Psalm begins: My heart is bubbling over with a beautiful theme. I am reciting my works for the King. My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer.

The prophet Jeremiah described the Word of the Lord as a burning fire in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I am weary of holding it in. I cannot! (Jeremiah 20:9). Here, the Church describes Christ—His glory and majesty, His goodness, and the comfort of His Gospel—as a beautiful song bubbling over in her heart. Like water that has come to a rolling boil, or the heady foam of some stout ale pouring over the top of the glass.

She cannot contain herself, cannot keep from singing the praises of her King, her Bridegroom, her Christ. She cannot keep herself from singing out, and moreover—doesn’t want to! Unlike the prophet Jeremiah, who tried to shut up the fire in his heart, only to find that it spread to his bones, until he grew weary of fighting it, and spoke again of the Lord; the Church gladly opens her mouth to sing His praises.

And as she opens up her mouth to pour forth her praise, she says: My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer. She will sing breathlessly of all of her Lord’s perfections and His mercies, for from His fullness she has received grace upon grace (John 1:16).

And so shall the Church sing, provided her ministers are actually sating her hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) with the Gospel of Christ, and His sacraments. For these are the green pastures and still waters that restore the souls of Christ’s little flock (Psalm 23:2-3). These are the water of life for thirsty souls, and pure milk of the Gospel, and the fatness of the meat of the Word of God, and the bread and the wine which can all be bought and enjoyed by poor, hungry souls (Isaiah 55:1-3), for Christ has already paid fully for them.

For what is the song of the Bride, her works she recites for her King? Is her song not when her members offer their bodies as a living sacrifice—holy and pleasing to God—which is [their] appropriate worship (Romans 12:1)? And is it not when through Jesus, … [we] constantly offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name; and when we do not forget to do good and share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased (Hebrews 13:15-16)?

The Bride’s love song to Christ our Bridegroom is our worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24), adorned with good works which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Where you find that the song of the Bride is weak, it may very well be because she has grown anemic, because she is being starved of the Gospel. She may be withering away, because her preachers have been feeding her nothing but the gruel of Law, and setting her to work on the treadmill, [1] and perhaps even beating her with the threats of the Law when she does not sing the songs or bear the fruits that only the Gospel will produce.

But when the Church is given the whole counsel of God to feast upon, and when she is given Christ and His promises to comfort and satisfy her righteous hunger; when she is led to her Savior for rest; and given bread and wine from His table; then she will eat her bread with joy, and drink her wine with a happy heart, for in Christ she will be assured that God has accepted her works. Her garment shall be white (Ecclesiastes 9:7-8), and her heart will bubble over with true worship and good works.

This is often true even of churches that seem dead, or about to die. For listen to what Christ says to the church at Laodicea, with whom He expressed disgust: You say, “I am rich. I have become very wealthy and need nothing.” But you do not know that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments, so that you may be clothed and the shame of your nakedness may not become public, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. (Revelation 3:17-18) The problem with this church was that they had become self-sufficient and self-righteous. Instead of singing of Christ and His riches, and boasting of His glory; they sang of themselves, and boasted of their own accomplishments: I am rich. I have become very wealthy and need nothing. They had forgotten the Gospel, you see, and so had nothing. Thus Christ calls them to come to Him and buy from Him gold refined by fire—that is, a faith that perseveres—so that you may be rich, and white garments—of Christ’s righteousness—so that you may be clothed and the shame of your nakedness may not become public, and salve to anoint your eyes—that is, insight and discernment—so that you may see (Revelation 3:17-18). These are all gifts of the Gospel, they come through Christ alone.

Then, the Church continues her song to Christ: You are the most beautiful of the sons of Adam. Grace is poured out on your lips. Therefore God has blessed you forever.

The glory of Christ far surpasses any of the beauty of the sons of Adam, for we are all marred and deformed by the sin of our father. It might be better to translate this as does the King James Version: Thou art fairer than the children of men. Even the most inwardly beautiful son of Adam has scars and bruises on his virtues; and whatever we find lovely in him is a gift from God. As Augustine said: The good I do is done by you in me and by your grace: the evil is my fault. Likewise, the most outwardly beautiful man or woman’s beauty will fade. As it is written: All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like a wildflower in the countryside. Grass withers, flowers fade (Isaiah 40:6-7). The beauty of the children of Adam is always imperfect, and it must fade and wither and die. But Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

And so, when the saints behold our Christ, we are ravished, because we have never seen such beauty. We have never seen sinlessness, a Man clothed in the seamless garment of His own righteousness, more innocent than an infant at the breast, and yet more noble than any earthly prince.

Yes, and even the wounds we made in His sinless body on the cross—in His resurrection glory, even those have been made beautiful, for they have been sanctified to Him, by Him, and in Him. For when our Bridegroom sees the wounds in His hands, it is a joyful reminder to Him that He has already paid in full the dowry for His Bride, the Church. He looks upon His scars, and says to us: Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49:16).

And now swelling with pride at His eloquence, the Church sings that grace is poured out on His lips. We, like the prophet Isaiah, must confess that our lips are unclean, and we dwell among a people with unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5). The poison of asps, by nature, is upon our lips, and our mouths drip cursing and bitterness like drool (Romans 3:13-14). But Christ’s sinless lips kiss us with grace and truth, for He is the Word of God become flesh (John 1:14).

And so we are told that, His lips are lilies, dripping with liquid myrrh (Song of Solomon 5:13). Wisdom and truth, justice and mercy, flow naturally from His mouth whenever He speaks, and His words are always fit; He does not threaten bruised reeds with wrath, nor does He call for ravenous wolves to come to Him for rest. We are told that even His enemies who would soon try to kill Him were impressed by the words of grace that came from His mouth (Luke 4:22). If those who did not believe in Him were impressed by His words of grace, how much more should we, His beloved Bride, be dazzled by His words, and commit them to our memory and treasure them in our hearts?

Therefore, the Bride sings to her Redeemer, who has paid her dowry with His own blood, God has blessed you forever. Do not misunderstand this! It is not that God blessed Christ because He was the most beautiful man that ever lived, or because He spoke the most gracious words. No, it is the other way round. Because we see in Christ perfect beauty, without any spot or blemish of sin in Him, so that even the wounds of the cross are made beautiful in Him; and because from His lips we find only grace and truth, and no deceit has ever been found in His mouth (Isaiah 53:9), we recognize who He is: the Eternal Son, worthy of all blessing. As Christ, He is blessed forever by God for our sake as the Mediator between God and man, the Man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a ransom for all (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

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[1] Until recently, a treadmill was literally for treading out grain. For centuries it was used as punishment for prisoners sentenced to hard labor. It may not surprise the reader of this section to learn that I am currently reading Dickens’ Oliver Twist.