This is the third in a series of Christ-centered devotional meditations on Psalm 45. For the previous two entries, click the links below:

“My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer,” Part 1

“My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer,” Part 2

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.

After singing the praises of her Royal Groom’s loveliness (vv1-2); and then praying for His success in defeating His enemies and hers (vv3-5), the Bride of Christ, goes on to proclaim her Lord’s perfect justice.

The Church sings the justice of her Lord (vv6-7)

The Church here confesses the divinity of Christ, saying to Him: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

The Church must hold fast to the ancient Athanasian Creed, which states:

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic [1] faith;

Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;

Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance.

We don’t confess the Athanasian Creed simply because it is a Creed; but because it expresses biblical truth. So to confess it is indeed to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once and for all (Jude 3); and to stand firm and hold on to the teachings that were passed along to you (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Here in Psalm 45, the Church confesses that Christ is both Lord and God. Thus we agree with St. John who teaches us that: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). And we agree with St. Paul, who calls Christ God over all, eternally blessed (Romans 9:5). And we believe the prophecy of Isaiah, who said that Christ would be called Mighty God (Isaiah 9:6). And we trust the word of St. Matthew, who faithfully interpreted the prophecy of Isaiah for us: “And they will name him Immanuel,” which means, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). And we confess with Thomas the Apostle, who called the risen Christ: My Lord and my God! (John 20:28)

Indeed, Hebrews 1:8 emphatically declares that this passage refers to Christ, and calls Him God: But about the Son he says: God, your throne is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.

That Christ is God, eternal God, the eternal Son, light of light, very God of very God, begotten not made, the Word become flesh and the fullness of God’s being dwelling bodily (John 1:14; Colossians 2:9) cannot be sincerely denied by anyone who yields to Scripture. The doctrine of the Trinity cannot be denied without denying your very baptism, for Christ commands: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Note that he says we are baptized into a name—singular—and that one Name is the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So it is that we are baptized into one God, in three Persons. We are to recite the Name of the Triune God over those being baptized. As to the objection that the word Trinity is not found in the Bible, this is indeed a most juvenile argument. Trinity is simply a shorthand for the truth that the one God is Father, Son, and Spirit. Tri– refers to threeness; -unity to oneness. Tri-unity. Trinity.

St. Paul commanded: If anyone preaches to you any gospel other than the one you received—a curse on him! (Galatians 1:9) The Gospel Paul proclaimed confesses and indeed demands a Trinity. For we have seen already that Paul calls Christ God over all, eternally blessed. He speaks also of the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18), meaning that he also confessed the Holy Spirit as God. And elsewhere he writes: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14). When he speaks of the love of God, we should understand that as God the Father. To deny the Trinity is to deny the Gospel, along with your baptism.

And so let us join with the psalmist; and the prophets and apostles and all the saints in happily confessing that Christ is God!

Now the Church sings to her Christ: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. Isn’t this what the prophet Daniel foretold? To him [the Son of Man, that is, Christ] was given dominion, honor, and a kingdom. All peoples, nations, and languages will worship him. His dominion is an eternal dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed (Daniel 7:14). And again, this is confirmed by St. John’s vision: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15).

Christ’s throne represents His kingly authority over all things. Again, Paul says He is God over all. Over all means He is over all things in heaven and on earth, as Christ Himself proclaimed: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me (Matthew 28:20). Not only has He authority over all things, He has power over all things, for we are told that all things hold together in him (Colossians 1:17); and that He sustains all things by his powerful word from his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3).

Christ our King is preserving His people (Hebrews 7:25), and moving all history to its appointed culmination from His throne at the Father’s right hand. Isaiah tells us the authority to rule will rest on his shoulders, and that there is no limit to his authority (Isaiah 9:6, 7). His rule extends over every creature, whether visible or invisible. Good men and bad ones; good angels and rebellious ones; seraphim, cherubim, and even demons. He guides history, the rise and fall of nations—not a molecule, not a single atom—has free range.

Moreover—listen, Church, and be encouraged—His all encompassing power and authority are not directed only to His own delight, but also for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28); that is, for His Bride, the Church. Notice what it says in Ephesians 1:22: God also placed all things under his feet and made him head over everything for the church (emphasis added). This means that He turns all things, all things!—to His glory and the salvation of His Bride, even the most wicked schemes of the Devil, and the harm that evil men do us. On the Day of Judgement, Satan and his army of rebel angels, and the abusers and oppressors, the scoffers and mockers, the wolves and goats who have joined Satan’s forces; will stand before the judgment throne of Christ. And He will declare to them on that day: You meant evil against me—and against my Bride—but God meant it for good, to bring this to pass and to keep many people alive, as it is this day (Genesis 50:20). Just as He will wipe every tear from the face of His people; he will wipe away the smirks and sneers from the faces of the wicked, and replace them with terror and shame, as they realize they have spent all their efforts for less than nothing. I suspect that will be one of the torments of hell: that the wicked will wallow in the miserable muck of their own failure.

So here we confess that Christ is God; and that He has a throne; and then, that His throne is forever and ever. As we have seen previously: His dominion is an eternal dominion that will not pass away … and he will reign forever and ever (Daniel 7:14; Revelation 11:15). Because He died once to conquer death for all His people, He shall never die like mortal kings. And because He has all authority and power, His reign shall never be usurped. For he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:25 EHV).

So we, the Church, sing of Christ’s throne, which is forever and ever. And then we sing of another sign of His dominion: The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice. When Christ sat down at the right hand of the Father, He was told: Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritanceand the ends of the earth as your possession. You will smash them with an iron rod. You will break them to pieces like pottery (Psalm 2:8-9 EHV). The warlords, the predators, the persecutors, the bullies—both great and small—will be destroyed by His scepter. But to His Bride, the Church—and especially her weak and wounded lambs—His scepter is a rod and staff of comfort (Psalm 23:4). We look to His scepter and see first the Cross, for there: Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace kiss each other (Psalm 85:10 EHV). The iron rod that would crush sinners has fallen on Him in our place. And now, to us no longer fear any condemnation (Romans 8:1), there is the sweet promise that: A bruised reed he will not break. A smoldering wick he will not put out, until he leads justice to victory (Matthew 12:20). For the bruised and battered and weary and faint among His Church, the scepter of Christ is a sign of His protective love and Providence. He works justice for them, not upon them.

And so the Church sings of her Christ: You love righteousness and hate wickedness. Proverbs 17:15 says emphatically: He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord (ESV‬‬). And yet, Christ suffered for sins in our place, the righteous for the unrighteous (1 Peter 3:18). God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). And God sent Christ to us so that whoever believes in the God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:5).

How is it that Christ, the Righteous One, would be condemned, so that we who have been wicked would be justified, when Scripture says condemning the righteous and justifying the guilty are abominations to the Lord? Because the sins of the ungodly who turn to Christ have already been judged and paid for on the cross. The Righteous One was willing to suffer condemnation for the sake of His Bride. His Bride, His beloved, who had been wandering in the far country of wickedness, has been declared righteous for Christ’s sake. There is real currency that has paid our debts, and it is the blood of Christ.

Elsewhere the Psalmist sings of Christ: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you (Psalm‬ ‭89‬:‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬). He has lived in perfect righteousness in our place, and suffered our condemnation on the cross to satisfy justice. Having secured our justification and clothed us with His righteousness—establishing His reign over us with righteousness and justice—He now sends forth His steadfast love and faithfulness to us, instead of judgment and wrath.

Christ loves righteousness, so He has fulfilled all righteousness for us, and covered us in His righteous robe. He hates wickedness, so He died that the wickedness in us might be justly condemned; and He sends His Holy Spirit into us, to uproot and slay the wickedness that remains in us, as it is written: by the Spirit you put to death the actions of the body (Romans 8:13).

Seeing that Christ has fulfilled all righteousness on behalf of His Bride, the Church, she sings: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy more than any of your companions. Now, the Bride has just testified that Christ is God, singing to Him: Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. How do we now sing God, your God, has anointed you?

According to Christ’s humanity, God is His God. So He tells Mary Magdalene after the resurrection: I am ascending to my Father and your Father—to my God and your God (John 20:17). But in His divine nature, He is of one substance and equal with the Father (John 10:30; Philippians 2:6). And so Thomas confesses when He sees the risen Christ, that Jesus is, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).

Let us be careful of the word therefore where it says: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy. This could mean a couple of things. First, it could mean that because Christ, being holy God and sinless Man, has a perfect love for righteousness and a perfect hatred of wickedness, the Father anointed Him especially with the Holy Spirit to do His redeeming work: God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him (Acts 10:38 ESV; cf. Isaiah 61:1-3; Luke 4:16-21). But it could also refer to His heavenly coronation, when: After he had provided purification for sins, he took his seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3). The oil of joy would be appropriate here, for: In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne (Hebrews 12:2).

And finally, the Bride sings that Christ has been anointed with the oil of joy more than any of your companions. Prophets (1 Kings 19:16); Priests (Exodus 40:12-15); and Kings (1 Kings 1:34-39) were all anointed with oil. But only Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King (Hebrews 1:1-3). Therefore, His anointing is superior to all others, and His joy more perfect.

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[1] Notice that this is little-c catholic. It doesn’t mean “Roman Catholic” which is an oxymoron, because catholic means universal, and to be Roman, by definition, is to be not universal. That being said, what the Athanasian Creed means by this is, This is what Christians everywhere confess to be true.