This post continues a series of Christ-centered devotional meditations on Psalm 45. For the previous entries, click the links below:

“My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer”: Psalm 45, the church’s love song to Christ, part 1

“My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer”: Psalm 45, the Church’s love song to Christ, part 2

“My tongue is the pen of a rapid writer”: Psalm 45, the Church’s love song to Christ, part 3

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.

So far the Church, the Bride of Christ, has sung of her Bridegroom’s beauty (vv1-2); His victory as a warrior going out to do battle with evil (vv3-5), and His perfect justice as judge of all the earth (vv6-7). Now, having defeated all His and His Bride’s enemies, and judged the earth, the Royal Bridegroom comes forth for the marriage feast.

The great wedding day (v8-9)

These verses give us a glimpse into future glory, the great wedding of the Lamb, that is Christ, the Royal Bridegroom. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory, because the wedding of the Lamb has come. His bride has made herself ready, and she was given bright, clean, fine linen to wear. (In fact, the fine linen is the “not guilty” verdicts pronounced on the saints) (Revelation 19:7-8). The time has come for the eternal consummation of the marriage between Christ and His Church.

The Church not only sees her Bridegroom coming to fetch her; she smells Him: Myrrh, aloes, and cassia perfume all your garments. One is reminded here of Christ’s burial garments, which were scented with copious amounts myrrh, aloes, and spices (John 19:39-40). And so, on the wedding day, the Bride and her Royal Groom are made joyful together: the Church being reminded of His great love for us, that He gave His own life for our dowry; and Christ because He now has His Bride, the joy set before him, for whom he endured the cross, disregarding its shame (Hebrews 12:2).

Remain in my love, He has told us, so that my joy would continue to be in you and that your joy would be complete (John 15:9, 11). When the Church smells the sweet aroma of Christ and sees Him coming for her, our joy will indeed be complete, just as we have been His joy from eternity. So He sings to us, even now at a distance: I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with mercy (Jeremiah 31:3).

Now the music begins as the Bridegroom comes to meet His Bride: From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad. Christ is coming from the Father’s house, which is dazzlingly white, representing the holiness of God, to fetch His Church and bring her home with Him. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of a loud thunderclap. The sound that I heard was also like the sound of harpists playing their harps (Revelation 14:2). All heaven is breaking into thunderous applause and triumphant song for the Lord and His Bride.

Now as we come to v9, something curious happens, and we must be sure we understand. Up til now, we have been seeing everything from the perspective of the Bride. There is something in her song that describes the experience of every believer, as we come to know Christ.

When she sings of His beauty, she sings for every soul as we behold our glorious King and faith awakens in us (v2). When she sings of His victory as a warrior, this is when we come to know Christ as our Savior (vv3-5). And when she sings of His just government, this is when we come to know Him as Lord (vv6-7).

But in v9, it is as if the camera’s perspective has shifted, and the Bride, the Church, is seeing herself as she really is, in the eyes of her Beloved. The perspectives and speakers will change throughout the rest of the Psalm, until finally, in vv16-17, the Bridegroom, Christ Himself, shall speak to her.

In v9, the Bride sees herself—amazingly—as many royal women! Daughters of kings are among your honored attendants. The royal wife stands at your right hand in gold from Ophir. Who are these royal women? They represent the Church gathered in her fullness, that is, all of God’s elect—from Adam and Eve on down through every generation of history.

The daughters of kings are individual believers, and this probably was also meant to impress upon the Jews God’s plan to gather Gentiles into His people. So they represent those who have come from the pagan nations to serve the Bride; that is, to be added to the Church, and work within her, for her good. Then foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you … Then your gates will always remain open. Day and night they will not be shut, in order to bring you the wealth of the nations, and their kings will be led in procession (Isaiah 60:10, 11). These princesses of the nations thus represent particular believers among the great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in front of the throne and of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and with palm branches in their hands (Revelation 7:9).

And the royal wife at Christ’s right hand, adorned with gold of Ophir represents the redeemed of all the ages, collectively. She is the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Revelation 21:2). Ophir was a region famous for its gold (cf. 1 Kings 9:28). Here, the gold with which the Church is adorned on her wedding day might be her faith, which has passed through the fiery trial (1 Peter 1:6-7); or perhaps the ministry of the Gospel, and good works in keeping with the Gospel, which have come through the fires of Judgment Day and have been approved (1 Corinthians 3:10-13). Either way, the lesson is this: That God, in His grace (not because of our merit); will reward our faith (grace upon grace, John 1:16) with a beautiful adornment for eternity. Thus it is written: And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: And establish thou the work of our hands upon us; Yea, the work of our hands establish thou it (Psalm‬ ‭90‬:‭17‬ ‭KJV‬‬). The Lord has established the work of His people, done in faith, and so this gold of Ophir is His beauty upon us.

The royal wife adorned in the gold of Ophir is this the fullness of Church gathered eternally to Christ. The full number of the Gentiles has come in, and all Israel—that is, all of God’s people in every generation, whether Jew or Gentile—has been saved (Romans 11:25-26). That the Bride stands at Christ’s right hand signifies the great honor the King of Glory (Psalm 24:8-10) has bestowed upon His Queen, the Church. But it also stirs up hope in the hearts of His saints for the glory that is to be revealed in us (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17): fullness of joy in your presence,pleasures at your right hand forever (Psalm 16:11).