598. PSA 45:3-5. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST’S CONQUESTS

Psa_45:3-5. The Character of Christ’s Conquests

"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."’97Psa_45:3-5.

This striking and beautiful psalm evidently refers to the Messiah. It is impossible, without doing the greatest violence to the glorious truths it contains, to apply it either to Solomon, or to any other earthly sovereign. This is evidently a poetical epithalamium, or song of congratulation, before the marriage of some celebrated monarch. The strain exactly agrees with such compositions. Three subjects are introduced: 1, The splendor of the bridegroom; 2, The beauty of the bride; 3, The happy results arising from the union. The glory of the bridegroom occupies the chief part of the psalm. He is praised for the comeliness of his person,’97the gracefulness of his address,’97his triumphant military exploits,’97his righteous administration,’97the lustre of his renown,’97and the magnificence of his court. The bride is celebrated for her high birth, her transcendent beauty, her splendid and costly apparel, and her dignified attendants. The results arising from the union are these. The. marriage is to produce a race of princes, who are to possess authority and dominion to the ends of the earth. The name, too, of the king is to live through posterity, and his renown to be as lasting as time itself.

Such is the beauty and richness of the psalm before us. It can apply to none but Jesus, who is "King of kings, and Lord of lords," and to whom the apostle applies the sixth verse, where he says, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever," etc., Heb_1:8. The psalmist was, doubtless, inspired to set forth the marriage of the Son of God with his redeemed church. A subject largely illustrated in the parables of the New Testament, and sustained in every part of the Divine word. That part which we have selected for our present contemplation, relates to the character of the bridegroom as a kingly conqueror, and shows the ardent interest the church takes in his triumphant career. Thus she says, "Gird thy sword," etc., Psa. xlv.

3, etc. Consider the Person, the Cause, the Weapons, and the Triumphs of the Saviour.

I. The person of the Messiah.

"He is a king." Distinguished for his glory, majesty, and might.

1. His glory is that of supreme Deity. "The glory of the only-begotten," &c., Joh_1:14. Glory underived, supreme, universal, everlasting. As the sun is the glory of the solar system, so Christ is the glory of the heaven of heavens.

2. His majesty is that which involves the highest degree of royal authority. Hence his throne is above every other. By him all principalities exist. By him kings reign, and princes decree justice, Pro_8:15. "King of kings." King of the whole earth; of the whole universe.

3. Most mighty. Powerful in the highest degree. Yet this is but a feeble illustration of his boundless power. One in whom power is concentrated; who has it in all its infinite and uncontrollable plenitude. So much so, that what is impossible to the most powerful of the angelic hosts, yea, impossible to all created powers, is easily effected by the mere volition of his almighty mind. In creation, "He spake, and it was done," Psa_33:9. In the days of his flesh, his word cured diseases, hushed tempests, expelled devils, and raised the dead.

II. The cause of Messiah.

His cause, or kingdom, is the very transcript of his own personal attributes and glory. His spiritual empire is based on the moral perfections of his own holy and blessed mind. Hence, the great end of redemption is, to bring our fallen world to reflect the glory of his moral excellence.

1. It is the cause of truth. Sin began in falsehood,’97the whole empire of Satan is based upon this. Departure from the truth was the ruin of our world. Our first parents abode not in the truth. Hence Christ, in destroying the works of the devil, razes his fallacies, annihilates that which is tinsel, and presents God’s truth for the reception of his lapsed and wretched creatures. Truth here, however, may be taken in its largest latitude: for reality, substance, knowledge. Christ is the truth of the gospel system Truth, as it respects God, and man, and eternity.

2. It is the cause of meekness. And here we see its resemblance to its Author: Christ was eminently the meek one: "I am meek and lowly in heart," Mat_11:29. But the term meekness is to be taken in its most enlarged sense, for lowliness and humility. The cause of sin is the cause of pride and self-exaltation. To this Satan aspired. To this the first human transgressors aspired. This fills the carnal heart. It is the mental delusion of every sinner. Christ’s kingdom is essentially connected with human abasement; prostration of the sinner. It covers the contrite with the garment of humility; brings man to a right estimate of himself and his deserts, and thus fits him to be a vessel of mercy.

3. The cause of righteousness. Christ is "The Lord our righteousness," Jer_23:6. He came to set up a righteous dominion. Sin is unrighteousness,’97robs God,’97it is the refusal of Jehovah’s claims, &c. This is the depravity of the spirit of man in its natural state. Christ’s kingdom is a righteous kingdom. He came to turn men from their iniquities. He came to fulfil the prophecies and promises. To put God’s laws into their hearts, &c. To give a right spirit,’97so that they should walk in his statutes and ordinances to do them. By the gospel men are made righteous, and they work righteousness. Every kind of righteousness is included in the essential constitution of the kingdom of Christ. A right heart and life towards God, and also towards all mankind.

III. The weapons which, as a warrior, he wields.

These are the sword and bow. In the sublime visions of the Apocalypse, Christ is represented with both of these weapons, Rev_1:16, "And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword." See also Rev_6:2, "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer." The divine word is fitly represented by these weapons. Our text supposes Christ in a chariot of war, going forth into the midst of his enemies, using his two-edged sword, and directing his arrows in every direction. The word, or gospel, of Christ is both the sword and arrow. It slays, it pierces, it severs in two; or, like the arrow, it enters the vital part, produces anguish, bitterness, and death to sin. See Heb_4:12, "For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit," &c.

Two ends have to be effected,

1. Conviction of sin. A sense of it,’97a desire for its removal, &c.

2. The soul healed. Comforted, and filled with joy and peace. Messiah’s weapons produce both these effects: "The power of God to salvation," Rom_1:16. Every way effectual: "Mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds" of sin and Satan, see 2 Cor. x.

IV. The triumphs which Messiah achieves. In the phraseology of the text,

1. He rides prosperously. As a man of war, he advances in his course. His holy crusade is successful: this is the promise, that "the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand," Isa_53:10. God has pronounced the mandate and fixed the decree, that to him every knee should bow. He therefore says, "Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool," Psa_110:1.

2. His right hand accomplishes wonderful things. For so the word was originally rendered in our old Bibles. The history of Christianity is a history of the wonderful things which the right hand of Jesus has accomplished. It was wonderful that his cause lived in the midst of the opposition of earth and hell. Jews and pagans all labored at exterminating it. But Christ’s right hand sustained it; and, like the vessel on the lake of Galilee, it survived the storm; or, like the burning bush on Horeb’s summit, it lived in the midst of flame. But it was more wonderful that this "stone cut out of the mountain" should overthrow all its opponents,’97silence all adversaries,’97triumph over all opposition,’97and succeed everywhere in spite of earth and hell. His right hand effected wondrous things everywhere, where the gospel chariot won its widening way.

3. His enemies, subjugated, fell under him. Not by their destruction,’97not as the victims of wrath and vengeance,’97but as subdued in heart and converted in life, so as to be the devoted disciples of the Nazarene. Look at the three thousand Jews, Act_2:41; at Saul of Tarsus; at the jailer of Philippi, &c. Look to your own personal history, you, who have felt his conquering love, resisted no longer, hated no longer; but were compelled, by the force of truth and the power of grace, to exclaim, in the words of the poet,

"I yield, I yield, I can hold out no more;

But sink, by dying love compelled,

And own thee Conqueror."

Such are the triumphs the conquering Jesus obtains. We ask; by way of

Application

1. Do you thus personally know the Saviour? Have you felt the power, the saving power of the gospel? Are you numbered with his loyal subjects, his devoted friends?

2. Are you fully committed to his cause? Do you consider his cause yours? is his glory your first consideration? Do you pray for this’97live for this’97labor for this? Will this apply to each and all of you? Let us consider the text,

3. As God’s voice. He speaks and looks with intense interest and delight on the Church. Oh, yes! and the bride, too, longs for the blissful consummation. Do we, all and each? This, then, be our prayer: ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever; and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen," Psa_72:18, Psa_72:19.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS