We are going to read one of the sweetest songs in the Bible: Psalm 45.
To the Chief Musician; set to Shoshannim. A Psalm of the sons of Korah; Maschil. A Song of loves.
My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter;
I speak the things which I have made touching the king:
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Thou art fairer than the children of men;
Grace is poured into Thy lips:
Therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.
Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O mighty One,
Thy glory and Thy majesty.
And in Thy majesty ride on prosperously,
Because of truth and meekness and righteousness:
And let Thy right hand teach Thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp;
The peoples fall under Thee;
They are in the heart of the King’s enemies.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:
A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:
Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee
With the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia;
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made Thee glad.
Kings’ daughters are among Thy honourable women:
At Thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;
Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house:
So shall the King desire thy beauty;
For He is thy Lord; and reverence thou Him.
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift;
Even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour.
The King’s daughter within the palace is all glorious:
Her clothing is inwrought with gold.
She shall be led unto the King in broidered work:
The virgins her companions that follow her
Shall be brought unto Thee.
With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led:
They shall enter into the King’s palace.
Instead of Thy fathers shall be Thy children,
Whom Thou shalt make princes in all the earth.
I will make Thy name to be remembered in all generations:
Therefore shall the peoples give Thee thanks for ever and ever.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast gathered us together here this morning to worship Thy Son and to hear Thy voice. Oh, we do say that Thy Son is adorable. Thy Son is above all men, above all things. He is the only One who is worthy to be loved, adored, and worshipped.
We praise and thank Thee for giving us such a privilege to worship Him. It is Thy grace, Thy love, and Thy mercy that have brought us to this place where we can worship. Oh, we do thank Thee.
Our Lord, we just lift our hearts to Thee and say that we may see Thy voice—speak to us. May Thy words draw our hearts closer to Thyself, that we may see what great things Thou hast done for us, that Thou mayest receive all the praise and glory and honour which are Thy due. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
Lately, we have been sharing on the sons of Korah. These are very special songs, sung by a group of very special people: the sons of Korah.
As you may recall, the sons of Korah were those who were spared from destruction by the mercy of God when Korah and his party were destroyed. Because they received such mercy, out of the abundance of their hearts they sang very special songs to God.
In Psalm 42 and Psalm 43, we see two songs that speak of hope. Our hope is in God. When we raise our eyes towards God, then we find hope there. If we look around us, or if we look within ourselves, there is no hope. But when we lift our eyes towards God, we find that there is always hope. So the song says, “Hope thou in God.”
Then in Psalm 44, we find that it is on faith. And now Psalm 45 is on love. You remember the apostle Paul says that there abide faith, hope, and love—these three things—and the greatest of these is love. So this is a song of love.
We do not know actually who was instrumental in writing this song, but we do know one thing: this song is not just a romantic song. Some people think that this is a song to celebrate the marriage of King Solomon with one of the foreign princesses, but we believe that it is more than that.
It is inspired by the Spirit of God. It is put in the sacred pages because it speaks of the love and the marriage of Christ and His church.
You know, the Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, speaks of the love and marriage union of Christ and an individual believer. In other words, the Song of Solomon is the individual, personal relationship of a believer to Christ, and Christ’s relationship to an individual believer.
Psalm 45 speaks of the corporate relationship. It is the love, the union, and the marriage of Christ with His church. It is not so much the individual that we have in view, but more the corporate aspect that we see.
It is called a song of the beloved. In the original, it means a song of love. Love is plural in number: the song of loves. Why? Because it is the love of the King towards the queen, and the love of the queen towards the King. It is a mutual love. It is a responsive love. So it is a song of love: how the King loves the queen, and how the queen loves the King.
“To the Chief Musician.” This song was written and then put into music, to be sung in the temple when God’s people came to worship. So you find this is not an ordinary song. It is something to be sung in the temple, in the house of God, and it is an expression of worship.
“Upon Shoshannim.” The word Shoshannim means lilies. We do not know whether it means a musical tune or a musical instrument, but we do know what lilies speak to us.
You remember our Lord Jesus said, “Consider the lilies of the field.” They do not toil, neither do they spin; and yet the heavenly Father clothes them with such beauty that even the glory of Solomon cannot be compared with the lilies.
Lilies speak of the heavenly care of our Father—the care of our heavenly Father towards the lowly, the smallest, the nothing. Yet His care is so great that He can clothe the lilies with such beauty. Even Solomon in all his glory cannot be compared with them.
Of course, the lily speaks of purity. How pure, under the care of the heavenly Father; how pure, how beautiful it can be. So we know that this is such a song of love, and it is an instruction. In other words, there is a lesson for us in life.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we come to one of the sweetest songs in the Bible. It is a song of love.
This song can be divided into several parts. Verse 1 serves as an introduction:
My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter;
I speak the things which I have made touching the King:
My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
Here the psalmist says, “My heart overfloweth with a goodly matter.” Now, what is that goodly matter? Is there any matter better than the love of Christ and the church?
As a matter of fact, this is the whole revelation of the whole Bible. If anyone is able to see this, the whole Bible is an open book to him. The whole revelation that you find in the Bible is centred upon the union of Christ and the church. This is a great theme that goes through the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.
I believe it was our brother Watchman Nee who once said, “If you receive the revelation of Christ and the church, then you receive the whole revelation of the Bible.” If you do not see Christ, if you do not see the church, if you do not see the union of Christ and the church, then you will find the whole Bible is a closed book.
You may glean a little bit here, a little bit there. You may get a little moral teaching here, a little instruction there; but the whole Bible is a closed book. But once you see Christ and the church, and the love and the union of Christ and the church, the whole Bible is an open book.
There will be no end for you to tell what is in the Bible. Therefore, you find the psalmist, as his heart is so full with the good matter, his heart is just bubbling forth with the love and the union of Christ and the church. He cannot help but find that his tongue is like the pen of a ready writer.
In other words, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. It is not something mechanical. You know, sometimes when we try to write a poem—I remember when I was in college, we were required to write poems, not English poems, Chinese poems—and I remember how I laboured over that poem, trying to make it rhyme. Oh, how I laboured over it! It was mechanical. It did not come from the abundance of my heart.
But here you find it is a psalm that the psalmist does not need to labour over. Why? Because his heart is so occupied with this good matter.
You know, the words “I have composed”—“I speak the things which I have made”—in the original language mean, “my occupation.” In other words, I am so occupied with the good things that my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. It just flows. It just flows. It just comes out. It overflows.
That is the way the psalmist feels about the King and the queen. And, dear brothers and sisters, is this not the way that we should feel about Christ and His church?
Can we speak of Christ without any feeling welling up within us? Can we speak of the church without our hearts overflowing with the love of God? Can we think of the union of Christ and His church without being deeply touched and moved in our spirits?
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, this is not a theme that we can talk about without any feeling, that we can mention as if it is a mechanical thing. You find it is something that occupies our whole heart. This is the good matter that occupies our whole being all the time.
It shall come forth so naturally, so spontaneously, with such feeling and such love. Our tongue shall be as the pen of a ready writer.
Now you find the second part. The second part begins with verses 2 through 9, and it concerns the King. Of course, first of all, we have to mention the King. It is Christ.
Thou art fairer than the children of men;
Grace is poured into Thy lips:
Therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.
This verse speaks of the life of our Lord Jesus on earth. It seems that the psalmist begins quite abruptly. He says, “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” Out of the fullness of his heart, he sings of Christ as the Son of Man.
God came to be a Man, but he says, “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” You are a Son of Man, and yet You are fairer than all the sons of men. You are different. You are unique. You are special.
Samuel Rutherford was a great man of God. Because of his faith, he suffered a great deal. Probably you remember the hymn that he wrote when the king summoned him to the court to judge him because of his faith. He was already on his deathbed, so he wrote a hymn and said, “There is a higher calling. One has called me already. The call of the king comes too late.” He said, “You will find me in Emmanuel’s land.”
Once Samuel Rutherford said:
O fair sun, fair moon, fair stars, fair flowers, fair roses, fair lilies;
But O, ten thousand, ten thousand times fairer, Lord Jesus!
Alas, I have done You wrong in making such comparison.
O black sun, black moon, black stars, black flowers, black lilies;
But O fair Lord Jesus! Black heavens, black angels;
But O, how much fairer is the Lord Jesus!
Dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is so fair that He cannot be compared. When we try to compare, it means that it is still comparable. But our Lord Jesus is fairer than the sons of men. He is so different that you just cannot compare Him with anybody else.
He is the only One who is sinless and perfect—no comparison.
As the psalmist sings about our Lord Jesus, he thinks especially of one thing. We cannot exhaust the telling of the fairness of our Lord Jesus, how fair He is. But there is one thing that strikes the heart of the psalmist especially: grace is poured into His lips.
When he thinks of the Lord Jesus, the fairness of the Lord Jesus, he sings especially of the grace that is poured upon His lips. The apostle John says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.”
You know, we are sons of men. But we demand; we require of others. Yet our Lord Jesus is fairer than the sons of men. Instead of demanding and requiring—and He has every right to demand and require—He gives all the time. That is grace.
What is grace? It is undeserved favour. And yet this is what our Lord Jesus dispenses all the time.
Think of that woman caught in adultery and how the Jewish people led her to the Lord Jesus, accusing her before the crowd. They said, “What do You think of this woman? What should we do? According to the law of Moses, she shall be stoned, because she was caught in the act of adultery. Now, what do You think?”
Oh, how these people demanded death for that woman. But, dear brothers and sisters, probably what was behind their mind was not just to demand death for that woman. Probably they were demanding death for Christ. What would He say?
If our Lord Jesus said, “Let her be stoned,” then they would say, “Where is Your love? You profess to love. Where is Your love? You keep the law of Moses, but You violate the law of Caesar,” because the Roman government had taken away the power of sentencing people to death.
If the Lord Jesus said, “Set her free,” then they would say that our Lord Jesus violated the law of Moses, and those who violated the law of Moses deserved to die. Through this they tried to trap our Lord Jesus. They demanded the death of our Lord Jesus.
But look at our Lord Jesus—how He bowed Himself and wrote with His finger on the ground. When they pressed Him, He stood up and said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” Then He bowed down again and wrote with His finger on the ground.
He was too ashamed to look at that woman. He was too ashamed to look at the crowd. So the crowd disappeared one by one, from the oldest to the youngest. They were convicted.
Then our Lord Jesus got up and asked the woman, “Is there no one to condemn thee?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And the Lord said, “Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth sin no more.” Grace. This is grace.
And, dear brothers and sisters, have you not heard these words from the lips of our Lord Jesus? Yes, we all have heard. The Lord said, “Thy sins are forgiven.”
Oh, when we first came to the Lord Jesus, loaded down with sins, under the curse of the law, there was no hope. Then we heard that word of grace from the lips of our Lord Jesus: “Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace.”
Oftentimes we hear the word of the Lord saying, “I am with you. Fear not. I am with you.” Dear brothers and sisters, think of the grace of our Lord Jesus. Oh, how He displays His grace to us who are so unworthy and undeserving.
Therefore God has blessed Him for ever. Because of what our Lord Jesus is, God blessed Him for ever. Three times, you remember, the heavens opened and the voice said, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
No wonder. Think of our King. Think of our Lord Jesus. His life on earth was so full of grace and truth.
Verses 3, 4, and 5 speak of His work.
When our Lord Jesus walked on earth, among men, He was such a humble Person. You find how He walked from Jerusalem, how He walked to Galilee, how He passed through Samaria. As He walked upon this earth, He did many good things.
Yet in the eyes of the world, they accused Him, they put Him to death, and He died on Calvary’s cross. But in the eyes of those who see—in the eyes of the psalmist—it is a different picture.
Instead of a humble Man, forsaken, despised, persecuted, crucified, as if it ended in nothing, the psalmist saw a great Warrior. As our Lord Jesus walked through this earth, He was like a great Warrior:
Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O mighty One,
Thy glory and Thy majesty.
And in Thy majesty ride on prosperously,
Because of truth and meekness and righteousness.
Here he depicts our Lord Jesus as a great Warrior, a great Conqueror. He rides forth to conquer all His enemies. He rides forth to conquer the world. And how does He conquer? Because of truth, meekness, and righteousness.
Our Lord Jesus comes to conquer with truth. This world is full of lies. The ruler of this world is the greatest liar. Satan is the greatest liar. The whole world system is under a lie.
A lie is more than just telling something untrue. Sometimes people tell something that is not true; it is false, and we say it is a lie. Sometimes we even try to defend ourselves: “Well, it is a white lie, not a black lie.” In other words, it does not do much wrong; it is just for fun. But it is a lie.
Dear brothers and sisters, a lie is more than just telling something untrue. A lie in Scripture is deception. The whole world is a lie. Everything in this world system is a deception. It deceives people. You do not need to say something false for it to be a deception. It is a lie. It is not real. It is not true.
People are being deceived, thinking that these things are real and true. The riches of this world are a lie. People think that if they have the riches of the world, then they have security. But that is a lie.
The whole world is a lie, but our Lord Jesus comes with truth. He said, “I am the truth. I am the reality.” Whatever is of Him and in Him will last for ever. These are the realities. If you know the truth, the truth shall set you free.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus comes to conquer the world with truth. He overcomes lies with truth.
Then He overcomes with meekness. Meekness is the opposite of selfishness. Meekness means selflessness.
Oh, how the world is full of self! How we are selfish. How we are self-centred. How we think of ourselves all the time. How we try to benefit ourselves. Self-possession, self-interest—everything is self. Self is at the very centre of this world. Self is at the very centre of each of our lives.
Yet our Lord Jesus comes to conquer this with meekness. He said:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me;
For I am meek and lowly in heart:
And ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Why is it that we are restless in our souls? Because we are selfish. Because we think of ourselves. If we are selfless, we will have rest in our souls.
Our Lord Jesus thought only of doing the Father’s will: “Not My will, but Thine, be done.” That is His meekness, and He conquers the world with His meekness.
He conquers the world with righteousness. The world is full of evil, full of wickedness—things that are not right in the sight of God. We may have self-righteousness sometimes, but in the sight of God you find that everything is wrong, not right. It is evil. It is wicked.
But our Lord Jesus comes to conquer the world with righteousness. He brings righteousness to us. We have no righteousness of our own. Our righteousness is all as filthy rags. But Christ is our righteousness.
God has clothed us with Christ, our righteousness, and given us a standing before God. Because the life of Christ is within us, we can practise righteousness in our daily life. As the apostle John says, “He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.”
Let Thy right hand teach Thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp;
The peoples fall under Thee;
They are in the heart of the King’s enemies.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not true? When the word of God comes to us, it is like arrows. They are aimed at our hearts. God’s word never aims merely at our minds. Man’s words aim at our minds, but God’s word always aims at our hearts.
You do not shoot an arrow at random. When you shoot an arrow, you mark a target. So here you find the word of our Lord Jesus comes like arrows, and these arrows pierce our hearts. We are smitten and fall at His feet.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, how we praise and thank God—how He overcomes us, how He convicts us, how He brings us to our knees, and how He conquers us with His truth, meekness, and righteousness. That speaks of the work of our Lord Jesus the King.
His kingdom is not of this world. He said, “I was born a King, but My kingdom is not of this world. I came to bear witness to the truth.” His kingdom is a kingdom of truth, meekness, and righteousness.
Then in verses 6 and 7, these two verses speak of His glory. Our Lord Jesus came into this world. He was born in a manger, and yet He lived a humble life. He did a tremendous work, conquering by truth, meekness, and righteousness.
After He had completed His work, He ascended up on high, and He was given a throne. His throne is for ever and ever. A sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of His kingdom.
This verse is quoted in Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews uses this verse to prove that our Lord Jesus is far superior to the angels. The angels were ministering servants, but our Lord Jesus is the Master, the Lord. His throne is an eternal throne, and His sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness.
Our Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven after He finished His work of redemption, and He received from His Father glory and honour, kingdom and dominion. The writer of Hebrews says, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour.”
Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:
Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee
With the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.
His pain, sorrows, and sufferings are over. Now He is in heaven, anointed with the oil of gladness. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and His soul shall be satisfied.
Oh, dear brothers and sisters, as our Lord Jesus looks down upon us, those who are the result of His travail, how His heart is glad—satisfied.
Then verses 8 and 9 speak of His marriage. First His life, then His work, then His glory, and now His marriage. He is ready for that marriage.
All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia.
In other words, He has put on His wedding garment, and it is full of fragrance. Myrrh, aloes, and cassia were ingredients in the holy anointing oil. Cassia was also mixed in the ointment which Nicodemus prepared to anoint the body of our Lord Jesus.
Here you find our Lord Jesus clothed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia—full of fragrance. Our Lord Jesus is full of fragrance. The fragrance comes from within and diffuses around Him.
Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made Thee glad.
He is now in His palace, and His palace is an ivory palace. If you want to build an ivory palace, where does ivory come from? How many elephants had to suffer death? Out of suffering comes forth that beautiful ivory palace.
In other words, He views His palace in the light of His suffering. Out of His sufferings, He has found His dwelling place. Of course, there will be musical instruments. In His palace there will be appreciation. We who are His ivory palace are the people who shall play these musical instruments to satisfy His heart.
Kings’ daughters are among Thy honourable women:
At Thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
Here you find these honourable women individually, and collectively the queen in gold of Ophir. We know that the gold of Ophir is pure gold, the finest gold.
These verses speak of the King: the life of the King, the work of the King, the glory of the King, and the marriage of the King. Then from verse 10 through verse 17, we have the queen.
The first two verses, verses 10 and 11, are an exhortation:
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;
Forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house:
So shall the King desire thy beauty;
For He is thy Lord; and reverence thou Him.
Here is an exhortation to the queen: “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear.” What is it? “Forget thine own people, and thy father’s house; so shall the King desire thy beauty.”
Dear brothers and sisters, here is a call to those who are to compose that queen, to be part of that queen: forget your father’s house and your own people.
Are these words not familiar? You remember when God called Abraham. When Abram was in Ur of the Chaldees, the Lord of glory appeared to him and God called him, saying, “Come out. Come out of your land, out of your kindred, and out of your father’s house, and go to the place of My choice.”
Abraham obeyed God by faith. He came out of the land, of his kindred, and of his father’s house, and went to Canaan, the place of God’s choice.
You remember the story of Ruth—how Ruth told Naomi, her mother-in-law, “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” She was willing to leave her own native land, her own people, and her own house in order that she might go with Naomi into the land of Israel.
You remember Rebekah. When the servant came and claimed her to be a bride for Isaac, the next morning, early in the morning, the servant said, “We must go now.” The family said, “Oh no, let the maiden stay for eight or ten days at least.” The servant said, “Do not delay me, seeing the Lord hath prospered my way.”
So they said, “Let us ask the maiden.” They asked Rebekah, and Rebekah said, “I will go.”
Dear brothers and sisters, have you not heard the Lord Jesus say, “Come, follow Me”? When that call comes, how will you respond?
When the Lord was walking by the seashore of Galilee, He saw Peter and Andrew. They were casting a net, and the Lord said, “Come, follow Me.” They left the nets and followed the Lord.
He went a little further and saw the two sons of Zebedee with their father and hired servants. They were mending their nets, and the call came, “Come, follow Me.” They left the nets, their father, the boat, and the hired servants, and followed the Lord.
The Lord saw Matthew, Levi, at the tax office, and the Lord said, “Follow Me.” He left it and followed the Lord.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you want to be queen to the King? If you want to be a part of that queen, here is the exhortation: forget your own people and your father’s house.
In other words, we have to abandon ourselves to the Lord. If we still hold on to the old things, to our own earthly ties, if we still hold on to what we consider as our own, then, dear brothers and sisters, he who does not deny himself, take up his cross, and follow the Lord is not fit to be His disciple.
In order to be part of the queen, dear brothers and sisters, we must lay down everything—everything that we consider as ours, everything that speaks of the old relationship, everything that speaks of the old possession, everything of the past—and abandon ourselves to God, abandon ourselves to Christ.
Oh, God demands that abandonment. Think of how the King, in order to save us, came to us. He abandoned everything. He emptied Himself. He came to this earth. He took upon Himself the likeness of a man, the form of a slave, and He further humbled Himself, being obedient to the Father even unto death, even the death of the cross.
How He abandoned everything for love’s sake! And love asks for a similar response. Are we abandoned to Christ? Are we still holding on to something of the past that we will not let go?
Where is the beauty of the queen? The beauty of the queen is her utter devotedness to the King whom she loves. That is her beauty. Her beauty is in her abandonment.
It says, “If you forget your own people and your father’s house, then the King will desire thy beauty.” What does the King desire of us? Is He desiring that you do something for Him? Yes, we must do something for Him, but that is not what He desires. What He desires is your beauty.
Where is your beauty? Your beauty is your utter abandonment.
“He is thy Lord; and reverence thou Him.” Remember, He is your Lord. Remember, He has bought you with a price. He has purchased you with His precious blood. You are His.
You have no right to remember your own people, to remember your father’s house. You have no right to be your own. You are His. It is right for you to abandon yourself unto Him. He is your Lord.
If you know He is your Lord, then you will worship Him. Dear brothers and sisters, how do we worship Christ? Sometimes when we come together to worship, we find ourselves unable to worship. How do we worship?
Is worship just in singing certain things? Is worship just in saying some words of praise? Is that all that worship is?
True worship is a life abandoned to God. Worship is a life. Worship is not something you do for an hour. Worship is not something you try to do—not at all. Worship is a life dedicated, devoted, abandoned to the Lord.
The Lord appreciates that kind of worship more than people who come and just say a few words. Now, I do not mean that we should not say them; we should. He wants us to express it.
Oh, I do hope many brothers and sisters will feel free to express your thanksgiving and appreciation to the Lord in praises, in songs, and in hymns. The Lord appreciates all these. But remember, behind and beyond all these, beyond time and space, there is a life that really sees Jesus as her Lord.
If you know He is your Lord, then you worship Him. You worship Him with your life. That is the worship that He looks for. The heavenly Father is looking for true worshippers, those who worship Him in spirit and truth.
Who are the true worshippers who worship Him in spirit and truth? Those whose lives are abandoned to the Lord.
See how beautiful the queen is.
Verse 12 says:
And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift;
Even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour.
This verse should be connected with verses 10 and 11. In other words, when you abandon yourself, as the church ought to be, then you will find that even the richest in the world, represented by the daughter of Tyre, will come to seek your favour.
Tyre was a commercial city, a seafaring city, a rich city. But even the richest in the world cannot be compared with the riches that the queen is now in possession of. Everybody will come and ask for her favour.
She has a word. She is able to dispense the grace of God to men. This is what the church ought to be.
Then in verses 13, 14, and 15, we have the wedding garments—the wedding of the queen to the King.
The King’s daughter within the palace is all glorious:
Her clothing is inwrought with gold.
She shall be led unto the King in broidered work:
The virgins her companions that follow her
Shall be brought unto Thee.
She is ready for the wedding. “The King’s daughter within the palace is all glorious.”
You remember Ephesians 5. It tells us how He washes us with the washing of water with the word, and how He sanctifies us, that He may present us to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, without blemish.
Glory—glory. The King’s daughter is all glorious within. So far as the King’s daughter is concerned, she is just full of glory.
Now, what is glory? Glory is something very hard to define. But let us say this: whenever God appears, you see glory. Glory is when God is satisfied. When He is satisfied, then the glory of the Lord fills the temple.
Therefore, brothers and sisters, the King’s daughter is all glorious within. In other words, her life has satisfied God so much that the glory of the Lord just fills her.
This is what the church is: the body of Christ, the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. You find the transformation is so complete that Christ has become all in all to her. Therefore, the King’s daughter is all glorious within.
There is no shade, no shadow, no darkness, nothing of self. It is all of Christ.
Then you find she is dressed with two garments for the wedding. The inner garment is of wrought gold—a golden garment.
We know this speaks of the best robe. When the prodigal son came back, the father put on him the best robe. We know this best robe speaks of Christ, our righteousness.
It is wrought gold. Why? Because it is Christ. Gold speaks of God’s nature. It is wrought because Christ came into this world and died for us. Work has been done upon that gold, and Christ has become our righteousness. We are clothed in Christ, our righteousness.
But above this garment of wrought gold, she shall be brought unto the King in raiment of embroidery, of needlework. In other words, above Christ our righteousness, which gives us our standing before God, the Holy Spirit patiently embroiders into our lives the beauty and character of Christ.
This becomes like a raiment of embroidery. If you look into Revelation 19:7-8, you find that the marriage of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready. It was given to her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure, which is the righteous acts of the saints.
In other words, we are not only putting on Christ our righteousness, but the Holy Spirit is so working in our lives that the very nature of Christ will become our character. The character of Christ will characterise us. These become like a raiment of embroidery.
These two garments prepare us and make us ready for the wedding. Dear brothers and sisters, do you have the garment of wrought gold? Thank God, all who believe in the Lord Jesus have it. But do you also have the raiment of embroidery?
How we need to be clothed with these two garments! Then we are ready for that wedding.
Then you find the virgins there as the bridesmaids. But, you know, in typology the virgins speak of individual members, while the queen speaks of the corporate body. The virgins are none other than part of the queen.
When you think of people individually, they are virgins. But when you think of people collectively, they are the queen. So you do not classify them as two different categories, for they are one.
You remember Matthew 25 and the virgins: how they trimmed their lamps, poured oil into their lamps, and went out to meet the Bridegroom. When the cry came at midnight, “Behold, the bridegroom!” the wise virgins entered into the marriage feast.
So here you find, “With gladness and rejoicing shall they be led: they shall enter into the King’s palace.” In other words, they will enter into the glory of the millennial kingdom of the heavens.
Finally, verses 16 and 17 speak of the glory during the millennial age. Out of that marriage union, you find coming forth those princes who are to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Speaking collectively, there is a marriage feast. Then you find those overcomers, like the seed, like the princes, will reign with Christ for a thousand years. So it speaks of millennial glory.
Then you find that the name of the Lord Jesus shall be remembered for ever, and His praises also shall continue for ever and ever.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is a song of love. It tells us of the King and the queen, and it tells us of the union of the King and the church. May the Lord help us that we may enter into the spirit of this song.
Let us pray.
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast given us a glimpse of our King. Oh, how glorious, how victorious is our King! How different is our King from all the kings of this earth.
Oh, we do praise and thank Thee for all that Thou art and all that Thou hast done. We praise and thank Thee for giving us a glimpse of the queen.
O Lord, our prayer is that we may be clothed not only with the garment of wrought gold, but also with the raiment of embroidery, that we may be fit and ready to enter into the eternal union with Christ.
Oh, we want to give Thee all the praise and glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.