Christ as King will Reign on Earth with the Overcomers as His Helpers in the Kingship

I never thought that Psalm 45 is so much related to the way for us to be prepared as the bride of Christ, but this psalm is very high and wonderful, for in it we see the psalmist’ praise of the Lord as the King in Himself, in the church (as the queen), and in His overcomers (as the princes).

This psalm really is an overflow of the love and appreciation that the psalmist has for the Lord – his heart overflows with the good matter, and he sings what he has composed concerning the king, with a tongue like the pen of a ready writer (Psa. 45:1).

The praise the psalmist offers for the king is actually his praise of Christ, who is the real King in the kingdom of God; Christ is the One who is fairer than the sons of men, and grace is poured upon His lips, therefore God has blessed Him forever (v. 2).

Christ is the victorious One: through His death He destroyed the devil and took the keys of death and of Hades, and now He is riding on victoriously in splendor, doing all kinds of awesome deeds (vv. 3-4).

His arrows are sharp: He has shot the arrow into the heart of the enemy, and now His throne is forever and ever, and the scepter of His uprightness is the scepter of His kingdom (vv. 5-6).

Christ loved righteousness and hated wickedness, therefore God – His God and our God – has anointed Him with the oil of gladness (the Holy Spirit) above all His companions – Christ has been anointed with the Holy Spirit above all the believers, and He as the Head of the Body is the anointed and appointed One from God (v. 7).

When you meet Christ, you can smell His garments full of myrrh and aloes and cassia; He exudes the aroma of resurrection and the sweetness of His death, and everything He does is the expression of the divine attributes filling His human virtues. From the local churches (which are likened to palaces of ivory), harp strings make Him glad (v. 8).

Christ is to be praised also in His queen, that is, in the church as His bride, composed of the overcomers. The overcomers as part of the bride are the most prized; the queen (the church) stands at the Lord’s right hand (we have been enthroned with Christ, standing one with Him in the heavenlies) in the gold of Ophir (v. 9).

When we hear the Lord’s word, incline our ear, and forget ourselves and anything of the past, the King will desire our beauty, and we become beautiful before Him (vv. 10-11).

Because He is royal and majestic, we as His queen are also glorious within the royal abode, and our garment is woven work inwrought with gold; we have Christ as our garment of righteousness with the divine nature, covering us before God to qualify us to partake of His divine nature (v. 13).

Furthermore, we are being led to the King in embroidered clothing; we as the believers in Christ are learning to cooperate with Him to have Christ wrought into us and lived out from within us as our righteousnesses so that we may have a second garment, the embroidered garment, to be our wedding garment on our wedding day (v. 14).

Hallelujah, what a praise to the Lord in Himself as the King and in the church as the queen!

Taking Christ as our Abode and becoming His Abode: a Mutual Abode of God and Man, New Jerusalem

In Psa. 45:13-15 we see that the king’s daughter is all glorious within the royal abode, and the virgins will enter into the King’s palace. The king’s daughter is actually the queen, which signifies the church; the queen being all glorious within the royal abode signifies the glorious church taking Christ as her royal abode.

When we take Christ as our abode, we become His abode, and this mutual abode eventually becomes the palace, which signifies the New Jerusalem (see John 15:4; 14:23; Rev. 21:3, 22).

The Lord told us, abide in Me and I in you; first we as believers in Christ take Him as our abode and abide in Him, and then Christ abides in us and makes us His abode. When we choose to abide in Christ, Christ becomes our abode; He is our dwelling place, and we live and do everything in Him and by Him.

When we take Him as our abode, He abides with us and makes us His abode. This is a mysterious yet wonderful matter in our Christian life and experience: we experience Christ through the church.

First Christ is the Son of God to be the abode for the Father and the Spirit (the Father is in the Son, and the Spirit is in the Son), which involves coinherence among the three of the Divine Trinity, that is, the Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is in the Son with the Father.

When we believe into Christ, we enter into Him and we take Him as our abode; when we keep His word and abide in Him, He abides in us and makes us His abode – this is a mutual abode of God and man, which is the New Jerusalem.

Hallelujah, we abide in the Lord, He abides in us, and this is a foretaste of the New Jerusalem as the mutual abode of God with man! Christ is our royal abode – and we are His abode; together, we become the palace, where the King and the queen dwell.

When we abide in the Lord and allow His words to abide in us, we dwell in Him and He dwells in us, and we enjoy a foretaste of the New Jerusalem: we together become the palace for the King and the queen to dwell!

What kind of love and oneness is this: the bride dwells in the Bridegroom, and the Bridegroom dwells in the bride, and together they become a mutual dwelling place for the bride and the Bridegroom for eternity!

This is what the Lord is after; He doesn’t want a physical outward city with physical gold and precious stones – He wants man to abide in God and God to abide in man for the mutual abode of God and man, the New Jerusalem!

And we will be led with rejoicing and exultation into the King’s palace (Psa. 45:15) – we will enter with rejoicing as overcoming saints into the New Jerusalem as Christ’s palace (Rev. 3:12).

Lord Jesus, we take You as our abode and abide in You, and we allow Your words to abide in us. We want to abide in You and to let You abide in us so that You and us, us and You, would become a mutual abode of God and man, a foretaste of the New Jerusalem. Lord, we simply abide in You: You are our dwelling place, our abode, and our everything; abide in us, Lord, and make us Your dwelling place, so that You may feet at home in all our heart. Lord Jesus, we love You! We take You as our abode, and we let You abide in us!

Christ as King will Reign on Earth with the Overcomers as His Helpers in the Kingship

In the last two verses in Psa. 45 the psalmist praises Christ the King in praising His sons, the overcomers as the princes, as seen in Revelation (Psa. 45:16-17).

In the place of Your fathers will be Your sons (the fathers signify Christ’s forefathers in the flesh, and sons signify the overcomers of Christ as His descendants); you will make them princes in all the earth (princes signify the overcomers of Christ as His co-kings – Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6).

On the one hand we are sons of God, on the other hand we are members of Christ, and still we are the descendants of Christ, the sons of God. What this verse tells us that Christ will come with His princes and will rule over the world.

No one can solve the problems in today’s word – only Christ the King with His overcomers as His helpers in the kingship can solve the problems of the nations. When Christ reigns on earth, the overcomers will be His helpers in the kingship as His co-kings, and together they will reign over the nations.

This is what we aim at today: we want to learn today to reign in life with Christ and through Christ so that we may be His overcomers and come with Him to reign over all the earth.

These princes are as beautiful as Christ is: He is the King, and they are His princes; they shine out Christ’s beauty and they express Christ. First it is Christ who is the fairest among all the sons of men, and then the church expresses Him to be His beautiful bride and queen, and then the overcomers as His princes express Him and represent Him on earth to be His co-kings.

By seeing the beauty of Christ in such a full way – in Himself, in the church as His queen, and in the overcomers as His princes – we have a complete view, a full picture, of His beauty.

Finally, the last verse of Psa. 45 says, I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise You forever and ever.

The conclusion of the praise to the King’s beauty in Himself, in His queen, and in His princes is that all men in all generations will know the name of the Lord, and peoples will praise Him forever and ever.

Christ is the Desire of the nations; unconsciously, all nations desire Him. People desire peace and a good life with virtues such as light, love, patience, humility, meekness, endurance, joy, and righteousness; they unconsciously desire Christ.

Christ will come as the Desire of all the nations, and His name will be remembered in all generations through the overcoming saints, and He will be praised by the nations through His overcoming and co-reigning saints. Hallelujah!

Lord, we aspire to be Your overcomers, the princes that will reign with You in the kingdom over all the earth. Reign in us and over us today, and make us those who reign in life over sin, the self, the flesh, and death. Lord, infuse us with Your element today, and produce us as Your overcomers that we may reign with You over the earth. May Your name be remembered in all generations through Your overcoming saints, and may all the nations praise You through Your overcoming and co-reigning saints! Praise the Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of the Psalms, msg. 21 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Direction of the Lord’s Move (2016 Thanksgiving Conference), msg. 4 (week 4), To Prepare the Bride as the Counterpart of the Bridegroom (2) – Praising Christ as the King in Himself, in the Church as His Queen, and in All His Sons, the Overcomers as the Princes.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # I have learned the wondrous secret / Of abiding in the Lord; / I have tasted life’s pure fountain, / I am drinking of His word; / I have found the strength and sweetness / Of abiding ’neath the blood; / I have lost myself in Jesus, / I am sinking into God. / I’m abiding in the Lord / And confiding in His word; / I am hiding in the bosom of His love. (Hymns #564)
  # I give You my heart, my life and my soul, / Come suffering or joy whatever betide. / By Your boundless grace, I’ll lay down my all / To build up Your church, Your glorious Bride; / Your heart to satisfy, mutual abode we’ll be / In eternity. (song on the mutual abiding)
  # What gladness and rejoicing / When we the King shall see! / We’ll shout His worthy praises / Through all eternity. / And though the King we worship / Or glory in the Queen, / In all this blest enjoyment / The glory goes to Him. (Hymns #1099)