In Psalm 45 there is an extensive praising of Christ as the King and the church as the queen. The psalmist praises Christ in the sweetness of His virtues, especially in verse 8, “All Your garments smell of myrrh and aloes, of cassia; from palaces of ivory, harpstrings have made You glad“. What a poetic utterance concerning the lovely and wonderful Lord Jesus in His human living!
Praising Christ in the sweetness of His virtues
His garments smell of myrrh and aloes – there was an indescribable sweetness and aroma emanating from the Lord Jesus in His humanity…
He expressed the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues – and people who never met Him or even heard of Him, when called by Him to follow the Lord, they left everything and followed Him!
Matthew was a tax collector, and he dropped everything to go follow the Lord (Matt. 9:9). Peter, though many times rebuked by the Lord, stayed with the Lord because “You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
The Lord shepherded people by expressing the bountiful God in all His rich attributes through His human virtues. Now we as a royal priesthood are telling out the virtues of the One who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9)!
The local churches are the palaces of ivory
The palaces of ivory in Psa. 45:8 signify the local churches – ivory signifies the resurrection life of Christ (John 19:36), and harpstrings signify praises. The many local churches – the many palaces – are beautiful in the Lord’s eyes and they are built up with the resurrection life of Christ.
From the local churches, there are the praises that make Him glad! We praise the Lord for what He is in His virtues and what He has done to produce the church to be His expression.
Praising Christ the king in praising the queen
Psa. 45:9 says The daughters of kings are among Your most prized; the queen stands at Your right hand in the gold of Ophir. The queen is the church; the honorable women, the overcoming saints; the daughters of kings, the many saints in the church.
Praise the Lord, as believers in the Lord, we have Christ as the honorable and majestic One in our being. We are the many daughters of kings, the most prized women, clothed with majesty, splendor, and dignity.
We live such a dignified life with the divine attributes expressed through our human virtues. This is our beauty – and the king desires the beauty of the queen! This beauty is not FROM us or OF us – it is Christ’s wealth and His beauty being wrought into us to become our wealth and our beauty, so that we may go to Him and be to Him the queen for His glorification!
Christ appreciates the expression of Himself in us
What Christ really appreciates in us is the expression of Himself. In the Old Testament, Isaac sent Eliezer to find him a wife, and Eliezer gave Rebecca the riches of Isaac to draw her and beautify her… Isaac’s wealth became Rebecca’s beautification and then they returned to Isaac with Rebecca for his glory and satisfaction.
Through the washing of the water in the word, all our spots and wrinkles are cleared and removed, and we are beautified with Christ Himself. Christ’s riches become our enjoyment and our beautification, and we return to Christ adorned with His riches to be for His glorification and satisfaction!
This is what the psalmist saw (at least in type) and praised in Psalm 45! He saw that the queen is adorned with the riches of the king and becomes desirable to the king – she returns to the king for his glory and satisfaction…
[sharing inspired from the life-study of the Psalms and the speaking in message 7 in the training, as quoted in the Morning Revival on the Crystallization-Study of Psalms (1). Intro: All Your garments smell of myrrh and aloes]
Lord Jesus, we praise You for what You are. There’s something about You, Lord Jesus, that attracts us and draws us to Yourself. You are the One who expresses God in His divine attributes through Your aromatic human virtues… how aromatic are Your virtues, Lord, and how sweet is Your expression! We love You, Lord, and we love to enjoy You in all Your riches. Lord, beautify Your church and adorn her with all Your riches, that she may express You and return to You to be for Your glory and satisfaction!
