Psalm 45 is a beautiful wedding song that is really all about Jesus Christ the
Messiah, Who He is and what He has done and what He is going to do for His
bride the church! In this Psalm the palmist
gives us four pictures of Jesus and the presentation of His bride! First, he presents Jesus as the Gracious Son
of Man (vv. 1-2). Then he pictures Jesus as the majestic, mighty, victorious Warrior
(vv. 3-5).
Now in verses 6-7, he lifts Jesus up as God sitting on an everlasting throne! As I
was thinking on these verses today, I couldn’t help but remember what Jesus
said in John 12:32-33, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw
all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would
die.” In John 8:28 Jesus said, "When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am He….”. No doubt Jesus was referring to Himself
being lifted up on the cross. In John 3:14, Jesus told Nicodemus that “just
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man
be lifted up.”
Notice Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man in both these passages. It is
vitally important that we remember that Jesus was all human, but at same time
He was all God! He died on the cross as the “Son of Man”. It was only in a
human body that Jesus could die. Hebrews
2:14-15 tells us: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and
blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might
destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
It is the cross of Jesus, where He became sin for us, where He was lifted up and
received the full judgment of God in our place, that we can now receive the
righteous of God because the power of the serpent, the devil, has been judged
and destroyed! Yes, Jesus being lifted up on a cross for the whole world
to see draws us to the love of God who loved us so much that He gave His Son to
die in our place for our sins!
I also believe that we can lift up Jesus as the holy and righteous Son of
God which also draws us to Himself! That
is what the psalmist is doing here in Psalm 45! Those who deny the deity of
Christ refuse to accept the translation "Thy throne, O God," because
they want to make the Psalm only Jewish history and not Messianic prophecy.
However, "Thy throne, O God" is the plain sense of the text
and is supported by Hebrews 1:8-9 and Luke 1:30-33. "He shall reign
forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).
The writer clearly affirmed the eternal reign of the eternal Son of God. His reign
would also be righteous, and all evil would be removed. Jesus Christ is
reigning now in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father (Psalm 110:1-2).
This is affirmed in many New Testament passages such as Matthew 26:64; Acts
2:33, 5:31, 7:55-56; Romans. 8:34; Ephesians 1:20; Colossians. 3:1; and Hebrews
1:3. He is the King-Priest "after the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews
7-9). One day, His bride, the church, will reign with Him and share His glory
(Rev. 5:10; 20:6).
It is my desire and goal in these daily chats to always “lift Jesus up”! Yes, we must first see Jesus lifted up
on the cross as our Savior and then we must see Him lifted up in His
resurrection from the dead as the Son of God to reign forever and forever as
the King of kings and Lord of lords (Philippians 2:5-11).
I trust you are being “drawn” to Jesus today!
God bless!
