Today, Tuesday April 11
Jesus is the Righteous King
Psalm 45:1-7
My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever.
Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, With Your glory and Your majesty. And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right hand shall teach You awesome things. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; The peoples fall under You.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
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!
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