Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. (Psalm 45:6)

Today’s psalm picks up almost directly on the heels of yesterday’s. A question looms in psalm 44 about the suffering God’s people have faced. They’ve done nothing wrong, and yet have been crushed. Their God and King has decreed victory, and yet they have faced defeat. As Pastor Michael noted yesterday, no answers are given to the concerns stirred up in psalm 44, just a prayer for God to rise up and rescue his people.

Psalm 45 would seem in some ways to be that answer to psalm 44’s prayer of suffering, though.

It is a psalm to mark the wedding day of the King. The King’s presence, power, and purity of character is revealed in all its royal majesty. “Gird your sword on your side, you mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty. In your majesty ride forth victoriously in the cause of truth, humility and justice; let your right hand achieve awesome deeds” (45:3-4).

It all builds up to our verse today, a verse quoted in the book of Hebrews as pertaining to Christ: “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.” The King enters and rises up in the fullness of his power and majesty, vested with all the finest garments and armaments to be every ounce the God and King we would ever hope for him to be.

As the psalm continues, the bride is also described in all of her glory and beauty. The song is joyful, anticipatory, taking a long look at all the descendants to follow from the union of these two pure and noble persons. Bride and bridegroom, king and princess soon-to-be-queen: the consummation of the very best ideals of all that is good and right in the world (if you need a visual: perhaps Aragorn’s Coronation and reunion with Arwen in the white city of Gondor from the final scene of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, would be appropriate).

This psalm rhymes with the Song of Songs, and certainly looks ahead to all the beautifully cryptic language of our Christian hope: that day when Christ, the coming King will be united with his bride, the Church in that great heavenly wedding feast at the end of the age. It is a hope and a moment that encapsulates all the very best that we can ever hope for or dream: every ideal of justice and righteousness come in perfection, every notion of healing and wholeness made complete, every longing for fullness, given in abundance in ways that leave our cups overflowing.

Psalm 45’s answer to psalm 44’s suffering then, is to remember and to believe in the hope that is ours in our King.

Of course, in Christ, we have a much fuller picture to remember and believe as we await our Christian hope in our present times of suffering. It is no longer a merely human king that we look to, but Christ: one who is both human and divine—a king who perfectly embodies the truth, humility, and justice that we seek and who is mighty to save his people. This is our king who has been enthroned and our bridegroom who will come again to draw us all into the splendor of his royal reign when we take our seats and celebrate together with him at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Dear friends: in the present tumult of our times, may we never lose sight of the hope of joy, reunion, and peace to come in the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you : wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness : protect you through the storm. May he bring you home rejoicing : at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing : once again into our doors.