Sermon Tone Analysis

*Ride on!

Ride on in Majesty!*

Palm Sunday, April 5, 2009

/Psalm 45// /

 

To the Chief Musician.

Set to “The Lilies.”

A Contemplation of the Sons of Korah.

A Song of Love.

1My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever.

3Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One, with Your glory and Your majesty.

4And in Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; and Your right hand shall teach You awesome things.

5Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies; the peoples fall under You.

*6Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.

7You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.* 8All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.

9Kings’ daughters are among Your honorable women; at Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

10Listen, O daughter, consider and incline your ear; forget your own people also, and your father’s house; 11so the King will greatly desire your beauty; because He is your Lord, worship Him.

12And the daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; the rich among the people will seek your favor.

13The royal daughter is all glorious within the palace; her clothing is woven with gold.

14She shall be brought to the King in robes of many colors; the virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to You. 15With gladness and rejoicing they shall be brought; they shall enter the King’s palace.

16Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons, whom You shall make princes in all the earth.

17I will make Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the people shall praise You forever and ever.

Background:

·         Psalm 45 is a beautiful Messianic Psalm.

The Father said verses 6 and 7 to the Son.

How do we know this?  Hebrews 1.8-9 reveals it is so.

·         Just as with other OT passages, this Psalm fulfills is dual purpose:  1) It captures the beauty and splendor of a royal wedding in Israel (Solomon’s); 2) It captures the beauty and splendor of Christ’s triumphant entrance into the city of Jerusalem.

·         It is obvious as to why the Psalm cannot be limited to an ancient wedding context.

Jesus is the King who will ride on in majesty!

Jesus is the King who will one day set up His millennial kingdom.

The triumphant entry becomes a sliver of things yet to come.

·         Understanding weddings in ancient Israel:

o   Betrothal - a formal act beyond our idea of engagement; a legal procedure enacted before witnesses and confirmed by oaths taken by the couple.

For all intents and purposes, the couple became husband and wife yet without a physical union.

Mary and Joseph were betrothed to one another.

When Joseph found that Mary was with child, a divorce was required to put Mary away, albeit secretly.

o   Dowry - provided by the husband’s family; took time to procure it and led to long delays between the betrothal and the wedding.

o   Wedding

§  Friends and attendants of the bride gathered at her home.

She prepared herself in the finest clothing and jewelry possible.

§  Friends and attendants of the groom gathered at his home.

A great procession traveled through the streets of the city.

The groom and his attendants traveled to receive the bride.

§  A second procession made up of both the bride’s party and the groom’s party filtered their way back to the groom’s home.

§  A joyful wedding feast, lasting as long as two weeks (depending on the status and wealth of the groom’s party), followed the processions.

See Matt 25; The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

Explanation:  This beautiful Psalm begins with a note from its author, a son of Korah.

He has a heart overflowing as he presents his composition concerning the King.

It’s a good theme from a skilled writer moved by God’s Spirit.

If this Psalm depicted Solomon’s wedding, that would be one thing; but to depict a heavenly wedding with the infinite God-Man as the groom - that is something altogether different.

It is the noblest and grandest of themes.

*/Characteristics of the King (45.2-9)/*

Explanation:  The psalmist introduces the King:

1.

He is fairer than the sons of men - as the Lily of the Valley, Jesus is the fairest of 10,000 to the believer’s soul.

He attracts people to Himself - an inner beauty.

2.       Grace saturates his speech.

All “bore witness to [Jesus], and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth” (Lk 4.22a).

Both the beauty of the King’s disposition and the gracious words He speaks promote eternal blessing from God.

3.       The King wears a sword upon His thigh.

He is the Mighty One - glorious and majestic - “out of His mouth [will go] a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance” will shine link the strong noon-day sun (cf.

Rev 1.16).

Upon His thigh is His name:  “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (Rev 19.16).

Ride on, O King!  Ride on in majesty!  “In Your majesty ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness” (45.4):

a.       His ride is prosperous because of truth.

Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us …full of grace and */truth/* (Jn 1.14).

Jesus is truth personified.

He said, “I am the way, */the/* */truth/*, and the life” (Jn 14.6).

b.

His ride is prosperous because of humility.

“*/Lowly/*, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Matt 21.5).

c.

His ride is prosperous because of righteousness.

John, the apostle, “saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.

And He (that is, Jesus) who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in */righteousness/* He judges and makes war” (Rev 19.11).

4.

The King conquers not in the way expected.

His weapons are truth, humility, and righteousness.

When Jesus came the first time, His life ended at the cross.

Yet He triumphed even though His enemies arrested, condemned and crucified Him. 

/Ride on!

Ride on in Majesty!/

/In lowly pomp ride on to die,/

/Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain,/

/Then take, O God, Thy pow’r and reign./

5.

Our weaponry is not carnal.

We cannot take spiritual ground by brute force.

Ephesians 6:17 urges us to “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

The King’s might will meet the enemies of righteousness.

He will pursue them and one day utterly defeat them.

His arrows are sharp and lethal in the heart of His enemies.

All nations will bow before Jesus Christ.

6.

The throne of Christ (called God by the writer) is forever and ever.

The writer could not have meant that the historical king of this psalm was God.

This earthly king simply stood in the place of Jesus Christ, representing Him.

There is only one eternal King.

a.

He holds a scepter of righteousness.

It is the scepter of His kingdom.

i.

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah” (Gen 49.10).

ii.