Psalms 45:2

Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips; therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.

The King in His beauty

I. The person of the king. The old world valued in a king, personal beauty, and graciousness of speech. Both are ascribed here to the King spoken of. We have to think, not of the outward form, howsoever lovely with the loveliness of meekness and transfigured with the refining patience of suffering it may have been, but of the beauty of a soul that was all radiant with a lustre of loveliness that shames the fragmentary and marred virtues of the rest of us, and stands before the world for ever as the supreme type and high-water mark of the glory that is possible to a human spirit.

II. His warfare. He is to put on all His panoply. Thus arrayed, with the weapon by His side and the glittering armour on His limbs, He is called upon to mount His chariot or His warhorse and ride forth. But for what? “On behalf of truth, meekness, righteousness.” If He be a warrior these are the purposes for which the true King of men must draw His sword, and these only. No vulgar ambition nor cruel lust of conquest, earth-hunger or “glory” actuates Him. Nothing but the spread through the world of the gracious beauties which are His own can be the end of the King’s warfare. In two or three swift touches the psalmist next paints the tumult and hurry of the fight. “Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.” There are no armies or allies, none to stand beside Him. The one mighty figure of the kingly warrior stands forth, as in the Assyrian sculptures of conquerors, erect and alone in His chariot, crashing through the ranks of the enemy, and owing victory to His own strong arm alone. Put side by side with this the picture of our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. And yet that lowly procession of the Christ, with tears upon His cheeks, is part fulfilment of this glorious prediction. But it is only part. The psalm waits for its completion still, and shall be filled on that day of the true marriage supper of the Lamb.

III. The royalty of the king. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” In the great mosque of Damascus, which was a Christian church once, there may still be read, deeply cut in the stone, high above the pavement where the Mohammedans bow, these words, “Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom.” It is true, and yet it shall be known that He is for ever and ever the Monarch of the world. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The King of kings

We can be at no loss to understand what King is here meant (Hebrews 1:8).

I. His personal excellences.

1. They are of a moral and mental character. We must bear in mind that this whole psalm contemplates not only a king, but a Teacher-King, a Royal Prophet. He must, consequently, be, in His own person, the perfect exemplification of the Divine wisdom that He taught. Solomon, therefore, does not represent Christ by His outward splendour, of which our Lord had none, but by His spiritual perfections.

2. They are not derived; they are His own, native, meritorious perfections, for the sake of which He is worthy to reign. Now, this cannot be said of any man. If Christ had been any other than a sinless character, it must have been seen and noticed; for He passed His life in public, He was constantly surrounded by a crowd of vigilant and malicious witnesses. The same argument might be drawn from the absolute and unquestioned authority which lie always maintained over them, and which would have been weakened and destroyed if they had ever detected Him in a sin. Nor let it be imagined that all these things are said for the purpose of exhibiting our blessed Lord as a perfect model for admiration merely. The application of the doctrine lies here; that, if He had not been absolutely sinless, He could neither have been an acceptable sacrifice for sin, nor have been the great High Priest of our profession,

II. His peculiar official qualifications. “Grace is poured into Thy lips.”

1. Think of the manner in which this great Teacher-King communicated the knowledge of Himself, and His Father’s will. It is not possible for human language to express the kindness, the clearness, the tenderness that accompanied every word which proceeded from His lips.

2. Note the plenitude told of--grace is poured, not sparingly but abundantly. Now, is Christ to us altogether lovely? Did you never feel that you could part with all the world for just one beam, one spark of His infinite love; for just one drop of that heavenly joy which is the foretaste of its full fruition? I tell you plainly, I do not believe in that man’s religion at all who has strong affections for all other objects, and nothing but a cold assent, an icy, philosophic calmness to lay at the feet of Jesus. I do not believe in it, because it is not the religion of the psalmist. You have just so much religion as you have love to Christ, and not an atom more!

III. The blessing pronounced upon him. “God hath blessed Thee for ever.” This could not be said of Solomon but of Christ only. And this blessing--

1. Descends through Him upon all who are His.

2. It comprehends perpetual increase. True, the progress seems to us slow, but no important promises in the past have ever been fulfilled without similar delays.

3. Its chief fulfilment will be seen in the latter-day glory. Christ is King; submit to Him, so gracious and gentle in His rule. (D. Katterns.)

Jesus Christ compared with men

“Thou art fairer,” etc.

I. Christ is so as the son of God. All others have only a creature nature. He has the nature of God, and all the angels of God are bidden worship Him. Then should not we? And more than they, for He died for us, not for them.

II. As the son of man. The children of men are born of sinful fathers; “He was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost.” They are born with a sinful taint, but He was born without sin.

III. In work, suffering and temptation, which He shared with the children of men.

1. In work. He knew what it was. Some men never know their work; they spend their whole lives without finding it out, and consequently never do any work worth doing. But Christ knew His work. He made it His meat and His drink.

2. In suffering, too, Christ endured completely all that He was appointed to suffer. There was no putting away from Him that which He ought to bear; no hiding His face from that which He ought to see and confront. “The cup which My Father hath given me, shall I not drink?”

3. In temptation. It could not defile Him as it too often defiles us. Thoughts of wrong-doing were thrown into His mind like firebrands thrown into a house, but they never even proceeded towards the production of a wrong purpose.

IV. In his official characters of prophet, King and priest. Contrast the ordinary prophets and Christ. He was ever speaking by the Holy Spirit, ever faithful, ever possessing unlimited knowledge. And as King and priest he was perfect.

V. In four things in which men notably fail.

1. In the harmony and variety of His excellencies.

2. In the unbroken consistency of His actions.

3. In the perfection of His manifold works.

4. His influence was in all respects superior. We need nobody to tell us that Jesus Christ is better than man. Do you act the things you know best? Do you work out now the things with which you are most familiar? Certainly not. For example, you think of the children of men more than of Him who is “fairer than,” etc. And you love them more; and prize them more. They seem to give you more pleasure. You perhaps also trust “the children of men” more than you trust Him who is “fairer than the children of men.” They have often deceived you. Therefore we remind you of the truth of the text, that we may get more thought, more love, more confidence, more service, more honest speech for Him, mark, who is “fairer than the children of men.” Let us take care lest any of us, after having professed to account the Lord Jesus Christ “fairer than the children of men” should be condemned for having preferred men to our Saviour. (Samuel Martin.)

The beauty of Christ

The whole psalm tells of “the spiritual marriage and unity that is betwixt Christ and His Church.”

I. The excellence of the beauty of Christ. “Thou art fairer than,” etc.

1. It is not the beauty of His person in which the psalmist dwells with such admiration. Scripture is silent on the outward appearance of Christ. What hints there are now to show, that what, ever beauty of this kind there may have been, His sorrow, poverty and hardship had greatly destroyed.

2. But it is the beauty of His character that is told of here. He was unstained by sin, glorious in holiness. To do the will of God was His “meat”--necessary to His very existence.

II. The grace of his communications. He dwelt among us: people wondered at His gracious words. The text may refer--

1. To the gracefulness of His address.

2. To the graciousness of His words.

III. The glory of his reward. “Therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever” (Philippians 2:9). In conclusion, What think ye of Him? What will you ask of Him? (J. Jowett, M. A.)

Fairer than the children of men

The writer of this psalm sees his King in the light of his own adoration, and as he gazes, his subject is transfigured before him, form and raiment change, and at last he is gazing upon a glorified Being of his own vivid imagination. Take the text, then, as a description of Jesus our Lord in His superhuman excellence, wisdom and benign position. It presents to us--

I. His appearance. “Thou art fairer,” etc. There He stands, in disposition upright, pure, magnanimous, and the very embodiment of love. The clear light is produced by combination of every possible shade of colour. It is beautiful as broken up in rose, sunflower, and rainbow, but perfect in its whiteness. Christ’s soul is the pure white light resulting from the union of all possible excellencies. Every shade of worth and virtue which appears broken up and imperfect in the very best of mortals, glows in fullest splendour in His matchless character.

1. Gentleness.

2. Sympathy.

3. Self-forgetfulness.

4. Constancy.

II. His speech. “Grace is poured,” etc.

1. His voice must have been wondrously sweet, rich and musical; His accents more entrancing than those tones of fable which calmed the mad passions of men, quieted the ferocity of wild beasts, and charmed the very stocks and stones to listen.

2. We know His manner of speech; as pure literature the utterances of Jesus are beyond praise, and will remain a joy for ever. Nowhere will you find anything which in arrangement of words and sentences seems so exquisitely a work of nature--like the unfolding of the flower, the flow of the river, and the song of the birds.

3. The matter of His teaching was the message and prophecy of grace. He brings God home to men’s hearts.

II. His beatific state. “Therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.” We cannot judge of Divine blessing and curse from a superficial survey of present appearances. The thorny path which the Redeemer trod was His only way to the honour He sought. God has now placed Him in a position of supreme honour; He has gained the reverence and warm love of myriads, and is continually attracting more to Himself. Concentrate irate one sublime ideal all imagination can conceive of beauty of form, comprehensiveness of mind, depth and purity of soul; imagine a perfect state where the King reigns in righteousness, midst abounding peace and plenty, and all the good that God has destined human souls to realize in Christ; and you catch a glimpse of the ideal of the text. (Thomas Pitt.)

Christ Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church, fairer than the children of men

I. Some general observations.

1. In all our inquiries after the knowledge of Christ, the first thing we ought to know and consider is His person.

2. There is an ineffable glory and beauty in the person of Jesus Christ (Zechariah 9:17).

3. There are some seasons wherein our Lord Jesus is pleased to favour believers with more than ordinary clear and distinct views of His glory and beauty (John 2:11). He ordinarily does so in the day of conversion; the pleasant month of renewed manifestations, after a long and dark night of desertions; when they are called to suffer for His sake; when deeply engaged in secret prayer, meditation, self-examination, etc. And sometimes He gives believers very clear views of His glory about the time of their departure from the present world (2 Samuel 23:5); Simeon, Anna, etc.

4. A believing view of Christ in the beauty and glory of His person throws a veil over all created excellency.

5. Those to whom the Lord Jesus has been pleased to manifest His beauty in a saving manner, may go and tell Him, as the psalmist does, “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” Yea, they should do it. They should tell Him in the way of holy gratitude and thankfulness for His amazing condescension in showing them His glory.

II. In what respects our Lord Jesus is fairer than the children of men.

1. In the glory and dignity of His person.

2. In respect of that fulness of grace that is poured into His lips.

3. In respect of His work as the Head and Surety of the New Covenant (Isaiah 12:5; Daniel 9:24; Hebrews 2:14; Isaiah 25:8).

4. In respect of the revelation of God’s mind and will which He has made to men (John 1:18; Psalms 40:10; John 17:8).

5. In a relative capacity. There are many endearing relations in which He stands to His people; and in every one of them He infinitely excels all the children of men. Among fathers, He is the everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). Among husbands the most loving and affectionate; for He gave His life for His spouse (Ephesians 5:2). Among brethren He is the first-born. Among friends the Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Is He prophet? then He is the Interpreter, one among a thousand (Job 33:23). Is He a Priest? then He is the High Priest of our profession (Hebrews 3:1). Is He a King? He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords (Numbers 24:7). Among shepherds He is the Chief (Hebrews 13:20). Is He a Physician? then He is the Physician both of the soul and the body. He heals all manner of soul diseases among the people (Psalms 103:8). And our temporal as well as eternal life is in His hand. He gives the physician his skill, and causes the medicinal herb to spring.

6. There is an incomparable beauty and excellency in His Name. Hence says the spouse (Song of Solomon 1:8). There is safety and protection in His Name; it is a strong tower unto which the righteous run and are safe.

III. Use.

1. For information.

(1) We may see and be informed why believers are so much in love with Him. They have seen the King in His beauty (Isaiah 33:17); and when He is seen by the eye of faith, it is impossible not to love Him (1 Peter 2:7).

(2) We may see they have great cause and reason to rejoice unto whom God hath revealed Christ (Luke 10:2; John 17:3).

(3) We may see one special means of taking our hearts and affections off from the vain, transitory and fading things of a present world; and that is, to be much in the contemplation of the glory and excellency of the person of Christ; the fulness of grace that is in Him, the suitableness of His saving offices to the case of our souls, with the power and authority He has to put them in execution for the good of His Church and people.

(4) Is Christ incomparably fair and excellent, and every way suited to fill the hand and heart of faith? Then we may see matter of lamentation, that, though He is set before men in the dispensation of the Gospel, in the glory of His person and riches of His grace, there are but few disposed to put honour upon Him by believing.

(5) We may see that we should not content ourselves with a general consideration of the beauty and excellency of Christ; but should enter particularly into the consideration of these things in Him wherein He is fairer than the children of men.

2. For trial. Can you join with the psalmist in saying from the heart, Thou art fairer than the children of men? Is our Lord Jesus a covering of your eyes from every other Lord and lover? Do you confide in Christ, and solely rely upon His most perfect righteousness as the ground of your access to and acceptance with God?

3. For exhortation.

(1) We exhort you who have been admitted to behold the matchless beauty and excellency of our glorious Immanuel, to bless and praise a God of infinite love and grace for giving you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.

(2) As for you who never saw any beauty nor comeliness in Christ, why you should desire Him. Satan, the god of this world, has blinded your eyes that the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ hath not yet shined unto you. (T. Bennet.)

Grace is poured into Thy lips.--

Grace poured into Christ’s lips

I. The grace which is poured into Christ’s lips.

1. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon Him as a spirit of wisdom, counsel and understanding (Isaiah 11:2). Wisdom and knowledge discovered themselves in Him, to the astonishment of His greatest enemies (Mark 6:2).

2. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon Him as the spirit of faith and trust in God (Matthew 27:46).

3. The grace of holy gratitude and thankfulness to God, His heavenly Father, evidenced itself in Him in the highest degree of perfection (Psalms 22:9; John 11:41).

4. Our Lord Jesus evidenced the most cheerful and ready compliance with the will of God in every part of His work (John 4:34; Matthew 26:39).

5. The graces of humility and self-denial appear conspicuously in all the sayings and actings of Christ (Philippians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 7:9; Matthew 11:29; Romans 12:2).

6. The graces of meekness and patience were most perfectly exercised by Him (Hebrews 12:3; 1 Peter 2:24).

7. Our Lord Jesus is full of love; love to God, and love to the souls of men was the golden weight which engaged and carried Him forward in every part of the work Jehovah gave Him to do; so we find Him entering upon the crowning piece of the work of our redemption as to purchase, in the highest exercise of love to His, and our heavenly Father (John 14:31).

8. He was full of zeal for God and the advancement of His declarative glory (John 2:13).

II. In what capacity our Lord Jesus has this grace poured into his lips.

1. As the second Adam, the Surety of the New Covenant, the Head and Representative of His mystical body the Church.

2. As the Trustee of the New Covenant.

3. As the Administrator of the Covenant of grace (Acts 5:31; John 14:13).

4. As sustaining the character of our Head and Husband, our Father, our elder Brother, our best Friend, and the Steward set over the family of God, to give every one his portion in due season.

III. Whence it is that the grace that is poured into the lips of our glorious redeemer is condescended on as such a leading part of his glory and beauty.

1. Grace is here considered as the glory of Christ, “because in this internal grace the reparation of the image of God doth consist.”

2. This grace is the glory of Christ, “because it is that which inclines the heart of Jesus Christ unto all that goodness and kindness that He hath showed unto us.”

3. Grace is the glory of Christ, “as He is, in respect of it, the great example and pattern whereunto we ought to labour after conformity.”

4. Because grace being poured into His lips, and poured into His lips for our special benefit, it renders Him in every respect a fit match for us.

5. Because Jesus Christ is made an everlasting blessing to the sons of men in virtue of this grace that is poured into His lips; God having poured grace into His lips, hath set Him to be blessings for ever (Psalms 21:6). Men shall be blessed in Him.

IV. Improvement.

1. Inferences.

(1) If it be so as has been said, that grace and holiness is that which renders our Lord Jesus so very fair and beautiful; then we may see how much grace Should be prized by us. Grace is the ornament that adorns the soul.

(2) We may see what reason we have to admire the wisdom and goodness of God, which are so richly manifested towards fallen men, in His providing such a suitable help for them.

(3) We may see matter of comfort to believers amidst all their wants.

(4) We may see grounds of encouragement to those who are yet destitute of grace to come to Christ for it.

2. Use of trial. Do you believe in God as your God through our Lord Jesus Christ? And do you endeavour to maintain the claim of faith to Him as your God and Father, even when clouds and darkness are round about Him? Do you study, through grace, to yield a cheerful and ready obedience to all God’s commandments from love to Him and a tender regard to His authority? Are you humble and self-denied?

3. Exhortation.

(1) As to you who have been admitted to behold the beauty and glory of Christ by the eye of faith, and have been made partakers of His grace.

(a) We exhort you to be much taken up in the believing contemplation of the person and glory of Christ.

(b) We exhort you to use and improve the grace that is in Christ. Remember that it is poured into His lips for your behoof; that you may daily come to His fulness in the exercise of faith, and receive out of it grace for grace.

(c) We exhort you to be humble and thankful to God for the grace you have already received.

(2) As for you who are yet strangers to Christ and so destitute of saving grace. We exhort you to believe the misery of your present condition. To believe that you stand in absolute need of Christ and the grace that is poured into His lips. To believe there is grace in Christ answering to all your wants, and that He makes you heartily welcome to come to Him, and be enriched out of His fulness for time and eternity. To consider that the day of grace will not always last with you. It is a limited day, and may be shorter than you are aware of. (T. Bonnet.)

The worth of Jesus seen

Some Cornish fishermen found a belt containing diamonds. They considered it worth £20, and sold it for £20. “Ah,” said the buyer, “I expect this is worth money--I think it is worth £1,000,” and he sold it for I do not know how much. “Ah,” said the man who bought it, “this is worth money--it is worth £3,000,” and he sold it for £3,000. I believe eventually it passed into the hands of those who gave £10,000 for it. If you could only have put something at the back of the eyes of those fishermen which would have shown them the truth! That is what the Spirit of God has come for--to show us the worth of Jesus. Oh, it is such a sad thing that He should be to us so little when He wants to be so much; that we should be poor when He wants to enrich us with the treasures of His grace. (M. G. Pearse.)