Psalms 45:4

And in Thy majesty ride prosperously.

The Captain of salvation riding prosperously in the Gospel-chariot and bringing terrible things to pass

I. Open and explain the various designations given to the gospel in the text.

1. It is called “the word of truth.”

(1) As opposed to error and false doctrine, whereby Satan endeavours to blind and ruin souls.

(2) As opposed to the dispensation of grace which the Church enjoyed under the Mosaic economy (John 1:17).

(3) By way of eminency in regard it is the most excellent, sweet and desirable truth (Psalms 19:10).

(4) In regard of its effects upon the hearts of those who believe it. The solid belief of the Gospel is not only accompanied with an inward change upon the understanding will and affections, but also with newness of life and conversation.

2. “The word of meekness.”

(1) In regard of Him whose word it is (Matthew 11:29; Zechariah 9:9).

(2) From the manner in which it was delivered to us by Christ and His apostles.

(3) In respect of its design and the end which through the Divine blessing it reaches among men.

3. “The word of righteousness.”

(1) On account of its purity and holiness.

(2) Because it contains a revelation of the righteousness of God our Saviour, which is the alone ground of a sinner’s access to, and acceptance in the sight of an holy and just God; yea, the leading design of the Gospel, in subordination to the glory of its Author, is to proclaim that righteousness to sinners; to set it before them as the sure foundation of all their hope and confidence (Isaiah 46:12).

(3) In respect of its effect. It is by looking into the glass of the Gospel by faith that the good work of likeness and conformity to Christ is begun in regeneration, and is carried on to perfection (2 Corinthians 3:18).

II. Some of the terrible things that our Lord Jesus brings to pass by means of the gospel.

1. The unhinging and removing the whole fabric of ceremonial institutions.

2. Our Lord has made terrible work upon the kingdom and interests of Satan by means of the Gospel.

3. The preaching of the Gospel by our Lord and His apostles was followed with terrible consequences to His ancient people, to whom it was first published, because of their unbelief in rejecting the compassionate counsel of God against themselves.

4. Another of the terrible things our Lord Jesus has performed by means of the Gospel is the inroads He has made upon the kingdom and power of Antichrist.

5. Our Lord Jesus performs terrible things upon the hearts and consciences of obstinate sinners by means of a dispensation of the Gospel.

III. Inferences.

1. We may infer that the Gospel is a subject very glorious and excellent.

2. We may infer how much the Gospel ought to be esteemed by all who enjoy it in purity; and the great sin of despising and neglecting it.

3. We may see the great need all who enjoy a dispensation of the Gospel have to exercise a constant dependence upon the power and grace of Christ, in order to their profiting by it.

4. We may see from this subject that our Lord Jesus is not only succeeding in the management of the affairs of His kingdom of grace, but hastening to finish the mystery of God in the Church; He is riding in the Gospel-chariot with great celerity.

5. We may see with what holy diligence it concerns all the hearers of the Gospel, to improve their day of grace and merciful visitation.

6. We may see matter of trial and examination. Try what acquaintance you have with the designations given to the Gospel in the text, in your experience.

7. We may see matter of comfort to believers. It may comfort the heart of every child of God to consider that the Captain of salvation is making way for His second coming and the accomplishment of the promise, which will crown His felicity (John 14:2).

8. We may see matter of reproof and terror to all the scoffers of the last times.

9. We may infer matter of exhortation.

(1) We exhort all who have experienced the power of Divine grace upon their hearts, and known the joyful sound of the Gospel in truth, to bless a God of infinite love and grace for sending the Gospel to them, and that not only in word, but in the demonstration of the Holy Spirit.

(2) As for you, who, though you are enjoying a dispensation of the Gospel, have never yet experienced the salutary effects of it upon your hearts, we exhort you to consider the great misery of your present condition. (T. Bonnet.)

Because of truth and meekness and righteousness.--

The conquest of the world by meekness

Poetry is the language of the soul; for the soul is the seat of all deeper, purer, diviner feeling. Till the spirit is touched and stirred to her very depth and inmost self there can be no poetry. A man may be set down in the very midst of Nature’s life and loveliness, amid her fields, and flowers, and streams, and mountains, and even her wildest grandeur, but if he has no communion with the soul of Nature, he can have nothing to say. He may imitate her language, but he has no real voice. Now, the poetry of the Bible is the Bible of poetry. You may find the language of feeling in other books, but this is the book of feeling. It is the utterance of the soul in its deepest moods. It lets you into the very heart of humanity. An inspired apostle has applied a certain portion of this psalm to the Redeemer of man.

I. That the conquest of our world by Christ implies rather its redemption than its subjugation, Man has been so brought under the yoke by the power of evil that his nature is comparatively enslaved. The spirit is enthralled by the flesh. The higher nature by the lower. Bondage is mistaken for freedom. The will of God is to reverse all this, to bring back man to his original condition. And to accomplish this Christ came. His life must be sacrificed to effect our deliverance, and He gave it up willingly and without reserve. Though we are taken from under the yoke of an enslaving bondage, our redemption does not place us above law, or take us from the sphere of its influence. We are under law to Him who hath redeemed us. As His freemen we owe Him our allegiance and submission.

II. That he who is to effect this conquest is revealed to us as invested with attributes corresponding to the grandeur of his enterprise. He is clothed with might, majesty and glory. Of these perfections, as they are united in the Godhead, we have many striking manifestations. See the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. Or the prophet describing the calamities which God was about to inflict on the enemies of His Church and people, represents His brightness as the light, and burning coals going forth at His feet, and at whose descent the everlasting mountains were scattered, and the perpetual hills did bow, while His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise! How different from all this outward and gorgeous splendour is the calm and silent majesty of the same august Being, when He is represented as saying” Let there be light, and light was!” Or when you hear him reveal His ineffable name to Moses--“I am that I am!” So in reference to the Saviour. It is in the quiet word of His power, as when He stilled the tempest, yet more in the deep tranquillity of His own soul, that we see His glory. His might lay in ‘His purity, His majesty in His meekness, His glory in His benevolence. There is no power equal to that of goodness, and there is nothing which goodness may not achieve.

III. That nothing could be more simple or appropriate than the means or instrumentality by which this conquest is to be achieved. Just as the purpose of the Redeemer corresponds with the benevolence and the righteousness of His character, so the means by which that purpose is to be carried into effect beautifully correspond with the calm and dignified composure of his own soul. Having, like a true hero, girt His sword upon His thigh, He is seen riding forth prosperously and in triumph. Victory waits upon His every step. And this not as the effect of force, but as the result of truth. The Conqueror of the world is the world’s Great Teacher. Full of grace and truth, He came to reveal the love of God, and the way of life. He asks for no blind, unmeaning homage, and therefore He floods the mind with light. He wants no unwilling surrender, and therefore He fills the heart with love. We see, then, how it is that in the Conqueror of the world meekness is combined with truth. The dove at His baptism told what manner of reign His was to be. It was the gentleness of Christ as a teacher of truth that made Him great. It is a striking fact that Christianity makes no provision for those cases in which it fails in its professed results. Other systems reserve to themselves the freedom of changing their ground and of adapting their expedients to the ever-varying conditions of society; but the Christian system disdains any such policy. Whether it be introduced into countries where civilization sits high-throned and regnant, or into regions where we meet with only uncultured and barbarous tribes, it is the same thing. While it possesses all the elements of universal adaptation, it knows nothing of expediency. It refuses to be thrown into any Procrustean bed, and have its dimensions determined by the caprice of men. It is through all time the same and immutable. The reason is obvious. Its failures are not due to itself but in those to whom it is addressed, or in the agency through which we seek to diffuse it.

IV. That the progress of this conquest will arrest the attention and awaken the joy of the whole moral creation of God. Heaven is interested in earth. But what ate we doing to help forward the reign of Christ? Have we submitted ourselves to Him? Only so can we really help or share in its final joy. (R. Ferguson, LL. D.)