Jesus was a man of gracious lips

JESUS WAS A MAN OF GRACIOUS LIPS
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Psalm45:2 2Youare the most excellent of men and
your lips have been anointedwith grace, since God has
blessedyou forever.
THE GRACIOUS LIPS OF JESUS NO. 3081
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1908
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEONAT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL,
SOUTHWARK
“Grace is poured into thy lips.” Psalm 45:2
WHAT a never-ending theme there is in the name and personof our blessed Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ! The poets of Scripture never mention His person but they
fall into rhapsodies at once, they never sing of His name, or of His glories, but at
once they seem to be so enchanted by the spirit of poetry that they soar up with
ecstasies of joy, and their love scarcely knows how to find language to express
itself. Love sometimes over-leaps language among sensitive men, and so it does
more palpably in Sacred Scripture. Take, for instance, the Canticles. There, love
has strained language to the uttermost, in order to embody its vehement passion,
yea, so strained it, that some of us, not so filled with love to God, can scarcely

appreciate its glowing utterance. Here too, you see, the psalmist, with harp in hand,
no sooner begins to meditate on the person of the Messiah, than he cries, “My heart
bubbleth up with a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching
the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of
men: grace is poured into thy lips.” We shall have no time for a preface, but must
proceed at once to the discussionof our text. Grace is poured into the lips of
Christ. Let us consider, firstly, the plenitude of this grace, secondly, the nature of
this grace, and thirdly, endeavor to show you in what offices Jesus Christ proves
that grace is poured into His lips. I. We commence with the word “POURED” as
suggesting THE PLENITUDE OF GRACE. “Grace is poured into thy lips.”
Others among the children of men have had “grace.” Poets have spoken gracious
words, and prophets of old have uttered wondrous sayings, which were divinely
inspired, so that it might be said that their doctrine “dropped”as the rain, and their
speech“distilled” like the dew. Such imagery, however, is too faint to describe our
Lord Jesus. Not merely did He speak as the dew, nor did His message simply drop
as the small rain, it “POURED” from His lips! Whenever He spoke, a copious
stream of gracious words flowed from Him like a very cataract of eloquence. Jesus
Christ had not a little grace, but it was “poured into” Him, not a vial of oil on His
head, but He had a cruse and a horn of oil emptied upon Him. Grace was poured
into His lips. I notice that Calvin translates this passagethus, “Graceis shed from
thy lips.” Not only did God give to His Songrace on His lips, but the Son,
whenever He speaks, whether He addresses the people in doctrine and exhortation,
or whether He pleads with His Father on their behalf—whenever His lips are open
to speak to God for men, or from God to men, He always has “grace shed from his
lips.” And when I turn to the Septuagint translation of this passage, I find that it
has the idea of the very exhaustion of grace, “Graceis poured from thy lips,” as
though emptied out till there is none left. Jesus Christ had grace exhausted in His
person. In Him “dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” All grace was given
to Him, the very exhaustion of the inexhaustible store, as much as to say that God
could give no more, and that Jesus Christ Himself could not receive or possess
more grace. It was all poured into His person, and when He speaks, He seems to
exhaust grace itself.
2 The Gracious Lips of Jesus Sermon #3081
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Imagination’s utmost stretch cannot conceive of anything more gracious, and the
contemplation of the most devoted Christian cannot think of any words more
majestic in goodness, more tender in sympathy, more full of honey, and more
luscious in their sweetness, than the gracious words that proceeded out of the lips
of Jesus Christ. “Grace is poured into thy lips.” Ah, Christian! you may have some
grace on your lips, but you have not got it “poured”into them, you may have some
grace in your heart, but it is dropped there like small rain from heaven, you have
not got it “poured”there, you may be ever so full of grace, but Christ is more full
than you are, and when you are ever so reduced in grace, it is a consolation that
with Him is plenteous grace, plenty that knows no lack, for grace is poured into
His lips. Be not afraid to go to Him in every time of need, nor think that He will
fail to comfort you, His comforts are not like water spilled on the earth, that cannot
be gathered up, they yield perpetual streams, for grace is poured into His lips. He
has no stinted supply, no short allowance to give you, but ask what you will, you
shall have as much as your faith can desire, and your heart can hold, for grace is
poured into His lips in the richest plenitude. II. Not to expatiate further on this, let
us pass on to consider THE KIND OF GRACE THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS,
WHICH IS THUS POURED INTO HIS LIPS, AND SHED FORTHFROM HIS
LIPS. It is important to remark that Jesus Christ has what none of the sons of men
ever had, He has inherent grace. Adam, when he was created by God, had some
inherent grace which God gave him, yet not so much of God’s graceas to preserve
the uprightness of his character. He had but the grace of purity, as it could be
displayed in the innocence of his intelligent nature. There must have been much
grace in the constitution of the man, seeing he was originally created in the
likeness of God, yet there could not have been perfect grace in him, for he did not
keep his first estate. But Jesus Christ had all the grace that Adam had, and all the
grace that any innocent man could have had, in the most sublime perfection, and
that grace was always in Him. You and I have none of that intelligent grace. We
have heard men say that children are not born in sin, nor shaped in iniquity, but
that they have inherent grace, but we have never yet met with the man who has
found so wonderful a child. At any rate, the children have been mightily spoiled in
growing to maturity, for they have not given much proofof grace afterwards. No,
beloved, we are naturally graceless, a seed of evil-doers, all our inherent grace was
spoiled by Adam. However full the pitcher might have been originally, it has been
emptied out by the Fall. Adam broke the earthen vessel, and spilt every drop of its

contents, and we have none left. But in Jesus there was no sin, He had inherent
grace in Himself. And next, He had grace which He derived from the constitution
of His person, being God as well as man. The manhood of Christ derived grace
from the Godhead of Christ. I do not doubtthat His two natures were united in
such wonderful union that what the man did, the God confirmed, and what the God
willed, that the man did. Nor did the man Christ Jesus ever act without the God
Christ Jesus. Nor did He ever speak without the God—theGod within Him—the
God whom He is as truly as He is man. We speak but as men, save when the Spirit
of God speaks through us. The greatest and mightiest of all prophets have but
spoken as men inspired, but Jesus spokeas man and God conjoined. “Grace”—this
unutterably divine grace—His own grace of Godhead, was poured into His lips,
and shed forth from His lips. But more. I conceive that the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He spoke, had also, as well as His ministers, the assistance of God the Holy
Spirit. In fact, we are told that God gave not the Spirit unto Him by measure. It is a
most remarkable fact, and I believe it is put in Scripture on purposeto make us
honor the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ as a Preacher—so far as we can judge from
the Word of God—was not so successfulin conversion as some of His followers
have been. If you turn to the life of Paul, you will notice how many thousands were
brought through His preaching to know the Lord, and if you read the accountof
Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, you will see that three thousand were
converted on that one day.
Sermon #3081 The Gracious Lips of Jesus 3
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You never hear of such an instance in the life of Christ. When He died, He left
only about five hundred disciples behind Him, the reason was this, Jesus said, “I
will honour the Holy Spirit; I will let the world know that it is not by might, nor by
power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord. And though I speak as never man spake,
and have more eloquence than mortal ever again can attain, yet I will, in My
sovereignty, restrain Myself from the exercise of that Spirit. The people’s eyes
shall be dull and they shall slumber, their hearts shall wax fat, and they shall be
gross. Then, in after years I will speak more through a humble fisherman than I did
Myself. I will honor more the weakest instrument than I have done even My own
self as a preacher.” Yet Jesus Christ had the Spirit without measure, for every

sentence of His was instinct with energy divine. “The words,”said Jesus, “that I
speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.” Thus, you see, His words are not
merely of the Spirit, but they are Spirit. It seems to me that as he that has seen
Christ has seen the Father, so he that has heard Christ has heard the Holy Ghost.
Still, the fruits of His ministry, like the homage due to His person, lay beyond the
brief term of His sojourn on earth. He was rejected of His generation, but
afterwards “declared to be the Sonof God with power, according to the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” In like manner, His words, though
not seemingly productive at the time, were so full of the Spirit’s quickening power
that they were afterwards the means of conversion to millions of millions beyond
the capacity of mortals to count. All conversions under Peter, Paul, and the other
apostles, were by Jesus Christ. The words that He spokein secret, they published
far and wide. All conversions now are in His name, and by His Word!“The
testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”If an apostle spokeof himself, his
words fell to the ground, but what his Master told him to say was abundantly
successful. Jesus Christ has the Spirit without measure, and herein is another kind
of grace, of which it can be said, “Graceis poured into thy lips. III. We have very
hastily passed over these two divisions that we may dilate on the third. We are now
to consider THE VARIOUS OFFICES IN WHICH WE MAY DISCERN
“GRACE” AS BEING “POUREDINTO THE LIPS” OF CHRIST, AND SHED
AGAIN FROMHIS LIPS. First, let us regard our Savior as the eternal Surety of
the covenant, and we shall see that grace was poured into His lips. When God the
Father originally made the covenant, it stood somewhat in this form, “My Son,
Thou desirest, and I also agree with Thee, to save a multitude that no man can
number, whom I have elected in Thee. But in order to their salvation, that I may be
just, and yet the Justifier of them that believe, it is necessary that someone should
be their Representative, to stand responsible for their obedience to My laws, and
their Substitute to suffer whatever penalties they incur. If Thou, My Son, will
stipulate to bear their punishment, and endure the penalty of their crimes, I on My
part will stipulate that Thou shalt see Thy seed, shall prolong Thy days, and that
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosperin Thy hands. If Thou art prepared to
promise that Thou wilt bear the punishment of all the people whom Thou wouldst
save, I on My part am prepared to swear by Myself, becauseI can swear by no
greater, that all for whom Thou shalt atone shall infallibly be delivered from death
and hell, and that all for whom Thou bearest the punishment shall hence go free,

nor shall My wrath rise against them, however great may be their sins.” Jesus
spokethe word, and He said, “My Father! Lo, I come: in the volume of the Book it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God.” Now, that was spoken in
eternity, farther back than faith on eagle wings can soar, and such grace was
poured into the lips of Christ when He made that simple declaration, that tens of
thousands of saints entered heaven, simply on the ground of His solemn pledge.
Such grace was shed from the lips of Jesus that from the days of Adam, when one
transgression involved the race in ruin, down to the times when the second Adam
made reconciliation for iniquity, the saints all entered heaven upon the faith of
Christ’s promise alone. Not one drop of blood had been shed, not one agony
suffered, the contract was not performed, the stipulation not yet fulfilled, but the
Surety’s oath was quite enough, in the Father’s ears there needed no
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other confirmation. His heart was satisfied. Yea, more, in that selfsame moment,
when Jesus spokethat word in His Father’s ear, all the saints were in Him justified
and rendered complete, their salvation was secure. As soonas ever Jesus Christ
said, “My Father, I will pay the penalty, they shall have My righteousness, and I
will have their sin,” their acceptancewas an eternal fact. He would never go back
from His agreement, nor ever turn aside from His covenant. This is the first aspect
in which we behold grace shed forth from Christ’s lips. Secondly, grace is poured
into His lips as the greatest of all prophets and teachers. The law was given by
Moses, and there was some grace on his lips, for Moses, even when he preached
the law, preached the Gospel, privileged as he was to look steadfastly to the end of
that which is abolished. When he taught the offering of the lamb, the bullock, and
the turtledove, there was Gospelcouched in the law itself, in the law of Levitical
ceremonies. But the beams that shone on the face of Moses were but beams of
grace, they were not “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth.” And when other prophets rose at different periods of the first
dispensation of the law, they each had some measure of grace. Whether we
consider the heroic Elijah, or the plaintive Jeremiah, or Isaiah, that seraphic seer
who spokemore of Christ than all the rest, we find that each and all had some
grace in their lips, what they preached was gracious doctrine and well worthy to be

received, but who ever taught such doctrines as those of Jesus? Where, among the
writings of the prophets and sages of antiquity, can we find such words as those
which Jesus uttered? Who taught the people that they should love all men? Who
ever taught the people such wondrous doctrines as those which you find in all His
sermons? Who could have been so great a teacher? Who could so blessedly have
prophesied to His people but Jesus Christ Himself? My soul, contemplate Jesus as
the only Rabbi of the church, view Him as the only Lord and Master, take your
doctrines and articles of faith from His lips, and His lips alone, study His Word,
and make that alone your guide, interpret all the rest by His light. When you have
done so, you will say, “O prophet of my salvation, Thou Teacher of Israel, verily
grace is poured into Thy lips! No books afford me such instruction as Thine, no
ministers address me in suchwords as my Shepherd speaks. No learning hath in it
such depths of wisdom as the wisdom of Christ.” More to be desired are His words
than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Grace was poured into His lips as the greatest
of all prophets. Thirdly, Christ had grace poured into His lips as the most eloquent
of all preachers. One of the joys I anticipate in heaven is to hear Christ speak to
His people. I conceive that there was such a majesty about Jesus Christ when He
spokeon earth, as not Demosthenes, Cicero, nor Pericles, nor all the orators of
ancient or modern times could ever approach. He had a voice, I suppose, more
sweet than e’en the music which came from the harps of angels. He had eyes
expressive of sympathy with those whom He addressed. He had a heart which
animated every feature of His countenance. His was pathos which could break the
stony heart, His was sublimity which could elevate the sensual mind, each word of
His was a pearl, each sentence was of pure gold. “Never man spake like this man.”
No poet, in his most rapt ecstasy, could have grasped such sublime thoughts as
those the Savior delivered to His hearers, and when, stooping from His flights, He
condescendsto speak in plain and simple words to His fellows, there is naked,
ungarnished simplicity in the familiar discourseof Christ to which man cannot in
the least approach. Jesus Christ was the greatest and the plainest of all preachers.
We could put aside every other in comparison with Him. We have known men who
could curb the restless multitude, and hold them spellbound. Some of us have
listened to some mighty man of God who chained our ears, held us fast, and
constrained our attention all the while he spoke. Justice, sin, righteousness, and
judgment to come have absorbed us while they enlisted our sympathies. But had
you heard the Savior, you would have heard more wondrous things than any mere

man ever could have spoken. I think if the wild winds could have heard Him, they
would have ceased their blustering, if the waves could have listened to Him they
would have hushed their tumult, and the rough back of the ocean would
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have been smoothed, if the stars could have heard Him, they would have stopped
their hurried march, if the sun and moon had heard Him whose voice is more
potent than that of Joshua, they would have stood still, if creation could have heard
Him, then charmed, it would have stopped its ceaseless motions and the wheels of
the universe would have stood still, that all ears might listen, that all hearts might
beat, and that all eyes might glisten, and that so souls might be elevated, while
Jesus Christ spoke. It was fabled of Hercules that he had golden chains in his
mouth with which he chained the ears of men, it is true of Jesus that He had golden
chains in His mouth that chained men’s ears and hearts too. He had no need to ask
attention, for grace was poured into His lips. Happy day! Happy da! when I shall
sit down at the feet of Jesus Christ and hear Him preach. O beloved, what we shall
then think of our poorpreaching, I cannot tell! It is a mercy that Jesus Christ does
not preach here now, for, after hearing Him, none of us would preach again, so
ashamed should we be of ourselves. Sometimes, when we try to preach, and
afterwards hear a more able minister, we feel so outdone that our preaching seems
nothing, we hardly dare try again. It is a mercy there is a veil between us and
Christ. We cannot hear Him preach, or else we should all vacate our pulpits. But
in heaven I hope to sit enchanted at His feet, and if He will speak for a million
years, I would ask Him to speak yet another million, and if He will still speak, e’en
then, for the sweet redundance of that grace which is poured into His lips, my
raptured soul would sit, and love, and smile itself away in ecstasies of joy to hear
my Savior speak. Fourthly, grace was poured into the lips of Christ as the faithful
Promiser. I look upon all the promises of God’sWord as being the promises of
Jesus as well as the promises of the Father and of the Holy Ghost. All the promises
of God, we are told, are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, unto the glory of God by us,
and as the promises are all made in Him, so they are all spoken by Him. Now, will
you not concur with me when I say that, verily, grace is poured into His lips as the
faithful Promiser? We have sometimes read His promises, we have heard them

with our ears, and oh, what grace there is in them! Take, for instance, that great
honeycomb promise, “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but
my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.” Turn to another, “When thou
passestthrough the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men
of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel.” Listen to such sweet words as these, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Beloved,
you do not need that I tell you how precious these promises are. The best way to
preach of the faithful Promiser is to tell you some of His promises. I will not tell
you what treasures there are in Christ’s cabinet, I will break the dooropen and let
you look at some more of the treasures for yourselves. “Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassionon the son of her womb? yea,
they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the
palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” “I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee.” “Even to hoar hairs will I carry you.” “All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Is He
not indeed full of grace as the faithful Promiser? You, poorsouls, who have been
drinking from the wells of promise, well know His faithfulness and the grace
therein, you have come sick and weary oftentimes to this well, and your strength
has been renewed till you were like giants refreshed with new wine. Your spirits
have been depressed and your souls have been melancholy, but when you have
come here, you have tasted that wine which makes glad the heart of man. Oh, did
ever man speak like this man when He speaks as the faithful Promiser? Fifthly,
grace is poured into His lips as the Wooer and the Winner of His people’s hearts. O
beloved, Christ has hard work to win His people’s love! He prepares His feast, the
fatlings are killed, but those
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that are bidden will not come, so He says to His messengers, “Go out into the
highways and hedges, and compelthem to come in, that my house may be filled.”
Yet what a hard matter it is to bring poorsouls to be in love with Jesus! In vain
does the minister dilate upon His charms, in vain does he try to paint His features
as well as he can. We are poordaubers, and we mar the beauty which we attempt
to portray. Sinners say, “Is that Jesus? then there is no beauty in Him that we
should desire Him,” and they turn away and hide their faces from Him. With tears
streaming from our eyes, we seek “to find out acceptable words,”and we use the
best language our hearts can dictate, but we cannot win your souls. Sometimes we
address you in rough words that we have borrowed from some ancient Boanerges,
at other times, with smooth words such as a Chrysostommight approve, yet they
are alike in vain. But oh, when Jesus pleads His own cause, how sweetly does He
plead it! Have you never watched the heart when Jesus Christ begins to woo it,
when He opens the ear and says, “Poorsoul, I love thee, and because I love thee I
will tell thee what thou art. Thou art cast out into the open field, thou art lying in
thy blood, thou art dead in trespasses and sins, yet I love thee, will you not love
Me?” “Nay,” says the heart, “I will not.” “But,” says Jesus, “My love is deep as
hell, it is insatiable as the grave, I will be thine, and thou shalt be Mine.” And have
you noted how soonthe stubbornsoul begins to yield, and the hard rock begins to
flow like Niobe’s tears, till at last the heart says, “O Jesus! Love you? Yes I do,
because You did first love me.” Why is it that some here have not given their
hearts to Jesus? Perhaps it is because Jesus has not revealed Himself to them in
person, but when He does, they cannot deny Him. I challenge any man to hold his
heart back when Jesus comes for it. When He displays Himself, when He takes the
veil off our eyes and lets us look at His lovely face, shows us His wounded hands
and His bleeding side, I think there is no heart but must be drawn forth to Him.
Ah, Christian! do you not remember the hour when He pleaded with you? He
knocked at the doorand you would not let Him in, but how sweetly did He tell you
of your sinnership, and with the next word made known to you your redemption,
then He told you of your death, and with the next word made you alive, then He
told you that you were powerless, and with the next word made you strong, then
He told you of your unbelief and with the next sentence gave you faith. Oh! is He
not filled with grace as He wins the hearts and affections of His people? Sixthly,
Jesus Christ has His lips filled with grace as the great consolation of Israel, the
comfort of all His people. There is no comfort except that which comes from the

Lord Jesus. At no brook can you slake the thirst of the soul but at that stream of
grace which flows from Christ and can never run dry. Let us rehearse His mighty
acts, let us go back over our life, and see the various Ebenezers we have raised to
His sovereign grace and mercy. Do you not remember how He appeared to you in
the solitude of the wilderness and said to you, “Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love”? Do you not remember when, torn with the thorns and briars of
this world, you were despairing and ready to die, how He came and touched you
and said to you, “Live,” when He bade you turn your eye upwards to Him, and you
could then say, “Since Jesus is mine, I will fear nothing”? O you who have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, go you again to the banqueting house where the Savior
comforted you with flagons, and fed you with apples, where He gave you the sweet
fruits of the kingdom, and took of the clusters of Eshcoland squeezed them into
your mouth. Do you not remember when He gave you something better than
angels’ food at the Lord’s table, or how He manifested Himself to you in the use of
the means while you were waiting upon Him? And will you not say, “O Jesus,
verily grace was poured into thy lips”? Desponding soul, if Jesus speaks to you
today you will not be desponding any longer. There is such potency in the word
“Jesus” that I think it ought to be sung in all hospitals to charm away diseases, at
least, in every lazar-house for souls. Wherever there are diseased hearts and
troubled spirits, I would always go and sing, “Jesus!” When He draws near to
comfort His people, midnight becomes noon, and the thickest darkness becomes a
blaze of meridian splendor, for grace is poured into His lips.
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Seventhly, grace is poured into Christ’s lips as the great Intercessorfor His people
before the throne. Before Jesus ascended up on high and led captivity captive, as
Toplady says, “With cries and tears He offer’d up His humble suit below,” but now
that Jesus Christ has gone up on high “with authority” He pleads before His Father.
It must have been wonderful to hear the prayers of Jesus in the garden of
Gethsemane, but oh, if we might see our blessed Lord this morning pleading in
heaven! He stands before His Father’s throne, points to His pierced side, and
shows His wounded hands. When our prayers rise to heaven, they are broken
prayers, but Jesus knows how to mend them. There are things in them that should

not be there, so He corrects them, and then He takes the amended edition of our
prayers and says, “My Father, another petition I have come to lay before Thee.”
Says the Father, “From whom is it?” “Fromone of My people.” And then Jesus
Christ says, “Father, I will—it must be done. Look, here is the price!” And He
holds up His hands and shows His side, and then the Father says “My Son, it shall
be done. Whatsoever Thou askest in prayer, for Thy sake it shall be bestowed.”
Do you see yonder poorman? His name is Peter. At no great distance is Satan,
who wants to destroy his soul. He has a large sieve, in which he desires to sift
Peter. Can you imagine Satan presenting himself before the Lord, as in days of
yore? He says, “O Lord, let me have Peter in my sieve, that I may sift him as
wheat!” Down goes Jesus before the throne and says, “My Father, I beseech Thee
let not this grain of wheat fall to the ground.” Satan goes and catches Peter and
begins to sift him. The first time, he is a little frightened, the second time he says,
“Man, I know not what you say,” the third time he says, “I know not the Man,” and
he begins to curse and swear. How terrible is that sifting! But Christ looks at him
and out goes Peter, the prayer of Jesus availed for him, the look of Jesus prevailed
with him, “He went out and wept bitterly,” and his soul was saved. Oh, the mighty
power of intercession! I do not think our prayers would ever be heard in heaven if
it were not for Jesus Christ. He is the great Mediator by whom our prayers must be
presented. Eighthly, Jesus Christ has grace poured into His lips as the Counselor
for His people. You may have seen a special pleader rise with a brief in his hand,
he shows the case against the prisoner to be a very bad one. Then witnesses are
called. Afterwards another advocate gets up to plead the prisoner’s cause— to
rebut, if possible, the accusation, or to set forth extenuating circumstances in
mitigation of punishment. Now, when we stand before the judgment bar of God,
Satan will rise up—that old accuser of the brethren, and will gather together the
evidences of our guilt, and the reasons why we should be condemned. I think I hear
him say that we were born in sin, and shaped in iniquity, and therefore, we deserve
to be lost; that we have a corrupt nature, that we had the sin of Adam laid to us;
and then, with malicious spleen, he will allege that we transgressed at such and
such a time, when we were young; following up our career from youth to
manhood, and even down to hoar hairs; clenching all his arguments by an appeal to
our unbelief, declaring that though we have professed to believe, we have doubted
the promises, and could not, therefore, be children of God. Well might we, as
transgressors, tremble when, with a bad case, the grounds of judgment against us

are so maliciously stated. But there stands forth on our behalf The Wonderful, The
Counselor, and He takes His brief in His hand and begins to plead. Hark what He
says and see how all opinion is turned at once! “I confess,”says He, “that every
word is true that the accuser has uttered. My client pleads guilty to every charge,
but I have a full pardonsigned by God’s ownhand, purchased by My own blood,”
and stripping Himself, He shows His wounds and says “Thesepeople were given
to Me of My Father before the foundation of the world. I bore their sins in My own
bodyon the tree,” and then, mounting to the highest point, He reaches the climax
of grace as He exclaims, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?
Can You, O God? Have You not justified them? I cannot, for I died for them.”
Then He sits down in triumph, saying, “Whom he justified, them He also glorified.
Nothing shall be able to separate them from the love of God.”
8 Volume 54
And now, lastly, grace is poured into the lips of Jesus as the great Judge of all at
last. That will be a gracious judgment which Jesus Christ shall dispense, it will be
gracious, becauseit will be at once merciful and just. Sinners, ungodly men and
women, now in this house of Prayer, you have never heard the voice of Jesus, and
you have never known what it is to confess that grace was poured into His lips, but
let me tell you, the time will come when you will be made to confess that grace is
poured into His lips. You will stand there and hear Him say to His own people,
“Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world.” When you hear it, you will think within yourselves,
“Never did such music break on our ears before. Oh what precious words!” Ay,
but you will fall down and ask rocks to hide you, and mountains to cover you,
because the words were not spoken to you. You will tremble as, one by one, the
faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ come before Him. He will say to one, “Verily, you
have been faithful in a few things, I will make you ruler over many things.” To
another He will say, “You have fought a good fight, you have kept the faith,
receive the crown laid up for you from the foundation of the world.” You will then
say, “Oh, what grace was poured into His lips! How graciously He speaks!” And
you all the while will feel that He is not speaking to you, you will stand there and
know that your turn will never come when He shall speak gracious words to you.

You will stand fixed to the spotpetrified as you listen while you hear those
matchless syllables. You laugh at the saints now, you will envy them then. You
despise them now, but you will be ready to kiss the dust of their feet if you might
but get into heaven. You would not ask to sit on a throne with them, but to lie at
their feet would be enough for you if you might but hear Christ say to you, “Come,
ye blessed.” But in a moment, instead of gracious words, my hearers—I am not
telling you a dream, but a reality—in a moment—O believe me! for God speaks
it—instead of words of grace, there shall come words of terror, and there shall be
found no blessed place for you. These are the words, “Depart, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” You would not wish to hear
those gracious lips utter sucha sentence as that to you. I am sure you are none of
you anxious to make your bed in hell, and find your abodein damnation, but my
hearers, I must warn you faithfully. There are some of you who, if you die as you
are, will never go to heaven, there are many of you, my regular attendants, and
some of you who have just strayed in here this morning, who know, and your heart
confesses it, that you are “in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.”
Christians, weep for them. Let your tears flow in rivers. It were sad if they were
sick, but this is worse, for they are sick unto the second death, it were painful if
they were condemned to die by the law, but they are “condemned already.” My
beloved brethren and sisters, there are some of you now—start not—there are some
sitting side by side with you in the pews, who are condemned criminals. How
would you feel this morning if, as you sat in your pew, there was a man beside you
who was to be hanged tomorrow? You would say, “Oh, that God might bless the
Word to that poorcreature’s soul! Oh, that God might send it into his heart, for he
is a condemned man!” Do you not know that it is so? There is a saint of God, and
sitting by his side is a child of hell, here is an heir of glory and immortality, and the
neighbor who touches his arm this morning is dead in sins, and condemned to die!
What! will you not weep and feel for them? Will your hearts be like stone and
steel? Will you let them perish without a sigh, without a prayer, without a tear? No,
we will pray for them, that God in His mercy may yet give them grace to save
them from the wrath to come. Poorsinners, do not despise my blessed Master, I
beseech you. If you knew Him, you would love Him, I know. O poorwicked
sinner, you who feel self-condemned, conscience-stricken, have you no love to
Jesus? Ah! if you did but know how much Jesus Christ loves you, you would love

Him at once. I know a man who said he never was so struck by anything in all his
life as when he heard that line—
“Jesu, Lover of my soul!”
Volume 54 9
“Oh!” he said, “I did not recollect anything of the sermon, but only those words at
the beginning of a hymn— “Jesu, Lover of my soul!”
He went to a friend of mine and he said, “Do you think Jesus Christ is the ‘Lover
of my soul?’ If I thought He was, I think I could love Him at once.” The friend
said, “Ah, well! if you feel like that, Jesus is the Lover of your soul.” O beloved,
what would you give if you might but call Jesus Christ your Lover and your
Friend, if you could but know that He loved you? Do you sigh for an interest in His
love? Ah! then He does love you, for you would not have wanted Him to love you
if He had not set His heart upon you. Have you a desire for Jesus? Then Jesus has a
thousand times as much desire for you. I tell you Christ is more pleased to save
poorsinners than poorsinners are to be saved. The Shepherd is more ready to
reclaim the lost sheep than the sheep is to be reclaimed. So let me tell you, poor
soul, that Jesus has no pleasure in the death of him that dies, but He has a pleasure
deep as the sea, high as heaven, wide as the East is from the West, and as
unsearchable as His own divinity, in saving souls. Only believe in His name,
sinner, to you I preach, you actual, bona fide sinner, you real sinner, to you I
preach. Jesus Christ says, “Whosoeverliveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
Believe you this? Will you put your trust in Him? Will you drop into His arms, and
let Him carry you? Will you fall flat upon the Rockof Ages and let that sustain
you? If you do it now, this moment, you shall become in this happy moment a
changed man. You shall be no longer an heir of wrath, but a child of grace, and

your salvation shall become as inevitably secure as if you were even now amongst
the glorified.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Psalm45:1-17
The Glories of the Eternal King
C. Clemance
Psalm45:1-17
The Glory of Christ Partially Described
Psalm45:1-17
The Song of the Heavenly Nuptials
D. McLean.
Psalm45:1-17
The Things Concerning Zion's King, GoodMatters to All Hi
Psalm45:1-17

Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Glories Of The Eternal King
Psalm45:1-17
C. Clemance
This psalm is one of those which setforth in glowing terms the glory and
majesty of the King of kings, the Anointed One, who should come into the
world. "It is a psalm of the theocratic kingdom, the marriage song of the
King." It is a song of the highest order, which, according to its title, was for
the chief musician; set to "Shoshannim," a word which, we are told in the
margin (RevisedVersion), means "lilies." This, however, does not throw
much light on the matter. Furst is more helpful when he tells us that
Shoshannim is a proper name, and denotes one of the twenty-four music-
choirs left by David, so calledfrom a master named Shushan. The
introduction to the psalm, which is found in its first verse, is much more
striking than would appear from the translation in either the Authorized
Version or the RevisedVersion. It may be rendered," My heart is boiling over
with a goodly theme: I speak:my work is for a King: may my tongue be as the
pen of a ready writer!" Here we have a striking illustration of the words of the
Apostle Peter, "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost;" this fervour of spirit, urging on the workeras by a powerbeyond
himself to write of "the King," is one of the ways in which the sacredwriters
were "moved." And there is no reasonfor refusing to acknowledge the far-
reachingness ofthis psalm, as setting forth beforehand, under the guidance of
the Holy Spirit, the grandeur of our victorious Lord To no one, indeed, but
Jesus, canwe apply the epithets which are herein used. That a King "higher
than the kings of the earth" is foretold in Scripture is certain (see 2 Samuel
7:12-16;2 Samuel 23:2-5; Psalm2., 72., 79., 110.). So that it is no wonder to
find that such is the case in this psalm, The main difficulty in the psalm - in

fact, the only serious one to believing critics - is the factthat the entire passage
vers. 10-15 is basedon a customwhich in the psalmist's time was not only
familiar to Orientals, but was even honourable in their eyes, though it would
not be deemed so in ours. It would be a covetedhonour among maidens to be
among the well-belovedones of an honourable king; for though the queen-
consortwas the principal wife, yet she was by no means the only one on whom
the king bestowedhis affection. Even David had six wives. He was not thought
the worse offor this. The Law of God did not sanctionit, but societydid.
Hence, though this psalm shoots far aheadto a beauty, a glory, and a majesty
beyond the sons of men, yet the ground-plan of its symbolism is found in the
usages ofOriental courts at their best. If it was then deemed a high honour for
maidens to be among the beloved of a king, how much greaterwould be the
honour of those who should be brought in the far-off times to place their
whole selves, body, soul, and spirit, at the absolute disposalof him who would
be "King of kings, and Lord of lords"! We may gather up under four heads
the main features of this sublime prophetic forecast. In doing so, however, it
behoves us to take the Christian expositor's standpoint, and to carry forward
the dim and suggestive words here given us, to the fuller and clearersetting of
New Testamentunfoldings.
I. HERE IS A KING FORESEEN,UNIQUE IN HONOUR AND RENOWN.
That the sacredwriters were familiar with the thought of a King who should
come into the world, surpassing all others, we have seenabove; this is shown
in the passagesto which reference has alreadybeen made. But even if such
passageswere fewerand less clearthan they are, the amazing combination of
expressions in the psalm before us is such, that to none other than the Sonof
God can they possibly be applied with any semblance of reason. But as we
think of him, every term fails in place. Let us take eachexpressionin order.
There are no fewer than twelve of them.
1. There is beauty. (Ver. 2.) A beauty beyond that of the sons of men. This
points to one who is above the race. And verily the beauty of the Lord Jesus is
one of his unnumbered charms. He is the "chief among ten thousand, the
altogetherlovely."

2. Grace is poured into his lips (ver. 2). How true was this of Jesus (Luke 4:22;
John 1:14)! Grace was also everpouring out from his lips.
3. The fullest blessings descendcontinually upon him (ver. 2; cf. John 3:34).
4. There are the glory and majesty of royal state (ver. 3). For "with" read
"even" ('Variorum Bible'). The swordto be girded on his thigh as for war (see
Delitzsch)is his glory and his majestic state. With these he will go forth,
conquering and to conquer.
5. His cause is that of truth, meekness, andrighteousness. (Ver. 4.) No other
king ever combined these in perfection, nor even at all. "Meeknessis about
the very last thought associatedwith earthly kings (but see Matthew 11:29).
6. His progress would be marked by terror as well as by meekness(ver. 4;
Psalm65:5; Romans 11:22;2 Corinthians 5:11; Revelation1:7).
7. His arrows would be sharp in the hearts of his enemies (ver. 5), and the
peoples (plural, RevisedVersion)would fall beneath him. He should have
universal sway, and not overIsrael only.
8. He should be God, and yet be anointed by God. (Vers. 6, 7.) How
enigmaticalbefore fulfilment! How fully realized in our Immanuel, in him
who is at once God and man, David's Son, yet David's Lord!
9. His throne should be eternal. (Ver. 6.) Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever" (cf. Hebrews 1:8, 9).
10. His sceptre should be a sceptre of righteousness. (Vers. 6, 7.) This is
preeminently true; so much so that even those who acknowledgehim as Lord,
and who have yet been destitute of righteousness, will be rejected(Matthew
7:22, 23).
11. He would receive a higher anointing than that of others (ver. 7; Acts 4:27;
Acts 10:38;Luke 4:18). 12. Associatedwith his coming would be fragrance,
music, and joy (ver. 8, RevisedVersion). Surely the gladness and song that
gather round this King surpass all other gladness and all other songs that
earth has ever known. No widow's wail, no orphan's sigh, attend on the
conquests of this King. He conquers but to save. And the joy! oh, how great!

Joy among the saved(1 Peter 1:8). Joy among the saints (1 John 1:4). Joy
among the angels (Luke 20:10). Joy in the heart of the Fatherand the Son
(Luke 15:32). Joyfor ever and ever (Isaiah 35:10). What a magnificent
forecast, hundreds of years beforehand! Who dares to deny the supernatural
with such a fact before him?
II. HERE IS THE KING'S BRIDE. (Ver. 9.) What can the psalmist mean by
the bride of such a King, but the Church of his love (see Ephesians 5:23-32)?
The following features, if workedout, would greatly exceedthe space at our
command.
1. She forsakes herFather's house, to be joined to this King, and leaves allher
old associates behind her (ver. 10).
2. She is weddedto him (ver. 11, "He is thy Lord").
3. She is devotedto him (ver. 11).
4. She is decoratedwith finest gold (ver. 9), and is at the place of honour by
his side.
5. Her attendants should come from the nations, with their offerings of
devotion (ver. 12).
III. HERE IS THE KING'S OFFSPRING. (Ver. 16.)The sacrifice which the
bride had made for the sake ofthe King shall be more than recompensedby
her having children, who should gatherround her, and who should become
"princes in the earth" (1 Peter2:9; Revelation1:6; Revelation5:10;
Revelation20:6).
IV. HERE IS FORETOLD THE KING'S UNIVERSAL AND ENDLESS
PRAISE. (Ver. 17.) Though the verse seems to be addressedimmediately to
the bride, evidently the carrying forward of the name to generationafter
generationis an honour chiefly of the King, and results from the bridal union.
And the praise which shall accrue will be from the peoples (RevisedVersion),
from all the nations; and this praise will be for everand ever (Psalm 72:17).
"Christ's espousing unto himself a Church, and gathering more and more
from age to age by his Word and Spirit unto it, his converting of souls, and

bringing them into the fellowshipof his family, and giving unto them princely
minds and affections whereverthey live, are large matters of growing and
everlasting glory" (Dickson). Blessing, andhonour, and glory, and power, be
unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for everand ever." -
C.
Biblical Illustrator
Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips;
therefore God hath blessedThee for ever.
Psalm45:2
The King in His beauty
A. Maclaren, D. D.
I. THE PERSONOF THE KING. The old world valued in a king, personal
beauty, and graciousness ofspeech. Bothare ascribedhere to the King spoken
of. We have to think, not of the outward form, howsoeverlovelywith the

loveliness of meeknessand 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
weaponby His side and the glittering armour on His limbs, He is calledupon
to mount His chariot or His warhorse and ride forth. But for what? "On
behalf of truth, meekness, righteousness." IfHe 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 spreadthrough the world of the gracious
beauties which are His own canbe 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 teachThee 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, erectand 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 processionof 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 greatmosque of Damascus, whichwas 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 knownthat He is for ever
and ever the Monarch of the world.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The King of kings

D. Katterns.
We canbe at no loss to understand what King is here meant (Hebrews 1:8, 9).
I. His PERSONALEXCELLENCES.
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 representChrist 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 ofwhich 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 passedHis 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 weakenedand destroyedif
they had ever detectedHim in a sin. Nor let it be imagined that all these things
are saidfor the purpose of exhibiting our blessedLord as a perfect model for
admiration merely. The application of the doctrine lies here; that, if He had
not been absolutelysinless, 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 greatTeacher-King communicated the
knowledge ofHimself, and His Father's will. It is not possible for human
language to express the kindness, the clearness, the tenderness that
accompaniedevery word which proceededfrom His lips.
2. Note the plenitude told of — grace is poured, not sparingly but abundantly.
Now, is Christ to us altogetherlovely? Did you never feelthat 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 ofits 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 PRONOUNCEDUPON HIM. "Godhath blessedThee
for ever." This could not be saidof Solomonbut 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 seenin the latter-day glory. Christ is King;
submit to Him, so gracious and gentle in His rule.
(D. Katterns.)
Jesus Christ comparedwith men
Samuel Martin.
"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 conceivedby the powerof the Holy Ghost." They are born with a
sinful taint, but He was born without sin.
III. IN WORK, SUFFERING AND TEMPTATION, whichHe sharedwith
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 consequentlynever do any
work worth doing. But Christ knew His work. He made it His meat and His
drink.
2. In suffering, too, Christ endured completelyall 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 Fatherhath 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 proceededtowards 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 consistencyofHis actions.
3. In the perfectionof 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. seemto give
you more pleasure. You perhaps also trust "the children of men" more than
you trust Him who is "fairerthan the children of men." They have often
deceivedyou. Therefore we remind you of the truth of the text, that we may
get more thought, more love, more confidence, more service, more honest
speechfor Him, mark, who is "fairerthan the children of men." Let us take
care lest any of us, after having professedto accountthe 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
J. Jowett, M. A.
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. "Thouart fairer
than," etc.
1. It is not the beauty of His personin 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 characterthat 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 gracefulnessofHis address.
2. To the graciousnessofHis words.
III. THE GLORY OF HIS REWARD. "ThereforeGodhath blessedThee for
ever" (Philippians 2:9-11). In conclusion, What think ye of Him? What will
you ask of Him?
(J. Jowett, M. A.)
Fairerthan the children of men

Thomas Pitt.
The writer of this psalm sees his King in the light of his ownadoration, and as
he gazes, his subjectis 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, wisdomand benign position. It presents to us —
I. His APPEARANCE. "Thouart fairer," etc. There He stands, in disposition
upright, pure, magnanimous, and the very embodiment of love. The clearlight
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. Everyshade of worth and virtue which appears brokenup 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. "Graceis poured," etc.
1. His voice must have been wondrously sweet, richand 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 stocksand
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 arrangementof words and sentencesseems so exquisitelya
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 andprophecy of grace. He
brings Godhome to men's hearts.
II. His BEATIFIC STATE. "ThereforeGodhath blessedThee for ever." We
cannot judge of Divine blessing and curse from a superficialsurvey of present
appearances.The thorny path which the Redeemertrod was His only way to
the honour He sought. God has now placedHim 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 ofbeauty of form, comprehensivenessofmind,
depth and purity of soul; imagine a perfect state where the King reigns in
righteousness, midst abounding peace and plenty, and all the goodthat God
has destined human souls to realize in Christ; and you catcha glimpse of the
ideal of the text.
(Thomas Pitt.)
Christ Jesus, the Bridegroomof the Church
T. Bennet.
I. SOME GENERALOBSERVATIONS.
1. In all our inquiries after the knowledge ofChrist, the first thing we ought to
know and consideris His person.
2. There is an ineffable glory and beauty in the person of Jesus Christ
(Zechariah 9:17).
3. There are some seasons whereinour Lord Jesus is pleasedto favour
believers with more than ordinary clearand distinct views of His glory and
beauty (John 2:11). He ordinarily does so in the day of conversion;the
pleasantmonth of renewedmanifestations, after a long and dark night of
desertions;when they are calledto suffer for His sake;when deeply engaged
in secretprayer, meditation, self-examination, etc. And sometimes He gives
believers very clearviews of His glory about the time of their departure from
the presentworld (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 createdexcellency.
5. Those to whom the Lord Jesus has been pleasedto manifest His beauty in a
saving manner, may go and tell Him, as the psalmist does, "Thouart 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 condescensionin
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 respectof that fulness of grace that is poured into His lips.
3. In respectof 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 respectof the revelation of God's mind and will which He has made to
men (John 1:18; Psalm 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 (Isaiah9:6).
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 closerthan 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 Priestof 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 diseasesamong the people (Psalm
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 excellencyin His Name. Hence says
the spouse (Song of Solomon1:8). There is safetyand protection in His Name;
it is a strong towerunto which the righteous run and are safe.
III. Use.
1. Forinformation.(1) We may see and be informed why believers are so much
in love with Him. They have seenthe King in His beauty (Isaiah 33:17);and
when He is seenby the eye of faith, it is impossible not to love Him (1 Peter
2:7).(2) We may see they have greatcause and reasonto rejoice unto whom
God hath revealedChrist (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 excellencyof the person of Christ; the fulness of grace that is
in Him, the suitableness of His saving offices to the case ofour souls, with the
powerand authority He has to put them in executionfor 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 setbefore men in the dispensation of the
Gospel, in the glory of His person and riches of His grace, there are but few
disposedto put honour upon Him by believing.(5) We may see that we should
not contentourselves with a generalconsiderationofthe beauty and
excellencyof Christ; but should enter particularly into the considerationof
these things in Him wherein He is fairer than the children of men.
2. Fortrial. 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 solelyrely
upon His most perfect righteousnessas the ground of your access to and
acceptancewith God?
3. Forexhortation.(1) We exhort you who have been admitted to behold the
matchless beauty and excellencyof 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 ofChrist.(2) As for you who never saw any beauty
nor comeliness in Christ, why you should desire Him. Satan, the godof this

world, has blinded your eyes that the light of the glorious Gospelof Christ
hath not yet shined unto you.
(T. Bennet.)
Grace is poured into Thy lips.
Grace poured into Christ's lips
T. Bonnet.
I. THE GRACE WHICH IS POURED INTO CHRIST'S LIPS.
1. The Spirit of the Lord restedupon Him as a spirit of wisdom, counseland
understanding (Isaiah 11:2, 3). Wisdom and knowledge discoveredthemselves
in Him, to the astonishmentof His greatestenemies (Mark 6:2).
2. The Spirit of the Lord restedupon 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 highestdegree of perfection (Psalm22:9, 10;
John 11:41).
4. Our Lord Jesus evidencedthe most cheerful and ready com. pliance with
the will of Godin every part of His work (John 4:34; Matthew 26:39).
5. The graces ofhumility and self-denial appearconspicuouslyin all the
sayings and actings ofChrist (Philippians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 7:9; Matthew
11:29;Romans 12:2, 3).
6. The graces ofmeekness andpatience were most perfectly exercisedby Him
(Hebrews 12:3; 1 Peter2:24).
7. Our Lord Jesus is full of love; love to God, and love to the souls of men was
the goldenweight which engagedand carried Him forward in every part of
the work Jehovahgave 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 2:13-18).
II. IN WHAT CAPACITY OUR LORD JESUS HAS THIS GRACE
POURED INTO HIS LIPS.
1. As the secondAdam, the Surety of the New Covenant, the Head and
Representative ofHis 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, 14).
4. As sustaining the characterof our Head and Husband, our Father, our
elder Brother, our best Friend, and the Stewardsetover 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 REDEEMERIS CONDESCENDED ON AS
SUCH A LEADING PART OF HIS GLORY AND BEAUTY.
1. Grace is here consideredas 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 itis that which inclines the heart
of Jesus Christ unto all that goodness andkindness that He hath showedunto
us."
3. Grace is the glory of Christ, "as He is, in respectof it, the greatexample
and pattern whereunto we ought to labour after conformity."
4. Becausegracebeing poured into His lips, and poured into His lips for our
specialbenefit, it renders Him in every respecta fit match for us.
5. BecauseJesusChristis 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 setHim to be blessings for ever (Psalm21:6). Men shall be
blessedin 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 whatreasonwe 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 encouragementto 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 regardto 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 personand glory of Christ.(b) We exhort you to use and improve the
grace that is in Christ. Rememberthat it is poured into His lips for your
behoof; that you may daily come to His fulness in the exercise offaith, and
receive out of it grace forgrace.(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 considerthat the day of grace will not always lastwith you. It is a
limited day, and may be shorter than you are aware of.
(T. Bonnet.)
The worth of Jesus seen

M. G. Pearse.
Some Cornish fishermen found a belt containing diamonds. They considered
it worth £20, and soldit 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. Ibelieve eventually it passedinto the hands
of those who gave £10,000forit. If you could only have put something at the
back of the eyes of those fishermen which would have shownthem 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.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(2) Thou art fairer.—Better, Fairart thou; aye, fairer than, &c. We may thus
reproduce the Hebrew expression, which, however, grammaticallyexplained,
must convey this emphasis. The old versions render: “Thouart fair with
beauty;” or, “Thou hast been made beautiful with beauty.”
Grace is poured into thy lips.—Better, A flowing grace is on thy lips, which
may refer either to the beauty of the mouth, or to the charm of its speech.
Cicero, himself the grandestexample of his ownexpression, says of another
that “Persuasionhad her seatupon his lips;” while Christian commentators
have all naturally thought of Him at whose “words of grace”allmen
wondered.

Therefore.—Thiswordis apparently out of place. But there is nothing harsh
in rendering: Therefore, we say, God hath blessed thee for ever. And we are
struck by the emphasis of its occurrence in Psalm 45:7; Psalm45:17, as wellas
here. Ewaldseems to be right in printing the clause so begun as a kind of
refrain. The poet enumerates in detail the beauties of the monarch and his
bride, and is interrupted by the acclaimof his hearers, who cannotwithhold
their approving voices.
MacLaren's Expositions
Psalms
THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY
Psalm45:2 - Psalm 45:7.
There is no doubt that this psalm was originally the marriage hymn of some
Jewishking. All attempts to settle who that was have failed, for the very
obvious reasonthat neither the history nor the characterofany of them
correspondto the psalm. Its language is a world too wide for the diminutive
stature and stained virtues of the greatestandbest of them, and it is almost
ludicrous to attempt to fit its glowing sentences evento a Solomon. They all
look like little David in Saul’s armour. So, then, we must admit one of two
things. Either we have here a piece of poeticalexaggerationfarbeyond the
limits of poetic license, or‘a greaterthan Solomon is here.’ Every Jewishking,
by virtue of his descentand of his office, was a living prophecy of the greatest
of the sons of David, the future King of Israel. And the Psalmistsees the ideal
Personwho, as he knew, was one day to be real, shining through the shadowy
form of the earthly king, whose very limitations and defects, no less than his
excellencesand his glories, forcedthe devout Israelite to think of the coming
King in whom ‘the sure mercies’ promised to David should be facts at last. In

plainer words, the psalm celebrates Christ, not only although, but because, it
had its origin and partial application in a forgottenfestival at the marriage of
some unknown king. It sees Him in the light of the Messianichope, and so it
prophesies of Christ. My objectis to study the features of this portrait of the
King, partly in order that we may better understand the psalm, and partly in
order that we may with the more reverence crownHim as Lord of all.
I. The Personof the King.
The old-world ideal of a monarch put specialemphasis upon two things-
personalbeauty and courtesyof address and speech. The psalm ascribes both
of these to the King of Israel, and from both of them draws the conclusionthat
one so richly endowed with the most eminent of royal graces is the objectof
the specialfavour of God. ‘Thou art fairer than the children of men, grace is
poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessedThee for ever.’
Here, at the very outset, we have the keynote struck of superhuman
excellence;and though the reference is, on the surface, only to physical
perfection, yet beneath that there lies the deeperreference to a character
which spoke through the eloquent frame, and in which all possible beauties
and sovereigngraceswere united in fullest development, in most harmonious
co-operationand unstained purity.
‘Thou art fairer than the children of men.’ Put side by side with that, words
which possibly refer to, and seemto contradict it. A later prophet, speaking of
the same Person, said:‘His visage was so marred, more than any man, and
His form than the sons of men. . . . There is no form nor comeliness,and when
we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.’ We have to
think, not of the outward form, howsoeverlovelywith the loveliness of
meekness andtransfigured 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 best of us, and stands
before the world for ever as the supreme type and high-water mark of the
grace that is possible to a human spirit. God has lodgedin men’s nature the
apprehension of Himself, and of all that flows from Him, as true, as good, as
beautiful; and to these three there correspondwisdom, morality, and art. The
latter, divorced from the other two, becomes earthly and devilish. This
generationneeds the lessonthat beauty wrenched from truth and goodness,
and pursued for its own sake, by artist or by poet or by dilettante, leads by a
straight descentto ugliness and to evil, and that the only true satisfying of the
deep longing for ‘whatsoeverthings are lovely’ is to be found when we turn to
Christ and find in Him, not only wisdomthat enlightens the understanding,
and righteousness thatfills the conscience, but beauty that satisfies the heart.
He is ‘altogetherlovely.’ Norlet us forgetthat once on earth ‘the fashionof
His countenance was altered, and His raiment did shine as the light,’ as
indicative of the possibilities that lay slumbering in His lowly Manhood, and
as prophetic of that to which we believe that the ascendedChrist hath now
attained-viz. the body of His glory, wherein He reigns, filled with light and
undecaying loveliness on the Throne of the Heaven. Thus He is fairer in
external reality now, as He is, by the confessionofan admiring, though not
always believing, world, fairer in inward characterthan the children of men.
Another personalcharacteristic is ‘Grace is poured into Thy lips.’ Kingly
courtesy, and kingly graciousness ofword, must be the characteristic ofthe
Sovereignof men. The abundance of that bestowmentis expressedby that
word, ‘poured.’ We need only remember, ‘All wondered at the gracious words
which proceededout of His mouth,’ or how even the rough instruments of
authority were touched and diverted from their appointed purpose, and came
back and said, ‘Never man spake like this Man.’ To the music of Christ’s
words all other eloquence is harsh, poor, shallow-like the piping of a shepherd
boy upon some wretchedoaten straw as compared with the full thunder of the
organ. Words of unmingled graciousnesscame from His lips. That fountain
never sent forth ‘sweetwaters and bitter.’ He satisfies the canon of St. James:
‘If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.’ Words of wisdom,

of love, of pity, of gentleness,ofpardon, of bestowment, and only such, came
from Him. ‘Daughter! be of goodcheer.’‘Son! thy sins be forgiven thee.’
‘Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy-laden.’
‘Grace is poured into Thy lips’; and, withal, it is the grace ofa King. For His
language is authoritative even when it is most tender, and regalwhen it is
most gentle. His lips, sweetas honey and the honeycomb, are the lips of an
Autocrat. ‘He speaks,and it is done: He commands, and it stands fast.’ He
says to the tempest, ‘Be still!’ and it is quiet; and to the demons, ‘Come out of
him!’ and they disappear; and to the dead, ‘Come forth!’ and he stumbles
from the tomb.
Another personalcharacteristic is-’Godhath blessedThee for ever.’ By which
we are to understand, not that the two preceding graces are the reasons for
the divine benediction, but that the divine benediction is the cause ofthem;
and therefore they are the signs of it. It is not that because He is lovely and
gracious therefore Godhath blessedHim; but it is that we may know that
God has blessedHim, since He is lovely and gracious. Theseendowments are
the results, not the causes;the signs or the proofs, not the reasons ofthe divine
benediction. That is to say, the humanity so fair and unique shows by its
beauty that it is the result of the continual and unique operation and
benediction of a present God. We understand Him when we say, ‘On Him
rests the Spirit of God without measure or interruption.’ The explanation of
the perfecthumanity is the abiding Divinity.
II. We pass from the person of the King, in the next place, to His warfare.
The Psalmistbreaks out in a burst of invocation, calling upon the King to
array Himself in His weapons ofwarfare, and then in broken clauses vividly
pictures the conflict. The Invocation runs thus: ‘Gird on thy swordupon thy

thigh, O mighty hero! gird on thy glory and thy majesty, and ride on
prosperouslyon behalf {or, in the cause}of truth and meekness and
righteousness.’The King, then, is the perfection of warrior strength as well as
of beauty and gentleness-acombinationof qualities that speaks ofold days
when kings were kings, and reminds us of many a figure in ancientsong, as
well as of a Saul and a David in Jewishhistory.
The singercalls upon Him to bind on His side His glittering sword, and to put
on, as His armour, ‘glory and majesty.’These two words, in the usage of the
psalms, belong to Divinity, and they are applied to the monarch here as being
the earthly representative of the divine supremacy, on whom there falls some
reflectionof the glory and the majesty of which He is the vice-regentand
representative. Thus arrayed, with His weaponby His side and 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 or cruel lust of conquest, earth-
hunger, or ‘glory’ actuates Him. Nothing but the spread through the world of
the gracious beauties whichare His own can be the end of the King’s warfare.
He fights for truth; He fights-strange paradox-for meekness;He fights for
righteousness. And He not only fights for them, but with them, for they are
His own, and by reasonof them He ‘rides prosperously,’as well as ‘rides
prosperously’ in order to establish them.
In two or three swift touches the Psalmistnext paints the tumult and hurry of
the fight. ‘Thy right hand shall teachThee 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,

erectand solitary in His chariot, crashing through the ranks of the enemy,
and owing victory to His own strong arm alone.
Then follow three short, abrupt clauses, which, in their hurry and
fragmentary character, reflectthe confusion and swiftness ofbattle. ‘Thine
arrows are sharp. . . . The people fall under Thee.’. . . ‘In the heart of the
King’s enemies.’The Psalmistsees the bright arrow on the string; it flies; he
looks-the plain is strewedwith prostrate forms, the King’s arrow in the heart
of each.
Put side by side with that this picture:-A rockyroad; a great city shining in
the morning sunlight across a narrow valley; a crowdof shouting peasants
waving palm branches in their rustic hands; in the centre the meek
carpenter’s Son, sitting upon the poor robes which alone draped the ass’s colt,
the tears upon His cheeks, andHis lamenting heard above the Hosannahs, as
He lookedacross the glen and said, ‘If thou hadst known the things that
belong to thy peace!’ That is the fulfilment, or part of the fulfilment, of this
prophecy. The slow-pacing, peacefulbeastand the meek, weeping Christ are
the reality of the vision which, in such strangelycontrastedand yet true form,
floated before the prophetic eye of this ancientsinger, for Christ’s humiliation
is His majesty, and His sharpestweaponis His all-penetrating love, and His
cross is His chariot of victory and throne of dominion.
But not only in His earthly life of meek suffering does Christ fight as a King,
but all through the ages the world-wide conflict for truth and meekness and
righteousness is His conflict; and whereverthat is being waged, the power
which wages it is His, and the help which is done upon earth He doeth it all
Himself. True, He has His army, willing in the day of His power, and clad in
priestly purity and armour of light, but all their strength, courage, andvictory
are from Him; and when they fight and conquer, it is not they, but He in them
who struggles and overcomes. We have a better hope than that built on ‘a

stream of tendency that makes for righteousness.’We know a Christ crucified
and crowned, who fights for it, and what He fights for will hold the field.
This prophecy of our psalm is not exhausted yet. I have set side by side with it
one picture-the Christ on the ass’s colt. Put side by side with it this other. ‘I
beheld the heaven opened; and lo! a white horse. And He that sat upon him
was calledFaithful and True; and in righteousness He doth judge and make
war.’ The psalm waits for its completion still, and shall be fulfilled on that day
of the true marriage supper of the Lamb, when the festivities of the marriage
chamber shall be precededby the last battle and crowning victory of the King
of kings, the Conqueror of the world.
III. Lastly, we have the royalty of the King.
‘Thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever.’ This is not the place nor time to
enter on the discussionof the difficulties of these words. I must run the risk of
appearing to state confident opinions without assigning reasons,whenI
venture to say that the translation in the Authorised Version is the natural
one. I do not say that others have been adopted by reasonofdoctrinal
prepossessions;I know nothing about that; but I do saythat they are not by
any means so natural a translation as that which stands before us. What it
may mean is another matter; but the plain rendering of the words, I venture
to assert, is what our English Bible makes it-’Thy throne, O God! is for ever
and ever.’
Then it is to be remembered that, throughout the Old Testament, we have
occasionalinstancesofthe use of that great and solemn designationin
reference to persons in such place and authority as that they are
representatives ofGod. So kings and judges and lawyers and the like are
spokenof more than once. Therefore there is not, in the language, translated

as in our English Bible, necessarilythe implication of the unique divinity of
the persons so addressed. But I take it that this is an instance in which the
prophet was ‘wiserthan he knew,’ and in which you and I understand him
better than he understood himself, and know what God, who spoke through
him, meant, whatsoeverthe prophet, through whom He spoke, did mean. That
is to say, I take the words before us as directly referring to Jesus Christ, and
as directly declaring the divinity of His person, and therefore the eternity of
His kingdom.
We live in days when that perpetual sovereigntyis being questioned. In a
revolutionary time like this it is well for Christian people, seeing so many
venerable things going, to tighten their graspupon the convictionthat,
whatevergoes, Christ’s kingdom will not go; and that, whatever may be
shakenby any storms, the foundation of His Throne stands fast. For our
personallives, and for the greathopes of the future beyond the grave, it is all-
important that we should grasp, as an elementary conviction of our faith, the
belief in the perpetual rule of that Saviour whose rule is life and peace. In the
greatmosque of Damascus, whichwas a Christian church once, there may
still be read, deeply cut in the stone, high above the pavement where now
Mohammedans bow, these words, ‘Thy kingdom, O Christ! is an everlasting
kingdom.’ It is true, and it shall yet be knownthat He is for ever and ever the
Monarchof the world.
Then, again, this royalty is a royalty of righteousness. ‘The sceptre of Thy
kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovestrighteousness and hatestwickedness.’
His rule is no arbitrary sway, His rod is no rod of iron and tyrannical
oppression, His own personalcharacteris righteousness.Righteousnessis the
very life-blood and animating principle of His rule. He loves righteousness,
and, therefore, puts His broad shield of protection over all who love it and
seek afterit. He hates wickedness,and therefore He wars againstit wherever
it is, and seeksto draw men out of it. And thus His kingdom is the hope of the
world.

And, lastly, this dominion of perennial righteousness is the dominion of
unparalleled gladness. ‘Therefore God, evenThy God, hath anointed Thee
with the oil of joy above Thy fellows.’Setside by side with that the other
words, ‘A Man of sorrows andacquainted with grief.’ And remember how,
near the very darkesthour of the Lord’s earthly experiences,He said:-’These
things have I spokenunto you that My joy may remain in you, and that your
joy may be full.’ Christ’s gladness flowedfrom Christ’s righteousness.
BecauseHis pure humanity was ever in touch with God, and in conscious
obedience to Him, therefore, though darkness was around, there was light
within. He was ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,’and the saddestof men was
likewise the gladdest, and possessed‘the oil of joy above His fellows.’
Brother! that kingdom is offered to us; participation in that joy of our Lord
may belong to eachof us. He rules that He may make us like Himself, lovers of
righteousness, andso, like Himself, possessorsofunfading joy. Make Him
your King, let His arrow reachyour heart, bow in submission to His power,
take for your very life His words of graciousness, lovinglygaze upon His
beauty till some reflection of it shall shine from you, fight by His side with
strength drawn from Him alone, ownand adore Him as the enthroned God-
man, Jesus Christ, the Sonof God. Crown Him with the many crowns of
supreme trust, heart-whole love, and glad obedience. So shall you be
honoured to share in His warfare and triumph. So shall you have a throne
close to His and eternalas it. So shall His sceptre be graciouslystretchedout
to you to give you accesswith boldness to the presence-chamberofthe King.
So shall He give you too, ‘the oil of joy for mourning,’ even in the ‘valley of
weeping,’and the fulness of His gladness for evermore, when He sets you at
His right hand.
BensonCommentary
Psalm45:2. Thou art fairer — More beautiful and amiable; than the children
of men — Than all other men. Which is most true of Christ, but not of
Solomon;whom many have excelled, if not in wisdom, yet in holiness and

righteousness, whichis the chief part of the beauty celebratedin this Psalm.
Grace is poured into thy lips — God hath plentifully poured into thy mind
and tongue the gift of speaking wisely, eloquently, and acceptably, so as to
find grace with, and communicate grace to, the hearers. This was in some sort
true of Solomon, but far more eminently of Christ, Isaiah 50:4; Luke 4:22;
John 7:46. The former clause refers to his inward perfections, and this to his
ability and readiness to communicate them to others. Therefore Godhath
blessedthee, &c. — The psalmist does not mean that the beauty and grace,
now mentioned, were the meritorious cause ofthe blessings which he speaks
of, for they were the free gifts of God, and therefore, properly speaking, the
effects and not the cause of God’s blessing. But the sense of the clause is,
BecauseGodhath so eminently adorned and qualified thee for rule, therefore
he hath intrusted and blessedthee with an everlasting kingdom.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
45:1-5 The psalmist's tongue was guided by the Spirit of God, as the pen is by
the hand of a ready writer. This psalm is touching the King Jesus, his
kingdom and government. It is a shame that this goodmatter is not more the
subject of our discourse. There is more in Christ to engage our love, than
there is or canbe in any creature. This world and its charms are ready to
draw awayour hearts from Christ; therefore we are concernedto understand
how much more worthy he is of our love. By his word, his promise, his gospel,
the goodwill of God is made known to us, and the goodwork of Godis begun
and carried on in us. The psalmist, ver. 3-5, joyfully foretells the progress and
successofthe Messiah. The arrows of conviction are very terrible in the
hearts of sinners, till they are humbled and reconciled;but the arrows of
vengeance willbe more so to his enemies who refuse to submit. All who have
seenhis glory and tasted his grace, rejoice to see him, by his word and Spirit,
bring enemies and strangers under his dominion.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Thou art fairer than the children of men - That is, Thou art more fair and
comely than men; thy comeliness is greaterthan that which is found among
men. In other words, Thou art beautiful beyond any human standard or

comparison. The language, indeed, would not necessarilyimply that he was
not a man, but it means that among all who dwell upon the earth there was
none to be found that could be compared with him. The Hebrew word
rendered "thou art fairer" - ‫פיפיפי‬ yāpeyāpiytha - is a very unusual term. It is
properly a reduplication of the word meaning "beautiful," and thus means to
be very beautiful. It would be well expressedby the phrase "Beautiful -
beautiful - art thou above the children of men." It is the language ofsurprise -
of a sudden impression of beauty - beauty as it strikes atthe first glance - such
as the eye had never seenbefore. The impression here is that produced by the
generalappearance oraspectof him who is seenas king. Afterward the
attention is more particularly directed to the "grace that is poured into his
lips." The language here would well express the emotions often felt by a young
convert when he is first made to see the beauty of the characterof the Lord
Jesus as a Saviour: "Beautiful; beautiful, above all men."
Grace is poured into thy lips - The word here rendered "is poured" means
properly to pour, to pour out as liquids - water, or melted metal: Genesis
28:18;2 Kings 4:4. The meaning here is, that grace seemedto be spread over
his lips; or that this was strikingly manifest on his lips. The word grace means
properly favor; and then it is used in the generalsense of benignity, kindness,
mildness, gentleness,benevolence.The reference here is to his manner of
speaking, as corresponding with the beauty of his person, and as that which
particularly attractedthe attention of the psalmist: the mildness; the
gentleness;the kindness; the persuasive eloquence of his words. It is hardly
necessaryto remark that this, in an eminent degree, was applicable to the
Lord Jesus. Thus if is said Luke 4:22, "And all bare him witness, and
wondered at the gracious words which proceededout of his mouth." So John
7:46 : "Neverman spake like this man." See also Matthew 7:29; Matthew
13:54;Luke 2:47.
Therefore Godhath blessedthee for ever - In connectionwith this moral
beauty - this beauty of character - God will bless thee to all eternity. Since he
has endowedthee with such gifts and graces, he will continue to bless thee,
forever. In other words, it is impossible that one who is thus endowed should
ever be an objectof the divine displeasure.

Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
2. To rich personalattractions is added grace of the lips, captivating powers of
speech. This is given, and becomes a source of powerand proves a blessing.
Christ is a prophet (Lu 4:22).
The Treasuryof David
2 Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips:
therefore God hath blessedthee for ever.
"Thou." As though the King himself had suddenly appeared before him, the
Psalmistlost in admiration of his person, turns from his preface to address his
Lord. A loving heart has the powerto realise its object. The eyes of a true
heart see more than the eyes of the head. Moreover, Jesusreveals himself
when we are pouring forth our affections towards him. It is usually the case
that when we are ready Christ appears. If our heart is warm it is an index that
the sun is shining, and when we enjoy his heat we shall soonbehold his light.
"Thou art fairer than the children of men." In person, but especiallyin mind
and character, the King of saints is peerless in beauty. The Hebrew word is
doubled, "Beautiful, beautiful art thou," Jesus is so emphatically lovely that
words must be doubled, strained, yea, exhaustedbefore he can be described.
Among the children of men many have through grace beenlovely in
character, yet they have eachhad a flaw; but in Jesus we behold every feature
of a perfect characterin harmonious proportion. He is lovely everywhere, and
from every point of view, but never more so than when we view him in
conjugalunion with his church; then love gives a ravishing flush of glory to
his loveliness. "Grace is poured into thy lips." Beauty and eloquence make a
man majestic when they are united; they both dwell in perfectionin the all
fair, all eloquent Lord Jesus. Grace ofpersonand grace ofspeechreachtheir
highest point in him. Grace has in the most copious manner been poured upon
Christ, for it pleasedthe Father that in him should all fulness dwell, and now
grace is in superabundance, poured forth from his lips to cheerand enrich his
people. The testimony, the promises, the invitations, the consolations ofour
King pour forth from him in such volumes of meaning that we cannot but
contrastthose cataracts ofgrace with the speechof Moses whichdid but drop

as the rain, and distil as the dew. Whoeverin personalcommunion with the
Well-belovedhas listened to his voice will feelthat "never man spake like this
man." Well did the bride say of him, "his lips are like lilies dropping sweet-
smelling myrrh." One word from himself dissolvedthe heart of Saul of
Tarsus, and turned him into an apostle, anotherword raised up John the
Divine when fainting in the Isle of Patmos. Oftentimes a sentence from his lips
has turned our own midnight into morning, our winter into spring.
"Therefore Godhath blessedthee for ever." Calvin reads it, "BecauseGod
hath blessedthee for ever." Christ is blessed, blessedofGod, blessed for ever,
and this is to us one greatreasonfor his beauty, and the source of the gracious
words which proceedout of his lips. The rare endowments of the man Christ
Jesus are given him of the Father, that by them his people may be blessedwith
all spiritual blessings in union with himself. But if we take our own
translation, we read that the Father has blessedthe Mediatoras a rewardfor
all his gracious labours;and right well does he deserve the recompense.
Whom God blesses we shouldbless, and the more so because allhis
blessednessis communicated to us.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Fairer, or, more beautiful, i.e. lovely and amiable. He speaks nothere so much
of this outward beauty, which, though it be an ornament both to a bridegroom
and to a king, yet is not very considerable in either, nor is much admired or
applauded by wise men, as of the inward and glorious endowments of his
mind or soul, such as wisdom, and righteousness,and meekness, &c., as the
particulars of this beauty are declared, Psalm 45:4,7. Than the children of
men; than all other men: which is most true of Christ, but not of Solomon;
whom many have excelled, if not in wisdom, yet in holiness and righteousness,
which is the chief part of this beauty, and most celebratedin this Psalm.
Grace is poured into thy lips; God hath plentifully poured into thy mind and
tongue the gift of speaking with admirable grace, i.e. mostwisely and
eloquently, and therefore most acceptably, so as to find grace with and work
grace in thy hearers. This was in the same sort true of Solomon, but far more

eminently and effectually in Christ; of which see Isaiah50:4 Luke 4:22 John
7:46. The former clause noted his inward perfections, and this signifies his
ability and readiness to communicate them to others.
Therefore;which notes not the meritorious cause, forthat beauty and grace
now mentioned are declaredto be the free gifts of God, and were the effects,
and not the causes,ofGod’s blessing him; but rather the final cause, or the
end for which God endowedhim with those excellentqualifications; and so
the sense ofthe place is, Because Godhath so eminently adorned and qualified
thee for rule, therefore he hath trusted and blessedthee with an everlasting
kingdom. Or, because, as this particle is used, Genesis 38:26 Psalm42:6, and
elsewhere.And so God’s blessing him with such solid and everlasting
blessings, is noted as the cause of this singular beauty and grace here
expressed.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Thou art fairer than the children of men,.... Here begins the psalm, and this is
an address to the King Messiah, the subject of it, commending him for his
beauty and comeliness;which is not to be understood of his divine beauty or
his glory, as the only begottenof the Father, in which he is the brightness of
his glory, and the express image of his person;for this admits of no
comparison, nor is the beauty of angels and men to be mentioned with it; but
of the beauty of his human nature, both in body and soul, which being the
immediate produce of the Holy Spirit, and without sin, and full of wisdom,
grace, and holiness, must transcend that of any or all the sons of Adam. They
are all deformed by sin; and whatever spiritual beauty there is in any of them,
they have it from Christ; they are comely through his comeliness the outward
beauty of men is vain and deceitful, and soonperishes;but Christ is ever the
same, and he esteemedofby all that know him, as exceeding precious,
altogetherlovely, and transcendently excellentand glorious. The Hebrew
word here used is doubled in its radicals, which denotes the exceeding great
fairness and beauty of Christ, especiallyas Mediator, and as full of grace and
truth. It follows,

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