Psalm 45:7
“You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows!”
This Psalm is a nuptial song; wherein Christ, as the heavenly Bridegroom, is celebrated by his Bride, the Church; and she also is commended by him as worthy of the union proposed between them.
In the former part, the glory and excellency of Jesus are set forth in a variety of views. In the verse before the text, he is addressed as the supreme “God, whose throne is forever and ever;” while, as man, he is acknowledged to have received his glory and felicity from the Father, as the reward of his unparalleled virtues. This is undoubtedly the primary sense of the words before us.
But they may also be considered as containing a general truth, expressive of God’s regard for holiness, and of those testimonies of his approbation which all godly people shall enjoy.
Let us then turn our attention to them,
I. As applicable to Christ.
That they refer to him there can be no doubt; because in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is expressly affirmed that they were addressed to him, Hebrews 1:8-9.
To Christ, the character transcendently belongs.
In his doctrine, he removed the false glosses with which the Jewish doctors had obscured the law, and established its authority over the motions of the heart as well as the actions of the life. He showed that the laws prohibiting murder and adultery were violated by an angry word or impure desire, Matthew 25:21-22; Matthew 25:27-28. He laid the axe at the very root of sin; and gave a system of morality more pure and perfect than the united wisdom of the whole world had been ever able to devise!
In his life, “he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” Neither his friends who were most intimate with him, nor his enemies who were most inveterate against him—could ever find the smallest flaw or blemish in his conduct. God himself repeatedly attests that “in him was no sin.
But most of all in his death did our blessed Lord approve himself a lover of righteousness and a hater of iniquity; for he died in order to expiate the guilt of sin; yes, he came down from Heaven on purpose to atone for it by his blood; and to mark in indelible characters its malignity, by the very means which he used to deliver us from its curse!
In the whole scope of the economy which he introduced, he manifested the same righteous disposition; for at the same time that he commissioned his Apostles to go forth and evangelize all nations, he bade them to “teach their converts to observe and do whatever he had commanded.” His Gospel, while it “brings salvation to men, teaches them to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world;” and the ministers who are sent forth to proclaim it, are “sent to bless men, in turning away every one of them from his iniquities.”
On this account God in a super-eminent degree anointed Jesus with the oil of gladness.
The Father “gave not the Spirit by measure unto him,” even during the time of his ministration upon earth. See Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 61:1. But though he was anointed in this world in an infinitely more abundant measure than all who were partakers of the same divine unction—yet it was rather after his death that the Spirit was given to him as “the oil of gladness.” At his ascension the words before us received their full accomplishment. Then was “the joy given him, in the expectation of which he had endured the cross and despised the shame.” Then was he “made full of joy by the light of his Father’s countenance, compare Psalm 16:10-11; Psalm 21:6 with Acts 2:27-28,” and was invested with a glory as much transcending that of the highest archangel, as the brightness of the sun exceeds the luster of a glimmering star. This was given him as the reward of his righteousness, “he loved righteousness,” “therefore the Lord anointed him with his oil of gladness, Philippians 2:8-9.”
Though this is the primary sense of the words, we may without impropriety consider them,
II. As applicable to us. The character of the true Christian is here most fitly drawn.
There are many unbelievers whose external characters are unimpeachable; they abstain from open iniquity, and they are kind and do many charitable things.
But the distinctive mark of the true believer is that “he loves righteousness and hates iniquity.”
He looks upon sin as the worst enemy of his soul. Not contented with suppressing the outward acts of sin, he strives to mortify its inward motions. The existence of sin within him is his affliction, his burden, his grief.
He abhors it!
He loathes himself on account of it!
He often cries with anguish of heart, “O what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death!” Romans 7:24
As for righteousness, he considers it as the health and felicity of his soul. It is the very element in which he desires to live. Were he possessed of holiness in ever so high a degree, he would not be satisfied, as long as there were any measure of it which he had not attained. He would be as “holy as God is holy,” and as “perfect as God is perfect.” We repeat it, that this is the distinctive character of a true believer.
Unbelievers, whatever their conduct is, have no real hatred of secret sin, no sincere delight in the secret exercises of genuine piety; but in the believer, these dispositions radically and abidingly exist!
On this account God grants the richest of blessings to the true Christian.
Who among the sons of pleasure can be compared with the Christian in respect to real happiness? The happiness of the worldly man is only as “the crackling of thorns under a pot;” it blazes for a little time, and then expires in smoke.
But let a true Christian be bereft of all that the world holds most dear, and be reduced to a condition the most calamitous in the eyes of worldly men—yet he would not exchange states with the happiest worldling upon earth; he would spurn at the proposal with contemptuous indignation!
But it is not merely over the ungodly world that a holy Christian has this advantage, “he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows,” above those who in an inferior degree participate the same heavenly calling. Occasional circumstances of temptation or of darkness may indeed for a time reduce the most eminent Christian below the standard of his weaker brother; but in the general it will be found, that the more we have of the divine image, the more we shall abound in heavenly consolation; they will have most of Heaven in their souls, who have the greatest fitness for it in their hearts and lives.
And though these holy joys are not bestowed on account of the believer’s merits—yet are they strictly and properly a reward for his piety; they are a reward of grace—though not a payment of a debt. God has in numberless places assured his people, that “he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him,” and that “it shall be well with the righteous, who shall eat the fruit of their doings, Isaiah 3:10.”
Inferences:
1. What a mercy it is to have such an example as Christ!
If we entertain any doubt how we ought to walk, or what shall be the outcome of a godly life, we need only look to the Lord Jesus Christ; in him we see precisely “how we ought to walk and to please God,” and what shall be the termination of a life spent in the service of our God. In him we shall find an answer to the cavils of the world on the one hand, and to the suggestions of Satan on the other. In those things which Christ did as a Prophet, or as the Mediator—he is not an example to us; but in all other things he is; and as surely as we tread in his steps in this world, we shall be seated with him on his throne in the world to come!
2. How vain are the expectations of those who are not lovers of righteousness, and haters of iniquity!
Holiness and happiness are inseparable! It is in vain to hope for the “oil of joy”—if we are not lovers of righteousness, and haters of iniquity. Those who conform to the world’s standard of goodness may be applauded by worldlings; but God will not ratify their approval.
The precepts of the Gospel are the infallible, the only rule of duty. They were exhibited in all their perfection by our blessed Lord, whose own life was a commentary on them.
If we labor to imitate Him, and to walk in all things as he walked—then our short-comings and defects will be forgiven for His sake; but if we make any reserves in our obedience, we shall be regarded as despisers of his law, and take our portion with hypocrites and unbelievers!
“This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother!” 1 John 3:10
Charles Simeon