Psalm 45 (2)—Christ’s Glory - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Myrrh and aloes, cassia, are all thy garments; out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad.
Psalm 45:8 JND

Psalm 45 (2)—Christ's Glory
Christ is glorious as well as gracious (v. 2). His arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies. He stands out in His glory above every name that is named. He will be triumphant over all that hate Him, even as He is tender to all who hear His voice and love Him. This also must be declared of Him, that we may know that His grace to us is not weakness. In His majesty, He will ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness—three great attributes that will show themselves when He comes forth to judge, but which were not wanting when He stooped to save us.

He is as great as He is gracious, for He is God, with an everlasting throne, and nothing could exceed the significance of this; for if He is God, His claim must be supreme. It stands before all other claims. The claims of father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife, children, and self also, must recede into the background when He puts in His claim. None other than God has a right to supersede these relationships that He has ordained, but He who would win our undivided hearts is God, whose throne is forever and ever (v. 6; cf. Heb. 1:8), and to His claim we must yield.

Fragrant spices which clothe our Savior like a garment stir our memories; they carry us back to the time when, instead of glory and honor, a life of sorrow was His. It is of this that the myrrh speaks. The wise men from the east were divinely guided when they gave their gifts to Him as He lay in His mother's arms in the house—gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The gold spoke of His divine glory; the frankincense of His holy, fragrant humanity; and the myrrh of His suffering even to death.

We look back to it now, and it is the fragrance of the myrrh that greets us and attracts us. We might remain unmoved in the presence of His majesty, but whose heart will not melt in the presence of His suffering?

-- J. T. Mawson