The Royal Wedding and the Allegiance of the Bride Text: Psalm 45:10-15
Introduction: A Song for a Wedding
Psalm 45 is a wedding song, an epithalamium. It is a glorious, celebratory, and deeply theological ode for a royal marriage. In its original context, it was likely written for the wedding of an Israelite king, perhaps Solomon, to a foreign princess. But the Holy Spirit, who is the ultimate author of all Scripture, had a much grander wedding in view. The author of Hebrews tells us plainly that this psalm is about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:8-9). This is a song about Christ the King and His bride, the Church.
This means that everything in this psalm has two layers of meaning, both of them true. It speaks of a historical king and his bride, but it points beyond them to the ultimate King and His Bride. We are that Bride. This psalm is therefore about us. It is a song that describes our relationship to our great Bridegroom, Jesus. It gives us marching orders, it describes our beauty, and it tells of the great joy that is to characterize our union with Him.
We live in an age that is profoundly confused about marriage, about authority, about identity, and about worship. Our culture wants to erase all the lines that God has drawn. It wants marriages without covenant, authority without submission, and identity without reference to our Creator. This psalm crashes into that confusion with the force of a battering ram. It establishes the foundational principles of covenantal allegiance, godly submission, true beauty, and joyful worship. It tells the Bride of Christ who she is, what she is to do, and what her destiny is. And for us, as members of that Bride, this is a matter of utmost importance.
The Text
"Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house; Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. The daughter of Tyre will come with a present; The rich among the people will seek your favor. The King’s daughter is all glorious within her chamber; Her clothing is interwoven with gold. She will be led to the King in embroidered work; The virgins, her companions who follow her, Will be brought to You. They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing; They will enter into the King’s palace."
(Psalm 45:10-15 LSB)
A Call to Covenantal Transfer (v. 10)
The first word to the bride is a summons, a call to listen and to act decisively.
"Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house;" (Psalm 45:10)
The address is tender, "O daughter," but the command is absolute. She is to listen, consider, and incline her ear. This is a call for total attention because what is about to be said is the foundation of her new life. She is commanded to "forget" her people and her father's house. This is not a command for amnesia. It is a command for a radical transfer of allegiance.
This goes all the way back to the foundation of marriage in Genesis. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). While that passage speaks of the man leaving, the principle of establishing a new, primary loyalty is mutual. For this foreign princess, marrying the king of Israel meant her old life, her old loyalties, her old gods, and her old identity were now secondary. Her primary identity was now found in her union with the king.
This is a picture of our conversion. When Christ calls us to be His bride, He calls us out of our old life. We are to forget our "own people," the kingdom of darkness. We are to leave our "father's house," the house of Adam, the house of rebellion. Our allegiance is transferred. We are no longer defined by our old sins, our old habits, or our old family ties in Adam. We are now citizens of a new kingdom, members of a new family. As Paul says, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is not a suggestion; it is the fundamental reality of the Christian life. Your primary loyalty must be to Christ your King, above family, nation, and self.
The King's Desire and the Bride's Submission (v. 11)
The result of this transferred allegiance is the King's delight, and the proper response is worshipful submission.
"Then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him." (Psalm 45:11)
Notice the sequence. First, she forgets her father's house, and then the King desires her beauty. Our beauty in the eyes of Christ is not something we possess that attracts Him to us. Rather, our beauty is the result of our wholehearted devotion to Him. When we are consecrated to Him alone, when our allegiance is undivided, He sees us as beautiful. The Church is beautiful to Christ when she is faithful to Christ. This is the beauty of holiness, the beauty of a singular loyalty.
And because He is the King, because He is her Lord, the required response is to "bow down to Him." The word is worship. This is not the grudging submission our culture despises; this is the joyful, willing, glad-hearted submission of a bride to her glorious husband and king. It is an act of worship. In the Godhead, the Son joyfully submits to the Father. In marriage, the wife is called to joyfully submit to her husband as the church submits to Christ. And here, the Church, the Bride, is called to bow down to her Lord.
This is a corporate reality before it is an individual one. The Church as a body, though comprised of both men and women, is feminine in relation to Christ. He is the Bridegroom; we are the Bride. He leads; we follow. He speaks; we obey. This is the created order, the dance of the cosmos. To reject this is to reject the very grammar of our relationship with Christ. We must joyfully and worshipfully bow the knee to King Jesus. He is our Lord.
The Influence of a Consecrated Bride (v. 12)
A church that is truly consecrated to Christ becomes a beacon to the nations.
"The daughter of Tyre will come with a present; The rich among the people will seek your favor." (Psalm 45:12)
Tyre was a wealthy, pagan, and powerful city-state. For the "daughter of Tyre" to come with a gift is a picture of the Gentile nations being drawn to the glory of God's people. When the Church is beautiful in her devotion to the King, when she is radiant in her holiness and joyful in her submission, the world takes notice. The nations, the rich, the powerful, they will be drawn in. They will seek the favor, not of the Bride herself, but of the King who is so clearly with her.
This is a profoundly postmillennial verse. It anticipates the Great Commission. It sees a future where the wealth of the nations flows into the kingdom of God, not through coercion, but through attraction. A faithful church is an attractive church. A holy church is a magnetic church. When we live out our covenant identity, when we truly forget our father's house and bow to our Lord, our influence will be irresistible. The world is starving for a beauty and a glory that it cannot manufacture, and they will see it in the Bride of Christ.
The Inner Glory and Outward Splendor (v. 13-15)
The final verses describe the bride's glorious state and her joyful entrance into the King's palace.
"The King’s daughter is all glorious within her chamber; Her clothing is interwoven with gold. She will be led to the King in embroidered work; The virgins, her companions who follow her, Will be brought to You. They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing; They will enter into the King’s palace." (Psalm 45:13-15)
Her glory begins "within." True beauty is not just skin deep. The Bride of Christ is made glorious from the inside out. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, sanctifying us, writing God's law on our hearts. Before there can be any outward splendor, there must be inward holiness. The church's primary work is not political activism or social engineering; it is the cultivation of this inner glory through the faithful preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and the practice of prayer and fellowship.
But this inner glory has an outward manifestation. Her clothing is interwoven with gold and embroidered work. This is the fruit of her inner life, the good works that God has prepared for her to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). These are the righteous acts of the saints. The world is meant to see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. Our faith is not a private, hidden thing. It is to be as visible and as splendid as a royal wedding gown.
She does not come alone. She is followed by her companions, the virgins. This is a picture of evangelism. A glorious church is a growing church. Those who see her beauty and her joy will want to join her procession. And this procession is not a funeral dirge. It is characterized by "gladness and rejoicing."
Our worship and our life together should be marked by a deep, infectious joy. We have been rescued from sin and death and are being brought into the palace of the King of kings. How can we not be joyful? This is not a shallow happiness based on circumstances, but a profound gladness rooted in the reality of our salvation. This gladness is our birthright, but it is a gladness that comes through faithfulness, through the warfare of leaving our father's house and bowing to our Lord. And the final destination is secure: "They will enter into the King's palace." Our union with Christ will be consummated, and we will dwell with Him forever.
Conclusion: Our Royal Wedding
This psalm is our story. We are the daughter called to forget her past and give her full allegiance to the King. We are the bride whose beauty is found in her faithfulness. We are the church called to worshipfully bow before our Lord, Jesus Christ.
This requires a decisive break with the world. It requires us to reject the siren song of autonomy and self-definition. It requires us to embrace the glorious, God-designed order of Christ as our head and Lord. When we do this, we become glorious within. Our lives begin to display the outward splendor of good works. The nations are drawn to the light. And our journey through this life becomes a joyful procession, moving with gladness and rejoicing toward the palace of the King.
Therefore, listen, O church. Give attention and incline your ear. Forget the world and its empty promises. Forget your old master, sin. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, your King and your Bridegroom. See His beauty, desire His favor, and bow down to Him. For He is your Lord, and your destiny is to enter His palace with everlasting joy.