Covenant Succession and the Coming Christendom Text: Psalm 45:16-17
Introduction: A Wedding Song for a Conquering King
We live in an age of managed decline. Our cultural elites, our politicians, our talking heads, all operate from the unspoken assumption that the best we can hope for is to slow the rot. They are hospice nurses for a dying civilization, fluffing the pillows and administering sedatives. Their eschatology, whether they know it or not, is one of despair. They believe history is a closed loop, a flat circle, a tale told by an idiot, signifying nothing. And tragically, much of the modern church has bought into this lie, adopting a theology of escape. They see the world as a sinking ship and their only job is to punch a few tickets for the lifeboats before the whole thing goes under.
Into this miasma of pessimism and retreat, Psalm 45 lands like a thunderclap. This is a wedding song, an epithalamium, for a Royal wedding. But this is no ordinary king. The writer to the Hebrews tells us plainly that this psalm is about Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:8-9). He is the King, fairer than the sons of men, anointed with the oil of gladness, whose throne is forever and ever. And His bride is the Church, glorious within, brought to the King in embroidered robes. This is not a song about decline. It is a song about dominion. It is a song about victory, beauty, and a future that stretches out in ever-increasing glory.
The final two verses of this psalm are a cannon shot against all forms of cultural pessimism. They are a direct promise from God about the future of His kingdom on earth. They speak of generational succession, of global influence, and of a name that will be remembered forever. This is not a picture of a beleaguered, shrinking church, huddled in a corner waiting for the rapture. This is a picture of a fruitful, expanding, and triumphant kingdom. This is the promise that fuels our work, our prayers, and our confidence. This is the engine of a robust and cheerful postmillennialism. God is not losing. His Son is reigning now, and He will continue to reign until all His enemies are made a footstool for His feet.
These verses are not just a sweet sentiment tacked on to the end of a love song. They are the logical outcome of the union between this King and this Bride. When Christ and His Church are wed, the result is not barrenness and retreat, but a fruitful line of royal heirs who will take the world for His name's sake. This is the promise of covenant succession, and it is the blueprint for the future Christendom.
The Text
In place of your fathers will be your sons;
You shall set them up as princes in all the earth.
I will cause Your name to be remembered from generation to every generation;
Therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever.
(Psalm 45:16-17 LSB)
Generational Conquest (v. 16)
We begin with the promise of a fruitful future in verse 16:
"In place of your fathers will be your sons; You shall set them up as princes in all the earth." (Psalm 45:16)
This is a promise made to the King, Jesus Christ, concerning His offspring through His bride, the Church. The first clause, "In place of your fathers will be your sons," is the principle of covenant succession in its purest form. This is the biblical pattern. God's covenant is not a series of disconnected, one-generation contracts. It is a river that flows from one generation to the next. Abraham was the father of the faithful, and the promise was to him and to his seed after him.
This is not automatic, of course. It requires faith. We are to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, believing the promise that He is not just our God, but the God of our children. The modern evangelical impulse to treat every child as a pagan until they have a dramatic, datable conversion experience is a profound betrayal of this covenantal reality. We are to raise our children as disciples, as young Christians, claiming God's promises for them by faith. The fathers, the patriarchs of old, have passed from the scene. But the line does not end. In their place, sons arise. This is a picture of continuity, of a legacy being passed down. History is not a series of random events; it is the unfolding of God's covenant promises through faithful families and churches.
But notice the trajectory. This is not simple replacement; it is advancement. The second clause tells us the destiny of these sons: "You shall set them up as princes in all the earth." This is a staggering promise. This is the dominion mandate, repackaged in the language of royalty. The sons of the King are not destined to be court jesters or stable hands. They are princes. And their jurisdiction is not limited to some spiritual, ethereal realm in the sweet by-and-by. Their domain is "all the earth."
This is a direct contradiction to any theology that teaches Christians to abandon the world, to cede the public square, to retreat from law, art, science, and education. The gospel is not about escaping the world, but about conquering it. Not with swords and spears, as the psalm says earlier, but with truth, meekness, and righteousness. As the gospel goes forth, as nations are discipled, the sons of the King will rise to positions of influence and authority. They will become the poets, the magistrates, the scientists, the builders, the scholars, the princes who shape the future of nations according to the wisdom of God. This is not a dream of political coercion, but the inevitable result of hearts and minds being captured by the gospel. When men are changed by Christ, they begin to build Christian families, Christian businesses, Christian schools, and Christian nations. The leaven works its way through the whole lump.
Perpetual Legacy (v. 17)
Verse 17 explains the engine and the ultimate goal of this generational conquest.
"I will cause Your name to be remembered from generation to every generation; Therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever." (Psalm 45:17 LSB)
The speaker here is God the Father, making a promise to the Son. The Father Himself guarantees the success of the Son's kingdom. "I will cause Your name to be remembered." The advance of the kingdom is not ultimately dependent on our cleverness or our strategic planning. It is a work of God. He is the one who ensures that the name of Jesus will not be forgotten. It will be remembered, proclaimed, and honored "from generation to every generation."
This is the great task of the church, and of every Christian family. Our central duty is to make the name of Christ memorable. We do this through the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, the singing of psalms and hymns, and the faithful instruction of our children. We are in the business of memory-making. We are building a legacy, a great cathedral of remembrance to the glory of God's Son. Every time we catechize a child, we are laying another stone. Every time we sing a psalm, we are raising a rafter. Every time we preach the gospel, we are carving His name on the gates.
And what is the result of this perpetual remembrance? "Therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever." The word here is not just "people" in the singular, but "peoples," plural. This is the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This is the discipling of the nations. As the name of Christ is remembered and proclaimed from generation to generation, the nations of the earth, the ethne, will be converted. They will turn from their dumb idols and their futile philosophies and will begin to give thanks to the King. The worship of Christ is the ultimate goal of history.
This is a picture of global, corporate worship. It is not just a few scattered individuals being saved out of a collapsing world. It is the "peoples," as peoples, turning to Christ. This is what it means for the earth to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The end of history is not a whimper, but a roar of worldwide praise. The final word is not "chaos," but "Hallelujah." The peoples of the earth will give thanks to the Son, forever and ever. This is the glorious, optimistic, and certain future that the Word of God sets before us.
Conclusion: Building for a Thousand Generations
So what does this mean for us, here and now? It means we must reject the cowardly and faithless pessimism of our age. We are not fighting a losing battle. We are on the winning side of history. The King is on His throne, His bride is being made glorious, and His kingdom is advancing.
This truth should fundamentally change how we live. It should change how you approach your work. You are not just earning a paycheck; you are building a corner of Christendom. It should change how you raise your children. You are not just trying to keep them out of trouble; you are raising princes and princesses who will take their place in the royal court and extend the reign of the King in all the earth. You are to believe God's covenant promises for them, and raise them in that confidence.
It should change how we do church. We are not a triage center for a dying world. We are an embassy of the coming kingdom, a training ground for future rulers. We are here to make the name of Christ so gloriously memorable that our children and our children's children will have no higher ambition than to make His name known to the generations that follow them.
The promise of this psalm is that our labor in the Lord is not in vain. The seeds we plant today will become a great forest. The songs we sing will become the anthem of nations. The children we raise in the faith will become the princes who govern the world in righteousness. We are not building for the short term. We are laying the foundations for a thousand generations. Because God the Father has promised to the Son that His name will be remembered, and that the peoples will give Him thanks, forever and ever. Let us, therefore, live as though we believe it.