28 March
You must succeed with Your majesty. Enter in for the good cause of truth and uphold the miserable with justice, thus Your right hand shall manifest wondrous things. Psalm 45:5.[verse 4 in English Bibles]
Therefore let us open our hearts and look at Priest Christ in His majestic garment. With your eyes you will not find any majesty on Him; for you probably see how pitifully, miserably and shamefully He hangs there [on the cross]. However look at Him with your heart; there you will find such a majestic garment and treasured jewel, for which you will never be able to thank Him enough. For first of all He is decorated/cloaked with the great glorious obedience towards His Father, that to honor Him He allows Himself to be spit upon, be whipped, martyred. It is impossible that we in this life would actually be able to see such a majestic garment. Yet we still are able to see enough, so that all pearls, velvet and gold-embroidered garments are nothing compared to this one. The second garment is His great love towards us, that the Lord would have such little regard for His life and suffering, and would instead first pray for us rather than for Himself. Who then will ever be able to adequately comprehend such love, that the Lord has such a heart towards us, so full of fieriness that He places Himself amidst His greatest suffering as if He saw or felt nothing; instead He only thinks about, sees and is concerned about your and my misery, hardships and heartaches.
Wow, I never before have looked at Psalm 45:4 as such a Messianic prophecy. It was soul-warming for me to translate the above thoughts. It has me singing Paul Gerhardt’s hymn: “O sacred Head now wounded” (T L H #172) and “Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness; My beauty are, my glorious dress; Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, With joy shall I lift up my head.” (T L H #371).
In Christ,
Elmer H.
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