Psalm 45 can be considered the sixth station in the unveiling of Christ in the Psalms. The first station is Psalm 2; the second is Psalm 8; the third is Psalm 16; the fourth is Psalms 22—24; and the fifth is Psalm 40. In this message on Psalm 45 we will consider verses 9 through 17. Before we come to these verses, however, I would like to say a word concerning the Bible and the way to understand it.
The Bible is a very particular, special, strange, and wonderful book. Because the Bible is such a book, it cannot be understood by the natural human mind. If we try to understand the Bible according to our natural mind, we will not have the proper understanding. Of course, in order to understand the Bible, we must exercise our mind. However, we should exercise not the natural mind but the renewed, enlightened mind. If we would understand the Bible, we must have a mind that is renewed and enlightened, that is, a mind whose understanding is under the divine light. Therefore, when we study the Bible, we should pray that the Lord will renew our mind and enlighten it.
If we do not have a renewed and enlightened mind, we will have trouble when studying Psalm 45, especially verses 9 through 15, which are about praising the king in the praising of the queen with the daughters of kings and with the virgins. We may be bothered by the fact that this king has so many women with him. The Bible teaches us that a man should have only one wife, and in the New Testament Paul tells us that an elder should be "the husband of one wife" (1 Tim. 3:2). But the king in Psalm 45 seems to be like a heathen king who has a great many wives and concubines. As we will see, what we have in this psalm is a matter not of ethics but of typology, and to understand this type we need a renewed, enlightened mind.
Regarding the interpretation of the Bible, especially the book of Revelation, there are two schools. According to the first school, the book of Revelation should be understood literally. Those who follow this school say the New Jerusalem is a physical city. According to the second school, Revelation should be understood symbolically, since some items of its content are revealed by "signs" (1:1b). Those who follow this school say that as the golden lampstands are symbols of the churches, so the New Jerusalem is also a symbol, a sign.
The Bible contains many symbols and types. We may regard these symbols and types as pictures or "photographs." The reason for the photographs in the Bible is that the Bible unveils many heavenly, spiritual things, and these things are invisible and mysterious. The photographs in the Bible help us to understand such things.