{"id":26428,"date":"2026-08-06T06:01:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T06:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/?p=26428"},"modified":"2025-11-26T09:47:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T09:47:31","slug":"the-kings-daughter-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/2026\/08\/the-kings-daughter-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The King’s Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Posted by permission. Chippenham Old Baptist Chapel<\/a>.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prayer Meeting Address given at Old Baptist Chapel, Chippenham by Mr. G. D. Buss<\/b> on Thursday Evening, 11<\/b>th <\/b>November, 2020<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house; So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.\u201d\u2014Psalm 45:10-11<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

There can be no doubt, in the discerning mind, of whom the psalmist is speaking, particularly in the opening verses. It is one of those precious Psalms of prophecy concerning our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The first eight verses have to do with His glory as King, as the Son of God, and the One ordained of God to be the Head of the Church that He is now. The second part of the Psalm, beginning at where we are this evening and the verse before, has to do with the King\u2019s bride; the Church.<\/p>\n

The Church is spoken of in more than one way in the Word of God \u2013 sometimes as His sheep, sometimes as His mystical body. But here she is spoken of particularly as His spouse. And it is the King speaking to her. He is saying: \u201cHearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house.\u201d This is the word of the King of kings to His Church. He calls His Church a daughter. Why does He call her a daughter? In one sense, of course, in Hebrew language the word \u2018daughter\u2019 was very often a term of affection. Who can measure the affection the Lord Jesus Christ has for His Church? It is written in those lines of blood that were shed on Calvary\u2019s cross. And that precious blood that was shed then, is as vibrant and as full of life and light tonight, as it was when it was first made a blessing to the dying thief who fled to it for mercy. Friends, He could not have demonstrated His love to His Church more than He did. We sometimes sing:<\/p>\n

\u201cSo fair a face bedewed with tears;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What beauty e\u2019en in grief appears!<\/p>\n

He wept, He bled, He died for you;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What more, ye saints, could Jesus do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Secondly, the word \u2018daughter\u2019 has to do with one who is in the family who has a father. What a mercy to be in the family of God! There is no greater privilege, friends. We are thankful for our own families. Perhaps we can trace our ancestry back, and some have very honourable ancestors in the flesh. But, when all is said and done, we descend from the first Adam. We fell in him, and there is our ancestry. What a mercy if God has translated us from the family of wrath that the children of Adam are by nature, into the family of God! And what will accomplish that great deed? It is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the dear Son of God; by sending the Spirit in that way in which this precious part of the verse is speaking; in girding on His sword, going forth conquering and to conquer, sending His arrows in the hearts of those who are enemies by nature and bringing them into sweet submission to His throne and to Himself.<\/p>\n

So, we have here in prophecy the King of kings, our Lord Jesus Christ, speaking to His Church spoken of here as a daughter. And he has five things to say to her. She is to hearken, she is to consider, she is to incline, she is to forget and she is to worship. And all this is under the drawings of love, because it says: \u201cSo shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.\u201d \u2018Oh,\u2019 you say, \u2018there is some mistake here, because I am not like one of His handmaidens! My wretched heart displays its fallen character. I look about at God\u2019s dear people and I do not seem like them. I seem inferior to them.\u2019 Well, blessed be God, there is something here to encourage you. We read in verse 13: \u201cThe King\u2019s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto Thee.\u201d That precious covering is to cover those (all of God\u2019s people feel like it) who feel not like one of His handmaidens. They feel inferior to God\u2019s people. They feel \u201cless than the least.\u201d They feel the chief of sinners. But, every one of God\u2019s people are clothed with the same garment. She is \u201call glorious within.\u201d That is the work of grace in her heart. But, \u201cher clothing is of wrought gold.\u201d Apparently the kings would interweave gold into the cotton with which they were making their garments. So there were two strands to it \u2013 one representing the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ; the other His divinity, wonderfully woven together in one garment \u2013 the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ, verily God, verily man. And, in this garment; in this raiment she is brought to the King. So, poor sinner. In yourself you are weak and worthless as a worm. You feel it. But clothed in this rich garment you are made fit for the presence of the King of kings and the Lord of lords.<\/p>\n

You will notice that if indeed the work of grace is in our hearts, then these things in our text will be a feature of the work of grace. First of all there is that personal word: \u201cHearken, O daughter.\u201d God calls His people personally, one by one. God calls His people particularly. And here He is saying to this one: \u201cHearken.\u201d \u2018Listen. Give heed.\u2019 Oh, how we need to do that! How sad it was when God\u2019s servant Isaiah was speaking to Ahaz, and Ahaz did not listen! But the Lord gave good advice through him. It was this: \u201cTake heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted.\u201d Friends, God gives His people a hearing ear. Here is another analogy: \u201cMy sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.\u201d This precious voice penetrates all their unbelief, worldliness, carnality and self-righteousness. All that held that sinner fast before God spoke, this voice penetrates like the arrows we read of in verse 5 that are \u201csharp in the heart of the King\u2019s enemies; whereby the people fall under Thee.\u201d \u201cHearken, O daughter.\u201d The Lord has something to say to you.<\/p>\n

It is an amazing thing when the sinner begins to realise who it is that is speaking. How astonished Saul of Tarsus was when the Lord Jesus Christ said: \u201cI am Jesus whom thou persecutest.\u201d It was with incredulity that he said: \u201cLord, what wilt Thou have me to do?\u201d \u2018I have been a persecutor and a hater of Thy name. Yet now Thou art speaking to me with authority, and yes, there is even love in it.\u2019 \u201cWhat wilt Thou have me to do?\u201d And that is how the King\u2019s daughters feel when the Lord begins to speak. It is no longer what they will do. \u201cWhat wilt Thou have me to do?\u201d \u201cHearken, O daughter.\u201d \u2018I have something to say to you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Secondly, she is to consider. That is not to rush away from the voice, not to turn away from it, not ignore it and not stifle it, but to consider it. There are one or two verses in Scripture about this. \u201cConsider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.\u201d \u201cConsider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.\u201d But here the daughter is called to consider two things. Firstly, she is to consider herself. As Haggai says: \u201cConsider your ways.\u201d And when we consider our ways, how far short we come! What a debt accrues to our name! How far off we are from what we ought to be as those under the law! What a solemn consideration it is when we are made to consider our true state before God! On the other hand, she is to consider \u2013 despite her felt unworthiness; despite the wretchedness of which she feels so much \u2013 that nonetheless there is a welcome here. The voice who is speaking is drawing her and constraining her. It is saying: \u201cCome.\u201d \u201cCome now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.\u201d \u201cHearken, O daughter, and consider.\u201d Yes, consider what you are, but:<\/p>\n

\u201cPore not on thyself too long,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lest it sink thee lower;<\/p>\n

Look to Jesus, kind as strong \u2013\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mercy joined with power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear.\u201d That means to lean towards what is being said. Sadly, by nature, we do not incline our ear. When the Word crosses our poor flesh, the flesh resists it. But, grace inclines towards it. \u201cIncline thine ear.\u201d This is the voice of thy Beloved. This is the One who wishes you well. This is the One who will say: \u201cI have loved thee with an everlasting love.\u201d This is the One who is drawing you that you may run after Him. \u201cIncline thine ear.\u201d \u2018Hear what I have to say, because what I have to say is for your eternal good and for your soul\u2019s benefit.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house.\u201d There is a forgetting. That means a turning from; a turning away. Three cases come to mind immediately. First of all we have Ruth. She forgot her father\u2019s house, didn\u2019t she? Orpah didn\u2019t. Orpah went back to her gods and to her people. Natural affection was too strong. But with Ruth, her soul was like the one in our text. She had hearkened, she had considered and she had inclined. The test came. On which side should she stand? With God\u2019s people and the God of Israel, or should she go back to her gods? Although it was costly to her flesh \u2013 she loved her parents, no doubt, and her friends back in Moab \u2013 but, when all was said and done, she had to forget them and turn from them. She did not turn from them in a Pharisaical way, but her soul was too precious to bargain with. If it meant going to Israel and not back to Moab, to Israel she must go to abide under the shadow of the God of Israel. She was one who hearkened. She considered, she inclined and she forgot.<\/p>\n

I think of Rebekah, also. I don\u2019t think we ponder enough on the great step that Rebekah took. Eliezer suddenly appeared at her home. He is ushered in, and tells his tale of what his mission is. Isaac needs a bride, and the Lord has pointed out that Rebecca should be the one. What was she to do? There was Laban, wanting to hold her back. Although he said ten days, he soon would have said ten weeks, then ten months, or even ten years, knowing Laban\u2019s inferior ways. But the question was put to Rebecca: \u201cWilt thou go with this man?\u201d She had not seen Isaac; she had only heard of him. The jewels on her wrists were from Isaac; Eliezer had brought them to her. Rebekah had to make that decision. \u201cWilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.\u201d \u201cI will go.\u201d There was great grace given to her at that time. The Lord moved her, undoubtedly. We never read that she saw her relatives in the flesh again. The rest of her days were spent in this path that God had called her to walk. She had to forget; to put all those natural feelings behind her, and go forth unto Christ in the gospel sense, \u201cbearing His reproach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I thought also of Paul the apostle. When he wrote to the Churches in Galatia, he used a strange expression: \u201cGod, who separated me from my mother\u2019s womb.\u201d What did he mean? Well, first of all he meant that he owed his existence to the God of providence; the God who gave him birth. He felt in his now awakened soul that he owed Him more than just as a creature to his Creator. He was now a child of God. But, he was separated from his mother\u2019s womb in another way. That is, he was brought up in the womb of the Jewish dispensation: the Old Testament. That was the womb he was nurtured in. And now he had to leave that. He had to be separated from it. It was a painful separation, in one sense. It cost him much, but he had no doubts. \u201cFor I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.\u201d He was one who forgot his own people and his father\u2019s house, but not in an ungracious way. He loved the Jewish nation; we read of it. But, when it came to his soul\u2019s salvation, he determined to know nothing among men, \u201csave Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, what a mercy when this grace is given! What great love it is when it overcomes every obstacle, every hindrance and all that stands in the way! All is swept away by this love that the Bridegroom has to His Bride, as we have it here. \u201cHearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house; So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.\u201d \u2018But,\u2019 you say, \u2018I have no beauty! I am not comely. I am one of the uncomely ones.\u2019 That is what we read in the first chapter of the Song of Solomon. \u201cI am black,\u201d says the Church. \u2018No,\u2019 says her Bridegroom, \u2018thou art comely.\u2019 And where is the comeliness of the Church? As I have said before, it is all in Christ. And so great is His love for her, he has given her a garment worthy of that union that there is between Him and her. That garment is His own righteousness. This is the garment with which the Church is clothed in heaven. They sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb clothed in this garment. \u201cAnd to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.\u201d That means that it is a garment that is given to her. It went from the Giver to the one who received it. He gives His own righteousness, and that is the garment with which the Church is clothed in glory, and clothed with here, by faith.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord.\u201d No longer do those things occupy your heart and mind in an unlawful way as they did in your former days. Whatever it may be that took the place of God in your heart, now has to be turned from. \u201cFor He is thy Lord.\u201d You have a better Master than this world could ever give. The Church has a better Bridegroom here than any other. God Himself has provided this Bridegroom. \u201cHe is thy Lord.\u201d He is the One to whom you owe your allegiance. He has done so much for you.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo fair a face bedewed with tears;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What beauty e\u2019en in grief appears!<\/p>\n

He wept, He bled, He died for you;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What more, ye saints, could Jesus do?\u201d<\/p>\n

What more can He do than what He has done?<\/p>\n

\u201cHearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house; So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.\u201d It is a wonderful thing to be a worshipper of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Syrophenician woman worshipped the Lord when she said: \u201cLord, help me.\u201d That is true worship. The worship that God is worthy of is the fruit of the Spirit in the heart of His people. \u201cGod is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.\u201d This heavenly King has sought out this Bride to worship Him, to adore Him and to praise Him to all eternity. \u201cHearken, O daughter.\u201d Hear the voice of the King; the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Hear Him<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat more can He say than to you\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He has said, You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?\u201d<\/p>\n

speaking to, yes, the unworthy one that you feel to be. \u201cHearken, O daughter, and consider.\u201d Stand still a moment. Do not turn away from what He is saying. \u201cAnd incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house; So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.\u201d Friend, if He is thy Lord, what more can you wish? What better Lord could you have? What more loving Lord? What more providing Lord? What more caring Lord? There is none to be compared with Him. The Church says so in the Song of Solomon. He is \u201cthe chiefest among ten thousand.\u201d \u201cHe is altogether lovely.\u201d May that be in our hearts. May we all, by God\u2019s grace, be found among these \u2018daughters of Jerusalem\u2019 who hearkened; who had an ear to hear, by grace. They consider. They are made to consider. They are made to stand still and ponder matters before the Lord. They incline to what He has to say. They forget that which would hinder; that which would hold them back. And they find there is One who greatly desires their beauty. Boaz desired Ruth\u2019s beauty. He spread his skirt over her. Isaac desired the beauty of Rebekah in a natural way \u2013 a wonderful type of a precious Christ. May we be numbered among that people who will one day sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb, as the fruit of the very words we have before us this evening. May God add His blessing.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

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There can be no doubt, in the discerning mind, of whom the psalmist is speaking, particularly in the opening verses. It is one of those precious Psalms of prophecy concerning our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The first eight verses have to do with His glory as King, as the Son of God, and the One ordained of God to be the Head of the Church that He is now. The second part of the Psalm, beginning at where we are this evening and the verse before, has to do with the King\u2019s bride; the Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":480,"featured_media":22558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1728],"tags":[1239],"class_list":["post-26428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gerald-buss","tag-sovereign-grace"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/480"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26428"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26430,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26428\/revisions\/26430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.baptists.net\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}