Psalms 45:6

"Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever:

The sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness:

Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee

With the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

We have no respect for the devices which men use in order to soften these words, or change their meaning. We know what the meaning is, because the inspired author of the Book of Hebrews has told us. The Hebrew passage reads:

"Who maketh his angels winds,

And his ministers a flame of fire:

But of the Son he saith,

Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever;

And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity;

Therefore God, thy God hath anointed thee

With the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Hebrews 1:8-9).

In this New Testament passage, the inspired writer quotes from this 45th psalm, affirming that it speaks of "The Son," namely, the Christ, the Son of God; and the feeble voice of unbelievers denying the truth of this is of no significance whatever. Christians who allow so-called `scholars' to pervert the meaning of this passage are making the same mistake that Eve made when she allowed Satan to explain God's Word to her.

Some have tried to make the passage here mean, merely, that "God's throne is forever and ever"; but as Rhodes pointed out, "The poet here uses the word God as he addresses the king."[15] Of course, Rhodes went on to add that, "This does not mean that the poet regarded him literally as God." However, the author of Hebrews affirms that such was indeed his actual meaning; and we have no doubt whatever that the author of Hebrews was correct. The King addressed prophetically here is Christ; and he had every right to be called "God." Indeed Christ is called by that title no less than twelve times in the New Testament.

"Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (Psalms 45:7). This is a second time that Christ is prophetically addressed here as God. It is not true that "thy God" is merely a parenthesis; no such parenthesis was necessary to explain the identity of God, there being only one. Therefore, the first God here is a direct address to the Messiah, prophetically.

And this anointing? What is that? It is a reference to the anointing of Christ with the Holy Spirit upon the occasion of his baptism, when the Spirit of God in the form of a dove descended, alighted upon him, and remained. This interpretation derives from the typical anointing oil which was used in the case of Aaron the High Priest.

If this Glorious One loves righteousness and hates iniquity, "It is because God has anointed him with the oil of Gladness";[16] and, of course, there was never any `oil' that could do such a thing. It refers to the Holy Spirit which was typified by the oil that anointed Aaron.