In Psalm 49:9, the Church is described as standing at the right hand of Jesus in the most beautiful and costly garments. This shows the readiness of The Bride of Christ at Jesus’ Second Coming and her refinement in all of it’s fulness (Revelation 3:18, 1 Peter 1:7). The image is of a bride who is prepared and ready on her wedding day. Leading up to this description of The Bride, were the descriptions of Jesus’ garments; verses 7-8 show Jesus as “anointed with the oil of gladness” and his garments being scented with aloes and spices. Albert Barnes writes in Notes on the Bible, “The literal translation would be, “Myrrh, and aloes – cassia – all thy garments;” that is, they were so impregnated with perfumes that these seemed to constitute his very clothing.” This mirrors Song of Solomon 3:6-11 and points to the victorious work Jesus accomplished for his Bride as well as his total saturation in the Holy Spirit, which the oil of gladness may well be referring to.

The next verses, (vv.10-11) though an advancement in the Psalm, almost pull us away from the marriage scene, into the past preparation The Bride has undergone as she is urged three times to “forget” or leave her own people, her past, the world, her “father’s house”, and all that she has known, to be joined to her King. Perhaps she herself is remembering with fondness the choices she made for her bridegroom. It relates closely to the parable of the ten virgins in it’s exhortation to be ready for the wedding day, and has just as stern and shocking a feel as the parable in Matthew 25:6-10, as the exhortation comes after the wedding scene. This creates at once both a sense of urgency, desire, and awe. The seeming unreadiness of the Church today may cause many to think of Jesus’ coming as delayed, and truly all the virgins were sleeping in the parable, but we should not be drawn away from our pursuit and preparation for our union with Christ whether it be at the day of our death or the day of his Second Coming. If so, we too will look back in fondness at our preparation as the bride in Psalm 45.