08 - Chapter 08
Chapter 8 - Monday Evening, July 12th ------------------------------
NO SUFFICIENCY BUT IN PRESENT FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST.
(Read Song of Solomon, Chapter 5.)
Mr. Hudson Taylor:―This is an important chapter of a most instructive book. In the first section of the book (chapter 1:1—2:7) we find the Bride brought into restful, abiding communion with the King of kings. We might imagine that when she had once tasted the joy of abiding in His love, she would be more than satisfied, and would never again depart from her Bridegroom’s side. In the second section (2:8—3:5) however, we find her back again in her father’s house. (Psalms 45:10) There her Beloved comes, and calls to her, but makes no attempt to enter. He says to her, “Rise up, My love;” but He does not ask her to open to Him. No entreaty on her part, no love on His, would ever induce Him to enter there. His word is this: “Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away.” With most loving entreaty, even when she has drifted back into worldliness, He allures her out; and by-and-by we find this second section ends with her as restored to the arms of the loving Bridegroom, who a second time adjures the daughters of Jerusalem “to stir not up nor awake His love, till she please.” (In Song of Solomon 2:7, Song of Solomon 3:5 and Song of Solomon 8:4, “Till he please” (A.V.), “Till it please” (R.V.) should read “Till she please.”)
Next we have a section of happy unbroken communion between the Bride and the Bridegroom extending from chapter 3:6 to 5:1. But again, after all this, in the portion we have read tonight, we find the Bride and the Bridegroom separated; once more He is outside. She is not indeed back in the world again; she has learned to avoid that. But she is possessed by a spirit of sloth and self-indulgence that are far removed from His spirit; and if there are not battlements and parapets between them, we find her alone in the bedroom making her ease. She has washed her feet, and is careless of the poor souls that are wandering in the mire. She is leaving them to their fate; and is dwelling not on their need, but on her own cleansing and happiness. She is looking for a time of rest through the dark night; and intends to sleep on in luxurious comfort, thankful that she is safe, washed and cleansed. The poor victims of sin and Satan are left to the foe who does not slumber! But ah! where is the Bridegroom all this time? She has lost him; He is outside!
Again He comes to her with touching words: “Ah, My Bride, is there to be a closed door between us again? Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled!” More tender His words, if possible than even those He addressed to her when she had turned back to her father’s house. Then He said: “Rise up, My love;” then He called her His dove; then He said: “Let Me see thy countenance, let it be for Me. Don’t let your beauty be for the world—have I not bought and redeemed you out of the world, and will you yet go back and give these graces to those who hate Me?” But here He speaks in words even more endearing; “Open to Me, My sister” (He is the first-born among many brethren), “My love”—“the object of My heart’s devotion, My dove” (and the dove especially reminds us of the gifts and graces of the Spirit), “My undefiled” (washed, renewed and cleansed for ME)! And now He puts before her the great Pattern―
“For My head is filled with dew, “My locks with the drops of the night.”
“Ah! My Bride, do you want to rest before the Bridegroom rests? Are you going to be content to put off your coat, to wash your feet, to live in the spiritual enjoyment of your own safety and purity, before the Bridegroom’s heart can find rest? There are sheep on the dark mountains; and there are those once in the fold who have wandered back again into the pitfalls of sin. ‘My head is filled with dew: My locks with the drops of the night,’ and can you leave Me to go alone? Shall I be seeking for the lost and the perishing through the darkness, and have no fellowship from My bride—no companionship in the sorrow and toil? Will you not go with Me?
“’Open to Me, my sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled, ‘For My head is filled with dew, ‘My locks with the drops of the night!’”
She hears these words, she knows what they mean, yet she says―
“I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?
“I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?”
Ah, how possible it is to go to Holiness Conventions, and attend Workers’ Conferences, to rejoice in all the good things brought before us, and yet be unprepared to go out from them to rescue the perishing! If we can put our coat off, while He keeps His on; if we can wash our feet, while He is wandering alone on the mountains, there is surely strange want of fellowship!
She raises tardily, and He puts His hand by the hole of the door, and would fain open the door, and allure her into the wilderness; but alas! There is a bar, and His effort is in vain. And when He finds Himself barred out, in grief He withdraws! The Bride slowly opens to her Beloved—perhaps more careful to see that her hands are dropping with myrrh, than to be quick to open the lock for Him to enter: more particular about cultivating her graces, than about welcoming the Bridegroom.
“I opened to be Beloved, “But my Beloved had withdrawn Himself and was gone!”
Then, you notice, though she sought Him, she could not find Him: though she called, He gave her no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found her and smote her. It was not so the first time (See chapter 3) she sought him. Then she arose and went about the streets, and when the watchmen found her she had only to ask the question—“Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?” She did not pass on so easily the second time.
“The watchmen that go about the city found me, “They smote me, they wounded me, “The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.”
She seems to have been almost in despair as she turns to the daughters of Jerusalem―
“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved, “That ye tell Him that I am sick of love.” The daughters ask her―
“What is thy Beloved more than another beloved, “O thou fairest among women?
“What is thy Beloved more than another beloved, “That thou does so adjure us?”
Then begins a confession, testifying to the real beauty and glory of the Object of her affections, into which we have not time to enter. (It is interesting to compare this description of the glorious One with that in the commencement or Revelation, and note the differences as well as the similarity.) But notice the result of her thus speaking of Him Who is altogether lovely. The daughters of Jerusalem are stirred up, and they say―
“Whither is thy beloved gone, “O thou fairest among women?
“Whither hath thy Beloved turned Him, “That we may seek Him with thee?”
Now she is engaged in the right work: she has attracted other hearts to the Good Shepherd; and it is not long before He himself finds His seeking Bride. Then what gracious words He speaks to her. There is no look even of reproach or upbraiding!
“Thou art beautiful, O My love, as Tirzah (the beautiful capital of Samaria), “Comely as Jerusalem (the chosen city of the Great King), “Terrible (or, rather, brilliant) as an army with banners.”
He does not say much about her beauty when she is in the bedroom, so restful and clean! But now, when she is no longer fearing to wander in the night: when she is winning these daughters of Jerusalem to seek Him, He gives a heat-ravishing description of her beauty; and thus we find communion fully restored.
Now all this is very instructive. Do we want to keep with the Bridegroom? Do we want, as in the fourth chapter, to live in the constant enjoyment of His presence, and to win His commendation:―
“Thou art all fair, My love, “And there is no spot in thee.”
I have wondered sometimes how such language as this could be truthfully used as believers. It used to perplex me to read how God could testify of Israel, that he had not seen perversity in them. I used to wonder how He could see anything else! The real secret is this: that our position is that of the mirror. (2 Corinthians 3:18 (R.V.) When Jesus sees us with our face turned full towards Himself, He sees nothing but His own reflection. Should we not keep ourselves so looking to Him that He will see only the reflection of Himself? We not only want the world to see the reflection of Jesus in us, but that the Bridegroom may see only His own reflection, so that He may be able so speak to us thus. But note what is His next word when He sees Himself so reflected.
“Come with Me.”
“Now you are fit for service; you will not misrepresent Me—you have tarried in Jerusalem, you have been endued with power, now come with Me.”
“Come with ME from Lebanon, My Bride, “With Me from Lebanon;
“Look from the top of Amana.
“From the top of Senir and Hermon, “From the lions’ dens, “From the mountains of the leopards.”
What are lions’ dens when we are leaning on the Bridegroom’s arm; or mountains of leopards when He says, “Come with Me”? “I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” (Psalms 23:4) On the other hand, it is while thus toiling in service, that He says―
“Thou hast ravished my heart, My sister, My bride, “Thou has ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, “With one chain of thy neck.” Is it not wonderful how the heart of our Beloved can be thus ravished with the eyes of one who is prepared to accept His invitation and go forth with Him seeking to rescue the perishing! May God grant that the remainder of our service may be spent in one continuous going forth with Him—not alone, (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5) for “Lo, I am with you always.” He will never fail us, never forsake us, never leave us in any emergency. And going forth with Him, leaning on our Beloved, what may we not accomplish for him? What may He not accomplish through us? “I can do all things through Christ Who strengtheneth me,” was the word of one who knew much of his master’s presence; may it be true of every one of us. THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
“The snow was drifting o’er the hills, “The wind was fierce and loud, “While the Good Shepherd forward pressed, “His head in sorrow bowed.
“‘O Shepherd rest; nor further go—
“‘The tempest hath begun!’
“‘I cannot stay, I must away “‘To find My wandering one.’
“A thorn-wreath bound the gentle brow “That beamed with pity sweet;
“and marks of wounds were on His hands “and scars were on His feet.
“Again I said, ‘O Shepherd rest, “‘The tempest hath begun!’
“He murmured, ‘Nay, I must away “‘To find My wandering one.’
“‘But since Thy flock are all secure, “‘Why to the height repair?
“‘Since Thou hast ninety-and-nine at home, “‘Why for a truant care?’
“‘More needy far than all the rest “‘Is that poor struggling one, “‘I cannot stay, I must away “‘To find My wandering one.’”