The few
words, beloved Christian friends, I have to speak this evening, are in
connection with the first portion of Holy Scripture, contained in the Song of
Solomon.
It should
be in our hearts to seek to enter into the spiritual meaning of this most
precious Book. I do not know one single part of God’s testimony which more
effectually acts like a spiritual thermometer, to show how it is with regard to
our affection for the Person of our adorable Lord Jesus the Messiah, than this portion of the Word of God, called the Song of Solomon. And this portion,
to which our attention is directed, if
entered into with regard to ourselves, would bring an abundant blessing to our
souls.
Now let us
read this verse and gain some understanding as to its meaning “A garden enclosed
is my sister, my spouse;" we are called a "spouse," the most
intimate of all unions. How does this happen, that we are in this most intimate of
all unions? By reason of that deep sleep of death which fell upon Jesus. That
Blessed One died in our stead, in order that we might have life, in order that
we might be brought into this most intimate of all relationships to him, in
order that we should be his spouse. Now this sister is called a “garden
enclosed,” "a spring shut up," “a fountain sealed;" these three
different figures are employed. A "garden inclosed:" let me here
observe that I judge the meaning is not what is commonly stated. A "garden
inclosed": the very word "garden” implies that it is inclosed; a
portion of land taken away from other parts, enclosed by a hedge or wall, or
somehow or other inclosed and cultivated afterward. It is this very thing
which constitutes it to be a garden. But it is not simply said a "garden,”
there is something added regarding the garden, and that is, that it is
“barred," “bolted," "shut up," just like this spring, and
this “fountain sealed"; that is the particular point: not that this
portion of land is inclosed, but that this inclosed field is shut up, that it
is not accessible to everyone. The owner goes in and out as he pleases; he has
a right to this piece of land; this Garden; but it is bolted, it is barred, it
is shut up, and not accessible to everyone. Just as he who sealed the fountain
may alone break the seal; and he who shut up the spring may break away that by
which it is shut up, and may partake of the refreshing draughts of this
fountain: that is the particular point. Now, what is meant by this figure of
"a bolted Garden," "a spring shut up," "a fountain
sealed"? We are our Lord's property, he has bought us with his precious
blood; thus we are his and not our own. The right to the Garden is his, the
bolts and keys are his, the fountain is his, the spring is his; all belong to
that Blessed One, who bought us with his precious blood.
Do we feel in our inmost souls that all we have and are belongs to the Messiah? He has bought our persons, our talents, and our time? Do we feel that he has bought our eyes, our hands, our feet? Do we feel that our houses and lands, our horses and carriages, belong to him? that all the money we have is his, that our profession or business is his, that everything we have and are is his? Oh! if our inmost souls entered into it, what Christian men and women should we be from this time forward.
Do we feel in our inmost souls that all we have and are belongs to the Messiah? He has bought our persons, our talents, and our time? Do we feel that he has bought our eyes, our hands, our feet? Do we feel that our houses and lands, our horses and carriages, belong to him? that all the money we have is his, that our profession or business is his, that everything we have and are is his? Oh! if our inmost souls entered into it, what Christian men and women should we be from this time forward.
Now beloved
in the Messiah, as we are come here not to pass an hour or two for amusement,
but in order that our inmost souls may be affected, that we may become more holy
and devout, “out and out" consecrated to the Lord; oh! let us seek to
enter into this glorious fact, that the Lord Jesus the Messiah has bought us
with his precious blood, that “out and out" we are his, and not our own;
and that not for this evening, or tomorrow, merely, but that all the days of our
life, we and all we have and are, belong to the Lord. Oh! let us ask God to
seal this upon our hearts, and to seal it so, that from this evening and
henceforth we shall never be able to lose sight of this truth. This, I judge,
is the great practical point that the Holy Spirit would bring before us in this
portion.
Now we read
the next verse: “Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant
fruits; camphire with spikenard, spikenard, and saffron; calamus and cinnamon,
with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.”
What is this? The Lord Jesus coming into his Garden, and the grace he sees in
his Church; - the grace he sees in his spouse, his sister: the Bridegroom able
to take delight and joy and pleasure in what he sees in his people. Beloved
in the Messiah, the great practical point is; is it thus with me?
When I was
meditating upon this portion last Sunday evening, I said to myself, “Lord, let
it become thus with me; help me, that it may become thus with me.” Oh that it may be
thus with ourselves, individually; and that it may be thus not only “now and
then," when we are under special spiritual influences, or under special
spiritual guidance, such as the present may be; but that day by day, from
Monday morning until Saturday evening, and all the day though, all week
long, all the year-round, we may be in the “fear of the Lord.” It is just
this which, with the blessing of God, will make an effect upon the consciences
of the unconverted. When they see that we are in earnest, that there is the reality of our profession as disciples of the Lord Jesus the Messiah; when they
are able to say, “Look at that man, he is just what he was twenty, or thirty,
or forty years ago.'"
And so goes
on that man or woman, day by day, week by week, month after month, and year
after year, always in the fear of God, always setting the Messiah before him.
Oh, if it were thus with us, beloved in the Messiah, what testimony would our
lives be to an ungodly world! More than this, how we should strengthen each
other's hands in God! We are all members of the Body of the Messiah, the called-out Assembly, and each one has a duty
to perform, in order that his fellow-believers may be helped on. We should not
be simply satisfied with reading that Jonathan went into the wood to strengthen
the hands of David; but we should ask ourselves, “Do I strengthen my brethren
and sisters? Do I lend them a helping hand when they are tried and afflicted
and weak? When they are falling, do I seek to strengthen their hands in God? Again, in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, we read, “Edify one another
even as also you do.” Do we build up one another, and seek to encourage and lead
on one another in the knowledge of the Messiah? How is it with us regarding these
points? Is it true of us that we are not merely plants and trees, but
fruit-bearing trees in the Lord's Garden? Oh! beloved in the Messiah, is our
life and walk day by day a sweet perfume to the Messiah? Just let us ask
ourselves, and deal honestly with our lives this evening; and before we go away
let us ask ourselves, as before God, the question, Is my life and are my actions a sweet savor unto the Messiah? Do I refresh the heart of my Lord?
Thus it might be, thus it ought to be, beloved in the Messiah. Oh let us aim
after it, that it may be thus; and if we honestly ask the Lord that he would
help us, we should most assuredly experience the fulfillment of the promise of
the Lord Jesus, contained in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, the
twelfth verse: “For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundantly.” And we should verily experience the truth of the precious
statement of the apostle Paul, “I can do all things through the Messiah, who
strengthens me.”
The next
verse, the fifteenth, “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and
streams from Lebanon Lebanon
What the Lord Jesus the
Messiah looks for is this, that since he has graciously been pleased to give
unto us the Holy Spirit, it should be true of us individually, “that out of us
flow rivers of living water.” And I would say, that, if we more expected it, we
should have more, and if our life and walk and deportment were more as it
becomes a disciple of the Lord Jesus, we should, by the grace of the Spirit,
refresh others, and out of us would verily flow “rivers of living water";
as was the case in the days of the apostles. The office of the apostles we
cannot have; and if any were to come and tell us that they were apostles, we
should at once say that they were liars. But while we cannot have the office of
the apostles, the grace of the apostles we should seek after. It may be true of
the saints of the Most High now in this latter part of the nineteenth century,
as it was true of them in the days of Paul, that out of them will “flow rivers of
living water.” And if, beloved in the Messiah here present, we were expecting
this and were praying for this, that we might be men and women out of whom
should “flow rivers of living water," we should find that verily Yehovah
is as good as His Word and that He would give us help and strength that this might come about.
The last
verse, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that
the spices thereof may flow out.” Possibly the way in which I understand this
verse may differ from the way in which one or other of my beloved brethren
understand it. The meaning, as I understand it, is this, the called-out
Assembly responding, and the called-out Assembly delighting to give joy to the
heart of her beloved Bridegroom. The called-out Assembly wishing to refresh Him
by her sweet savors and pleasant fruits, says, “Awake, O north wind; and come,
thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my
beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” I understand the
whole of this verse, and not simply the last words thereof, to be a statement
of the called-out Assembly: the beloved is speaking to the bridegroom in order
to refresh his heart; and so the saints of the Most High should ever look above
and say to themselves, How can I give joy to the heart of my blessed Lord? He
has laid down his life for me, what can I do for him, how can I serve and
glorify him? And lest any say, I am poor, or I am young, or I have not much
learning, I have been but recently brought to the knowledge of the Lord, I
say, everyone who is a believer in the Lord Jesus the Messiah, and a partaker
of the Holy Spirit, regenerated and renewed, has it in his heart to refresh and
gladden the heart of the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Oh let us never say, “I can do
nothing to give joy to the heart of my blessed Lord.” We can do it, and the
Lord Jesus the Messiah looks for it that we should do it. He has given the last
drop of his blood for us, and went through everything that was necessary for
our salvation; and now is he looking that we, on our part, seek his glory, and
refresh his heart, in return for all he has done for us. And thus it comes that
the called-out Assembly desires to gladden the heart of the Lord Jesus, and she
says, “Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits.”
Now notice
the response of the Blessed One in the first verse or the next chapter, “I have come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my
spice, I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my
milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.” The first thing
I notice here particularly is this, it is all “My," “My," “My,"
because we belong to the Lord and have nothing in ourselves. It is My spice,
My Garden, My honeycomb, My honey, everything belonging to the Lord Jesus. And
this we must never lose sight of, that however much we may be advanced in
knowledge and grace, yet we owe every particle of grace and knowledge to the
Lord. We must never stand before a spiritual looking-glass and think what we
have done, what we have attained to; but give all the honor and glory; not in
word only, for that is a little thing, but in our inmost souls, to him to
whom it is alone due: the Lord Jesus Christ claims it all for himself. It is My
Garden, My sister, My spouse, My myrrh, My spice, My honeycomb, My honey, -
everything belongs to Him.
And then at
the close of the verse, “Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O
beloved.” “Be drunken in love," as it should be, or at least might be
rendered. And here let me say particularly if there is one thing more than
another after which we should aim, it is an increase of love. Oh! when we think
of it, that there is a possibility of being drunken in love, what a blessed,
blessed, blessed thing to set before us, to be aiming after this, to be
drunken in love, to be filled with love. Oh, beloved in the Messiah, let it be
our holy, godly aim, to know something or this for ourselves! And these blessed
meetings may be a great stimulus to us to aim after an increase of love. That
is one of the special objects why we come together; not so much that we may
instruct one another, but that we may excite one another to an increase of
love. Oh let us aim after this! “God is love.” And just in measure as we are
helped on to increase in love, so, and only in so far, do we become more like
God.
A Sermon by
George Muller edited by Bruce Lyon
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