Communion again Broken--Restoration
Cant. v. 2-vi.10.
The fourth section commences with an address of the bride to the daughters of
Jerusalem, in which she narrates her recent sad experience, and entreats their
help in her trouble. The presence and comfort of her Bridegroom are again lost
to her; not this time by relapse into worldliness, but by slothful
self-indulgence.
We are not told of the steps
that led to her failure; of how self again found place in her heart. Perhaps
spiritual pride in the achievements which grace enabled her to accomplish was
the cause; or, not improbably, a cherished satisfaction in the blessing
she had received, instead of in the BLESSER Himself, may have led to the
separation. She seems to have been largely unconscious of her declination;
self-occupied and self-contented, she scarcely noticed His absence; she was
resting, resting alone,--never asking where He had gone, or how He was
employed. And more than this, the door of her chamber was not only closed, but
barred; an evidence that His return was neither eagerly desired nor
expected.
Yet her heart was not far from Him; there was a
music in His voice that awakened echoes in her soul such as no other voice
could have stirred. She was still "a garden shut up, a fountain sealed," so far
as the world was concerned. The snare this time was the more dangerous and
insidious because it was quite unsuspected. Let us look at her narrative:--
I was asleep, but
my heart waked:
It is the voice of
my Beloved that knocketh saying,
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.
How often the position of the Bridegroom
is that of a knocking Suitor outside, as in His epistle to the Laodicean[4] Church: "Behold, I stand at the door, and
knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with Me." It is sad that He should be outside a
closed door--that He should need to knock; but still more sad that He should
knock, and knock in vain at the door of any heart which has become His own. In
this case it is not the position of the bride that is wrong; if it were,
His word as before would be, "Arise, and come away"; whereas now His word is,
"Open to Me, My sister, My love." It was her condition of
self-satisfaction and love of ease that closed the door.
Very touching are His words: "Open to Me, My
sister" (He is the first-born among many brethren), "My love" (the object of My
heart's devotion), "My dove" (one who has been endued with many of the gifts
and graces of the HOLY SPIRIT), "My undefiled" (washed, renewed, and cleansed
for Me); and He urges her to open by reference to His own condition:--
My head is filled
with dew,
My locks with the
drops of the night.
Why is it that His head is filled with the
dew? Because His heart is a shepherd-heart. There are those whom the FATHER has
given to Him who are wandering on the dark mountains of sin: many, oh, how
many, have never heart the SHEPHERD'S voice; many, too, who were once in the
fold have wandered away--far away from its safe shelter. The heart that never
can forget, the love that never can fall, must seek the wandering sheep
until the lost one has been found: "My FATHER worketh hitherto, and I work."
And will she, who so recently was at His side, who joyfully braved the dens of
lions and the mountains of leopards, will she leave Him to seek alone the
wandering and the lost?
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.
We do not know a more touching entreaty in
the Word of GOD, and sad indeed is the reply of the bride:--
I have put off my
coat; how shall I put it on?
I have washed my
feet; how shall I defile them?
How sadly possible it is to take delight
in conferences and conventions, to feast on all the good things that are
brought before us, and yet to be unprepared to go out from them to self-denying
efforts to rescue the perishing; to delight in the rest of faith while
forgetful to fight the good fight of faith; to dwell upon the cleansing and the
purity effected by faith, but to have little thought for the poor souls
struggling in the mire of sin. If we can put off our coat when He would have us
keep it on; if we can wash our feet while He is wandering alone upon the
mountains, is there not sad want of fellowship with our LORD?
Meeting with no response from the tardy bride,
her
Beloved put in His
hand by the hole of the door,
And "her" heart was
moved for Him.
But, alas, the door was not only latched,
but barred; and His effort to secure an entrance was in vain.
I rose up to open
to my Beloved;
And my hands
dropped with myrrh,
And my fingers with
liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of
the bolt.
I opened to my
Beloved;
But my Beloved had
withdrawn Himself, and was gone.
My soul had failed
me when He spake.
When, all too late, the bride did
arise,she seems to have been more concerned to anoint herself with the liquid
myrrh than to speedily welcome her waiting LORD; more occupied with her own
graces than with His desire. No words of welcome were uttered, though her heart
failed within her; and the grieved One had withdrawn Himself before she was
ready to receive Him. Again (as in the third chapter) she had to go forth alone
to seek her LORD; and this time her experiences were much more painful than on
the former occasion.
I sought Him, but I
could not find Him;
I called Him, but
He gave me no answer.
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.
Her first relapse had been one of
inexperience; if a second relapse had been brought about by inadvertence she
should at least have been ready and prompt when summoned to obey. It is not a
little thing to fall into the habit of being tardy in obedience, even in the
case of a believer: in the case of the unbeliever the final issue of
disobedience is inexpressibly awful:--
Turn you at My
reproof:
Behold, I will pour
out My Spirit unto you,
I will make known
My words unto you.
Because I have
called, and ye refused;
I have stretched
out My hand, and no man regarded;. . .
I also will laugh
in the day of your calamity. . .
Then shall they
call upon Me, but will I not answer;
They shall seek Me
diligently, but they shall not find Me.
The backsliding of the bride, though
painful, was not final; for it was followed by true repentance. She went forth
into the darkness and sought Him; she called, but He responded not, and the
watchmen finding her, both smote and wounded her. They appear to have
appreciated the gravity of her declination more correctly than she had done.
Believers may be blinded to their own inconsistencies; others, however, note
them; and the higher the position with regard to our LORD the more surely will
any failure be visited with reproach.
Wounded, dishonoured, unsuccessful in her search,
and almost in despair, the bride turns to the daughters of Jerusalem; and
recounting the story of her sorrows, adjures them to tell her Beloved
that she is not unfaithful or unmindful of Him.
I adjure you, O
daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved,
That ye tell Him,
that I am sick of love.
The reply of the daughters of Jerusalem
shows very clearly that the sorrow-stricken bride, wandering in the dark, is
not recognized as the bride of the KING, though her personal beauty does not
escape notice.
What is thy Beloved
more than another beloved,
O thou fairest
among women?
What is thy Beloved
more than another beloved,
That thou dost so
adjure us?
This question, implying that her Beloved
was no more than any other, stirs her soul to its deepest depths; and,
forgetting herself, she pours out from the fulness of her heart a
soul-ravishing description of the glory and beauty of her LORD.
My Beloved is white
and ruddy,
The chiefest among
ten thousand.
(see verses 10-16, concluding with)
His mouth is most
sweet; yea, He is altogether lovely.
This is my Beloved,
and this is my Friend,
O daughters of
Jerusalem.
It is interesting to compare the bride's
description of the Bridegroom with the descriptions of "the Ancient of Days" in
Dan. vii. 9, 10, and of our risen LORD in Rev. I. 13-16. The differences are
very characteristic.
In Dan. vii. we see the Ancient of Days seated on
the throne of judgment; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head
like the pure wool; His throne and His wheels were as burning fire, and a fiery
stream issued and came forth from before Him. The Son of Man was brought near
before Him, and received from Him dominion, and glory, and an everlasting
kingdom that shall not be destroyed. In Rev. i. we see the Son of Man Himself
clothed with a garment down to the foot, and His head and His hair were white
as wool, white as snow; but the bride sees her Bridegroom in all the vigour of
youth, with locks "bushy, and black as a raven." The eyes of the risen SAVIOUR
are described as "a flame of fire," but His bride sees them "like doves beside
the water brooks." In Revelation "His voice is as the voice of many waters. .
.and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword." To the bride, His
lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh, and His mouth most sweet. The
countenance of the risen SAVIOUR was "as the sun shineth in his strength," and
the effect of the vision on John--"when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one
dead"--was not unlike the effect of the vision given to Saul as he neared
Damascus. But to His bride "His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the
cedars." The LION of the tribe of Judah is to His own bride the KING of love;
and, with full heart and beaming face, she so recounts His beauties that the
daughters of Jerusalem are seized with strong desire to seek Him with her, that
they also may behold His beauty.
Whither is thy
Beloved gone,
O thou fairest
among women?
Whither hath thy
Beloved turned Him,
That we may seek
Him with thee?
The bride replies:--
My Beloved is gone
down to His garden, to the beds of spices,
To feed in the
gardens, and to gather lilies.
I am my Beloved's,
and my Beloved is mine:
He feedeth His
flock among the lilies.
Forlorn and desolate as she might appear
she still knows herself as the object of His affections, and claims Him as her
own. This expression, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine," is similar
to that found in the second chapter, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His"; and
yet with noteworthy difference. Then her first thought of CHRIST was of her
claim upon Him: His claim upon her was secondary. Now she thinks first of His
claim; and only afterwards mentions her own. We see a still further development
of grace in chapter vii. 10, where the bride, losing sight of her claim
altogether, says:--
I am my
Beloved's,
And His desire is
toward me.
No sooner has she uttered these words and
acknowledged herself as His rightful possession--a claim which she had
practically repudiated when she kept Him barred out--than her Bridegroom
Himself appears; and with no upbraiding word, but in tenderest love, tells her
how beautiful she is in His eyes, and speaks her praise to the daughters of
Jerusalem.
To her, He says:--
Thou art beautiful,
O My love, as Tirzah,
(the beautiful city
of Samaria,)
Comely as
Jerusalem,
(the glorious city
of the great King,)
Terrible (or rather
brilliant) as an army with banners.
Turn away thine
eyes from Me,
For they have
overcome Me. (See vv. 4-7).
Then, turning to the daughters of Jerusalem, He
exclaims:--
There are
threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,
And maidens without
number.
My dove, My perfect
one, is but one;
She is the only one
of her mother;
She is the choice
one of her that bare her.
The daughters saw
her, and called her blessed;
Yea, the queens and
the concubines, and they praised her, saying,
Who is she that
looketh forth as the morning,
Fair as the
moon,
Clear as the
sun,
Brilliant as an
army with banners?
Thus the section closes with communion
fully restored; the bride reinstated and openly acknowledged by the Bridegroom
as His own peerless companion and friend. The painful experience through which
the bride has passed has been fraught with lasting good, and we have no further
indication of interrupted communion, but in the remaining sections only joy and
fruitfulness.
[4] The Church of Popular Opinion, as pointed out by the Rev. Charles Fox in an address at Keswick, as the Church of Philadelphia is the Church of Brotherly Love.