UNRESTRAINED COMMUNION
Cant. viii. 5-14
WE have now reached the closing section of this book, which, as we have
seen, is a poem describing the life of a believer on earth. Beginning in
Section I. (Cant. i. 2-ii. 7) with the unsatisfied longings of an
espoused one--longings which could only be met by her unreserved
surrender to the Bridegroom of her soul--we find that when the surrender
was made, instead of the cross she had so much feared she found a King,
the KING of LOVE, who both satisfied her deepest longings, and found His
own satisfaction in her.
The second section (Cant. ii. 8-iii. 5) showed failure on her part; she
was lured back again into the world, and soon found that her Beloved
could not follow her there; then with full purpose of heart going forth
to seek Him, and confessing His name, her search was successful, and her
communion was restored.
The third section (Cant. iii. 6-v. 1.) told of unbroken communion.
Abiding in Christ, she was the sharer of His security and His glory. She
draws the attention, however, of the daughters of Jerusalem from these
outward things to her KING Himself. And, while she is thus occupied with
Him, and would have others so occupied, she finds that her royal
Bridegroom is delighting in her, and inviting her to fellowship of
service, fearless of dens of lions and mountains of leopards.
The fourth section (Cant. v. 2-vi. 10), however, shows again failure;
not as before through worldliness, but rather through spiritual pride
and sloth. Restoration now was much more difficult; but again when she
went forth diligently to seek her LORD, and so confessed Him as to lead
others to long to find Him with her, He revealed Himself and the
communion was restored, to be interrupted no more.
The fifth section (Cant. vi. 11-viii. 4), as we have seen, describes not
only the mutual satisfaction and delight of the bride and Bridegroom in
each other, but the recognition of her position and her beauty by the
daughters of Jerusalem.
And now in the sixth section (Cant. viii. 5-14) we come to the closing
scene of the book. In it the bride is seen leaning upon her Beloved,
asking Him to bind her yet more firmly to Himself, and occupying herself
in His vineyard, until He calls her away from earthly service. To this
last section we shall now give our attention more particularly.
It opens, as did the third, by an inquiry or exclamation of the
daughters of Jerusalem. There they asked, "Who is this that cometh out
of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, etc.?" but then their attention
was claimed by the pomp and state of the KING, not by His person, nor by
that of His bride. Here they are attracted by the happy position of the
bride in relation to her Beloved, and not by their surroundings.
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her Beloved?
It is through the bride that attention is drawn to the Bridegroom;
their union and communion are now open and manifest. For the last time
the wilderness is mentioned; but sweetly solaced by the presence of the
Bridegroom, it is _no wilderness to the bride_. In all the trustfulness
of confiding love she is seen leaning upon her Beloved. He is her
strength, her joy, her pride, and her prize; while she is His peculiar
treasure, the object of His tenderest care. All His resources of wisdom
and might are hers; though journeying she is at rest, though in the
wilderness she is satisfied, while leaning upon her Beloved.
Wonderful, however, as are the revelations of grace and love to the
heart taught by the HOLY SPIRIT through the relationship of bride and
Bridegroom, the CHRIST of GOD is more than Bridegroom to His people. He
who when on earth was able to say, "Before Abraham was, I am," here
claims His bride from her very birth, and not alone from her espousals.
Before she knew Him, He knew her; and of this He reminds her in the
words:--
I raised thee up under the citron-tree;
There thy mother brought thee forth.
He takes delight in her beauty, but that is not so much the cause as the
effect of His love; for He took her up when she had no comeliness. The
love that has made her what she is, and now takes delight in her, is not
a fickle love, nor need she fear its change.
Gladly does the bride recognize this truth, that she is indeed His own,
and she exclaims:
Set me as a seal upon Thine heart, as a seal upon
Thine arm;
For love is strong as death;
Jealousy (ardent love) is cruel (retentive) as the
grave;
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
A very flame of the LORD.
The High Priest bore the names of the twelve tribes upon his heart, each
name being engraved as a seal in the costly and imperishable stone
chosen by GOD, each seal or stone being set in the purest gold; he
likewise bore the same names upon his shoulders, indicating that both
the love and the strength of the High Priest were pledged on behalf of
the tribes of Israel. The bride would be thus upborne by Him who is
alike her Prophet, Priest, and King, for love is strong as death; and
jealousy, or ardent love, retentive as the grave. Not that she doubts
the constancy of her Beloved, but that she has learned, alas! the
inconstancy of her own heart; and she would be bound to the heart and
arm of her Beloved as with chains and settings of gold, ever the emblem
of divinity. Thus the Psalmist prayed, "Bind the sacrifice with cords,
_even_ unto the horns of the altar."
It is comparatively easy to lay the sacrifice on the altar that
sanctifies the gift, but it requires divine compulsion--the cords of
love--to retain it there. So here the bride would be set and fixed on
the heart and on the arm of Him who is henceforth to be her all in all,
that she may evermore trust only in that love, be sustained only by that
power.
Do we not all need to learn a lesson from this? and to pray to be kept
from turning to Egypt for help, from trusting in horses and chariots,
from putting confidence in princes, or in the son of man, rather than in
the living GOD? How the Kings of Israel, who had won great triumphs by
faith, sometimes turned aside to heathen nations in their later years!
The LORD keep His people from this snare.
The bride continues: "The flashes of love are flashes of fire, a very
flame of the LORD." It is worthy of note that this is the only
occurrence of this word "LORD" in this book. But how could it be omitted
here? For love is of GOD, and GOD is love.
To her request the Bridegroom replies with reassuring words:--
Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can the floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance of his house
for love,
It would utterly be contemned.
The love which grace has begotten in the heart of the bride is itself
divine and persistent; many waters cannot quench it, nor the floods
drown it. Suffering and pain, bereavement and loss may test its
constancy, but they will not quench it. Its source is not human or
natural; like the life, it is hidden with CHRIST in GOD. What "shall
separate us from the love of CHRIST? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in
all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creation [R.V. margin], shall be able
to separate us from the love of GOD, which is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD."
Our love to GOD is secured by GOD'S love to us. To the soul really
rescued by grace, no bribe to forsake GOD'S love will be finally
successful. "If a man would give all the substance of his house for
love, it would utterly be contemned."
Freed from anxiety on her own account, the happy bride next asks
guidance, and fellowship in service with her LORD, on behalf of those
who have not yet reached her favoured position.
We have a little sister,
And she hath no breasts:
What shall we do for our sister
In the day when she shall be spoken for?
How beautifully her conscious union with the Bridegroom appears in her
expressions. "_We_ have a little sister," not _I_ have, etc.; "what
shall _we_ do for our sister," etc.? She has now no private
relationships nor interests; in all things she is one with Him. And we
see a further development of grace in the very question. Towards the
close of the last section she recognized the Bridegroom as her
Instructor. She will not now make her own plans about her little sister,
and ask His acquiescence in them; she will rather learn what his
thoughts are, and have fellowship with Him in His plans.
How much anxiety and care the children of GOD would be spared if they
learned to act in this way! Is it not too common to make the best plans
that we can, and to carry them out as best we may, feeling all the while
a great burden of responsibility, and earnestly asking the LORD to help
_us_? Whereas if we always let _Him_ be our Instructor in service, and
left the responsibility with _Him_, our strength would not be exhausted
with worry and anxiety, but would all be at His disposal, and accomplish
His ends.
In the little sister, as yet immature, may we not see the elect of GOD,
given to CHRIST in GOD'S purpose, but not yet brought into saving
relation to Him? And perhaps also those babes in CHRIST who as yet need
feeding with milk and not with meat, but who, with such care, will in
due time become experienced believers, fitted for the service of the
LORD? Then they will be spoken for, and called into that department of
service for which He has prepared them.
The Bridegroom replies:--
If she be a wall,
We will build upon her battlements of silver;
And if she be a door,
We will inclose her with boards of cedar.
In this reply the Bridegroom sweetly recognizes His oneness with His
bride, in the same way as she has shown her conscious oneness with Him.
As she says, "What shall _we_ do for our sister?" so He replies, "_We_
will build . . . _we_ will inclose," etc. He will not carry out His
purposes of grace irrespective of His bride, but will work with and
through her. What can be done for this sister, however, will depend upon
what she becomes. If she be a wall, built upon the true foundation,
strong and stable, she shall be adorned and beautified with battlements
of silver; but if unstable and easily moved to and fro like a door, such
treatment will be as impossible as unsuitable; she will need to be
inclosed with boards of cedar, hedged in with restraints, for her own
protection.
The bride rejoicingly responds, "I am a wall"; she knows the foundation
on which she is built, there is no "if" in her case; she is conscious of
having found favour in the eyes of her Beloved. Naphtali's blessing is
hers: she is "satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the
LORD."
But what is taught by the connection of this happy consciousness with
the lines which follow?
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
He let out the vineyard unto keepers;
Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a
thousand _pieces_ of silver.
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,
And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.
The connection is, we believe, one of great importance, teaching us
that what she _was_ (by grace) was more important than what she _did_;
and that she did not work in order to earn favour, but being assured of
favour, gave her love free scope to show itself in service. The bride
knew her relationship to her LORD, and His love to her; and in her
determination that He should have the thousand pieces of silver, her
concern was that her vineyard should not produce less for her Solomon
than His vineyard at Baal-hamon; her vineyard was herself, and she
desired for her LORD much fruit. She would see, too, that the keepers of
the vineyard, those who were her companions in its culture, and who
ministered in word and doctrine, were well rewarded; she would not
muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn; a full tithe, nay a double
tithe, was to be the portion of those who kept the fruit and laboured
with her in the vineyard.
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How long this happy service continues, and how soon it is to be
terminated, we cannot tell; He who calls His servants to dwell in the
gardens, and cultivate them for Him--as Adam of old was placed in the
paradise of GOD--alone knows the limit of this service. Sooner or later
the rest will come, the burden and heat of the last day will have been
borne, the last conflict will be over, and the voice of the Bridegroom
will be heard addressing His loved one:--
Thou that dwellest in the gardens,
The companions hearken to thy voice:
Cause Me to hear it.
Thy service among the companions is finished; thou hast fought the good
fight, thou hast kept the faith, thou hast finished thy course;
henceforth there is laid up for thee the crown of righteousness, and the
Bridegroom Himself shall be thine exceeding great reward!
Well may the bride let Him hear her voice, and, springing forth in heart
to meet Him, cry:--
Make haste, my Beloved,
And be Thou like to a roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices!
She no longer asks Him, as in the second section:--
Turn, my Beloved, and be Thou like a roe or a young
hart
Upon the mountains of Bether [separation].
She has never again wished Him to turn away from her, for there are no
mountains of Bether to those who are abiding in CHRIST; now there are
mountains of spices. He who inhabits the praises of Israel, which rise,
like the incense of spices, from His people's hearts, is invited by His
bride to make haste, to come quickly, and be like a roe or young hart
upon the mountains of spices.
Very sweet is the presence of our LORD, as by His SPIRIT He dwells among
His people, while they serve Him below; but here there are many thorns
in every path, which call for watchful care; and it is meet that now we
should suffer with our LORD, in order that we may hereafter be glorified
together. The day, however, is soon coming in which He will bring us up
out of the earthly gardens and associations to the palace of the great
KING. There His people "shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the LAMB, which
is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters; and GOD shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes."
The SPIRIT and the bride say, Come! . . .
Surely I come quickly.
Amen; even so, come, LORD JESUS!
APPENDIX
THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM
THE question is frequently asked, Who are represented by the daughters
of Jerusalem?
They are clearly not the bride, yet they are not far removed from her.
They know where the Bridegroom makes His flock to rest at noon; they are
charged by the Bridegroom not to stir up nor awaken His love when she
rests, abiding in Him; they draw attention to the Bridegroom as with
dignity and pomp He comes up from the wilderness; their love-gifts adorn
His chariot of state; they are appealed to by the bride for help in
finding her Beloved, and, stirred by her impassioned description of His
beauty, they desire to seek Him with her; they describe very fully the
beauty of the bride, but, on the other hand, we never find them occupied
with the _person_ of the Bridegroom; _He_ is not all in all to them;
they mind outward and earthly things.
Do they not represent those who, if not actually saved, are very near
it; or, if saved, are only half-saved? who are for the present more
concerned about the things of this world than the things of GOD? To
advance their own interests, to secure their own comfort, concerns them
more than to be in all things pleasing to the LORD. They _may_ form part
of that great company spoken of in Rev. vii. 9-17, who come out of the
great tribulation, but they will not form part of the 144,000, "the
first-fruits unto GOD and to the LAMB" (Rev. xiv. 1-5). They have
forgotten the warning of our LORD in Luke xxi. 34-36; and hence they are
not "accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to
pass, and to stand before the SON of Man." They have not, with Paul,
counted "all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
CHRIST JESUS the Lord," and hence they do _not_ "attain unto" _that_
resurrection from among the dead, which Paul felt he might miss, but
aimed to attain unto.
We wish to place on record our solemn conviction that not all who are
Christians, or think themselves to be such, will attain to that
resurrection of which St. Paul speaks in Phil. iii. 11, or will thus
meet the LORD in the air. Unto those who by lives of consecration
manifest that they are not of the world, but are looking for Him, "He
will appear without sin unto salvation."
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh._
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Transcriber's Note: Text uses both Shulamite and Shulammite.