Songs 4:16-5:1 Awake, O north wind; and come, you south; blow on my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden… Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. I am come into my garden." It is a sign of spiritual health when we heartily desire God's best gifts; when our prayer is the prayer of faith; when we ask and have. But it is a sign of higher attainment yet when we have but one desire, viz. the desire to have the Giver with us rather than his gifts. A wife highly prizes the love tokens she receives from her absent lord, but she values far more highly his personal return. So, if we are wise, we shall more desire to have Christ in our hearts than any gift of light or strength. "Let my Beloved himself come." To have the source of life is better than having the streams. If Christ is with me I shall want nothing. I. THE CHURCH'S INVITATION TO HER LORD. 1. She addresses him by an endearing title, "My Beloved. In dealing with Jesus we need make no reserve of our affection. He will never resent our largest confidence. The mere suggestion borders on the profane. If we know anything, we know whether we love the Saviour. Love to him is the same thing in kind, as love to an earthly friend. We may stand in doubt whether Jesus has love to us personally, although such a doubt is sin. But we need never be in doubt whether love to him glows in our hearts. Many tests are available; and when love, however scanty, is found, Jesus delights to hear himself thus addressed, My Beloved!" Then is he King within, firm seated on the throne. 2. She recognizes the garden to be his property. Yes; and not only is the garden his, but each particular tree, each separate fruit. Every holy principle within us he himself planted. It was planted by his own right hand. It has been trained and pruned by his watchful care. Every blossom has been under his protection. The fruit has been stored with juice from his treasuries. It is a delicious joy if I can feel that every grace in me is the handiwork of Jesus. Am I prayerful? Jesus has been teaching me. Am I meek and self-forgetting? Jesus has been busy in me, and has gently moulded my nature. Much trouble has he taken to bend my proud will. No earthly gardener has such labour to produce fruit in his trees as Jesus has to make us fruitful in holiness and love. And the more abundant our spiritual fruits are, the more readily shall we ascribe all the praise to him. 3. Here is a strong desire to give our Master pleasure. "Let him come; let him eat his pleasant fruits." This is spoken after the manner of men. It is a peculiar joy for a man to walk in his own garden, and to eat the ripe fruit he himself has carefully nurtured. A similar joy our Lord tastes. But is any virtue or goodness in us so ripe and sweet that Jesus can find joy in it? What generous condescension does he show in partaking of our meekness, and patience, and faith, and sacred zeal! Just as a father finds peculiar pleasure in listening to the first imperfect lispings of his child, and hears sweet music in the broken words, so Jesus sees in our imperfect graces the promise of future good, the promise of illustrious service, the promise of high attainment. Never did a friend show such generous appreciation of our loyalty. To be fruitful in Christian graces is in itself an ample reward, but to know that every attainment in goodness we make adds to our Saviour's joy is a higher reward still. Who will not brace every nerve to bring new pleasure to Immanuel! We seek our joy in the heavenly paradise; Jesus seeks his joy in us. "I am glorified in them." II. THE BRIDEGROOM'S PROMPT RESPONSE. "I am come." 1. Observe how swift is the reply. No advantage, in this case, will come from silence or delay. The Church has asked the best thing, and she shall at once have it. Here he has acted up to his own promise, "Before they call I will answer." That selfsame desire to have Christ's presence was a desire planted and nourished by himself, therefore he answered the desire before it developed into spoken prayer. Already he had visited that garden, and sowed the seed of noble ambition. Now it has grown to fruitage, and he has come to enjoy it. We have never to wrest this gift from a clenched hand; it is a gift waiting our acceptance. Before the invitation is despatched he is knocking at the door. "I am come." 2. Mark the harmony of feeling and purpose between Christ and his people. The Church has learnt a lesson of unselfishness from her Lord. Aforetime she had desired him to come for her profit, or for her pleasure; now she asks him to come for his own gratification. She thought that he would find delight in the graces and excellences which flourish in the Church, and her spiritual instincts were true to fact. This is a delightful discovery. When our thoughts harmonize with Christ's thoughts, when our dispositions are the counterpart of his, when one mind, one will, one aim, dwells in the Saviour and the saint, then is heaven begun on earth. This is joy unspeakable; the foretaste of beatific rest. This is the completion of the sacred covenant. This is his seal impressed on us. 3. Note the satisfaction which Jesus finds in his saints. This series of metaphors is suggestive of many meanings. In our holy principles, in our sacred dispositions, in our prayers and our praises, in our words and self-sacrificing deeds, Jesus takes delight. The myrrh and spice may indicate the perfume of our intercession, or the pleasure which he finds in our harmony of praise. Since he has constructed all musical harmonies, and fashioned the human voice to produce this minstrelsy, surely he is moved to delight when love to him stirs all the powers of song. Every endeavour to please him, every aspiration after holiness, every noble purpose, every act of self-denial, all efforts toward a freer communion with him, - these are fruits of the Spirit, in which Jesus finds delight. Blurred as these are with imperfection, we count them very unworthy, and perhaps too much underrate them. If Jesus appreciates them, and derives satisfaction from them, is not this great encouragement to bring forth more fruit? Many products of nature are here brought into service to illustrate a Christian's spiritual fruitfulness. One has said that wine may represent those labours of ours which result from deep thought, self-denial, and generous consecration, for wine must be pressed from the grape with toil and care. But milk is a natural production, and may represent those little deeds of kindness which flow from a quiet outgushing of daily love. A vigorous fancy will find a hundred suggestions in these similitudes. The essential lesson is this, that the Son of God has a large accession of joy from all forms of genuine piety. His people are his vineyard, his inheritance, and in them he finds delight. III. A GENEROUS PARTICIPATION. "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." The satisfaction which Jesus finds, he forthwith shares with his chosen. If there be a smile on the Bridegroom's face, it will soon communicate itself to the bride. If the Head have gladness, so will all the members in the mystical body. 1. Jesus uses very tender titles to designate his saints. He calls them "friends." The old explanation of a friend suits well in this place, viz. one soul dwelling in two bodies. Jesus completely identifies himself with us. Once we were aliens, enemies, rebels, but the old enmity is changed into a sacred and inseparable friendship. Jonathan gave proof of his friendship with David when he stripped himself of raiment and put it upon his friend. But our Immanuel has surpassed all orders of creatures in his practical deeds of kindness. Further, he calls them his "beloved." He presseth into service every human form of speech. May I take this word as addressed to me? Most certainly I may, for I am not excluded. No saint has attained to this rapturous privilege by any personal merit. "He died for the ungodly." Though the chief of sinners, "he loved me; he gave himself for me. Yes; mystery though it is, it is also plainest among facts, that into my penitent heart Jesus comes to dwell, and into my ear he whispers this endearing word, Beloved." 2. Observe the provisions prepared. They are of two kinds, viz. food and drink. Very properly may we regard the food as revealed truth. To appreciate the eternal facts of God's redemption, this is solid food. This is the manna which cometh down from heaven. The only food for the hungry soul is truth. "Christ said not to his first conventicle, Go forth and preach imposture to the world,' But gave them truth to feed on." This is heavenly nutriment, and is indispensable. And what else can the drink be, but the mercy of our God, flowing from the fount of his eternal love? All truth and all grace are in Jesus; hence he says to us, "He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." 3. Mark the fulness of the entreaty. "Drink; yea, drink abundantly." No generous host likes to see his guests making pretence of eating or drinking. It implies that they doubted his welcome, and took care to have a meal before they came. This is dishonouring to the giver of the feast. And Jesus will have none of that. He knows well that the thirst of the soul can be allayed nowhere but from him. He knows well that no one can have a surfeit of his mercy. Of other things we may eat and drink more than is for our good, but of the love of Christ we cannot have too much. The love we partake in shall become in us "a well, springing up unto everlasting life." However much we take, we do not diminish the supply. Trembling at his table, I have sometimes said, "Lord, I am too unworthy to sip a drop of thy mercy. My sin is unusual, crimson, aggravated." But he straightway replies, "For thee it is provided. Drink; yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." - D. Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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