Songs 1:4 Draw me, we will run after you: the king has brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in you… The spouse has been singing the praise of her Beloved. The Church has been chanting to the honour of the Church's Head. There is nothing gives the spouse so much delight as to be able to set forth the glory of her Husband and her King. She cannot find words sweet enough to express her admiration of Him. She loves Him better than all else, and her love is better than a banquet of wine. She is happy in the song, but just while she is at her happiest, there seems to float across her sky clouds, dark and heavy clouds. She remembers, for a moment at all events, that all do not love Him as she does. "Oh," she seems to say, "I love Thee, yet all do not share in my affection." But the cloud does not tarry long; it is gone when she remembers that the upright love Him, that all whose love is worth having love Him, so she cheers her heart again with this glad thought that there are some who hold Him at His true worth, some who count Him fairest of the fair, and dearest of the dear. Then is it that she speaks, not always in the first person, but sometimes in the third, for she loves to get them to join the strain and all rejoice to sing the self-same song. All ye who love Jesus, have you not all felt the same? I learn from this text, first, that Jesus well deserves His people's highest love. Take the revised version of the text, "Rightly do they love Thee." He well deserves His people's love, first, because of His great affection for His people. "We love Him because He first loved us." This is the charm of Christ's love, that it is ever the same, that it never changes, that it stands the strain of our unfaithfulness and lack of love, and He has proved it over and over again. Did He not leave His glorious throne to tabernacle with men? Did not He live? Did not He die? Did not He rise again, all for your sake and for mine? Lord Jesus, rightly do we love Thee I Lord, we love Thee, because Thou art so lovely and so lovable. "Thy very name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love Thee." The purer we are the more we shall love all that is pure. I love to think of this, that the Lord Jesus delights to have His people happy in His love, to see them trusting Him and familiar with Him. Who can chide us for loving our dearest friends? Lastly, there is that other version in the margin of the Authorized Version which tells us that they love Thee uprightly. I understand from this that those who love Jesus must love Him in the best possible style and greatest possible degree, love with utmost love. You love Christ, you are conscious of that; but that love of yours must count best. You must love uprightly. Now, I want you to search your hearts to see if you love Him as He deserves. Do you long for fresh tokens of His affection? Your love is not of the right sort unless you are constantly pressing forward to closer proximity to the Master. Here is another test. Have you great joy in His sacred Person? We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. I do believe that true love to Jesus means much joy to every one of us. My heart does leap at the sound of His name. There is something wrong in the heart if it does not thus respond to His affection. I would that you were happy Christians. The clouds that darken the sky are gilded with this love. I pray you revel in His love. It is better than wine. Be as those who feast. (T. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. |
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