Why Do We Love Him

The song of songs, which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. thy...: Heb. thy loves Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. 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. the upright...: or, they love thee uprightly - Song of Solomon 1:1-4

    “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. 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.”

    In many ways the Song of Solomon is the most precious and most refreshing of the Books of Inspiration. It is a book altogether about fellowship and communion with Christ. It is not in any sense to be interpreted literally. It is spiritual. It is an allegory, a spiritual dialogue between Christ our heavenly Bridegroom and the church his Bride.

    John Gill wrote, “The whole Song is figurative and allegorical; expressing, in a variety of lively metaphors, the love, union, and communion between Christ and his church; setting forth the several different frames, cases, and circumstances of believers in this life.” There is no case, no circumstance, no spiritual condition that we may be in, regarding our relationship to Christ, which is not expressed in this sacred Song of Love.

    C. H. Spurgeon said, “This Book stands like the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and no man shall ever be able to pluck its fruit, and eat thereof, until first he has been brought by Christ past the sword of the cherubim, and led to rejoice in the love which hath delivered him from death. The Song of Solomon is only to be comprehended by men whose standing is within the veil. The outer court worshippers, and even those who only enter the court of the priests, think the Book a very strange one; but they who come very near Christ can often see in this Song of Solomon the only expression which their love to their Lord desires.”

    In these opening verses of this “song of songs” we see the cry of a renewed heart to Christ, the great Object of its love. These verses are not so much a description of our Lord as they are an expression of love to Christ and the desire of a renewed heart for his fellowship and some token of his love.

    All who know the Lord Jesus Christ love him (1 Cor. 16:22; 1 John 4:19; John 21:17). A true, saving revelation and knowledge of Christ always creates an ardent love for Christ. To know him is to love him. It is not possible for a person to have a saving knowledge of Christ without a true heart of love for Christ. Any who do not love Christ, truly, sincerely, and above all others, simply to not know him.

    Communion

    Here is the first things that I want you to see. I hope that you can enter into it. The one thing all believers want is for Christ to manifest his love to their hearts in sweet, intimate communion. Our hearts’ desire is expressed in the words of verse two, – “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.”

    The Song begins very abruptly, without any introduction. It opens with a cry of love to Christ, a desire for some manifestation of his love. It is the picture of a bride whose husband has been away for some time. But now she is anticipating his return. With hope, expectation, and delight she cries, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” Oh, that our Redeemer might return to us and smother us with the kisses of his grace!

    Jeremiah Burrowes once wrote, “Permission to kiss the hand of a sovereign is considered an honor; but for that sovereign to give another the kisses of his mouth, is evidence of the tenderest affection, and is the highest possible honor.”

    What we want is some fresh manifestation of our Savior’s love, some fresh evidence of his affection to us. Nothing could have been more delightful to the returning prodigal than the fact that his father ran to greet him and that, “He fell on his neck and kissed him.” Nothing is sweeter or more precious to our souls than the kisses of mercy, love, and grace. Oh, that he might smother us with the kisses of his mouth! A kiss from the Savior’s mouth is a token of his deep love. A kiss from his mouth is an evidence of complete pardon, forgiveness, and acceptance. The ardent kisses of his mouth are so many evidences of his great love, deeply felt and freely bestowed.

    We rejoice in his daily providence. We give thanks for his covenant mercy. We delight in his written Word. But what we ardently desire is for Christ himself to manifest himself to us by the gracious influences of his Spirit. We give thanks for his providence. We rest in his promises. We rejoice in his power. But we want his presence.—We want him!

    We long for Christ himself, because we know by experience that his love is better than wine. Wine is a comforting, strengthening, exhilarating beverage. It rejoices the heart, revives the spirits, and soothes the nerves of a man. But the love of Christ is far better than the best of wine. When the love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, it is like drinking some heavenly wine. Oh, that we might have this blessed intoxication that we might be filled with the wine of his love.

    We rejoice in the knowledge of his love. It is without beginning. It is without change. It is without measure. It is without end.—Electing Love! -- Redeeming Love! -- Saving Love! -- Preserving Love! -- Everlasting Love! Still, we long to taste his love in our daily experience. It revives languishing spirits. It comforts troubled hearts. It strengthens weak souls. It refreshes thirsty hearts.

    If . . .

    If the Lord is pleased to draw us by the cords of his love, we will run after him. – “Draw me, we will run after thee” (v. 4). I hope we recognize our need. We need Christ. We want him. We want him to revive our hearts, enliven our souls, and quicken us. But I know that he must do the work for us. We cannot revive ourselves.

    Here is an acknowledgment and a prayer.—“Draw me.” We acknowledge our own weakness and inability. Though we may know our need of and truly long for an awakening of our souls and the reviving of our hearts, Christ alone can revive and awaken us. We cannot work up a revival, or even pray it down. Revival does not depend upon the actions of the church or the abilities of the preacher. It is the work of Christ alone. Make this your prayer. If you want him, so earnestly want him that your heart aches for a manifestation of his love, pray like this - “Draw me,” O Lord, “Draw me to thyself.’

    How does Christ draw his people to himself? He draws us by the gracious influence of his Spirit, by the manifestation of himself through the Word of his gospel, and by the irresistible power of His love.

    If the Lord will draw us to himself, then we will follow him. If he makes us know the constraint and attraction of his love, we will run after him. Then, no service will be too demanding. No obstacle will be too hard. No sacrifice will be too great.

    Knowledge

    Our hearts burn with love for Christ, because we know him.—“Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee” (v. 3). I repeat myself deliberately.—If we truly know Christ by faith, if he has been revealed in our hearts, we love him supremely. “We love him because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This is the true testimony of every true believer. His love for us precedes our love for him. His love for us causes our love for him. But we do truly love him.

    His many attributes are to us a sweet smelling ointment. There is no aspect of his character, no attribute of his nature that is in the least measure repugnant to us. We love him because he is who he is. Believing sinners love Christ as he is revealed in the Scriptures (Ps. 45:1-9; Rev. 1:10-20). His holiness and his goodness, his justice and his mercy, his righteousness and his grace, his power and his tenderness, his immutability and his compassion, his wisdom and his sympathy, his wrath and his love, his judgment and his salvation, are all “good ointments” in the estimation of our souls.

    We have looked him over from every point of view, as the Holy Spirit has revealed him to us, and this is our conclusion: -- “He is altogether lovely.” There is not one attribute, not one word, not one act of our Lord that does not enhance his beauty to our hearts. In his humiliation, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, in his exaltation, in his majestic sovereignty, in his glorious coming, in his strict judgment, and in his everlasting glory—“He is altogether lovely!”

    His name, by which he has revealed himself, is like an enchanting perfume to our souls. “The virgins,” those who have been made pure by him, love the Lord because of his name. His name is Immanuel - “God with us.” His name is Jesus - “Jah-Hosea.” “Divine Savior.” His name is Christ - “God’s anointed.” His name is “The LORD Our Righteousness.”

    In the eyes of others our adorable Savior has no form, nor comeliness for which they might desire him. But in the eyes of his own he is truly precious. He is fairer than ten thousand. In comparison with him, all others must be despised. We are made to cry, “Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth I desire beside thee.’

    Charles Simeon said this of Christ’s church and Bride: “She is altogether occupied with the savor of her Beloved’s name, the perfume of which makes every other odor worthless at least, if not nauseous and offensive. In a word, so entirely does this beloved Object fill her soul, that with him a dungeon would be heaven; and without him, heaven itself would be a dungeon.”

    Rejoice

    I do not know what the Lord may be pleased to do for us in this day. In the midst of wrath, I pray that he will remember mercy, that he will revive his work. It is my earnest hope, it is the burden of my heart, it is the cry of my soul that he may be pleased to send us a mighty awakening. I pray that he will reveal himself in our midst. Yet, whatever he does, or does not do, we must, even in our times of spiritual emptiness and barrenness, rejoice in our Savior and in his love. – “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” (v. 4).

    We must not despise the grace he has bestowed upon us. We must not murmur against his providence. When he speaks and when he is silent, when he sends refreshing and when he sends barrenness, when he reveals himself and when he hides himself, let us rejoice in the Lord. We have abundant reason to rejoice and be glad.

    Christ has accepted us as his own. The King has brought us into his chambers! Let us ever remember his love. We have many proofs of it. He may for a time hide his face from us, but he loves us still. Even now, though our hearts may seem dull and heavy, we love the Lord our Redeemer. We will wait before him in loving submission. Whatever he is pleased to do, we will love him. We have reason enough to do so, who can say, -- “My Beloved is mine, and I am his!”