The Footsteps of the Flock

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? as one...: or, as one that is veiled If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. - Song of Solomon 1:7-11

    “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.”

    I direct your attention to just three things in these verses. These three things ought to be matters of great concern to all who read these lines.

    1. A question asked

    In verse seven a question is asked. Here it is the Bride, the Church, speaking to him whom her soul loves, the Lord Jesus Christ. Every word, every syllable of this question is worthy of our careful meditation.—“Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.” That question expresses an intense longing for Christ’s manifest presence. Do we know anything about this? Is there in our souls an intense longing to be in the sweet fellowship of Christ?

    It is both wise and comforting to God’s people to flee to Christ in every time of need (Heb. 4:16). The ungodly rush to and fro in search of help and peace. They find no real consolation anywhere. But the believing heart flies as naturally to Christ as the rabbit does to its den. In him alone can we find refuge for our souls.

    “Other refuge have I none,

    Hangs my helpless soul on Thee:

    Leave, oh leave me not alone,

    Still support and comfort me.”

    We have much which causes us to blush with shame before our beloved Savior. We are black with sin. We labor too much for the cares of this world. We are terribly neglectful both of our Lord and our own souls. Still, though we are so full of evil, and so unworthy of his grace, we must cling to Christ. He is all we have and all we want. Indeed, this is the very reason why we must cling to him!

    We must never let our sins keep us from Christ. Under a sense of sin, do not run from him, but rather run to him. Sin may well drive us away from Moses and Mt. Sinai, but it ought to draw us to Christ and Mt. Calvary. Christ will not reject us because of our sin. He will not deal with us harshly when we run into his arms. Rather, he will comfort and protect all who do.

    Notice the spirit in which this question is asked. It is not, “O thou whom my soul believes in.” That would be true; but she has gone further. It is not, “O thou whom my soul honors.” That is true, too; but she has passed beyond that stage. Nor is it merely, “O thou whom my soul trusts and obeys.” She is doing that; but she uses warmer and more tender language than that. Her soul is full of fire and enthusiasm. She says, “Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth.”

    This question arises from a heart of love for Christ. Whatever she may feel herself to be, she knows that she loves him. She is black and ashamed of herself, but still she loves her Bridegroom. She has not kept her own vineyard as she should have. She knows that and acknowledges it. Still, she loves him. She loves him as she loves no one else in all the world. Only Christ could claim such a title as this - “Thou whom my soul loveth.” No one in all the world can be compared to him. He has no rival. He is the Lord of every believer’s heart. He is the monarch of our affections.

    Our love, to be sure, is not worthy of him, but we love him supremely and we love him intensely. It is this love for Christ which governs our hearts and motivates our lives (2 Cor. 5:14). Others serve by the rigorous rule of the law. The believer serves Christ from a heart of love. Settle this matter in your own heart. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? (1 Cor. 16:22).—Do you serve him out of fear? Do you serve him because of your desire for gain? Or, do you serve him because you love him?

    This question is addressed to Christ himself. “Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.” She goes directly to him. She desires to have him speak directly to her heart. We love to hear the gospel. We love to read the gospel message. But the thing we desire is to hear it from Christ himself. If he will but speak the Word directly to our hearts by the power of his Spirit, then our souls shall be fed and refreshed.

    Now, look at the question itself. She desires to know where Christ is and where he feeds his flock, where he meets with and refreshes his people. “Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon.”—What is the bread with which the Son of God feeds his people’s souls? It is the gospel of God’s free and sovereign grace in him (sovereign election, effectual redemption, free justification, absolute forgiveness, immutable grace, and everlasting love (Jeremiah 6:16).—What are those promises by which the Lord Jesus comforts and refreshes his own in the heat of the day? They are sure, covenant promises which are “yea and amen” in him.

    2. An argument urged

    Being in earnest about her soul and her Beloved, the Bride is not content merely to raise a question. She presses for an answer, urging her question with an argument.—“For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?”

    John Gill suggested that these “companions” are not real companions of Christ, “But false friends, hypocrites and heretics, rivals with him, who set up schemes of worship and doctrine in opposition to his.” He was probably right. Satan is a wise and crafty enemy to our souls. He knows that we are not likely to turn aside and follow men who openly oppose Christ. Therefore, he makes his ministers the ministers of righteousness (self-righteousness). We are ever pressed to turn aside from Christ to pursue this or that.

    There are many pretended companions of Christ, who allure our souls. There has always been an abundance of false teachers and those who follow them. Some have been turned aside from worship in the spirit to religious ritualism. Others have been turned aside from looking to Christ alone for righteousness to a legal righteousness of their own making. Some have turned aside from free grace to free will, from the gospel of Christ to Arminianism. Many are turned from Christ by pressure from husband or wife. There are many who turn aside from the gospel of Christ to provide religious toys for their children. Many are turned aside from the simplicity of Christ crucified to search out “deeper” things: church order, prophetic mysteries, and Bible codes. Multitudes are turning aside to legalism. They leave Christ for Moses. They forsake Calvary for Sinai. They turn from grace to law.

    Be warned! - Satan does not care what you turn to, so long as you turn from Christ. If he can get you to leave Christ for anything, he has won the day. Why should we be as those who turn aside by the flocks of Christ’s pretended companions, when we can walk with Christ himself? It grieves me to see any leave Christ, turning aside to follow something or someone other than Christ. But why should we be turned aside from him?

    When the multitudes turned and walked no more with Christ, he turned to his disciples and said, “Will ye also go away?” With Peter we must answer, why should we be turned aside unto the flocks of thy companions? “Lord, to whom shall we go?” We have found all that we need and desire in him.

    Why should we turn aside by the flocks of others and miss his fellowship? There may be reason for others to leave him, but not for us. His rich, free, eternal, redeeming love has bound us hand and foot, so that we cannot leave him.

    If it should ever come to pass that the local church or denomination of which you are a member turns aside from Christ, you will be wise to turn aside from that church and denomination (Rev. 18:4); but do not turn aside from Christ. Why should we leave him (Lk. 22:35)? Is there anything your soul needs that you do not find in him in infinite abundance? Is not his pardon sufficient? Is his righteousness not enough? Is there another comforter to compare to his Spirit? Is anyone or anything more effectual to reprove our sin and unbelief, or to motivate our hearts?

    Let us endeavor to live in fellowship with Christ himself. We seek not the blessings of his hand, but the presence of his person. It is good to have the truth of Christ; but it is better to have Christ himself. If we miss his fellowship, if we turn aside from him, his truth will have no aroma. If we lose fellowship with Christ, we will have the standard, but not the Standard Bearer. We might have the candlestick, but there will be no light upon it. If we miss the fellowship of Christ, will we not be stripped of our strength, our joy, and our comfort?

    Let us take up this prayer and make it our own.—“Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?”

    “Thou, O Christ, art all I want!

    More than all in Thee I find!”

    3. An answer obtained

    She asked him where he fed, where he made his flock to rest at noon. And now the Lord Jesus replies to his beloved Bride. He speaks in love to comfort her heart and assure her.

    First, the Lord tells us how beautiful his people are in his eyes (vv. 8-11). In our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, we are black and scornful. But in his eyes we are fair and comely. I would rather trust his eyes than my eyes. If my eyes tell me that I am black, I will weep. But if he assures me that I am fair in his eyes, I will believe him and rejoice. This is what the Son of God says to all who are washed in his blood, robed in his righteousness, and united to him by faith.—“O thou fairest among women,…I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.”

    Christ sees us in the beauty of his own imputed righteousness and declares that we are perfectly beautiful (Ezek. 16:13-14).

    “In thy Surety thou art free.

    His dear hands were pierced for thee:

    With his spotless garments on,

    We’re as holy as God’s own Son!”

    Christ does not exaggerate the beauty of his people. In him we are perfectly beautiful and gloriously complete, so much so that we may confidently exclaim, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” This is not only what we shall be, experimentally, when he is finished with us (Eph. 5:25-27). This is what we are in him now!

    In this passage (vv. 9-11), our Lord uses a well known picture of royal beauty to typify the beauty of his people in him. He compares us to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots. Each one is specially chosen, very costly, exceedingly beautiful, and very strong. Next, he shows how he has adorned us by his grace, with rows of jewels—The graces of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22), and chains of gold—The blessings of graces in him (Eph. 1:3-14). Then, he tells us what will yet be done for us.—“We” (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit), “We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.” This is obviously symbolic, picturing our everlasting bliss and glory with Christ in the heavenly Jerusalem (Isa. 54:11-12; Rev. 21:18-21).

    Now, look at the Lord’s answer to our question. – “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents” (vv.7-8).

    Here is his word of instruction for our hearts.—“Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.” He tells us where to find him, where to find food and rest and refreshment for our souls. If you would find Christ, you will find him in the way of the holy prophets, in the way of the patriarchs, and in the way of the apostles. Follow the footsteps of the flock, feed by the tents of his shepherds, and you may find him.

    What are the footsteps of the flock? They are the paths in which God’s people have always walked. They are the paths of the Lord’s sheep. They are not hard to find. They are plain and clear. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob walked in these paths. These are the paths of David, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Peter, James, John, and Paul followed these paths. Let us walk in them, too. “The footsteps of the flock” are the path of faith and trust, submission and obedience, righteousness and godliness, love and kindness, and doctrinal truth (Jer. 6:16).

    Who are these shepherds, by whose tents we must feed? There are many in these days who have set themselves up as shepherds, who feed their sheep in poisonous pastures. Keep away from them. Do not follow a man. Do not cling to a church. Find a man who is preaching the gospel of Christ, and feed by his tent. The church where the gospel is preached is the shepherds’ tent. The man who is preaching the gospel is one of Christ’s shepherds (Jer. 3:15). Find a man who is like Paul, “Determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified,” and you can safely feed by his tent. Those who are the true servants of Christ preach Christ, they preach all of Christ, and they preach nothing but Christ.

    Let others turn aside if they must to the empty cisterns of religious philosophy. We have found a refreshing fountain of life in Christ himself, and we have found rich pastures for our souls in these blessed doctrines of the gospel.