Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Song of Solomon, Chapter 6. The name of the message is, Return,
Return, O Sheolamites. Song of Solomon, Chapter 6. We'll read verses 9 to 13 to get the context of our verses.
But our verses will be found in verses 11 to 13. 11 to 13. My dove, my undefiled, is but
one. She is the only one of her mother.
She is the choice one of her that bear her. The daughters
saw her and blessed her, yea, the queens and the concubines,
and they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners? I went down to the garden of
nuts to see the fruits of the valley and see whether the vine
flourished and the pomegranates budded. Wherever was I aware,
my soul made me like the chariots of Anibidib. Return, return,
O Shulamite. Return, return. we may look upon
the, what will you see in the Shulamite? As it were the company
of two armies. Now last week when we met to
study in our study in this wonderful book, we looked at verses eight
to 10 where we considered that Christ sees his bride as beautiful.
He sees her as beautiful and he loves her with an everlasting
love. So tonight I'd like us to consider verses 11 to 13,
which we'll finish this chapter. And we only have two chapters
left in this book. And we'll see the bridegroom
once again going down into his garden. Verse 11, I went down
into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley and
to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranate budded. Now,
several commentators said the nuts here are walnuts, considered
to be walnuts. And again, as the heavenly gardener,
our Lord goes down into his garden. And he beholds the various plants
that are within his garden. And this is a reminder that the
Lord is ever watchful over his people. He's ever watchful over
his people, ever caring for us and ever watching over us. And
his eyes, beloved God, are constantly set upon us, constantly set upon
us. The church is a garden and she's
a garden enclosed, sealed up, a spring shut up, a fountain
sealed. and various plants God's people of God's chosen to grow
there and produce fruit just like Brother John I know you
and Sister Ruth do garden and you go and you pick the plants
that you want to put in there and those are the only plants
you're going to put in your garden just like Christ he picks whatever
plants he wants to have in his garden and his garden is sealed
up and and surrounded, and guarded, and he watches over it, and he
tends to it, and he weeds it when he needs to weed it, and
he prunes it when he needs to prune it, and he takes care of
it. He takes care of it, and he's
constantly watching over it. He's a good gardener, and these
plants of God's chosen grow there, and they produce fruit, and they
produce fruit because of him, because of him, because of the
heavenly gardener. And Gil brings forth that it was popular for
newly married persons to get nuts and to throw them among
the children, this was a tradition I guess they had, to show that
they had renounced childish things. And this was something that they
would do. So with that in mind, let's read that again. I went
down to the Garden of Nuts to see the fruits of the valley
and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded.
Now these are the words of Christ declaring to the church where
he went and what he employed himself about. Remember he had
departed from her in verse two, my beloved has gone down into
his garden to the bed of spices to feed in the gardens and to
gather lilies. So our Lord speaks to his beloved
church and says though. I withdraw myself from you and
gave you no comfort for a while. Even then I had my eyes upon
you, right? And that's what he does. He always has his eyes
upon his people, always. He may withdraw from us. We've
looked at that a few times in this study in this book. He may
withdraw from us, but he never leaves us, does he? He never
does, he never does. His eyes are always upon us.
And he's always watching over his garden with tenderness and
love and care. And through you do not see him,
we do not see him at work in our lives, he's always there,
he's always there. And he says, I'll never forsake
the apple of my eye, never, or the work of my hands. And that's
what we are. Remember we saw today, we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. And there are various saints
in Christ's body, in spiritual garden, and they need much pruning
and trimming is gardens must be dressed, they must be pruned,
they must be trimmed, they must be clipped almost every day.
And the word of God convicts us, it builds us up, right? It does various things, it comforts
us, it brings us joy. So the gardener though needs
to take care of the plants, they need to be dressed. as they say. And some will have weeds growing
among them, and these weeds need to be pulled out. These weeds
need to be pulled out. Therefore, as a careful gardener,
the Lord weeds and prunes his garden. And again, several commentators
have brought forth that this nut refers to a walnut. Gill
brings forth, and Poole, Gill and Poole both bring forth this
about the garden of nuts. And I thought this was interesting,
and I wanted to add this in. I thought this was was very,
very informative and very, it brings it home for us as believers.
The various nuts, nuts which grew in the garden is the church.
True believers may be designed who like them have a hard outward
appearance but are valuable within, valuable within. They're born
again with the Holy Spirit of God. Having the true grace of
God in them and because of their diverse coverings. They have
an outward covering of the robe of Christ's righteousness and
the internal sanctification of the spirit. The husk in the shell
and the thin inward skin over the nut pictures the church and
during inflictions and troubles. The shell protects them during
these times and hidden inside is the grace of God, the hidden
man of the heart as they're born again by the Holy Spirit of God,
and that's signified by the kernel. or by the walnut inside the shell.
They will not fully appear until the shell or tabernacle of the
body is broken down, which is when we die, when we die. And because of their safety from
harm and pollution, amidst the storms of afflictions and persecutions
and temptations and pollutions of the world, the principle of
grace, like the kernel, remains unhurt and undefiled within the
shell. The shell protects that which
is inside. And that's the end quote. So
until we die, the hidden man is protected. Now, Christ comes amidst the
garden to see the fruit of the garden. And we know that any
fruit we produce as believers is what God has wrought in us. And that's the opposite of religion,
isn't it? Because they tell you, you gotta go and you gotta work
and you gotta do these things and you gotta be better and you
gotta produce more fruit. Well, I can't produce any fruit. Only the Holy Spirit working
in me produces fruit. And it's so freeing and liberating
to believe this. And it's wonderful. Again, I
went down to the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley,
to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded.
So the end of Christ coming into his garden is to see the fruits
of the vine, to see the fruits of the Spirit, to observe the
graces of the Spirit, the actings and exercise and growth of them
in his people. He sees that. I remember, I think
it was Henry said this in the message, and I just, kept a hold
of this and I thought it was wonderful. He said, you'll never
see growth in yourself. If you do, you're full of pride. But we never see growth in ourselves,
but other people will see our growth. Other people will see
our growth. And that's been my experience
through the years, is you observe people and you see growth in
them. You see them grow in Christ, and you see the graces of God
being worked out in them more and more. And it's wonderful,
but I just see myself as more and more of a sinner. Is it so
with you? That's what happens, isn't it? Yeah, but it's amazing. So the end of Christ coming into
his garden is to see the fruits of the vine, to see the fruits
of the Spirit, to observe the graces of the Spirit, the actings
and the exercise and the growth of them in his people. And this
comes about, right, by pruning and by all those things that
the gardener does. He carefully takes care of the
garden and watches over it. And he delights to be among those
who are people of contrite and in humble spirit. Turn, if you
would, to Isaiah 57, Isaiah 57. He delights to be among those
who are a people of a contrite and humble spirit. And why is
God's people a contrite and humble spirit? Because we've had revealed
to us who we are. We've had revealed to us what
we are. We're sinners. We're sinners. And so we're we're
a broken people, aren't we? We're broken. The Holy Spirit
breaks us. He breaks us. Now we still battle
with this flesh all the time. No, don't we? But look at this
in Isaiah, 57, 15, for thus say it, the holy, the high and lofty
one, the one, the one, one that inhabit the eternity whose name
is holy. So this is speaking of God. I
dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble. and to
revive the heart of the contrite ones. So God's people are contrite
people, they're humble people. Again, if you think you're humble,
you're not. But God's people are a humble
people and they're a contrite people. They are, even though
we don't think we are. Oh my. So they're planted in
fertile soil. God's people are planted in fertile
soil and watered with divine love. his plants, his garden,
and they flourish because God hath made it to be. Look at Psalm
one. I know this speaks of Christ, but but I also want us to look
at verse three, but I'll read verses one to three. But but
we are like a tree planted by the rivers of water because we're
in Christ. We're in Christ. Look at Psalm
one verses one to three. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. And we looked at today how we're comforted by God's
word, aren't we? And he shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in the season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. So God's people are like trees
planted by rivers of water. And it's the Holy Spirit that
works in us. and bringeth forth fruit in his season, notice that,
and his leaf shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper. So the budding of the pomegranates in our text there,
I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the
valley to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates
budded. The budding of the pomegranates may design the beginnings or
first putting forth of grace in the saints when we're first
born again, which Christ takes much notice of, one commentator
said, and is highly pleased with it because it's a work of the
Holy Spirit of God. Let's consider verse 12 now.
Verse 12. Or ever, I was aware my soul
made me like the chariots of Ammon, And here again the bridegroom
speaks to his bride. Our Savior tells us how that
he was overcome by our broken and aching hearts and how he
quickly returned to his people who cried after him. It is as
though his He said his love for his bride has compelled him to
return to her quickly. Matthew Henry comments thus,
the bridegroom suddenly felt a powerful, irresistible inclination
in her own bosom to return to his church as his spouse being
moved with her lamentations after him and her languishing desire
towards him. He could no longer keep his distance
from her. And we saw that again in verse
2 of this chapter. He flew back to her who is the
apple of her eye. And he came to the point where
he could no longer hide himself from her. Turn if
you would to Genesis chapter 45. Genesis chapter 45. And we'll read verses 1 to 7.
And this little portion here will bring it to life. The bridegroom could no longer
hide himself from the bride. And look at this in Genesis 45. Joseph had hid himself from his
brethren because of their evil actions to chastise them. And he came to a point where
he could no longer hide himself from them. He loved them. Even though they had mistreated
him, he loved them. His heart was full of love for
them. And he proclaimed to them that he was Joseph with tears.
So our Savior cannot and will not forever hide his face from
the objects of his love, from his bride. He may withdraw himself
for a time, but he will never hide himself fully from his bride. Look at Genesis chapter 45, verses
one to seven. Then Joseph could not refrain
himself before all them that stood by him. And he cried, Cause
every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him.
Well, Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. See, his brethren
didn't know who he was. They had no idea until he revealed
himself to them. We didn't know Christ at all. until he revealed himself to
us. Oh my. And he wept loud, and the Egyptians
in the house fell a herd. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
I am Joseph, doth my father yet live? And his brethren could
not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. They
were in fear. They probably thought, he's gonna
kill us. Just like Mephiboseth. Remember Mephiboseth? He comes
before David. And what's the words of David?
All the words that our master says to us. Fear not. Fear not. So they come before
Joseph and they probably thought, or he reveals himself, they probably
thought, we're done. He's gonna wipe us off. This
is the second man in all of Egypt. He just has to speak a word and
we're all dead. And Joseph said unto his brethren,
Come near to me, I pray you. Does not the Lord tell us to
come near to him? Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. And they came near. And he said,
I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now, therefore,
be not grieved nor angry with yourself that ye sold me hither.
For God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two
years hath the famine been in the land, and yet there are five
years in which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to
preserve you a posterity in the earth and to save your lives
by a great deliverance. Christ reveals himself to his
bride, beloved, his blood-bought bride. And though again he may
withdraw himself from her a little, he'll never leave her nor forsake
her. And here in this picture right here in Genesis, God sent
me before you to preserve you of posterity in the earth and
to save your lives by a great deliverance. And we who are redeemed
can say Christ has saved me by great deliverance, by great deliverance,
by the sacrifice of himself, by the shedding of his own precious
blood on Calvary's cross. And he was sent before us, wasn't
he? He was sent before us from eternity, beloved. He's the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. all in the purpose
and plan of God. And when the fullness of time
was come, he comes into this world. He comes into this world
to save us by a great deliverance. Oh, my. Wherever I was aware, my soul
made me like the chariots. Of Amenadip. Kuhl brings forth that the chariots
of Amenadib speak of the Lord swiftly coming to his church.
He comes swiftly to us. Ananiab, boy, I've been practicing
this word. Amenadib is supposed to be an
eminent charioteer who was well known and famous for his speed
in driving chariots. Several commentators had said
that this word is two words in Hebrew, meaning am I, meaning
my people, and nadib, implying their willingness. Poole then
brings forth this rendering, my soul set me on the chariots
of my willing, or as others, noble or princely people. So
Christ's love and gaze is set upon his people who are made
willing. And they are a noble and princely people only because
of him. Now turn, if you would, the first
Corinthians, I mean, first Peter, chapter two. And we close Sunday school with
this, these two verses, and they fit right in with this description
of a noble and princely people who are made willing, who have
obtained mercy. And we'll read these again. Speaking of God's people of his
elect, but she are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar people that she should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now
we'll get into that more in Sunday School next week, but look at
that, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. These are all benefits,
a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye may show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light. And what darkness we were in, which in times past were
not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Let's go back
to our text and. Song of Solomon, we look at the
last verse now. Verse 13. Return, return, O Shulamite,
return, return that we may look upon thee. What will you see
in the Shulamite? As it were, the company of two
armies. At the beginning of this verse,
we have the bridegroom calling his bride to return. And this word is repeated four
times. To signify both Christ's passionate
love to her and earnest desire of her to return. Now, some commentators
said that she's backslidden in this situation and he's calling
her to return, return. Picturing she's wandering and
it pictures us backsliding and she's saying return. He's calling
return, return, O Shulamite. Solomon, as the name of a man,
is precisely the same as Shulamite for a woman. Solomon there, Solomon's
name is the male name, and Shulamite is the same name for a woman. The bridegroom is wooing her
heart and calls for her to return to him. Return, return, oh Shulamite. Return, return, that we may look
upon thee. This is Solomon's chosen bride. I remember talking to someone
about election one time, and it was before I even knew Grace. I didn't know anything, and I
was talking to this person, and they were talking to me about
election. This was someone who believes
Grace, And I, to me it was a foreign thing when he starts talking
about God electing, electing a people. In that time I was
married to Vicki and we were in religion. And the young man looked at me
and he said, can I ask you a question? And I said, sure. And he said,
did you choose your bride? And I said, yeah. Why can't God
choose His then? What a great response, eh? God can choose whomever He pleases.
It's His bride. Vicki's my bride. I chose to
marry my bride. God chooses whomever He will. And He's chose His people. He's
chose His bride from before the foundation of the world. It's
wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
he's talking here to his chosen blood-bought bride. He's espoused to her and he's
given her his name because Shulamite, again, the Hebrew word is in
the feminine of the name Solomon. The Lord Jesus Christ has so
thoroughly made ourselves one with himself that he has given
us his name. He is our Solomon and we are
his Shulamites. Turn if you would to Jeremiah
chapter 23, and then put your finger in Jeremiah chapter 33. Now the Lord Jesus Christ in
Scripture is called the Lord Our Righteousness. And in another passage of the
Scripture by the same prophet, the church is so called too. All this seems to throw a light
upon our subject here before us in explaining why the church
is called Shulamite. She's taken His name. She's taken
His name. Jeremiah 23, verses 5 and 6. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and
a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and
justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. The Lord our righteousness. Now turn over to Jeremiah chapter
33. verses 15 and 16. In those days,
and at that time, will I cause the branch of righteousness to
grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness
in the land. In those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness. We know that Jerusalem pictures
the church. My, look at this with awe and
wonder, beloved, and see the tie-in with what we've looked
at in Song of Solomon, verse 13, tonight. Return, return,
O Shulamite, return, return, that we may look upon thee. She's
taken His name. Over in our passage in chapter
23, Christ is called the Lord Our
Righteousness. And then here in Jeremiah 33,
it's altered to show and prove that the Lord Jesus Christ as
the husband and the head of the church and his people, his bride,
becomes the Lord Our Righteousness. Now, that doesn't mean we become
God. That's not what that means. No, we're sinners. We're sinners. That means we take his name.
we take his name, just as a bride takes the name of her husband. He's the head of the church.
He's our heavenly bridegroom. And we, the blood-bought saints
of God, are his bride, his wife. And we are only made righteous.
We can only be called that because of the righteousness
of Christ, because of the righteousness of Christ, because of our union
with him. Again, he's the head and we're
the body, and this union becomes undeniable right there before
us in scriptures. He is Jehovah, the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our righteousness. He's
the author and finisher of this righteousness, beloved. And He
wove the coat of righteousness which we are clothed in by His
perfect obedience and by His life and by His sufferings and
His death upon the cross. He wove the coat of righteousness
and God is pleased. God is pleased. And the believer is clothed in
the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. And the union that
we have with Christ is undeniable. Again, he's the head and we're
the body. It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. clothed in the righteousness
of Christ by His perfect obedience in life and by His suffering
and death upon the cross where He satisfied God's law and justice
fully. Fully. And again, this righteousness
becomes ours by being wrought out for us by Him. By Him. It's what the commentators used
to say, an alien righteousness. Because it's not ours. It's not
ours. We know from scripture our righteousness
is like filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord. We know that. We
know that. We've been taught that, haven't
we? So this righteousness is imputed
to us. The word, this name Shulamite
means in the Hebrew, it means the perfect or the peaceful.
It's defined as the perfect or the peaceful. And think of this
in light of believers who are spotless and without blame before
God. Why? Because we are clothed in
his righteousness, because we're clothed in his righteousness.
We're still sinners while we're here upon this earth. But the
Lord Jesus Christ has given us his perfect, spotless righteousness. And this is what God sees us
clothed in. When he looks upon a believer,
he sees us clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It's amazing. Shulamite also means peaceful,
the peaceful. We have peace with God. Through
our Lord Jesus Christ. The Shulamites called the peaceful
peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We no longer have
enmity with God. We are justified by faith in
Christ Jesus our Lord. And we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the shedding of His precious
blood, God's wrath and justice is satisfied. That's wonderful
news for sinners. That's wonderful news. So do
you see, she's taken on His name. In Shulamite means, again, the
perfect or the peaceful. God sees no spot. Remember, we've
seen that, too, all through. And again, we're sinners, aren't
we? We know we are. But yet God sees no spot in us. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. Oh, we struggle. We struggle
all the time. But isn't it comforting to know
Isn't it comforting to know that he sees no blemish and no spot
in us? We're beautiful in his eyes.
Remember, we looked at that last week. We're beautiful in his
eyes. It's absolutely wonderful. Thou
art beautiful, my love. His terms are calmly as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army with banners. Oh, my. He sees us as absolutely beautiful. My dove, my undefiled is but
one. She is the only one of her mother.
She is the choice one of her that bear her. My dove, my undefiled. Verse nine. It's absolutely wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So Shulamite
means the perfect or the peaceful. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Again, we're no longer at enmity with our God. Our consciences,
we were cleansed by the precious blood of Christ. And the peace
with God that we have. Has been accomplished by Christ
alone. Accomplished by Christ alone.
Accomplished by his perfect life. Accomplished by his perfect work
of redemption. Accomplished by his death as
our substitute. And as we looked at this morning
in Isaiah 40, the warfare is what? Accomplished. What did the master cry from
the cross? It is finished. God's justice has been satisfied. The law of God has been fulfilled
in our place. The Lord Jesus Christ dies as
the great substitute of sinners and salvation is accomplished. All by the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's done it for his Shulamites. He's done it for his bride. Oh, and he desires her to return
that he may look upon her. Look at look at in the text here
that we may look upon the. That he may contemplate her beauty. Again, we're sinners, aren't
we? And the Lord says this of his bride, that we may look upon
the. And he may look upon her beauty. And we know that she's only beautiful
in his eyes because of his perfect spotless righteousness. And then several commentators
say that the Shulamite answers this back. What will you see
in the Shulamite as it were the company of two armies? And this little portion here
pictures the war between the flesh and the spirit and the
believer. The inner conflict. which the
believer has. And she answers that nothing
was to be seen in her but two armies warring, the flesh and
the spirit, sin and grace, continually warring against each other, which
surely she thought could not be desirable and pleasing to
the sight of them. But beloved, God is well pleased
with his son. And Christ sees us clothed in
this perfect, spotless righteousness. And we are beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful in him. And we are we are in Christ,
so God is pleased with us, therefore. only because we're in Christ,
in Christ alone. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. And He calls us His Shulamites. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
for this time in the Scriptures. We thank Thee for the love that
we see manifested. And we thank You for Your goodness
and mercy and grace which has been bestowed upon us in thy
son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fact that, Lord Jesus, you
came to shed your blood for your people. You came to shed your
blood for your bride, that we may be called beautiful in your
eyes, clothed in thy perfect, spotless righteousness. We who
are sinners, sinners from the top of our heads to the bottom
of our feet, and yet We who are your people are washed in thy
precious blood, and you see us as beautiful, beautiful. Lord, may we leave here in awe
of this wonderful truth. In Jesus' name, amen.