The reading is on the second
page of your hymn sheets. It's Song of Solomon, chapter
5, and we read from verse 4 through to the end. Song of Solomon,
chapter 5, and from verse 4 My beloved put in his hand by
the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved,
and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling
myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. My soul failed when he spake. I sought him, but I could not
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. The watchmen that went about
the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me, the keepers
of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters
of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him that I am sick
of love. What is thy Beloved more than
another Beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy Beloved
more than another Beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy,
the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine
gold, his locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are
as the eyes of doves, by the rivers of waters washed with
milk and fiddly scent. His cheeks are as a bed of spices,
as sweet flowers, his lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling
myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set
with the beryl, his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with
sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. The word that I want to speak
to you on is really summed up in the last verse, the second
part of the last verse, verse 16. This is my beloved and this
is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Now, we must always
remember that the Holy Scriptures, they always will point to Christ. It concerns Christ and His Church. And the Song of Solomon is a
love song between Christ and the Church, the Bridegroom and
the Bride. And often there are several characters
that are in the vivid descriptions in this song. And we have here
a believer that has been sleepy, and the Lord has awakened that
believer. He has put, as in verse 4, his
hand by the hole of the door, and drawn that soul after him. And that soul, when it has awaked,
then finds that he's withdrawn himself, and purposely that he
would draw her after him, allure the soul of his people after
Christ. Those that have been sleepy and
far off awakened, now willingly, freely, they're desiring him,
they're seeking him. We read in verse 7 of the Watchman
about the city, Souls that are awakened in that way, they go,
they hear the Word preached, the watchmen are the preachers.
And here we have the picture that they've smitten this one.
This one now is awake, they're listening, and they find that
the Word is reproving them for their sleepiness, their carelessness. The ministry should be searching.
It should be that which at times makes us uncomfortable, because
we are not what we should be. And especially when we're awakened
like this, to realize that we've actually fallen and gone far
away from the Lord. We haven't been living in sweet
communion and fellowship with Him. Now, she charges the daughters
of Jerusalem, that is those other believers that are round about,
sometimes young believers, if ye find my beloved, tell him
that I am sick of love. And it is their question in verse
9, they're asking this believer, What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? Why is it that you're charging
us in this way? Now, I want to speak to you,
dear aged pilgrims. Maybe you're in this condition,
also being sleepy, but the Lord's awakened you and you are seeking
after Christ. You desire Him. You want Him. You want His blessing. And someone
asked you, why do you want Christ? What do you see in Him more than
anyone else? Why do you choose Him? Why not
some other person? Why not some other God? Why is
it that you are so charged and concerned in Christ? And how
would you answer? How would I answer? If we had,
say if your children or your grandchildren came to you and
they said, Grandad or Grandma, why do you think so much of Christ? Why is He precious to you? How
would you answer? How would I answer? What have we known of Him throughout
the years of our life that we could say anything to that coming
generation and those that would also be seeking Him or those
that we'd want that they should seek Him? Well, from verse 10 through to
the end, the spouse of Christ, this believer, is giving an answer,
what she sees in her beloved. and the word that we've read
as our text at the end sums it up and says this what I have
just said in these verses 10 to 16 this is my beloved and
this is my friends a beautiful thing when we can say and we
can join with Abraham who is the friend of God that he is
my savior he is my friend If ye do whatsoever, I command you,
says our Lord, ye shall be my friends indeed. This is my beloved,
this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. So how is she describing
him? How would you and I describe
our Lord? I want to just briefly look down
this passage not open it up word for word. We might do that and
obtain no real profit and save it for our souls. But think of
it from our souls. How would we, being an answer,
and how would these verses provoke us to point us to aspects of
Christ that we have seen and known as precious to us? Well,
verse 10 says, My beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest
among ten thousand. Now, I would say, just as a overhaul
on this, it's very evident that the Church does know her beloved. She can describe him in intimate
detail. And it is especially His countenance,
how He is looking upon her, and how that she has seen Him looking
upon her, and she can describe that countenance. And so we would
ask ourselves, as Christ has looked upon us, as we have looked
upon Him, as we have seen Him, what have we seen in His countenance? And so here, my beloved is white
and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand." Well, the two
ideas here, white and ruddy, white is perfection, spotless,
our Lord Jesus Christ. We're spotless and pure, His
divine nature. He is truly God, there is no
sin in Him whatsoever. a child of God must view Christ
and see Him as spotless, pure, innocent, as truly divine, but
then also ruddy, human as well, a real man, and as a real man
also, spotless, sinless, no spot in thee, and we think also ruddy,
as read, the man that suffered, he that bled upon Calvary's tree,
he that took upon him flesh for that very purpose, that he should
take life, that he should lay down his life, and lay down his
life a ransom. And so in this very first point,
a believer should be able to say, My Beloved is He who is
truly God and truly man. He is the sinless One who shed
His precious blood upon Calvary's tree for me. They shall look
upon Him whom they have pierced. This is the beauty that I have
seen in Christ. And may we each be able to say
that too. What about his head? Verse 11. His head as the most fine gold,
his locks are bushy and black as a raven. Two thoughts on this. In Paul's epistle to the Corinthians,
he gives a line of headship. And part of that headship, he
says, the head of Christ is God. Head of Christ is God. And for
a believer to look as it were, at Christ, and to see Him in
the way that the Father says, this is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. I ascend to my Father, to your
Father, my God, and your God. And we see the Father, His head,
as the fine gold. But we see Him also as the head
of the church. He is the head of the body. his
head comprises all that really Christ is to his people. And when we have the description
here of his locks and black as a raven, when I was meditating
upon that, And I thought, well, when I look in the mirror now
and I see my hairs and my beard, they're all silver now. But I
came across the other day a photograph when I first took the pastorate
here at Cranbrook when I was in my early thirties. And there
I was all black as a raven. no white hairs at all and it
signifies the youth and with our lord jesus christ he is the
same yesterday and today and forever he does not change i
am that i am he is and so we we get the picture here that
though we change, and you dear age friends, you know in your
bodies the same as me, what a toll age takes, what a difference,
what changes have come in your life and in your person, but
not the Lord. He remains the same. as strong,
as vibrant, as lovely as He was in your youth, and as He was
in His. And so this is an aspect that
can never be said of any man, can it? Jesus Christ the same,
yesterday, and today, and forever. and then in verse 12 his eyes
you know you can tell a lot by someone's eyes perhaps now when
we're using masks very often all you can see is their eyes
and you learn to read that person's expression, their smile, their
happiness, their maybe hatred, and you can see it in their eyes,
instead of eyes as daggers, but here it's put here as eyes like
doves, and everything is written as something that is very pleasant,
washed with milk, fitly said. The way the Lord looks at His
dear people is very different than He looks at the wicked.
And His people see that, and they see in His eyes, they see
as He views them with an open face. They see love and mercy
and pity, and they see friendship. This says The spouse, the church,
is my beloved and this is my friend. And they see that in
his eyes. His cheeks, verse 13. You know, if you look up in the
scriptures of cheeks, very often it is a... So when the prophets
were prophesying, those that opposed them, they came and they
smote them upon the cheek. And the prophecies in Isaiah
spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he did not hide his cheeks
from being smitten. And when our Lord speaks of us
as believers, that we are to turn the cheek, if one smite
thee on one cheek, then turn and let him smite thee on the
other. And we have a picture of what
the Lord went through for us, and we see in His cheeks that
which He didn't turn away from the sufferings, from the path
that He had to walk to redeem our souls, and we see His lips
as well, and we think even at Calvary, even on the cross, Father
forgive them, they know not what they do. Then we have His hands,
His blessed hands that were nailed to the accursed tree, His hands
through which come all that He does for us in our lives by the
right hand of His Excellency. We have His legs, that set of
strength and power and tower and stature, what He is to us
in that way. We view Him as a complete God. as a complete saviour in a standing
of strength and of might for us. The picture there is Lebanon
with all its cedars, not only a mountain but all that dwelt
on that mountain. We think of the pictures then
that are here. We passed over in verse 14, his
belly. But our Lord speaks of a believer
that out of his belly flows those springs of living water, which
is interpreted speaking of the Spirit which was to be given.
Well, from Christ comes the Spirit. I pray the Father He will give
you another comforter. And we think of the belly as
well. that there comes the church, there comes the people of God,
they come from Christ, he has born them, and so there is a
picture of what Christ is. And though we might not follow
verse for verse through here, we should ask ourselves, what
is Christ to us? How would we describe to a young
believer, how would we describe to one why we were so seeking
Him and why we so wanted a blessing in our soul and to see His countenance? How would we answer? Could we
give a description? Could we speak of Him in these
terms, and then finish and say, this is my Beloved, and this
is my Friend, O Daughters of Jerusalem? Well, may these thoughts
remain with you through the day, be searching, and may you have
a word. Maybe soon you're going to be
able to have visitors and that you have something to tell them
and something to describe what the Lord is to you. May the Lord
add his blessing.