Last week in Song of Solomon
we looked at a verse that is a plea from the Shulamite. Take us the foxes. Expose the
foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our
vines have tender grapes. And as I said, one of the things
that the little foxes were noted for doing is that they would
come along to the tender growing vines and they would chew the
stems and then drink the sap from the vine. And as I mentioned
briefly towards the end of the sermon last week, the foxes,
The fox's external is what the verse, I think, is talking about,
but there are plenty of foxes internal. They have plenty of
friends in our flesh. And always their target is to
undo the beauty of this next verse. 2.16 It's worth remembering and praying
that prayer that I mentioned for Ezekiel. The God that put
these words in our hearts. My beloved is mine and I am his. There is, in those few short
words, Just eight words, less in the original. There is in
that few short words, in a sense, a miniature picture of the Bible's
story of redemption. From eternity past, that was
what was said. And in eternity, that will be
the song of the new creation. That is the song that's being
sung in heaven right now. Just let me read one of the songs
in heaven. In Revelation 5 verse 9, they
sang a new song saying, you are worthy to take the scroll and
open its seals. You are worthy, Lord Jesus, to
be the one who is sovereignly in charge of all of God's eternal
purposes in this creation. Because, for, you were slain
and have redeemed us to God by your blood. This Lord Jesus that's
being sung about in heaven right now as we sit here, this song
in heaven is a song about a successful Savior. You have redeemed us,
not that you tried. Your blood, your precious blood
was not shed in vain. You have redeemed us out of every
tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings
and priests to our God. And we shall reign on the earth. My beloved is mine. My beloved is mine. and I am His. He feedeth among the lilies. The Lord Jesus is now being nourished. Right here. He is feeding amongst
the lilies. Right here. Where he is proclaimed,
where his gospel is preached, where he sovereignly does the
gathering. What a remarkable verse of scripture. My beloved is mine and I am his. He feeds among the lilies. Before
I delve into some of the beauties of the text, one of the things
that can happen with us as we keep looking at a book of Psalm
and Solomon, we see these delightful pictures of the intimacy of this
relationship. And sometimes we can have our
eyes taken off who it is that says, I am His. Who is the Lord Jesus? An unknown God, says Arthur Pink,
can neither be trusted, served, nor worshipped. So I was just
going to take us to some passages in the Scriptures, some of them
quite familiar to you. And let's just let these Scriptures
in a sense, take us to see who it is that makes these amazing
declarations of love, of the beauty of his bride, of the depth
of his love for her. When the people of Israel had
come out and seen those terrible plagues that destroyed the Egyptian
nation, destroyed its army, destroyed its king, destroyed even the
heir to the kingdom of Egypt. They sang this song. Who is like
unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee? And then these
wonderful descriptions of him. Who is like thee? glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. And just a short
time later, the people of Israel, this redeemed community, came
to Mount Sinai. And I'll just read some passages
from Exodus 19 and Exodus 20. Then the Lord said to Moses,
go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let
them wash their clothes and let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day, the Lord
will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
You shall set bounds for the people all around saying, take
heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or
touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain
shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but
he shall surely be stoned or shot through with an arrow. Whether
man or beast, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long,
they shall come near the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain
to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their
clothes. And he said to the people, be
ready for the third day. Do not come near your wives.
Exodus 19, 16. Then it came to pass on the third
day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings
and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet
was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people
out of the camp to meet with God. And they stood at the foot
of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely
in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke
of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the
blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder,
Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came
down upon Mount Sinai on the top of the mountain, and the
Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went
up. Exodus 20. Now all the people
witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, and the sound
of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people
saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses,
you speak to us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with
us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people,
do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear
may be before you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood
afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God
was. I suppose the point I'm trying
to make is that we need a mediator. We need someone to take us by
the hand into the presence of God. We need someone to robe
us with perfect holiness to be in the presence of that God. Hebrews 12, which I won't turn
to, the end of that book where again and again the Bible inspired
writer, continually says that the Lord Jesus is bigger and
he's better. He's a better priest. He's a better builder. He's a
better sacrifice. And then he says, for we have
not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned
with fire and to blackness and darkest and tempest and the sound
of a trumpet and the voice of words so that those who heard
it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. And so terrifying was the sight
that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling, but you
have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven,
to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood
of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse
him who speaks. For if they did not escape who
refused him who spoke on earth, how much more shall we escape
if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven? Whose voice
then shook the earth But now he has promised saying, yet once
more I shake, not only the earth, but the heavens. You see, Jesus
is bigger. God now, in a sense, is more
awesome, having been revealed in the Lord Jesus. than was for
those people on Mount Sinai. And he concludes chapter 12,
therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken
let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and Godly fear. I just want to read some of the
stories briefly Some of what God says about people who met
with God. I want us to come back to this
verse and say, my beloved is mine and I am his. And in some sense, be awestruck
by the majesty of the one who takes us by the hand, who takes
us to his heart, who holds us dear, watches over us and protects
us. One day, in the blink of an eye,
we will be with God. Job was a man who came to meet
God after a long and dark and tragic period. And Job came very,
very close to questioning God, and questioning God's justice.
Then the Lord, verse 38, answered Job out of the whirlwind and
said, Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall
answer me. Where were you when I laid the
foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding,
who determined its measurements? Surely you know. Or who stretched
out the line upon it? To what were its foundations
fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone when
the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted
for joy? Verse 40. Moreover, the Lord
answered Job and said, Shall the one who contends with the
Almighty correct him? He who rebukes God, let him answer
it. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand over my mouth. Once I have spoken, but I will
not answer. Yes, twice, but I will proceed
no further. But God will. Then the Lord answered
Job out of the whirlwind and said, Now prepare yourself like
a man. I will question you, and you
shall answer me. Would you indeed annul my judgment? Would you
condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, or
can you thunder with a voice like his? Then Job answered the
Lord and said, I know that you can do everything, that no purpose
of yours can be withheld from you. You asked, who is this who
hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered what
I did not understand. Things too wonderful for me,
which I did not know. Listen please and let me speak. You said I will question you
and you shall answer me. I have heard of you by the hearing
of the ear, but now my eyes see you. Therefore I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes." Isaiah met God. In the year the
king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and
lifted up. And the train of His road filled the temple. Above
it stood seraphim. Each one had six wings. With
two, He covered His face. With two, He covered His feet.
And with two, He flew. And one cried to another, said,
Holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full
of His glory. Even the doorpost had the good
sense to tremble, and the posts of the door were shaken by the
voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said, Woe is me, for I am
undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in
the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the
King, the Lord of hosts." Isaiah not just met God, but he was
cleansed by God and made a fit instrument. He touched his mouth with a live
coal which had been taken with tongs from the altar. Behold,
this has touched your lips. How must Isaiah have rejoiced
to hear these next words? Your iniquity is taken away and
your sin purged. God is awesome. Daniel was dearly loved by the
Lord, and he met Him. This is the God that says, My
Beloved is Mine, and I am His, and causes those to be the words
from the lips of His servants. In the third year of Cyrus, king
of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called
Belshazzar. The message was true, but the
appointed time was long, and he understood the message and
had understanding of the vision. The message and the vision were
the gospel of the Lord Jesus in chapter 9. In those days I,
Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food,
nor meat. No meat or wine came into my
mouth, nor did I anoint myself with oil, till three whole weeks
were fulfilled. Now on the twenty-fourth day
of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river,
that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold,
a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold
of Uphaz, his body was like beryl, his face like the appearance
of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and his feet
burnished bronze in colour, and the sound of his words was like
the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the
vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision.
But a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide
themselves. Therefore I was left alone when
I saw this great vision, and no strength remained in me. for my vigour was turned to frailty
in me. Literally, for my splendour,
whatever I thought was splendid about myself, was turned to ruin
in me, and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the sounds of his
words, and while I heard the sounds of his words, I was in
a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground. Suddenly a hand touched me which
made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hand. And
God said these wonderful words to our brother Daniel. And he
said to me, O Daniel, man greatly beloved, What a great word from
God. He humbles his people and lifts
them up. Habakkuk, met with God. When I heard my body trembled,
my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered my bones,
and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble.
and even into the New Testament. When people met God, like John,
an old apostle, they've heard these words many times, but this
is the God that takes his people by the hand. This is the God
that has promised to be the one gathering us here today. And this is the God that promises
to minister individually to each one of us here today. John met
him. Then I turned to see the voice
that spoke with me, and having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven
lampstands, one like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment
down to his feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
His head and hair were white like wall as white as snow, and
his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass
as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many
waters. He had in his right hand seven
stars. Out of his mouth went a sharp
two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its
strength. And when I saw him, I fell at
his feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on
me, saying to me, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am He who lives and was dead. Behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of
Hades and of death. Write the things which you have
seen and the things which are and the things which will take
place after this. the mystery of the seven stars which you
saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands. The
seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven
lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. You see,
he holds his churches and he holds his angels, his messengers
to those churches in his hand. This is just something. You can multiply those things
many times throughout the scriptures. This God has created a relationship
with this woman, representing the church, representing the
bride of the Lord Jesus. And as we've gone through Song
of Solomon, we've seen that He again and again comes to her
and expresses His delight in her. He calls her His love. his fair one. He calls her away
to communion with him. He's the one that we've just
been reading about who takes her into his banqueting house
and his banner, the Lord Jesus, his banner over her is love. He's the one whose intimacy is
such that she finds his left hand is under my head and his
right hand doth embrace me. This is our God. No wonder she begins this remarkable
verse by saying, My Beloved, My Beloved, We all go through periods where
we struggle with assurance. Am I his? Is He saying that to
me? I know He's saying it to others. Are these words of Him to me? Are they words that I can say
with honesty and with passion? He is my Beloved. Again and again
we keep reminding you of what the Scriptures say. that the
full assurance that God's children have is the assurance of faith. It's not the assurance of experiences. It's not the assurance of feelings. It's not the assurance of devotion
or good deeds. Just look to the Lord Jesus and
be saved all the ends of the earth. It is not your faith. It's not my faith. but His faithfulness. It's not my prayers, but His
promises. It's not my righteousness, but
His. There is that famous verse, we
ought to write it on our hearts every morning as we wake up,
in Colossians 2.6. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, So walk ye in him. How did you receive Christ Jesus
the Lord? How did Job, Isaiah, Daniel,
how did the people of God receive Christ Jesus the Lord? They received
him by revelation, they received him as needy sinners. They received him as people who,
as we sing, nothing in my hands I bring. All that I am and all
that I've touched is polluted by sin. He's called My Beloved. Do you realise that that was
the name that Solomon himself had? Nathan came to David, he
named him Solomon. Peace. Nathan came to him and
he said to David, you called his name Jedidiah. Beloved of the Lord, what a great
testament to the grace, the magnificent, matchless, unchanging grace of
God Solomon is to us. He's my beloved. We cling to
him like a limpet. We press on towards the goal. He counts all that he has, Paul,
our friend. He counts all that he has, loss. Yes, indeed, I count all things
loss for the excellence of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for I
have For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, I count
them as rubbish. I count them as dumb, that I
may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness,
which is from the law, not having any righteousness in anything
I have ever done or thought or wished for. but that which is through the
faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. Paul's longing desire was that
I may know him. I may know Him, and the power
of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering can be conformed
to His death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection
of the dead. Not that I have already attained
or am already perfected, but I press on. that I may lay hold
of that for which Christ also laid hold of me. My beloved is mine. To know him, to meet with him,
is to love him. For him to be the one who sees
to us We are crucified with Christ. I no longer live. I died 2,000 years ago on a cross
outside of Jerusalem. The law has done all it can do
for me. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. My beloved is mine. He belongs to us and we own nothing
else in this world. He's mine. He's mine and He belongs
to us. He belongs to us by God's divine
decree. As Jesus prayed in John 17, the
Father gave this bride to the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus
delighted in the Father's gift. And the Father gave the Lord
Jesus to the bride. by a divine decree, by a living
union. He is the vine, and we are the
branches. He is the head, and we are the
body. He is the husband, and we are
the bride. By faith, he is mine, because
we believe We believe what God the Father says about Him, and
we've received Him according to His Word, according to the
character that He has revealed of Himself in this Word. And we have received Him and he is ours because of this
amazing relationship that he's created and he has nurtured. My beloved is mine. He's mine in all that he is,
in that person. He is that God who met with those
people and yet he comes in affection again and again in the dignity of who he is. What
an amazing, awesome God who makes the sunshine at the moment and
rules this universe. He's mine. in all that he is,
in all that he's done. He's ours in all that he loves. He loved his own who are in the
world and he loved them to the end. As I just read out of Galatians
2, he loved his bride that he bore the wrath of God in her
place. He took upon Himself all the
sins of His bride. And that's why in Song of Solomon,
again and again, He calls her, my fair one, my beautiful one. There is no spot in her. She's black in her flesh, but
comely, beautiful in the Lord Jesus. And as I said a while
ago, he's ours in the riches of his abounding grace. There are some beautiful articles
in the Bulletin this week. I plead with you to go and read
them and meditate on them. One of the ones by Macduff says,
His righteousness is mine to justify me. His spirit is mine
to sanctify me. His power is mine to defend me. His wisdom is mine to guide me. His heaven is mine to receive
me. And this union as we've seen,
this union between us and the Lord Jesus is a real union. It's a great mystery, according
to Ephesians 5, the union between the Lord Jesus and his people.
It might be a mystery. It is a great mystery, but that
doesn't take away from its reality. It is a reality in God's mind. And that's the only reality that
matters. at the end of the day. It's an
eternal union. We were loved and saved in the
plans and purposes of God before the foundation of the world.
His works were finished before the foundation of the world.
This is but the unfolding of that great wheel of providence
where God gets glory for himself in glorifying his Son in this
world as he saves his people. Changes in time can't affect
it, it's an eternal union. The storms of life can't injure
it, it's a spiritual union. perseverance, persecution can't
sever it. The one thing which traps most
people in this world is fear of death. So many unions which
we are delighting here are going to be broken one day. But remarkably,
the very thing that breaks the unions of this earth is the very
thing that enhances our understanding and the manifestation of that
union. Death is not going to separate
us from God. Read Romans 8. You'll see that
nothing will separate us from another God in Christ Jesus.
And as we see by this Shulamites word, isn't it? My beloved, it's
a personal union. It's the union of all of us,
body, soul and spirit with the Lord Jesus. And it's a spiritual
union. He that is joined to the Lord
is one spirit. God's children are joined to
the Lord Jesus. As I said earlier, the Father
gave the Lord Jesus Christ to us, and He gave us to Him. I am His. He said to that multitude, who
came seeking more miraculous bread in John chapter six. And
he spoke to them, not about bread, but he spoke to them about who
God is and what are God's eternal purposes. And he says, the father
gave them to him. We belong to him as a gift from
the father. 1 Corinthians says, you are not
your own. You are bought with a price. He purchased us on the cross
of Calvary. We are His possession. God's children delight in the
fact they are created by God and chosen. They are redeemed
and called. They are regenerated. They are
sanctified. They are continually restored. They are owned, possessed by
God. He calls us His jewels and says
that we are all His delight. We are His in foreknowledge. That great chain in Romans 8
is amazing, isn't it? We are His in foreknowledge. We are His in His predestinating
purposes. We are His and He called us. We are His and He justified us. We are His and He glorified us. We are loved children of God. We are loved by God eternally,
infinitely, knowingly, knowing all of our sins and our blemishes
and our weaknesses. We are loved by God particularly. I am His. Having loved His own in the world,
the Lord Jesus said before He died. Having loved His own who
are in the world, He loved them to the end. He loved them completely. This Almighty God calls us His. This Almighty God, this omnipresent
God, never leaves us nor forsakes us. This omniscient God who knows
everything about us. No, this is better than we know
ourselves and knows our circumstances and in fact ordains them. This
unchanging God, this unchanging God says, I am His. We belong to Him. Then at the
end of the verse we have a remarkable picture. Again and again we see
in Song of Solomon that he takes his wandering bride and he takes
her to a place of banqueting. A place where he banquets with
her. He feedeth among the lilies. You see, this union, as I said
earlier, is a vital union. It's a vital union to us, but
it's a vital union to Him. His food, His nourishment, His refreshment, He finds among
His people. The lilies of His planting, the
lilies of His gracious growing and nurturing. That is where
the Lord Jesus feeds. It is remarkable, isn't it? He
is feeding here now. The Almighty God of this universe
is feeding. What a sad, sad thing it is to
deny Him the joy of His nourishment and His fellowship by not being
where He's rejoicing and where He's being nourished. It's interesting,
isn't it? I was looking again at Matthew
6 where the Lord Jesus is talking about clothing, but then He says,
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, and what a beautiful
description of God's lilies. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I say to you that even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these. Don't worry about clothing, says
the Lord Jesus. Will He not much more clothe
you, O ye of little faith? What a great description of God's
children. They neither toil nor spin, but
they are made beautiful by His activity. May God grow us in
faith. It's His joy to have communion
with His people. He says, His delights are with
the sons of men. For the Lord delights in you. Where is Jesus Christ? Where
is the Lord Jesus Christ right now? We read in Revelation, He's
with, He's redeemed in glory. He's with his saints on the earth
and he's with his saints assembled. And he meets with his children.
in the ordinances of the gospel, and he reveals himself in the
preaching of the gospel, the declaration of who he is and
what he's done. And he comes and he reveals himself
as he takes his word and makes it life. But God's children are
like the Shulamite, aren't we? There are these moments of joy
and great delight, and there are clouds and shadows, until
the day breaks, verse 17, and the shadows flee away. She calls on the beloved to turn,
to turn back, to turn back. So often in our
lives this is a time of night and a time of shadows and we
long for that day to break. In that temple 2,000 years ago
were those two people, weren't they? Anna and Simeon and their
beautiful picture of the time they were waiting for the consolation
of Israel. They were waiting for the shadows
to flee away and they held a baby in their hands. And it's just remarkable how
God worked in those two people's lives. He made a promise, he
made them wait, and he fulfilled the promise. And then, old as
they were, they said, now we can go in peace. The shadows flee away. The shadows of that period of
the law that long for shadows. As we read from David earlier,
in his prayer about the ark, he turned not to Moses on Mount
Sinai, but he turned to God in eternity and the covenant with
Abraham. The God of Israel said, as David
lay dying, he said these words, the rock of Israel spoke to me.
He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he, this rock of Israel,
shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises. A morning without clouds. like the tender grass springing
out of the earth by clear shining after rain. David was looking
for those shadows to flee away. He looked at his house and said,
although my house is not so with God, yet he has made with me
an everlasting covenant. My house is a mess. But all of
this is ordered and secure, for this is all my salvation, and
all my desire. Will ye not make an increase? The shadows were going to flee
away when the Lord Jesus came that first time. And when He
comes a second time, the shadows that hide our faces from Him
will flee away. And as John says, We will see
Him as He is. We will stand face to face with
God Almighty revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why will we
see Him face to face? The scripture says, because we
will be like Him. We will stand in the presence
of this holy and awesome God that we read of earlier, and
be as holy as He is holy, as pure as He is pure, and we will
know then love. We will know what it is for my
beloved to be mine and for me to be his. We will see the care
and protection and love over every instant of our lives. She wants him to turn, turn back
and be like that gazelle and the young deer upon the mountains
of Bitha. The mountains might be too hard
and high for us, but they're not too high for him. The mountains
of Bitha were the mountains that separated Israel from the nations
around. She sees him as this deer who
earlier in Song of Solomon can come skipping over the mountains
and hills to reveal himself and his love for her again. Be like
that deer, protect the boundaries of your people, and turn, my
beloved. As a deer pants after the water
brooks, so panteth my soul after thee. My soul longeth, says Psalm
84, yea, even faintest for the courts of the Lord. My heart
and my flesh cry out for the living God. May He make us cry
and may He answer those cries in the only way that satisfies
His people, which is with His promised presence. Let's pray.