May it please the Lord to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let us turn
to the Song of Solomon, and I want to join two verses together this
evening. The first is in chapter 8, and
reading verse 5, Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
leaning upon her beloved, I raised thee up under the apple tree,
there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought thee
forth that there be. And then chapter 3 and verse
5 sorry verse 6 chapter 3 verse 6 who is this that cometh out
of the wilderness like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense with all powders of the merchant. So we have a common statement
in these two verses, where we read, who is this that cometh
out of the wilderness, or cometh up from the wilderness. Very similar wording. Now, I'm
sure as I've mentioned previously when I've preached the Song of
Solomon, it's often very difficult to determine who is being addressed
and who is being spoken about. And very often both views can
be taken either, the church or the believers speaking about
the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Lord Jesus Christ speaking about
the church. Perhaps putting it into a slightly
different language, either the bride speaking about the bridegroom,
or the bridegroom speaking about the bride. Well, I feel tonight
that both these verses really lead us to the position to instruct
us that it is describing the believer. It's describing the
church. And so here we have this question
asked, who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning
upon her beloved? That's the question which is
being asked. And it is a good question to
ask and it is good for us to be able to realise who it is
that is coming up from the wilderness. We might ask then first of all,
well, what is the wilderness? What is the picture that we have
of the wilderness? Well, a wilderness is not a very
pleasant place, generally speaking. A wilderness is a wild place. It's where nothing very much
grows. It's very often where there's
a desert kind of situation, perhaps a few shrubs here and there.
Not a place that you could really grow crops, not a place really
that you could tend the flocks or cattle. It's a wilderness
and there's not very much benefit there. Well, if we have that
as a natural picture, then just think of that in a spiritual
consideration, to think of this world with reference to a believer. What real benefit is there to
be found in this world which will be of spiritual good to
a believer? If we look around in the world
today? Do we see things which direct
us to the Lord Jesus? Are there things that make us
concerned about the state of our soul? I think the reverse
is true, isn't it? We find the world today endeavouring
to make everything as easy and as comfortable as man can for
his own situation. But on the one hand, we see how
that utterly fails. We see there's no real true happiness
in this world. Men and women, boys and girls,
try and find it. In reality, it's not very satisfactory. And they always want more. They
always want more, they are never satisfied with those things which
they have. And to a believer, to one who
has been given spiritual light, they will find in the things
of this world, there is really nothing of any true benefit. And when I say that, I say that
from this perspective. We just need to evaluate it in
the light of eternity. That's always the benchmark, as it were, to
evaluate things. How will they benefit my eternal
state? These things of the world. Men and women, boys and girls
are rushing after and endeavouring to satisfy their own minds. How are they going to benefit
my eternal state? And as you and I are able to
analyse these things from that perspective, I'm sure then we
might realise that a description like we have here, a wilderness,
is true of the world to a believer. Now, initially, when the Lord
perhaps first begins in our soul, we may not always realise that,
but as the Lord blesses us, as the Lord shows us, the emptiness
of the things of this world. It doesn't mean to say that there
are not things in creation which are very beautiful and wonderful
to look at, but you see, those things direct us to the Saviour. But it's these carnal things
which will not do us any true spiritual good. Those things
which just satisfy our flesh, our lustful flesh, our proud
flesh, There's so many evil things which we have to contend with
and therefore the truth is that we do live in a wilderness. Now there's two things. One is
we should either be left to live in the wilderness and to die
in the wilderness without knowing anything different or Secondly,
the Spirit of God will make known to us that this world is a wilderness
and that here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Now, if the Spirit of God directs
us to such a consideration and to realise the truth of these
things, we will first of all know it is only the Spirit's
work, because it's not something that you and I would naturally
look to or be concerned about. We will be occupied naturally
with trying to prosper our way in this world and to enjoy the
things that this world has to offer with no real thought of
the eternal state of our soul. And so, perhaps then that gives
us a little view of what the wilderness is. But the believer
will not be left therefore in that state. And here we have
a beautiful picture here in this 8th chapter. Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness? It means that they're leaving
the wilderness behind. Who is this that cometh up? We're not going down, it's coming
up from the wilderness. Perhaps we ought to ask ourselves
that question. Are we coming up out of the wilderness
or are we still in the wilderness. And my friends, until the Spirit
of God touches our heart, we will be in the wilderness. And in essence, we won't have
any desire to come up from the wilderness. But it will be a
blessed evidence of life within, if the Spirit of God directs
us in this way, so that we do have The evidence that we are
coming up from the wilderness. Now then, if we are, if we are
coming up from it, how will it be? Will we be able to get out
of it by ourselves? Will we have strength to do it
by ourselves? The fact is that we won't. What
we will possess, though, will be the grace of God, and that
is free, unmerited favour, and here we have in this Word the
wonderful secret, how we come up out of the wilderness. Here
it is, leaning upon her Beloved. What does that mean? It means
very simply, leaning upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you see, there's a wonderful
blessing and a wonderful evidence that you and I are one of the
children of God if we are leaning upon Christ. We're dependent
upon Him. We can't do it ourselves. We're
too weak. We don't know how to deliver
us, how to come up from the wilderness. But as we may be found leaning
upon her beloved. Now, the clear view here is that
Christ meant something to this believer. Christ meant something. And we might say Christ meant
a great deal to this believer. And this believer is described
as leaning upon her beloved. That means somebody that she
loves. Now, we wouldn't love a stranger,
naturally, would we? We wouldn't love a stranger.
If we were in the wilderness, there wouldn't be anything just
casually meeting a stranger that we would love. But we would perhaps
love someone if they were to come to us in our need, if they
would come to us and help us, come to us and encourage us,
come to us and tell us how to deliver ourselves from this situation,
and come perhaps and take us by the hand, and then we might
have to explain our condition and our situation, that we are,
well we're very helpless and in actual fact we've got a great
burden, we've got a debt which we've got to pay, and we can't
therefore get ourselves out of this wilderness. We've got this
burden upon our back and it's getting bigger every day. And
we can't therefore get ourselves out of the fix we've got ourselves
into. Well, it would be a wonderful
thing, naturally perhaps, if somebody came along and relieved
us of that problem, we might have, naturally, a great debt. We may have got ourselves a tremendous
debt and we're not able to pay it back. If somebody came alongside
and said, well, yes, you've done all those wrong things and you'd
be very foolish. You haven't listened to the advice
you were given. But nevertheless, I'll have compassion
on you. And I'll pay that price and I'll
take that burden so that you can go free. Now I believe in
that situation surely there would be from our hearts love to such
a person like that, wouldn't there? Well in a spiritual sense
we have a much greater Saviour. We have none less than the Lord
Jesus Christ because there we are in this wilderness, with
a burden of sin, increasing every day, unable to get rid of it
ourselves. We can't pay the price that the
law of God demands. There we are, guilty and helpless. Helpless. The Lord Jesus, He's come to
us where we are. You know, He knows our condition.
He's come to us and explained to us our helpless condition and directed
us to what He's done. The great price that He's paid
to take away that burden, to take away those sins and to set
us free. And that price was so great.
He actually gave His life. Now just think of that. Here
we are in this wilderness. The Saviour comes and explains
to us that He's loved us so much, in actual fact He's given His
life so that we might come up out of the wilderness. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?" Now then, surely
we understand a little bit what it means, is it? The Beloved,
the one who loved us so much that he laid down his life that
we might be set free. And therefore, does not our heart
then return in love to him? What is he? This is my beloved. We can read in an earlier chapter,
this is my beloved. So here we have this picture,
do we not? Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning
upon her beloved. Yes, we're leaning upon Christ. We need Christ to be with us
day by day. We're leaning upon Him for all
the help we need. We're leaning upon Him for that
forgiveness. We're leaning upon Him for our
justification. We're leaning upon Him that He
will bring us safely home to glory. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leading upon her beloved? And then we have
this description, the Lord speaks, I raise thee up unto the apple
tree, there thy mother brought thee forth, there she brought
thee forth that bare thee. I believe the picture we have
here is that the Lord lets us know that he knows all about
us. From the very moment we were
born, he knows all about us. And he's watched over us. And
he's been gracious to us. Like we read in the New Testament
about Philip. The Lord said he saw him when
he was under the fig tree. He'd watched over Philip all
those years. My friends, he watches over the
Church of God. There they are in the wilderness,
wandering around in a hopeless and helpless condition. And then
to realise the Lord comes. He reveals himself unto his church. as he does not enter the world,
and he does not then leave them in the wilderness. He brings
them up from the wilderness. They come up, and there they
are, united to Christ. There's only one way of coming
up from the wilderness, and it's to be in Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory. My friends, there is no hope
of glory outside of Christ. But there is hope of glory to
know that Christ is our Beloved and that we are leaning upon
Him My friends, the true child of
God needs Christ. They need Him to go to, to tell
all about their situation and to lead upon Him. You know, the
Apostle Paul tells us, he said, I can do all things through Christ
that strengthens me. The Apostle knew how weak he
was in and of himself. He knew where he'd come from,
from that pharisaical position. The Lord had brought him up out
of that wilderness. He was a Pharisee in the wilderness,
wasn't he? My friends, that's a great wilderness,
isn't it? There's no happiness there. There's no true blessing
there. But the Lord came and delivered
the Apostle Paul, and brought him forth. And therefore, he
was able to declare having proved it. We read through the Acts
of the Apostles, we see on so many occasions how the Apostle
had proved the help of the Lord, how the Lord had been with him,
and how indeed the Apostle had leaned upon Christ in so many
ways. The Lord had never left him,
nor forsaken him. He'd been with him. He'd been
in his mouth. He'd been able to declare plainly
the truth of God. He'd supported him under his
times of imprisonment, times of being beaten, times of shipwreck,
the Lord had not left him. The apostle was leaning on his
beloved. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Well, I wonder tonight,
if you and I, in perhaps a small measure, can look into our life
And to see, yes, I was in the wilderness. And I was wandering
aimlessly in that situation. Jesus Christ meant nothing to
me. I was there in my sin. But, can you tonight bless God
and realise the truth in your life as it was in the life of
Jacob. As we read, the Lord said, he
found him in a desert place, in a waste, howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. That is a most wonderful
consideration to think that almighty God came and calls us and watches
over us and guides us and directs us and teaches us, instructs
us in the spiritual way, in the way to glory. Oh then, let us
be encouraged by a word of likeness. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness leading upon her beloved, or that you and I might
have the evidence that we are leading upon Christ. Now, we
won't be leading upon Christ unless Christ means something
to us. We won't be leading upon Christ
unless Christ is our beloved. We won't be leading upon Christ
unless we know that Christ has loved us so much that he gave
his life upon Calvary's cross shedding His most precious blood
to redeem our unworthy soul. And then Christ will mean something
to you and to me. The love of Christ is rich and
free. Yes, what a wonderful thing it
is to be able to ponder this my beloved on such love my soul
still ponder love so great so rich so free so he was lost in
holy wonder why my god such love to me hallelujah grace shall
reign eternally. And so can we tonight praise
God for His love toward us in bringing us up out of the wilderness
and therefore we in return are leaning upon our beloved. We want to keep close to Christ
and the blessing is then to be favoured like this Then turning
to the third chapter, where Solomon says, he asks the question, Who
is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
perfume with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? Now, the first few verses we
read together in this third chapter gives a little description of
the believer. And it starts and says, by night
on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth, I sought him but
I found him not. Well, have we sought the Lord
on our bed at night? Have we prayed to God at night
that he might indeed reveal himself unto us as he does not unto the
world? There is no one about then to
be impressed. It's just between your soul and God. But the reality
of this is that you have a need. You pray to God. You seek unto
the Lord. By night on my bed I sought him
whom I saw loveth. You may think, well now that
I'm doing the right thing, surely this is going to bring about
a wonderful blessing. I sought him, but I found him
not. My friends, sometimes we have
to prove that the Lord waits to be gracious. Our time is always. The Lord's
time is often not yet. We have to be directed, we have
to be taught, we have to be led. And the Lord may have much to
instruct us in, in this time of seeking. It doesn't mean to
say that just because the Lord doesn't come and appear for you
immediately, that you conclude, well, there's no point in praying
anymore, there's no point in seeking the Lord's face anymore.
No. What did this believer do? I will rise now. and go about
the city, in the streets, and in the broad ways, I will seek
him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not." Yes, there was still disappointment. There was still that seeking.
There hadn't been that finding. Do you think the believers to
give up? Do you think the believers to
say, well, there's no hope for me? the believer will not give
up, because the hope has been put there by the Spirit of God. And you will find that you will
not be able to give up. You may be tempted to give up.
The devil may say, forget it, there's no point in praying anymore. But the Spirit of God will influence
you in this way that you will as it were, be beyond yourself.
And you will have to pray. And you will have to seek. The watchman that go about the
city found me. To whom I said, saw ye him whom
I saw not. The watchman, of course, is a
reference to the preachers who proclaim the Gospel, that they
go about the city of Zion, the Church of God, preaching, and
you see here she's able to come and declare, the watchman that
gave her that city, they found me. It's a great blessing when the
preaching finds you, comes to you where you are. Why? Direction of the Spirit of God,
wonderful evidence of the work of God, wonderful confirmation
that you haven't been left or forsaken. The watchman found
me. To whom I said, saw ye him whom
I saw last? Oh yes, there was a desire. Christ, I want to find Christ.
Where is he? It was but a little that I passed
from them. But I found him whom I saw loveth. I held him and would not let
him go until I brought him into my mother's house and into the
chamber of her that conceived me. It's a picture here, really,
of bringing a testimony into the Church of God and declaring
what the Lord Jesus means to us. And then we read, I charge
you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, the Church of God, by the rows
and by the high ends of the field, that ye stir not up, nor wait,
my love, till he please. I didn't want to lose the wonderful
blessing. I didn't want to lose the benefit. I'm sure that's true, is it not?
If we've done a little of Christ's love, we don't like losing it. We don't want things to distract
us. We don't want the world to come
in and again, turn us away. We want to be left alone with
our beloved. I charge you, O you daughters
of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that
ye stir not up nor wake my love till he please." And then we
have this statement, Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness
like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense? There are several interpretations
of these phrases here, but one that I thought of and appeals
to me is this. You know, in the Old Testament
times, there was offerings, sacrifices, that had to be brought. And one
of them was the burnt offering. And the burnt offering was really
An offering of thanksgiving. An offering of thanksgiving.
And when the offering was offered on the altar, what happened?
Well, the fire was put on the fire and smoke arose. And what was that smoke? It was
a sweet savour to God. And what did it show forth? it
showed forth a spirit of thankfulness, a spirit of thanksgiving. Who is this that cometh up out
of the wilderness like pillars of smoke? Surely, if the Lord
has blessed us, if the Lord has encouraged us, would there not
be, as it were, a bird's offering? an offering of thanksgiving to
our God. There it was to be observed,
wasn't it? The Church of God were able to observe it. Yes,
there was this smoke, pillars of smoke, ascending up on high,
evidencing that burnt offering, that thank offering. As you know,
with all sacrifices, it means a cost. in Old Testament times. They didn't just find an animal
wandering down the street or a stray in a field. They had
to go and find their best sheep or goat or cattle or pigeon whatever
it was, dove. They had to find the best. And
if it's the best, it's costly isn't it? If you were a farmer,
and you had to go and give your best cow away would be a costly
thing, wouldn't it? Well, I believe here we have
this description here. It's the Lord has graciously
blessed us with His grace and has given us a hope in His mercy,
of His love toward us. Is there not? Should there not
be? These pillars of smoke? Should
there not be this thanksgiving to our God? And it may not be
easy. It may not be easy. You see, we've got to overcome
all our own self, all our flesh, and be concerned for the honour
and glory of God. Who is this that cometh up out
of the wilderness like pitters of smoke perfumed, with myrrh
and frankincense. Well, you know incense was used,
wasn't it? In Old Testament times, there
was this incense which was burnt and again, it ascended up on
high and it was a sweet smell to Almighty God. You might think,
well, what is it referenced to us here? Surely it shows to us,
you see these are perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, and surely
we see here, do we not, the work of the Spirit, the fruit of the
Spirit. Is that not which is sent forth
as myrrh and frankincense, which indeed gives a good smell? It's a good thing to have the
evidence of this in our Christian life, know the love of the Saviour
in our hearts, to evidence in our spiritual life that these
fruits of the Spirit, as it were frankincense and myrrh, give
a good smell. So it is, in the life of the
child of God, it evidences the grace of God, and it's God honouring
and God glorifying. And the Apostle gives a list
in the 5th of Galatians, He tells us what the fruits of the Spirit
are, and he says, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law,
and they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the
affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, Let
us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain
glory, provoking one another, envying one another. So here
we have then this list of the fruits of the Spirit. And is
there the evidence then? As there is, it's coming up out
of the wilderness, the pitters of smoke and perfume with myrrh
and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant. Now we can think
of this in this very wonderful way. The powders of the merchant
direct us to none less than the Lord Jesus Christ as a heavenly
merchant and what he has purchased for us. And just think of this, with
all powders of the merchant. What is it? It's the evidence
in our hearts of Christ's great sacrifice for our sin. And it sets before us a wonderful
figure, doesn't it? to think of these powders. Yes,
they are all those things which Christ has done for us, and especially
his great work of salvation. Especially that redemption. Oh, how valuable it is. who is this, that cometh out
of the wilderness like pitters of smoke, perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant." Now, what do
these pictures show us? They show us the believer. The believer coming up from the
wilderness of this world and setting forth Christ as their
Redeemer. A setting forth as Christ, as
the one thing needful. A setting forth Christ with all
his attributes. And the position is, this brings
honour and glory to God. Therefore, as we think of this
picture we have before us tonight, who is this? cometh up out of
the wilderness. Well, my friends tonight, may
you and I, by the grace of God, be able to trace out the reference
to ourselves, to our own life, and to have that good hope that
that is a description of us. The Lord is with us. We are with
the Lord. His name is being honoured and
glorified. and our souls are blessed and our desire is to
praise Him forever and ever for all His mercy and for all His
goodness. Amen.