Let us turn to God's Word. We
turn again to the text we were considering earlier this morning
in the Song of Solomon and the second chapter, verse 8. The voice of my beloved, behold,
he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. So this morning we were considering
something of the voice of the Beloved. Who is the Beloved? It is of course the Lord Jesus
Christ as in God Himself in the Gospel. So this is my Beloved
Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him The voice is none
other than Christ's voice. The voice of my Beloved. And then we also considered how
this voice is the harbinger of His coming. Behold He cometh,
leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. the visitation
of the Lord Jesus Christ and I remarked this morning how it
is a truth that Christ comes in several ways. He comes of
course to say this was the great purpose of his first coming into
this world. He was sent as one who would
be the saviour of sinners and many times we see that in the
Old Testament prophecies. Zechariah chapter 9 and verse
9, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of
Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee. He is just and having salvation,
lowly and riding upon an ass. and upon a colt the foal of an
ass. We see that very scripture of
course fulfilled in the gospel when Christ on the last occasion
rides in that humble fashion into Jerusalem. There to be rejected
of the people and rejected in that cruel way of
crucifixion and yet he comes to bring salvation. Again in
Isaiah say to them that out of a fearful heart, fear not, behold
God shall come with a vengeance, even God with a recompense, he
shall come and save you. He comes as the stage that was
the purpose of his coming, his glorious advent in this world
and he is to come again. He is to come the second time
and when he comes that second time he is to come as that one
to whom the father has committed judgement. He is the one who
will sit on that great white throne and judge the nation how
He is spoken of there in the last book of Scripture, the book
of the Revelation, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every
eye shall see Him, and they also which pierce Him, and all kindreds
of the earth shall wail because of Him, even so, Amen. That's the language, is it not,
of His children, even so, Amen. So be it. How the child of God
is looking, watching, waiting, for the glorious appearing of
our God and Saviour, even when He comes as the Great Judge,
to make the final separation, to put the sheep on His right
hand and the goats on the left, and to send each to their appointed
place. He shall come again then, the
Judge, but as He can, 2000 years ago, the Saviour, as He
is to come again as the Judge, does He not still come in our
day? And we sought to emphasize that
this morning, how He comes to us here, as we gather together
in this fashion, He comes to us, does He not, in His words,
He comes in the Scripture, He comes in the ministry of the
Word, the preaching of the Gospel, the voice, of my beloved, behold
he cometh. Is it this that we desire as
we gather together in this fashion that we might not simply hear
words, the words of the preacher, but we want to be those who are
truly hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. We refer this
morning to that great 10th chapter of Romans. How many great chapters
there are In that book, of course, there are great chapters throughout
the world. All of it is the word of God.
But what a remarkable epistle is that to the Romans. How shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard? asks the apostle. How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? Some would say that the ob there
is quite superfluous. It literally says, how shall
they believe in him? whom they have not heard. It's
not just the hearing of him, it's hearing him. How shall they
believe in him whom they have not heard? How shall they hear
without a preacher? Or his voice, you see. His voice
is heard here in the Word of God and in the opening up and
the preaching and the proclamation of the Word of God. He comes
in the Scriptures. And how does he come in the Scriptures?
He comes by the Spirit. That's a vital thing. As I said
this morning, we can hear the Word of God, and we do hear the
Word of God. We've heard it tonight, have
we not, in the reading, and references made to it time and again in
the preaching. But it's one thing to hear the
Word of God, it's another to know the voice of Christ. Oh,
there must be that efficacious work of the Spirit. how the gospel
must come he came to the Thessalonians remember our gospel came not
unto you in word only says the apostle but in power and in the
Holy Ghost and in much assurance oh God grant that God's word
might thus come to us to you to me that we might be those
who bear that mark of the sheep My sheep, says Christ, know My
voice. Do you know the voice of Christ?
My sheep know My voice, He says. And they follow Me. And I give
unto them eternal life. Or to be those who are the recipients
of that gift at the hand of Christ, He gives life. You know we need
that life in our souls if we would hear his voice here in
the Scripture. The voice of my beloved. Behold
he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. Well I want to, with the Lord's
help, to say something further tonight concerning the manner
of the Lord's coming, the manner of his coming. But first of all,
Let us look more closely at the end of the text and the mountains
that are spoken of here in this verse. He cometh, it says, leaping
upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills. Now what do we
see in the language, the imagery that is being used? Well, with
regards to these mountains, we must observe their number. Their number. It's the plural number, is it
not? It's not one mountain. It's mountains. It's not one
hill. It appears to be many hills.
Mountains and hills we read on. The quantity of them. Many of them. And what do they
represent? Well, do they not stand here
as obstacles? Remember how later, at the end
of the chapter, they are referred to as mountains of Bisa? And
the margin says they are division, mountains of division. They stand
in the way, as it were. They stand between the one who
is coming and those who certainly there at the end of the chapter
desire he's coming. That's prayer is it not that
we have in verse 17. Be thou like a roe or a young
heart or those animals so fleet of foot. Be like a roe or a young
heart upon the mountains of the ether. these mansions of division,
these obstacles that stand in the way. And what are these obstacles?
Why doesn't the psalmist remind us of the innumerable evils? That's what the psalmist speaks
of, innumerable. Such vast quantities in Psalm
40 verse 12, innumerable evils have compassed me about, my iniquities
have taken hold upon me. so that I am not able to look
up, they are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart
faileth me." Aren't these the mountain friends? All these innumerable
evils, when we look to ourselves and our hearts, the unbelief,
the unbelief that is so bound up with our fallen nature, that
sin which doth so easily beset us, all unbelief, that sin that
was there in the Garden of Eden, That sin that we inherited from
Adam and Eve, unbelief, refusing to believe God's truth, embracing
the lie of the devil. We are prone to that, are we
not? And the devil comes and we believe the liar. He was a
liar from the beginning, says Christ. Our unbelief will accept
his lies. Whilst we reject God's truth,
there is unbelief. There is that awful deadness
that we so often feel within us. The deadness that we were born
in. We were born, of course, in a
physical sense, but what was our condition by nature? Death,
in trespasses and in sins. And though there are those of
us who in God's grace and mercy have experienced that blessing
of quicken and salvation, that new birth, Yet are we not still
prone to backslidings and wanderings, fallings of work? Or there are
innumerable evils. Our iniquities, how they surround
us. And here you see we are taught
that there are these mountains and these hills and their number
is multitude. But then also consider something
of the nature. the nature of these mountains
and these hills as they are numberless so they are also diverse and
different we read of mountains we also
read of hills they are not all the same mountains are I suppose
much greater than hills but here it is suggested you see that
there are different things that trouble us, sins and whites. But this is our comfort, is it
not, that where sin abounds, where sin aboundeth, Christ doth
much more abound. That's our comfort. Although
there are different evils that come to us, many varieties of sins that are
within us, Yet the grace of God is able to overcome all our sins. We're going to sing that lovely
hymn of Isaac Watts presently. And look at what it says there
in 212 in the second verse. What though your numerous sins
exceed the stars that fill the skies, and aiming at the eternal
throne like pointed mountains rise. But then what goes on to
speak of that endless ocean that sinks all the mountains. See
here an endless ocean flows of never failing grace. Behold the
dying Saviour's veins the sacred flood increase, it rises high
and drowns the hills as neither sure nor bound. Now if we search
to find our sins, our sins can ne'er be found. All friends,
there is that precious blood, that fountain open for sin and
uncleanness and it covers the multitude of our sins, no matter
how high our sins might rise. All where sin abounds, Christ
doth much more abound. And that's our comfort. As I've
said, they are hills and mountains that bring division. The mountains
of beta we read. And that's what sin does. That's
what sin does. It brings division. Isaiah tells
us you're iniquity. have separated between you and
your God and your sins have hid his face from you that is the
awful consequence when we are guilty of transgressing of acting
contrary to the word of God disobeying the commands of God when we are
sinners we are separated from God They are mountains of division
there. And not only mountains of division,
there is a sense in which we have to recognise they are also
dark mountains. We certainly are made to feel
that when God begins to do his gracious work in our heart, when
God brings conviction into the soul. Do we not then feel that
these are truly dark mountains, dismal mountains? because we
are made to feel the awfulness of the separation. In Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse
16 we read, Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause
darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains
and while you look for light he turn it unto the shadow of
death and make it gross darkness. Here we have mentioned the end
of those dark mountains. And this is what we feel, is
it not, when God begins to deal with our souls. When we are dead
in trespasses and sins we feel nothing at all. But when God
comes and there is that gracious work accomplished in the soul,
then we begin to feel something. And we feel not only that sins
cause division, but they are such dark, dismal things. They
only bring misery into the heart of the sinner. We feel the darkness
of our fallen nature. Have we been there? Have we known
that? It's necessary, is it not, if
we're going to experience the real blessings of salvation,
to know what we are. Yes, we're Gentile sinners, having
the understanding darkened, being alienated from the light of God
through the ignorance that is in us because of the blindness
of our hearts, or the understanding darkened, our poor, dark, dismal
minds, the sinners that we are. But, here is the comfort again,
Christ delivers his people from all those dark mountains. He
kindly not to call sinners. And we must be conscious then
of our sinnership, we must know that we are sinners. I came not
to call the righteous. There were all those self-righteous
scribes and Pharisees who thought they were right and they knew
nothing of the truth. Christ came not to minister to
such as that. He came to cause sinners to repentance. And see how the appearing of
the Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of. Again in prophecy there in
the 60th chapter of Isaiah, arise shine for thy light is come.
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, for behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the
people. But the Lord shall arise upon
thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles
shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising." Here is the promise of Christ. And where does he
appear? Where there is darkness. All
these awful, dark, mountains. You see there is redemption in
the Lord Jesus Christ and out of that redemption come, it must
come to us in these two ways, it comes by price, but it also
comes by power. What is the price? It's that
price that the Lord Jesus Christ himself paid in order to redeem
his people. And what did Christ experience?
as he executed that work of redemption as he gave himself as the great
sacrifice for the sins of his people. Oh, remember how we have
it recorded concerning his sufferings there upon the cross at Golgotha
from the sixth hour it says. What is the sixth hour? Well,
the sixth hour was noon. High Noon, the sun at its zenith. And it says from the sixth hour
until the ninth hour there was a darkness over the face of the
earth. And it was then that Christ cried
with a loud voice saying, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken
me? those hours, you see, of darkness
that began at high noon. Oh, what is Christ experiencing
in his soul? He is experiencing that punishment
that was due to the sinner. He is experiencing the awful
darkness of bearing the wrath of God against the sins of his
people. And this is how Redemption is
accomplished at a price to be paid. It's a ransom price. The Lord demands that ransom
price. And so Christ pays the price. He suffers and he feels that
awful darkness in his soul. And if we would know this Christ,
you see, we must know something of this experience. We must feel
the awful darkness of what our sin is, these dark mountains.
How they rise, how they overshadow the soul. And yet God is in this,
you see, when he brings his people to that spot where they are made
to feel what it is to be a sinner. There is redemption, I say, by
Christ. Christ is the one who pays the
price. And he feels the darkness. But then, there is redemption
by power. Because what Christ wrought,
what Christ accomplished, must be brought home to us, it must
be applied to us. It's not enough that it's recorded
for us, and it is recorded, it's here in the Scriptures. Oh, the
Bible is full of these precious truths, these great doctrines
concerning salvation. Oh, the Bible is full of Christ.
But what we read here on the page of scripture concerning
all that Christ has accomplished must be brought home with power
into our soul. And so I say there is also a
redemption by power. Now how does Paul speak of it? He says God who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. And what does
he give? That light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For there is
that revelation of Christ, you see. He comes. He comes over
every mountain. Mountains that divide. Mountains
of darkness. Nothing can stand in his way.
He accomplishes all that glorious redemption, not only when he
pays the price, but when he sends his Spirit. The Spirit comes,
the Spirit of Christ, and applies the work of Christ. The voice
of my beloved, behold he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hill. Well, having sought to say something
with regards to these mountains and hills and the quantity of
them, how that they are many and they are various, and some
think of their nature, their character, as they are mountains
of division, they are mountains of darkness. But let us now in
the second place turn to look more carefully again at the manner
of Christ's coming. How does he come? Leaping and
skipping. Leaping and skipping. Leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills. Now what does that suggest? There
are a number of things. A number of things that the figure
is meant to convey to us. First of all, Is not this a sure
coming? This coming is a sure and a certain
coming. It is sure because he comes in
fulfilment of God's great covenant purpose. It's all in the covenant,
is it not? That's our comfort and our joy. The covenant stands. look at Isaiah 54 verse 10 the
mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness
shall not depart from them neither shall the covenant of my peace
be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy on them all these
mountains and these hills they removed, they departed But the
Covenant stands. Christ comes, you see, in the
Covenant. It's an everlasting Covenant,
is it not? And it's ordered in all things
and sure, that's our conflict. John Kent certainly knew it.
Poor John Kent knew it. How Kent seems to be full of
it, full of the Covenant. And the sureness and the certainty
of that great purpose of God. Christ's coming, I say, is a
sure coming. And as Christ has come and in
that covenant overcome all obstacles, so those who are in Christ, those
who are united to Him as their covenant head, they also overcome. There in Revelation, in those
Letters to the churches in chapters 2 and 3 time and again, the promise
is to him that overcomes. And how do we overcome? All we
can only overcome in the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Lord
Jesus Christ. And our union is not enough to
know that there is an eternal union, there must also be that
experimental union. We must be those who are truly
trusting in Him. Look how God's people overcome.
It was a long reading, but I just wanted to read through chapter
14. And I wanted to read on into chapter 41 to these verses. Fear
not, thou worm Jacob. Ungy men, or few men of Israel,
I will help them, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer. the Holy One
of Israel behold I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument
having teeth thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small
and shalt make the hills as chaff thou shalt crown them and the
wind shall carry them away and the whirlwind shall scatter them
and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord thy God and shalt glory
in the Holy One of Israel Maybe tonight there's some great obstacle
before you, some mountain. And it seems to be insurmountable,
but you see the promise that we have there. You're fresh to
mountain. How? Only in Christ. And that living
faith in Christ. Yes, there's eternal union, thank
God for that. Once in Him, in Him forever.
Thus the eternal covenant stands, but we need to know it, friends,
and experience it. We need faith. We need saving
faith. And what does it say, if ye have
faith as a grain of mustard seed? Oh, that mustard seed, the least
of all seeds, not even a seed, a grain of mustard seed. If ye
have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain,
remove yonder, and it shall obey you. That's the comfort of the
child of God, you see. They overcome. Why? Because Christ's coming is such
a sure coming of them. I said several things are suggested
in the imagery that we have. It is also a stately coming. All Christ comes in state. James
Durham In his commentary on the song says, of the language here
it imports beauty, majesty and stateliness. Oh that's the manner
of the Lord's coming, he's a king, he's a mighty one. And how does
he come? Why he comes in all his magnificence. He comes, you see, nothing can
stand before Him. He comes leaping upon the mountains
and skipping upon the hills. How the way had to be prepared
for His coming. So we have the ministry of the
Baptist, the voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare
you the way of the Lord, You see, it's a stately coming. When some royal personage will
make a visit, there must be much preparation. And here is the
coming of Christ. Here is the Baptist, crying in
the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make strength
in the desert, a highway for our God. Every valley shall be
exalted. and every mountain and hill shall
be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Oh, it's a stately coming. And
it's stately, you know, when Christ comes into the soul of
the sinner, or how the sinner feels it. Oh, he knows then that
this is a mighty Saviour that has visited his soul and come
in all his glorious majesty as one who is able to save and able
to save for the Ottomans all that call unto God by him. His coming then is a glorious
coming. Now again we must observe the
fact that it is a scriptural coming. It is a scriptural coming. He comes in the chariot of His
Word. We cannot emphasize that too
much, friends. This is where we will find the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's here in the Scriptures that
He is pleased to come to us and make Himself known to us. I referred to Romans chapter
10, but what is the passage that Paul has in mind there in Romans
chapter 10, when it's those words of Isaiah, he quotes from Isaiah
52. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of goods, that publisheth salvation,
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth They watchmen shall
lift up the voice, with the voice together shall they sing, for
they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of Him that bring us good tidings. And Paul there
in Romans 10 makes it clear that that has to do with the Word
of God and the ministry of the Word of God and the proclamation
of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Word, it's the
opening up of the Word, the expounding of the Scriptures, but not only
that, it's the application of the Word. So then faith cometh
by hearing, he says, and hearing by the Word of God. Oh, what
a privilege it is ours that we hear God's Word. When we come
together in this fashion, that's the purpose, is it not, of our
coming? Why is it that the pulpit is
so prominent in our chapels? Why is there such an emphasis
upon the reading of the Scriptures and the preaching of the Scriptures?
Because this, I say, is the vehicle. Christ comes in this chariot.
He comes in His Word. But then also, let us not lose
sight of this, it is a spiritual coming. He must come by his spirit,
not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. Who art thou, O great Manxin?
If oars are rubbable, thou shalt become a plough. Who is as a
rubbable? Why, saith the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And every great mountain, you
see, cannot stand before the rubble, the great mountain shall
become a plain. But it's the Spirit, not by might,
nor by power, but by my Spirit. My Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.
Oh friends, that we might know something of it, the Kingdom
of God. The Kingdom of God is not in words, says the Apostle,
it is in power. And we need that blessed anointing
of the Spirit there. And the anointing of the Spirit
both on the preacher and upon the healed. Or the preacher needs
much help if he is going to faithfully execute his office and proclaim
the Word of God, he needs help. He needs the help of the Spirit
But don't hearers need the same help, the same spirit? That the
spirit would come, you see, and open the understanding, and not
only the understanding, but touch the heart, and move the will. And we need to pray that the
spirit would come and work, and work all our works within us.
It's not enough, is it, simply to attend the outward means of
grace. Oh, we thank God that there are
these means of grace. And I said this morning, here
in the next verse we do have reference to what is often referred
to as the windows of His grace. Verse 9, My beloved is like a
row or a young heart. Behold, He standeth behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the windows. showing himself through the lattice,
the windows of Christ, showing himself through the lattice when
we come presently to the ordinances. All for the Lord to come, you
see, and to show himself, to reveal himself, to make himself
known. But don't we need the Spirit,
you see? How can these things be without the ministry of the
Holy Spirit? We can attend to the externals,
We can attend to the reading of the word and the preaching
of the word. We can come to the table, we can sit there, we can
partake of the elements. But is he not, friends, a spiritual
feast? Oh, and how kindly and how graciously
the Lord invites us to come. He says, eat, oh friends. Drink,
yea, drink abundantly, oh beloved. But we need the Spirit to see
if there is going to be any real profit in our coming to that
time. This is why we have to examine ourselves. We should
desire that we might be like John in the Spirit, in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day. All carefulness we should grieve
the Spirit of God. It is, I say, a spiritual coming. It's a sure certain coming, it's
that that is in the covenant. All the hills and the mountains
are removed but the covenant stands. Oh, it's a glorious coming
in states. It's Christ in all his glory
appearing. It's Christ travelling in the
chariot of his word. It's a scriptural coming. It's
that ministry of the Holy Spirit that is so vital and then finally
it's his friends. Precious truth, it's a swift
coming. Oh, he comes swiftly. He comes swiftly. Surely I come
quickly, he says. And what does the church say?
Amen. Even so come Lord Jesus. Now I know there at the end of
the revelation it is in the context of course he is appearing in
his second coming. And I trust that we are those
who do desire that the Lord to return in power and glory. But do we also desire in these
times that the Lord might come to us and come with all haste
and all speed. We need him to come and we need
him to come with some urgency because our needs are so great.
Surely I come quickly, he says. Can we not plead that? It's a
promise. It's the word of Christ. I come quickly, he says. What
do we say? Amen, that's a prayer. You know,
Amen is a prayer, just the word Amen is a prayer. Christ says, surely I come, quickly
the church says Amen, so be it. Even so, come, Lord Jesus, the
voice of my beloved, behold he cometh, leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hill. Oh friends, is this what we are
looking for? Is this what we are praying for?
Is this the desire, the real desire of all our hearts? I close with those opening words of Isaiah
64. It's a prayer. Oh that thou wouldst rend the
heavens that thou wouldest come down that the mountains might
flow down at thy presence as when the melting fire burneth
the fire causeth the waters to boil to make thy name known to
thine adversaries that the nations might tremble at thy presence
when thou didst terrible things which we look not for thou camest
down the mountains flowed down at Thy presence. Amen.