The text this morning is found
in the 2nd chapter of the Song of Solomon and the 8th verse. The Song of Solomon chapter 2
and verse 8. The voice of my beloved, behold
he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. In the Song of Solomon chapter
2 and verse 8. We're told, are we not, in the
Book of Kings concerning Solomon that he wrote three thousand
proverbs and one thousand and five songs. Three thousand proverbs,
one thousand and five songs. Not all were those that were
inspired by the Holy Ghost. We do have some of the proverbs
of King Solomon in the book of Proverbs and we have this one
song which was clearly inspired by God the Holy Ghost and we
are told in the opening verse it is the song of songs, the
song of songs which is Solomon's. How is he different to all those
other 1004 sons we might ask? Well surely we see the difference
in this, that the subject matter of this son is none other than
the Lord Jesus Christ himself. I'm not denying that it speaks
of natural love in a certain sense, natural love of a man
for a woman, that love that should be between a husband and his
wife, that is what underlies the Song of Solomon. But surely,
ultimately this book, like all the rest of Scripture, speaks
to us of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we not read of the Church
as the Bride and the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is the
bridegroom of his church. Isaiah 61 and verse 10, for example,
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful
in my God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness as a bridegroom,
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with her jewels. And we can think of that parable
that the Lord Jesus Christ himself told in Matthew 25 concerning
the ten virgins who take their lamps and look for the coming
of the bridegroom in Ephesians chapter 5 in particular of course
we see how that relationship between the husband and the wife
is there set forth in terms of the love that Christ bears towards
his church. I'm sure it's a portion of God's
Word that we're not unfamiliar with, it's often referred to,
of course, at a Christian wedding. Those remarkable words that we
find right at the end of Ephesians chapter 5, Paul says, this is
a great mystery. He's been speaking of the relative
duties of the husband to the wife and the wife to the husband,
but he says this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ
and the Church, nevertheless. that every one of you, in particular,
so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence
her husband. That relationship, the most intimate
of all human relationships then, is taken up and used in reference
to that love that Christ himself bears towards his church. At the end of scripture in the
book of the Revelation we have mention of that great marriage
supper of the Lamb that will come about at the end of time
that the church, that the believer can anticipate with great joy
and gladness. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honour to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready, and to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the
Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Clearly then, we see that that
relationship between a man and a woman, between a husband and
his wife is spoken of in Scripture in these high terms, even in
terms of the love that Christ bears towards his church. And so here in the text, the
voice of the Beloved, is it not a reference to the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ himself, the voice of my beloved says the
church. Behold he cometh leaping upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills. First of all then,
looking at this text this morning I want to say something with
regards to the voice and then in the second place I want to
say something with regards to the visitation, the coming of
Christ The voice, as he were heralds, is appearing, he's coming
for his church. But first of all we turn to consider
the significance of these opening words. The voice of my Beloved. This is one of those names, of
course, that is given in scripture to the Lord Jesus Christ, even
God. acknowledges him as the Beloved. In Matthew chapter 12, Behold
my servant whom I have chosen, my Beloved, in whom my soul is
well pleased, says God. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
was in the Mount of Transfiguration with Peter and James and John,
and they saw something of the glories of his deity, they were
able to look beyond the veil of his human nature and see the
glory that belonged to his divine nature there as he was transfigured
before their eyes. Remember the words that they
heard from heaven, this is my beloved son, he is the father's
beloved, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear
ye him, Here you hear his voice. He is that one who speaks to
his people. And doesn't Peter say we were
with him in the holy mountain, we heard that voice. They heard
the voice of God from heaven and they were bidden to attend
to the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. John again in the opening
words of his first epistle, that which was from the beginning,
which we have heard he says. who is the one from the beginning
that John heard. He heard the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He tells us in his gospel, never
man spoke like this man. And see how that voice is described
here in verse 14. At the end of that 14th verse,
let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice, for sweet
is thy voice. and thy countenance is comely."
Now where is it? You say to me, where is it then
that we today can hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ? Where
is it that Christ comes and speaks to us? Well, clearly we have
to say in the first place that it is in the Scriptures. This
is why we ought to have such a high doctrine of the Word of
God. Is not this the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ? He said to the Jews in his own
day, search the Scriptures, for in them you think that ye have
eternal life, and these are they that speak of me. This is the
inscripturated Word, and the Lord Jesus Christ is that Word
of God incarnate. And there is a relationship between
the two. Many times we quote those words,
I think they are most significant words, and we often sing them,
the Scriptures and the Lord. bear one tremendous name, the
written and incarnate word, in all things are the same. What
we have before us on the page of the scriptures is the voice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said during the course of
his ministry, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words
shall not pass away. And hasn't God preserved the
scriptures? and preserved them to us even to this point in time. Where is the voice of Christ
heard then? Is it not heard in the scriptures? But then we can go further, we
can say there is a sense in which Christ is pleased to come in
a particular manner where his word is opened up and expounded
and preached. Paul clearly makes the point
that we are to recognize that preaching is God's own ordinance,
it's what God himself has appointed. There in the 10th chapter of
the epistle to the Romans, But verse 13, Paul writes, Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. O then shall
they call on him in whom they have not believed, and O shall
they believe in him of whom they have not heard, and O shall they
hear without a preacher, and O shall they preach except they
be sent, as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them
that preach the gospel of peace. and bring glad tidings of good
things as God has been pleased to own and to honour this office
of the ministry, the preaching of the word. He goes on, so insight
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now there
are those of us who can testify to the truth of that scripture.
that we sat under the Word, we heard the preaching of the Word,
and there have been those times when we have felt that there
has been such an application to us. And we must recognise
that it is indeed the Word of God, it's the voice, not of a
man, a preacher that we're hearing. It is truly the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And as you know it was at the
time of course of the Protestant Reformation that the the office
of the ministry, the preaching of the word was rediscovered
in a sense and it had been buried in those dark ages and then the
light shone and preaching was rediscovered and here in England
a man like Bishop Latimer, he was a great preacher And he made
that statement concerning the preaching. Oh, let us maintain
this, he said. That's the preaching of the word.
This is the only office that God has ordained to save us by. The voice of the Lord Jesus Christ
is heard in preaching. It's not just that the preacher
speaks of Christ, but Christ himself comes. I'm not suggesting
for a moment that there's anything peculiar or special about any
man. We don't believe in any priestly
office. But it's that word that the man is handling and seeking
to open and to proclaim. When Paul writes to the Ephesians,
he'd ministered there at Ephesus. We know that Christ had never
been in Ephesus. His ministry was very much confined
to Palestine. He was sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. But how the apostles are to go
into Samaria and further even to the ends of the earth and
the gospel is taken out there in Acts by the apostles and Paul
in particular and when he writes to the church that he had under
God's hand established at Ephesus what does he say? You have not
so learned Christ. If so be ye have heard him and
been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus. How did they hear
Christ? How were they taught by Christ? It was through that office of
preaching. Christ comes. He says, I will
come again to his disciples. I will come to you. And so the Lord does indeed come. He comes here in the Scripture. He comes in the opening up of
the Word, the preaching of the Gospel. Is it what we desire
when we come into services, that we might hear the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Or are we those who want to be
all-hearers? We want to hear the sound of
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But not only does He
come to us in the ordinance of the ministry
of the Word, there are those other ordinances. And tonight,
of course, we will observe that ordinance of the Lord's Supper. And doesn't Christ come there
and reveal himself and speak to us? He's another reference
to it here in the following verse. Verse 9, Behold, he standeth
behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, or the windows
of his righteousness, showing himself through the lattice,
through the ordinance. As we come tonight are we those
who desire that we might meet with Him and know something of
that gracious revelation of Christ to us. We are to prepare ourselves,
you see, for that blessed opportunity, the Lord's Supper. We are to
examine ourselves, we are to prove ourselves, we are to know
ourselves. So let a man examine himself,
says Paul there in the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Or do we desire
then that we might be those who know the voice of Christ? Where
is his voice heard? It's heard here in the Scripture,
it's heard in that that the Lord himself has appointed and ordained,
the office of preaching and the ordinances, particularly that
ordinance of the Holy Supper of the Lord. But where? When is it that the voice of
Christ is heard? Or what is it to be hearing that
voice? What's the evidence of us hearing
that voice? Well, when he comes, is it not
to his people a time of real communion and real fellowship
with him? We sometimes refer to the Lord's
Supper as a communion service. Communion, fellowship, they are
synonyms, they are referring to one and the same thing. We
have fellowship with Him. We commune with Him. He comes
to us. He draws near to us. He speaks
to us. Do we not here in this chapter
have this language employed that speaks so graphically of what
communion is? In verse 4, He brought me to
the banqueting house and His banner over me was love. Stay
me. with flagons, comforts, me with
apples, for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head,
his right hand does embrace me. All the intimacy of that relationship
between the beloved and his beloved. It is a time of real communion,
a fellowship with him is real. Or have there not been those
times maybe We feel, alas, that they've been so infrequent. But
we can say that we've known some little seasons when the Lord
has so come and made himself so real and so precious to us. We've known and we felt something
of that gracious ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. But here
it is, there's always that possibility of him departing. How does he continue in verse
7, I charge you? O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
by the rose and by the hinds of the field that ye stir not
up, nor awake my love till he please. There's always you see
that thought. Will it ever be so? Will he always
be this near to me? Will I ever be so intimate with
him again? Will there be a parting, a separation,
a desertion? So we were reading this morning
that incident on the road to Emmaus when the Lord of course
appeared to those two disciples and it struck me, it struck me
before but it struck me again so forcibly this morning. You
remember their eyes were holden and they didn't know him. And
then they invite him to come in with them and he goes in and
he breaks bread and their eyes are opened it seems. And then,
strangely, the sooner are their eyes opened and they know him,
then he's gone. That's 31st verse in Luke 24. Their eyes were opened and they
knew him. Oh, how precious that must have
been. All of a sudden this stranger, they recognise who it is, it's
the Lord. They knew him. And then it says,
and he vanished out of their sight. Isn't that the strange
experience of God's people? We read of the ungodly in Psalm
55 because they had no changes. Therefore they fear not God,
they know nothing of changes. But the believer's life, you
see, it is a strange life, it's a life of changes, it's an in
and out life, it's an up and down life. We sometimes sing
that verse of hearts more frequently, let thy visits be or let them
longer last. I can do nothing without them.
Make haste my God, make haste we want the Lord to come. We
want to know that we are those who are truly enjoying the season
of fellowship with him. We are hearing his voice. He
is speaking to us. But how sad when we have the
thought of that possibility of him departing, separation. And we see it here at the end
of the chapter. Until the day break and the shadows
flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young
heart upon the mountains of Bitha. And the margin tells us what
Bitha means, separation. be like a roe or a young heart
or so fleet of foot, so quick in movement upon the mountains
of separation. We want Him to come again. We
want Him to come again and again as a bee ever revealing Himself. And doesn't the Lord come when
we least expect? That's the wonder of the Lord.
He's wise and sovereign, you see. He comes when we least expect
it. He surprises us. He comes, does he not, sometimes
even in the midst of his chastenings. When our sins have separated
between us and our God and God's dealing with us, the Prophet
says, the Lord's voice crieth unto the city, the man of wisdom
shall see thy name. Hear ye the Lord. Oh, there's
a voice in the rod. The rod of correction. The Lord's
voice is there, you see. And when the Lord speaks, isn't
that such a significant part of Him revealing Himself and
making Himself known? He comes when we don't expect
it. And you know, His voice is heard before we see Him with
the eye of fire. Isn't that the order of it? It
is his voice that declares his coming. The voice of my beloved,
behold he cometh. Remember John's experience there
on the Isle of Patmos and what a sad situation John's in. He's
in exile. He's cut off from fellowship
with the Lord's people. He's in a lonely place. and then he hears a voice. I
mean, we have it there in the opening chapter of the Revelation.
He is in the spirit on the Lord's day and he hears a voice. The voice comes first and he
turns and he says he sees seven golden candlesticks and one in
the midst of the candlesticks like unto the sun of man. Who is the Lord's voice that
comes first? and all that he might come to
us and be a herald of his coming and a blessed season of real
communion with him. The voice of the Lord. Now, friends,
who are those who do hear this voice of the Lord? The voice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many, many who hear
the word of God And yet they never hear the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now we have to examine ourselves
in that sense. We hear the word of God. Doubtless
you read the word of God for yourselves. You come here and
the word of God is read. Many times you hear it. Many
times I read it, I hear it myself. But are we those who not only
hear the word but we also know the voice? the voice of Christ. Many are called, he said, but
few are chosen. As Solomon teased friends, we
have that constant exhortation in those letters to the seven
churches. Remember back in the Revelation,
the seven candlesticks were told of the seven churches. And then
in chapters 2 and 3 we have the letters to those seven churches
of Asher Miner. Time and again the exhortation
there, He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches. Who are we those who want to
hear what the Spirit is saying? That Spirit of God who first
gave the Word, who inspired those holy men. That same Spirit, God the Holy
Ghost, He must come and He must apply that Word to us. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He is the Spirit of Christ, is
he not? And so when the Spirit comes in the Word it is truly
the voice of Christ that we are hearing. Down there in John chapter
10 Christ speaks of the shepherd and his sheep and he says to
him The porter openeth, he is a shepherd, and the sheep hear
his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by night, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And the stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. And later he goes on, my sheep
hear my voice. And I know them and they follow
me and I give unto them eternal life. And they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Oh, this is the
mark of the sheep, they know the voice of the shepherd. They
hear his voice and they follow him. Oh friends, how we need to look
to ourselves and do we know what it is to hear the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ? the voice of my beloved. Do we know that voice? How it
is so necessary that there is that irresistible grace of God's
coming into the soul of the sinner, that effectual call of the grace
of God. The way in which that gospel
came to those Thessalonians. Paul says our gospel came not
unto you in word only. and in power, and in the Holy
Ghost, and in much assurance. Isn't that how we need that God's
Word should be coming to us? In power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance. And it goes on. in the next chapter,
in the second chapter of that first epistle to the Thessalonians
in verse 13 he says for this cause also thank we God without
ceasing because when you receive the word of God which you heard
of us you receive it not as the word of men but as it is in truth
the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe
what do we know of that? The Word of God, he says, which
effectually worketh also in you that believe. We are those friends
who stand in need in that we are hearing that voice, the voice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we are those who are bearing
that mark of the sheep, who know His voice and follow it, and
they will not follow the voice of strangers. or to be discerning
hearers. That's the important thing. Not
to listen to every low here and low there. It's important, you
know, that we are able to discern truth from error and true preaching
from false teaching. It's important. Some might frown
and say, oh well, isn't that rather hard and harsh to judge
ministers and preachers of the word? No, we need that spirit
of the Bereans when we hear the word of God to go to the scriptures
to examine what we are hearing in the light of what's contained
in the word of God to be discriminating hearers those are the ones who
know the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ first of all then here
we have the voice of the Beloved, the voice of
my Beloved. Ah, but what follows? It's the
visit, the visitation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, he
cometh. Behold, he cometh. Leaping upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills. There are two things
briefly with regards to this visitation. First of all, it
is a sure coming. A sure and a certain coming. Doubt it not. The Lord is to
come. Look at that word that introduces
the declaration of His coming. Behold, it says. Behold. Here is something that we have
to fix our eye on and be sure and certain of. We are to look,
we are to gaze, we are to consider this particular truth. Christ
will come, and He will come. He will come, of course, ultimately
at the end of time. As there was a beginning of time,
so there will be an end of time, God created time. In the beginning
God created the heavens and the earth. There was a time, sounds
a ridiculous statement to speak of it like this, but I don't
know how else one can put it. There was a time when there was
no time. Time had a beginning, and time
will have an end, eternally. And it is before each and every
one of us. The Lord will come, you see,
and he will usher in the end of time. In Jude, that little
book, that short epistle, that's there just before the
book of the Revelation, the book of Jude, in verses 14 and 15. Behold the Lord cometh. The language you see is so similar
to what we have in the text this morning. Behold the Lord cometh
with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all
and to convince all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly
deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard
speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. He is to come as that One who
will be the Judge, because the Father, we know, has committed
all judgement into the hands of the Son. The Son of God who
first comes to be the Saviour of sinners, and we have the record,
of course, of that first coming here in the fourth Old Gospel
of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But that one who came to save
sinners is the one who will come again to be the judge of all
men. The Lord says there in John chapter
5 verse 22, The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son. Oh, he is that one whom the Father
has raised up to judge the quick and the dead. Verse 25, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that
hear shall live. For if the Father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming. in which all that are in the
grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth, they that have
done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done
evil unto the resurrection of damnation. His voice will be
heard, that voice of the archangel, Christ is to come again and all
will be raised and there will be a day of judgment. and it is sure, it is certain. But then, here we are thinking
more particularly, are we not, of Christ coming in the day of
Christ. Christ comes as the Saviour. It is not simply a sure coming
of judgement. There is also this saving coming,
the sure coming of Christ as that one who is the saviour of
sinners. I will not leave you comfortless,
he says to his disciples. I will come to you. And still he comes. Oh, still
he comes. What would be the point or purpose
of us meeting as we do in this fashion? coming together, Lord's
Day morning, Lord's Day evening, Thursday evenings, what is the
point, what is the purpose, if there is no prospect of Christ
coming and being amongst us and visiting us and manifesting Himself
to us. We want Christ to come and we
want Christ to come here in His Word and we want Christ to come
by His Spirit and to come by His Spirit in His Word. When the Spirit comes, you see,
and reveals Christ to us, He always reveals Him in terms of
the Word, does He not? The Spirit will never lead the
people of God in any way that is contrary to the Scriptures. It is coming together, you see,
of the Word of God and the Spirit of God and that gracious revealing
of Christ. in all the scriptures to our
souls. The Lord says concerning His ministry, He shall testify
of me. That is the ministry of the Spirit,
to bear testimony to Christ. He shall not speak of Himself,
says Christ. He is God, the Holy Ghost. And
yet, what an amazing ministry. He doesn't speak of Himself.
He is equal to the Father, He is equal to the Son, but in this
gracious coming of God as the Saviour of sinners, how the Spirit,
in a sense, conceals Himself. It's a self-effacing ministry.
He shall not speak of Himself, says Christ. He shall take of
Mine, and shall show it unto you. Lord, You bless His coming
when the Spirit comes. to reveal Christ to us, to make
Christ known, to make Christ real in our souls. And you see
how every obstacle, every obstacle is overcome. Nothing can stand
in the way of that Gracious Coming. Behold, He cometh, it says, leaping
upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. These are as
no obstacles at all. And there are many obstacles
we might think that stand in the way of Christ coming to us
and us enjoying that blessed revelation of Christ. Or there's
the hardness of our hearts. There's that deadness that we
feel so often deep within us. There are those doubts. And there
are those fears. and that cursed unbelief that
is so bound up with our fallen nature but all of these obstacles
you see they are so easily overcome nothing can stand against the coming of God God
the Holy Ghost as the revealer of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is the great hope, is
it not, of the church as we see it there at the end of the chapter. Turn my beloved, be thou like
a row or a young heart upon the mountains of bitter, the mountains
of separation. For he will come, he will overcome
all of these obstacles and he will reveal himself. When we
have that great promise of course of his first coming There in
Isaiah chapter 14, it speaks to us of the ministry of the
Baptist on the Baptist, the harbinger, the one who prepares the way
for the coming of Christ, the voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight 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 all these exceeding great and precious
promises we sang in our opening praise praise that that voice
that rolls the stars around speaks all the promises nor that He
might speak these promises into our hearts, that we might know
what it is for the Lord to come and to visit us to die. Here
we have Him, you see, the Beloved. This is the Word of God. He is
God's Beloved. He is God's Beloved. This is
my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, says God. Hear
ye here, for with Christ your Beloved, if you love someone,
or do not want them to come, to draw near, to be with you,
to glory in their presence, O the Lord grant that we might have
such an appetite then for his coming, that we might know that
voice that speaks, that preparation for his coming, the voice of
my Beloved to behold he cometh, leaping upon the mansions, skipping
upon the hills. The Lord rest his words.