Mar 13
16
A faint symbol of unutterable affection!
(Charles Spurgeon, “Gleanings among the Sheaves”)
“Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” Song of Songs 5:16
In calling the Lord Jesus “altogether lovely,” the redeemed Church asserts that she sees nothing in Him which she does not admire. The world may rail at His cross and call it shameful; but to her it is the very center and soul of glory. He is never without beauty to her! She presses His pierced feet to her embrace—and looks upon His wounds as jewels! Fools stand by His cross and find many a theme for jest and scorn; but she discovers nothing but solemn reason for reverent adoration and unbounded love!
“You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved—with no imperfection in You!” Song of Songs 4:7. Viewing Him in every office and relationship—she cannot discover a flaw! She knows too well, His perfect Godhead and His spotless manhood—to offer a moment’s shelter to the thought of a blemish in His immaculate person! She abominates every teaching that debases Him! She spurns the most gorgeous religious drapery that would obscure His beauteous features! Yes, so jealous is she of His honor, that a hint against His unsullied purity would stir her soul to holy wrath—and speedy would be her execration, and relentless her execution of the heresy! Nothing has ever aroused the ire of the Church so much—as a word against her beloved Redeemer. To all true believers, this is high treason and an offense which cannot be treated lightly.
Jesus is without a single blot or blemish—yet this negative praise, this bold denial of any fault—is far from representing the fullness of the loving admiration of the Church. Jesus is positively lovely in her eyes! Not merely lovely—His beauties are attracting beauties, and His glories are such as charm the heart. But although this utterance of the Church is the very climax of the language of praise, and was doubtless intended as the pinnacle of all description—yet it is not possible that this one sentence, even when expanded by the most careful meditation, should be able to express more than a mere particle of the admiration felt. Her description towers above all others; but its stature fails to reach the towering height of Heaven-born love. It is but a faint symbol of unutterable affection! It is a choice pearl washed on shore, from the deep sea of Divine love.
“Yes, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend!” Song of Songs 5:16
Where then, are all my spots?
(Susannah Spurgeon, “A Basket of Summer Fruit”)
“You are all beautiful, My beloved; there is no spot
in you!” Song of Songs 4:7
“Ah!” I hear some timid, trembling believer say, “Such a text can have nothing to do with me! I am the very opposite of all that is beautiful and spotless. The eyes
of my soul have seen hideous sights within, which I can never forget; and I loathe myself and my sin so much,that though I believe God has forgiven me for Christ’s
sake—I feel it impossible to take those precious words as addressed to one so sinful and imperfect as myself!”
Yet, trembling soul, I would bid you take courage, and look up! Christ’s love for His people is marvelously set forth in this Song of Songs. The same precious blood
was poured out to redeem the least lamb of the flock,as for the choicest sheep!
Come, then, timid one—rejoice in the blessed fact that you are indeed precious to the Lord—and He says, “You are all beautiful, My beloved!” Adoringly bow before Him in wonder—at the miracle His love has wrought in you.
It ill becomes the bride of Christ to ignore His loveliness, which He has put upon her, and go about bemoaning the scars and blemishes which His great love overlooks and forgets.
It is quite true that, in themselves, believers are sorrowfully imperfect and sinful; but if the Lord Jesus, in His marvelous mercy, unrobes Himself to cover over their unrighteousness, they may well be content to be thus made “beautiful” in His
sight. We cannot comprehend the mystery and sublimity of Divine love; but it is the sole and all-sufficient reason for the dear Lord’s estimate of us; and when He uses such endearing language—our hearts melt and are ravished by His wondrous
condescension. With reverence we say it—when our dear Master deigns to address us in accents of love and admiration, our souls are thrilled with heavenly bliss, and we are uplifted beyond all the sorrows and vexations of this world, into an
atmosphere of unspeakable spiritual joy!
“My beloved!” Oh, say it again, dear Savior! Let the music of Your voice touch and vibrate through the deepest chords of my nature, and awaken sweet responses in my soul! You are the fount and source of all love; oh, fill me, overwhelm
me, plunge me in this sea of mercy and of grace! I would be swallowed up in it—knowing no other joy or bliss comparable to that of being able to say, “My Beloved is mine—and I am His!”
“There is no spot in you.” Can our loving Lord really mean this? He does, indeed! “Where then, are all my spots, dear Lord, for they were legion—and sin must render me vile and loathsome in Your pure sight?”
All the sins—past, present, and future—all the deformity and blackness—are cleansed away by Christ’s blood—covered by His righteousness! And so completely is this done, that God Himself can find no remnant or stain of that which would
have meant eternal death to an unwashed soul. The poor sinner is lifted from the depths of sin—to the heights of heavenly bliss! “What kind of love is this?” It is so Divine and incomprehensible that, in the contemplation of it, we are lost in wonder and amazement!
Lord Jesus, what a glorious Savior You are! All the sin, which made Your bride so black and vile—was laid upon You!
“There is no spot in you.” An old writer says—”Now, if God sees no spot—why should you be prying after one? Poring over your misery, searching after your blackness and depravity—will be no help to you. This only keeps your eyes off Jesus, instead of up unto Jesus. You cannot look two ways at once. How did the poor serpent-bitten Israelites in the wilderness get relief and healing? By
looking to their sores, their wounds, their malady? Oh, no! It was by looking to the brazen serpent! And if you would get relief—it must be by looking to Jesus Christ!”
Unquenchable!
(Bonar, “The Love That Passes Knowledge”)
“Many waters cannot quench love; neither can rivers drown it.” Song of Solomon 8:7
Let us take this verse as descriptive of the love of Christ, the “love that passes knowledge.” Nothing in heaven, or earth, or hell is able to extinguish or cool the love of Christ; the one love whose dimensions are beyond all measure!
It is unquenchable!
1. The waters of SHAME AND SUFFERING sought to quench and drown it. They would have hindered its outflowing, and come (like Peter) between the
Savior and the cross; but this love refused to be arrested on its way to Calvary; it would not be either quenched or drowned. Herein was love! It overleaped all the barriers in its way. Its fire would not be quenched, its life would not be drowned!
2. The waters of DEATH sought to quench it. Their waves and billows went over him. The grave sought to cool or quench it; but it proved itself stronger
than death. Neither death nor the grave could alter or weaken it. It came out of both as strong as before. Love defied death, and overcame it!
3. The waters of OUR UNWORTHINESS could not quench nor drown love. In general we find love drawing to the loveable; and when anything unseemly
occurs, withdrawing from its object. Not so here. All our unfitness and unloveableness could not quench nor drown his love. It clung to the unlovely, and
refused to be torn away!
4. The waters of OUR LONG REJECTION sought to quench it. After the gospel had showed us that personal unworthiness could not arrest the love of Christ, we continued to reject him and his love. Yet his love surmounted this unbelief, and
survived this rejection. In spite of all it remained unquenched!
5. The waters of OUR DAILY INCONSISTENCY sought to quench it. Even after we have believed, we are constantly coming short. Ah! what inconsistencies,
coldness, backslidings, lukewarmness, doubtings, worldliness, and such like, are daily flowing over this love to quench its fire and drown its life! Yet it survives all; it remains unquenched and unquenchable! All these infinite evils in us are like “waters,” “many waters”; like “floods”; torrents of sin, waves and billows of evil; all constantly laboring to quench and drown the love of Christ! And truly
they would have annihilated any other love; any love less than divine. But the love of Christ is unchangeable and everlasting! His love is invincible, and irresistible as death; it is a jealous love, unyielding and inexorable as the grave! All earth and heaven together would be ineffectual to cool or quench His mighty love! The love of Christ truly passes knowledge. It is infinite like himself. It emerges out of every
storm or flood. It survives all our unworthiness, and unbelief, and rejection!
Here, then, is the love of Christ! Its breadth, length, height, and depth, are absolutely immeasurable!
Sinner, resort immediately to the fountain of the Redeemer’s blood, while it is yet open. Come, without delay: “Wash, and be clean.” “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let each one who hears them say, “Come.” Let the thirsty ones come—anyone who wants to. Let them come and drink the water of life without charge.” If you thus come to the fountain of living water, you will be able to adopt the language of Cowper, and say–
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Immanuel’s veins
And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains
The dying thief rejoiced to see That fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he Wash all my sins away Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood Shall never lose its power Till all the ransomed church of God Are saved, to sin no more
For since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply
Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I’ll sing thy power to save William Cowper, 1800.