Perfecting Communion with Christ
The Song of Songs • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
Introduction:
Introduction:
Connection
This weekend has truly been a joy. If you remember, in my first session we joked together that this is not a marriage conference! Sorry if I let you down! But, on the other hand, this has been a marriage conference—as we have meditated on a marriage that every other is but a shadow.
Together we have looked at the Song of Songs, and I hope I have convinced you of what Robert Murray Mc’Cheyne said so long ago:
“No book furnishes a better test than does the Song of the depth of a man’s Christianity. If his religion have a hold on his heart, this will be a favourite portion of the Word of God”
We have looked at Desiring Communion with Christ, Neglecting Communion with Christ, Enjoying Communion with Christ, and now we come to our final sermon:
Theme:
Sealing and Perfecting Communion with Christ
Need:
We need our hearts to look forward to that day, when the day breathes, and the shadows flee, when Christ returns at his second coming to beautify his bride in the garden of the new creation.
Purpose:
To exhort the bride of Christ to cry out with desperation and delight for the return of her Beloved Shepherd-King.
PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY
(1) The Bride Cries Out for a Speedy Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14a
(1) The Bride Cries Out for a Speedy Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14a
Song of Solomon 8:14 (ESV)
Make haste, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle or a young stag.
(1) The Bride Cries Out for a Speedy Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14a
(1) The Bride Cries Out for a Speedy Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14a
To the heart that is trusting in Jesus, loving Jesus, and clinging to Jesus—there is another grace of the Spirit flowing within: hope! Living hope! Indestructible hope! Unrivaled hope! A sure and steadfast anchor for the soul (Heb. 6).
We are hoping in the blessed appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ—when he will come to consummate his marriage with the church, when he shall bring with him the marriage supper of the Lamb, when we shall go out to meet Him, to be sealed in perfect communion with Him, and to gaze upon the beauty of his face, which is altogether lovely, for all our days!
The Bride uses the imagery of a gazelle and a stag, of a deer and doe—have you ever seen a deer running swiftly through the forest? Up and over the hills? With barely any noise. A speedy and graceful sprint. This is the image of the Bride longing for the return of her Beloved—gracefully, speedily, and swiftly.
Burrowes says: To this, as the ultimate, absorbing desire of the soul, do all these assurances of the love of Jesus lead. As the book begins with a burst of desire for the love of Christ, as that love can be enjoyed only by his intimate friends, it ends with a prayer for the hastening of the time when we shall no longer see him through a glass darkly, but face to face; when there shall be nothing to interfere with the manifestation of his love to us, and the expression of our love to him: this desire is expressed, and its intenseness shown, by the prayer the he would hasten that happy day, and come with the swiftness of a gazelle, or a young stag
Why does the Bride cry out for her Beloved to make haste? Five reasons:
(1) Because she knows that the sooner he comes, the quicker she will be freed from sin and shame.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
Oh when Jesus appears, we who are the children of God shall become like him, shining like the sun! Those who look to him are radiant! And oh how radiant shall we be when we are freed from this body of death, resurrected with a perfect body, a holy soul, and a truly happy life. Oh that day when we shall be pure in heart, when we shall be saved to sin now more. Don’t you long for that day, when the burdens of sin which weigh us down will be forever cast into the sea? The pride, the lust, the anger, the selfishness, the idolatry, the immorality, the bitterness, the doubt, the division, the coveting of our hearts—this shall be fully removed as we become like the Lamb in whom there is no deceit or sin. no longer will we be filled with the sense of shame due to our sin, as the bride was in ch, 1:
Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
(2) Because she knows that the sooner he comes, the quicker she will be perfected in love for Christ.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Oh the chief jewel of communion with Christ is love for Christ. As we get a foretaste of this now, loving him in whom our soul delights, sitting in the shadow of his presence—we look forward when faith will turn to sight, when hope shall turn into possession, and when love shall abide in perfect power, purity, and pleasure. When the soul will no longer enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin—but will entirely be poured forth toward our Lord and Saviour in love never ending! The greatest of these is love—because love is the token that knits us forever to the heart of our beloved.The. He shall sing of us and our love:
How beautiful and pleasant you are,
O loved one, with all your delights!
(3) Because she knows that the sooner he comes, the quicker she will be perfected in joy from Christ.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
Oh how happy are wedding days on this side of glory. I think back to my wedding day, and maybe you can think back to yours. Maybe you aren’t married but have attended a joyous wedding! What happiness fills the room, what smiles are cast upon our faces. But oh how much more so will we rejoice and exult and give Christ the glory, when that blessed feast comes, when we shall eat of the Lord’s Supper again in the eternal Kingdom of God. On that day, rejoicing in our Groom will open the door to the world of eternal happiness. When we will rejoice:
I am my beloved’s,
and his desire is for me.
(4) Because she knows that the sooner he comes, the quicker she will be perfected in peace with Christ.
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Not only love and joy, but also peace will be perfected. We will rest with no more worries, no more anxieties, no more fears, no more unsettled souls, no more drooping faces, no more scares of the night. The shalom of heaven will be the peace of our hearts. The peace of Christ will forever rule in us without interruption. Take heart, bride of Christ—in Him you may have peace now, and you will have peace forevermore. At last we shall be leaning on our beloved with rest and safety:
Song of Solomon 8:5 (ESV)
Who is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved?
(5) Because she knows that the sooner he comes, the quicker she will see him face-to-face; and sing the song, saved by sovereign grace.
They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Oh to see that day, when the veil of sin is removed, and the bride gazes upon the face of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Oh when we shall fall at his feet, when we shall worship Him! When his precious name will be engraved on our souls. And his love will be our unceasing delight. With the Bride in 8:6-7 we exclaim:
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.
*Elder Bob at Calvary*
Cry out with me this morning, make haste, my beloved!
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Oh this is the heaven of heavens, this is the song of songs, this is the glory of glories, this is the hope of hopes—that beatific vision—when we shall see God, our God—world, without end.
And do you want to know what is even more delightful about seeing Him face to face? It’s not just us who long to see Him—it’s Him who longs to see us! Listen to how Christ speaks to his bride in Song ch. 2:
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
On this Burrowes says: No sounds are so delightful to Jesus, as the tones of the contrite spirit confessing sin, mourning the absence of his face, calling on him in trouble, and seeking advance in holiness!
Christ wants to hear from you, dear saint! He wants to see you! He wants to hear you now in prayer, and see you looking to him in faith. And he wants to hear you then in person, and see you gazing upon his face.
Oh that day of perfect love—mutual communion—eternal fellowship. And what does the bride say in response?
My beloved is mine, and I am his;
he grazes among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
or a young stag on cleft mountains.
Until that blessed day when the dark shadows flee away to never again haunt us—come speedily my Lord and my Love!
(1) The Bride Cries Out for a Speedy Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14a
This leads us to our second and final point:
(2) The Bride Cries Out for a Delightful Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14b
(2) The Bride Cries Out for a Delightful Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14b
Song of Solomon 8:14 (ESV)
Make haste, my beloved,
on the mountains of spices.
(2) The Bride Cries Out for a Delightful Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14b
(2) The Bride Cries Out for a Delightful Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14b
Not only does the Church cry out for Christ to return and bring her to glory, but she cries out that he would come with the sweetness of the mountain of spices. As he is currently reigning from the heavenly Zion—the mountain of God—that when he returns, he would bring the joys of that great mountain, the spices of heaven—so that we will be immovable in the pleasures of God!
Burrowes: Truly his presence will be more delightful than that of a gazelle [leaping] through mountains of spices.
What will the experience of the delights of heaven be like? AW Pink says that thinking about these things makes his head dizzy. It’s like trying to image an eternity or an infinity. Your brain literally shuts down. And there is a sense in which what we are meditating on is holy ground, and we must take off our sandals, and recognize that we cannot understand the depths of these beautiful truths. But nonetheless, we gaze upon them, we gaze upon Him, and though we become dizzy in our weak humanity—we become delighted in his precious promises. So here are 5 images of the delights of heaven that are given in the Scriptures:
(1) We will be in awe at the glory of the New Creation.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
Every ounce of our existence is marked by a constant threat of war, hurt, pain, death, fighting, and murder. But on that day—the great predator will be at ease with the gentle flock. They shall graze together. They shall dwell in harmony. And this will mark the entirety of the new creation! Every where we look, every sight we see, every smell we enjoy, every touch we feel, every taste we relish, every sound we hear—we shall stand in awe at the glory of the new creation. If you’ve ever watched Lord of the Rings—the reason why you are often taken back at the glories of Middle Earth—is because Tolkien knew that the majesty of his fictional world was a token of what the world to come is going to be like. It will not let down—it will be a glorious dwelling place. Christ longs for us to be in the beauty of his new creation, when the winter is past and the spring has dawned:
My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
(2) We will enjoy Immanuel’s land flowing with true milk and honey.
If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
The land of the heavenly Canaan, the inheritance of the saints, the world renewed by Jesus—the cosmos under the reign of our King—heaven will be a place for those who are delighted in by the Lord, who are accepted in the Beloved, and who will enjoy the pleasures of his world. Milk is nourishing—honey is enlivening. We shall forever be nourished by the Word of God, and shall forever be enlivened by the Spirit of God. The sweet taste of the land of promise shall be under our tongue! Christ praises his bride, saying:
How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much better is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!
Your lips drip nectar, my bride;
honey and milk are under your tongue;
the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
(3) We will taste the sweet fruit of the tree of life in the eternal garden.
through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
That great and glorious tree that once stood in the center of Eden—that sacrament, token, sign, and seal of what Adam could could enjoyed (eternal life), that tree is now freely given to us through the second Adam (through Jesus). Instead of working and keeping the garden to merit the tree—Christ has worked and kept the garden to gift the tree. By grace we are saved, and by grace we shall eat the fruit of the tree of life, and shall live forever. There is no tree of the knowledge of good and evil here, and there is no crafty serpent to spoil our Garden. Jesus died on that tree, and he crushed the head of the Snake. We shall never be taken away from the tree of life, Jesus our Lord. The church sings:
As an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
so is my beloved among the young men.
With great delight I sat in his shadow,
and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house,
and his banner over me was love.
Sustain me with raisins;
refresh me with apples,
for I am sick with love.
(4) We will reign forever with the people of God.
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.
Heaven would not be heaven without Christ, but it also wouldn’t be heaven without his people. Every loved one who has gone to glory, every believer of ages past, every brother or sister in the church, every one of the precious flock of God, the excellent ones—who are saved by His excellencies—they shall be our delight. We shall embrace them, reunite with them, and worship the King beside them. Oh to be with those whom death has ripped away from us—oh what hope do we have, because the death of Christ has torn the veil in two. We will behold our King with all his people:
Go out, O daughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
(5) We will be satisfied in the likeness of God.
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
Our blessed Redeemer, he lives! He is alive! Jesus is at the right hand of God—interceding for us, praying for us, ruling us by his Word and Spirit. And at last, he will return to stand on the earth. And when that glorious day comes, we shall see God for ourselves, and he will be the fixation of our souls—never looking at worthless things again.
Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.
Oh to behold our delightful Bridegroom! In anticipation our heart faints within! Maranatha!
Burrowes: Amid the wintry desolations of the curse in this world of sin, we know that Jesus our beloved has gone away into heaven, [and we must never] cease to anticipate that period with emotions of unspeakable delight.
How can we not anticipate that day with unspeakable delight? Oh to be warmed by the promises of God, when the Lord will swallow up death forever, on the mountain of spices:
And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
Yes, this is our God, this is our King, this is our Beloved—and we have waited for him, that he might save us! Are you eagerly waiting for the 2nd coming of Jesus? When the days breathe and the shadows flee? When the last trumpet will sound and we shall be raised imperishable? Is he your hope, your delight, your all? Then rest now in the prayer of your Great High Priest: Jn 17:24
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
And for those of you who do not yet know this love of Christ—Who are not in union or communion with Christ—Who have not yet repenting and believed: We extend the invitation of Christ and his Bride to you who are on the broad path to damnation, hell, and separation from Christ—with the free offer of the Gospel, trust in Him even today:
The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.
On that glorious day, we shall never cease to abide in Christ, as our communion with Him will be sealed and perfected forevermore.
(2) The Bride Cries Out for a Delightful Return of her Beloved Christ - v. 14b
This brings us to our conclusion:
(C) Those who are Knit by Covenant to the Heart of Christ must Deeply Yearn for the Return and Blessed Hope of Christ.
(C) Those who are Knit by Covenant to the Heart of Christ must Deeply Yearn for the Return and Blessed Hope of Christ.
You know, it’s quite fitting that we had this retreat at Camp Shalom—Camp Peace; where we beheld our Groom, the Prince of Peace—as we look forward to the world of Peace!
And so we sing with the old hymn writer:
“The King shall come when morning dawns, and light triumphant breaks; when beauty gild the easter hills, and life to joy awakes.
O brighter than that glorious morn, shall this fair morning be, when Christ our King in beauty comes, and we his face shall see.
The King shall come when morning dawns, and light and beauty brings: hail, Christ the Lord! thy people pray, Come quickly, King of kings!”
And with Spurgeon, I hope you can now agree:
“The Song of Songs is the central Book of the Bible; it is the innermost shrine of divine revelation, the holy of holies of Scripture; and if you are living in communion with God, you will love this Book, you will catch its spirit, and you will be inclined to cry with the spouse, ‘Make haste, my beloved.’”
(C) Those who are Knit by Covenant to the Heart of Christ must Deeply Yearn for the Return and Blessed Hope of Christ.
(C) Those who are Knit by Covenant to the Heart of Christ must Deeply Yearn for the Return and Blessed Hope of Christ.
Make haste, my beloved. Amen, let’s pray.
