In chapter 4 of the Song of Solomon we see Christ’s part in this joy. The relationship here presented is not that of father and children. Of that the words of our hymn speak:
Thou the prodigal hast pardoned,
Kissed us with a FATHER’S love;
Killed the fatted calf, and called us
E’er to dwell with Thee above.
Clothed in garments of salvation,
At Thy table is our place;
We rejoice and Thou rejoicest,
In the riches of Thy grace:
In the fourth chapter of the Song it is the bridal relationship which comes out. It is the joy of the Bridegroom and of His bride. The bride in this book is the earthly one-Jerusalem. Still the heart of Christ is the same in all relationships, and we may therefore fairly make an application to the church. We are prone to read this book so as to find Christ in it, and our hearts glow as we trace Him in its various scenes; but it is very sweet to turn for a moment and learn what the bride is to Christ. No language could be more lovely than that which we find He uses with regard to her. Listen to Him! “Behold, thou art all fair, my love”- all fair; “there is no spot in thee.” Yet the more we know of Christ, the more we know of ourselves; and as we walk with God, as the years roll by, we take lower and lower estimates of ourselves. Each year we think less of ourselves than we did the year before. So much is this the case that the heart is apt to become legal. The exceeding worthlessness of what we find within us is so apparent to us. How blessed then, notwithstanding all we see ourselves to be, that Christ says of us, “There is no spot in thee; thou art all fair, my love!”
It is blessed to dwell upon the Lord’s thoughts of His people; to think of the Lord’s pity, and of His compassionate love, though that is not the love referred to in the Song. Here it is the love of complacency. He is rejoicing over His bride, and He speaks of Her beauty and comeliness. But how can he find in us that which can delight Him? He does find that which is the joy and rejoicing of His heart, though not because of what we are in ourselves. It is all the result of what He Himself has invested us with. Jacob found in Rachel that which met the desires of his heart; and we find in Christ that which satisfies us; and Christ finds in His bride, the church, that which delights His heart. “Ah!” you say, “it may be so when He will have presented us to Himself ‘a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any Such thing.’ Then the church will be holy and without blemish. Then all that which is worthless shall have been dropped, and only that which is His own perfect workmanship will abide.”
But that is not the moment to which this chapter points. That day of glory and exceeding joy will come; but what we find here is something more wonderful than what will then be shown forth. Here we learn that even now, whilst we tread the sand of the desert, on our way to the glory that awaits the bride and the Bridegroom, He finds in the church that which delights His heart. He waits in heaven at the Father’s right hand for the nuptial-day. Whilst then He is the portion of our hearts, He finds in us the portion of His heart. Look at what He says. As the Bridegroom speaks of His bride the expressions of His love and appreciation deepen. He says to her, “Thou hast ravished,” or taken away, “my heart, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes.” Do we think of this? Do we believe it, beloved, that we are a joy to Him? We might well say of Him, that He has stolen away our hearts; but when He says we have ravished His heart, surely it is a wonderful thing. His delight is found in us; in the one He calls His bride.
It is not the individual believer, but the collective thing that is here spoken of. It is always the body of believers when the bridal affections of Christ are referred to; but in order that our souls, as a whole, may walk in the power of this wonderful truth, we must each individually be in the enjoyment of it. Each saint must dwell on that which Christ is seeking for in the assembly of His saints. It is through grace alone, I need not say, that any of us can enter into this-His joy concerning His own. But, I repeat, unless each one is individually enjoying it for himself and herself, we shall not, as a whole, answer to that which Christ is seeking us to be for Himself. There must be in your soul and mine the sense of what we are to Christ. When this is known, and the heart has tasted it a little, we sigh to know it more deeply.