Ver. 8. “The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, shipping upon the hills” When the soul has been maintained, for a length of time, in uninterrupted communion with the Lord, the affections become more lively, and the desire for His return becomes more real and earnest. Hast thou caught, Ο my soul, the spirit of the loving and loved Shelomoth, in these blessed words? “The voice of my beloved, behold, he cometh.” Is He indeed thy best beloved? Is there no voice to thee like His? Art thou waiting and longing for Him daily?
There is a great difference between a person believing in what is called “the doctrine of the second advent,” and a loving soul in the joy of communion, earnestly looking and longing for the Lord Himself to come. How little influence the belief of the doctrine has on the heart and life, compared with having the Person of Christ, as the all influential object for the heart, and being like the Thessalonians, “Waiting for the Son from heaven;” or like the Bride waiting for the Bridegroom. “The Spirit and the bride say come.” It is the heart of the Bride that says come, though moved and stirred by the Spirit who dwells there. He gives us the happy consciousness of the relationship, and the affections that belong to it.
We are swift to hear, and quick to recognize the sound of the voice we love. The well-known voice, and the familiar name “Mary,” thrilled her whole soul. And even when the person speaking is too far off for us to hear the words, the sound is enough to touch the cord that vibrates the whole heart, and awakens all its drowsy energies. “The voice of my beloved,” she exclaims, “behold he cometh.” Her whole soul is filled with expectation. Now He is near.
“The Lord is at hand.” Lo, He comes! He comes! “Leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart.” His feet are swift as hinds’ feet.
In place of nearness to the Lord in spirit fully satisfying the heart, it really increases its desires for the fuller joy which His Personal presence gives. What could be more near, more dear, more intimate, than the communion which we have seen the Bride enjoying, by faith, since the commencement of our meditations? There has been no interruption to her joy, but decided progress in the apprehension of His love, and the enjoyment of His favor. Some have thought, that in the passage before us, there are signs of the heart going back and getting out of communion—during the season of her repose. That the abundance of her privileges led to a measure of carelessness. And that her great spiritual enjoyment was succeeded by a measure of declension. Such a thing, we doubt not, has often occurred, but we see no signs of it here.
Is it when we are in communion or out of communion that we desire the coming of the Lord? Easily canst thou answer this question, Ο my soul. There can be no real desire for the Lord to come when we are not happy with Him. True, we are always safe in Him, but, alas, we are not always happy with Him. If we have gone a step too far with the world, or neglected self-judgment, we lose our happiness with Him, and at such times, we would rather that He did not come. “Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” (John 13:88Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. (John 13:8).) He does not say, observe, thou hast no part in Me. That He could never say. But He teaches Peter, and us, that if self-judgment is neglected—if the daily defilements are not cleansed away “ with the washing of water by the word,” fellowship with Him is interrupted. He cannot go on with unjudged—unconfessed evil. “Thou hast no part with me,” are words of deepest solemnity. What wouldst thou not rather part with, Ο my soul, than part company with thy Lord, even for a day, or an hour? Where would he thy power for walk, worship, and service? What weakness, what darkness would beset thy path! Shame may cover thy face, and sorrow fill thy heart, as thou placest thy soiled feet in His hands, for surely He will see where thou hast been. But remember this, they never can he washed, until He do it. “If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me.” If thou wouldst walk with Jesus, and be happy with Him, thou must walk in separation—in true separation from all evil—from all that is contrary to His holiness, and unbearable to His nature. Lead me, Ο Lord, in thy way, in this evil day, that so I may ever most earnestly pray for, and lovingly desire, Thy coming!
“My Lord delayeth his coming,” is the language of a heart that is seeking present gratification in this world. “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,” is the language of a heart that is filled with love to Jesus, and earnestly breathing after personal nearness to Himself. In the proportion that we enjoy Christ spiritually, will we long to see Him face to face. In the New Jerusalem, “They shall see his face.” Who would not long for this, that has seen Him even through a glass darkly? This is always a test of the soul’s condition. When the house is in confusion, the wife is not waiting and longing for her husband’s return. No, she is occupied in getting things put in order, and when everything is straight and such as he likes, she begins to think of his coming, and longs to hear his voice, and see his face.
Is it not enough, some Christians say, that I know I am His? Why should I be every day looking for His coming from heaven? I know my sins are pardoned, and that I am saved. Besides, I can trust and love the unseen Savior. So far well, my fellow Christian, but is this the voice of an earnest, loving heart, or of one that is cold and indifferent as to His blessed Person? Canst thou think of all His love and grace, of all His sufferings, and death for thee, and of His exaltation and glory, and not long to see Himself? Art thou not longing for a glimpse of that face, which shall ravish thy heart forever, and fill thee with loftiest praise? What would the absent husband think, how would he feel, were his wife thus to speak: “I know I am his. That is enough for me. I am satisfied. Besides, I am hearing from him daily, and receiving the assurance of his love, but I never think about his return. I have never once said—“Make haste home I never long to see his face.” Ah! my friend, my friend, how would you interpret such a condition of things? Would you call this love for the absent one? Would it satisfy your own heart—especially if you loved your wife with a “great love.” Oh, no! nothing but love in return will ever satisfy love. “We love him, because he first loved us.” Christian love is the reflection of Christ’s. The more frequently the loving wife hears from her absent husband, the more is her desire quickened for his return. And the communications of his love by letter, only make her long the more to see himself. The home circle may be perfectly comfortable, but to her heart it wants the presence of one to make it completely happy. And while he is not there, nothing on earth can fill the blank. Alas, how little we feel the blank which the Person of Christ alone can fill!
It is the Lord Himself, as Messiah the King, that the loving spouse so longs after here. “The voice of my beloved, behold, he cometh.” He has revealed Himself to her heart. She now enters, by faith, into His love and joy as the Bridegroom, the King in Zion. Now she knows and values His love, and longs to possess Himself as her own Messiah. Blessed change! The place where He was once despised and rejected, by the daughter of Zion, and over which He shed tears, shall ere long be the scene of His Bridegroom-love, and His bright millennial glory. The desire of the God-fearing remnant in the latter day for the appearing of the Messiah as their King and Deliverer, is spoken of in the Psalms and the prophets, as of the most fervent and intense character, “Oh that thou wouldest 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 may tremble at thy presence.” Isa. 64:1, 21Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, 2As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! (Isaiah 64:1‑2).
Under the figure of a Bride, we have the same intense desires in the song, though different in character. In the passage before us, it is not so much their own deliverance, and the overthrow of their enemies, or even His own kingdom and glory, as the heart’s desire for the Person of their coming Messiah. It is “My beloved....He cometh. He comes quickly. Like a roe or a young hart.” Already He is, as it were, at the wall of our house, looking through the windows, and showing Himself through the latticework of our garden. The remnant in Jerusalem have, here, intimations of the near approach of the King -their own full deliverance and millennial glory. He greatly cheers their heart by still plainer revelations of Himself, and by reassuring them of His love, and of the joy of His heart in them. Nothing could be more beautiful and touching than the words of the Lord in the following verses. He addresses herself—she loves to repeat His words, “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” (Ver. 10-13.) A little while ago, and she could only discern the sound of His voice, and catch through the lattice-work a glimpse of His eye. But now, Ο happy Bride, He is near enough for her to hear the words of his mouth. To faith, blessed be His name, He is ever near, ever present. “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.” This is faith. It can lean upon His bosom. It can repose in His embrace at night, and go out with Him in the morning to the vineyards, to see how the vines flourish. This is most blessed. Still, personally, He is not here. He is in heaven, we are on the earth. Knowest thou well, my soul, these distinctions? And say, is it not while reposing by faith in Him, that thy heart most earnestly longs for His coining, to take thee up to be with Himself in glory? Oh! to be free in heart from this world; and ever ready, like the bird on the bough of the tree, with well fledged wings to fly away. Earth’s fairest scene is not heaven, its happiest spot is not the paradise of God.
Now, the day of gladness begins to dawn for long oppressed Israel. The morning breaks! “The Lord Himself will soon appear.” “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The long, dark, and dreary winter of the Lord’s absence is past. The spring time has come, the summer draweth nigh. The bright and cloudless morning begins to dawn. Since the day that man sinned and fell, this groaning earth has never witnessed such a scene of vernal beauty as these verses describe. Nevertheless, they fitly represent the future glory and blessing of the land of Israel, and of the whole earth.
“See the day
As if already present, when the storm
Of wintry tribulation shall have passed,
And clouds have ceased to pour their torrents down,
And floods restrained their overwhelming rage:
See earth made beautiful......Lo! Judah’s sapless bough,
And severed Ephraim, are grafting in—
Wondrous precursors of the summer nigh.”
Many have thought and said, that Israel’s winter would be perpetual. That no spring or summer would ever return for the cast-off nation. But such thoughts were never learned from the book of God. There we read in the plainest terms, that in due time “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root. Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” The cheering beams of “the Sun of Righteousness” shall chase away forever the gloom and barrenness of their long winter. The budding flowers, the ripening figs, the blooming vines, the singing of birds, the voice of the turtle, are sure emblems, not only that winter is past, but that spring has come. And though nothing in the vineyard of the Bride be yet ripe, there is, in the unfolding bud of promise, the sure pledge of a glorious summer, and an abundant autumn.