RECOVERY

^[p. 65] RECOVERY

Song of Songs 2: 8 - 16; Song of Songs 8: 8, 9

It may seem a strange scripture for a gospel preaching, but this is a day of recovery. Probably there is not one in the room here who has not heard the gospel and who knows that Jesus died and made atonement for sin. There is scarcely anywhere in the world where the gospel has not been preached, indeed, the evangelist Mark says it is to be preached to “all the creation” (Mark 16: 15); and Peter says, “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, ... being put to death in flesh, but made alive in the Spirit”, 1 Peter 3: 18. What Spirit does he mean? The Spirit of evangelisation. And then he goes on to say, “In which also going he preached to the spirits which are in prison, heretofore disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah” (verses 19, 20). Hence all one can do today who seeks to do the work of an evangelist is to seek to recover. There is no new ground now, such as Paul desired (Romans 15: 20), to speak where Christ had not been named. We must speak where He has been named, and hence, if He is not known by you, it shows the need for recovery.

This is so especially with the children of christian parents. Christ’s name has been called not only where you live, but upon you. It has been called upon you in baptism, and if now there is the need for conversion it is evident that there has been departure from that, and hence the need for recovery. So perhaps you have come into fellowship; that was what Moses did. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Hebrews 11: 25, 26). I know your parents are responsible to bring you to Christ; that is what parents did in olden days, that He might put His hands upon the ^[p. 66] children. No right-minded father would want to see himself reproduced in his child. That is what a man does see naturally. Leave a child free, without cultivation, and your traits will come out in him. But with a right-minded father that is a shame to him. He has judged himself and does not want to see himself reproduced in his child. A self-important man of the world might, but a christian father desires to see the impress of Christ coming out in his child. He brings him to Him for that. What would Christ put His hands on your child for but to leave His own impress there? But your child can come into fellowship himself as soon as he comes to years of discretion.

Moses did that. He “refused to be called son of Pharaoh’s daughter”, not simply would not be it, but would not be known as such; the idea of a name is in it. His faith was of two kinds, he did not fear the wrath of the king, that is, it had reference to the power of the god of this world against the people of God, and also that he kept the passover (Hebrews 11: 28); that had reference to the delivering of the people of God from the power of sin. His faith had reference to this world, therefore the record is so useful for us; it is not like Joseph, whose faith had reference to resurrection, so that he gave commandment as to his bones (verse 22).

The moment you move towards Christ you find the whole power of the world is against you, but the greatest power against you is yourself. Here, in the Song of Songs, the call is to rise up and come away (verse 10), but if you do you will find everything against you, but principally yourself and your own desires and ambitions. Rahab in speaking to the spies mentioned two things: how Pharaoh was overthrown in the Red Sea, and how Sihon and Og were overcome. Og exceeded the natural in size; he was a giant, the size of his bed is given, the only man in the Scriptures the dimensions of whose bed is given, for he was apparently ^[p. 67] slothful and loved ease, like you and me, a picture of us. But if the power of God could overcome these two, they could be overcome by you; the power of God can support you against yourself. If the call comes to you, “Rise up ... and come away”, you need not fear, for support will be given you. And who would be without the support of the Lord? So we see the bride in the last chapter of the Song coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved. This book depicts the triumph of Christ in recovering lost affection. It is much harder to recover what has been lost, than to win love at the first, “love of thine espousals”. So this is the greatest of Solomon’s songs, the greatest of the one thousand and five. Where are your affections? The Lord misses them if He has not got them. If you belong to Him, He misses you every Lord’s day morning from the breaking of bread. You may think the responsibility too great, but the responsibility is yours anyway if you are a believer, and you are simply missing your privilege. The Lord remembers any spark of affection you had for Him; you may have forgotten it but He has not.

See, in the verses I have read, how He regains affections. He calls; she knows His voice. This shows that there had been affection or she would not have recognised His voice. Then He shows Himself through the lattice. You know what the lattice is in your case, I do not; you know what there is in your circumstances that shuts out Christ. But no matter how close the lattice is, He shows Himself through it. Then, as soon as He gains her ear, He begins to speak of the land. It is not the wilderness now; she had followed Him there in the strength of her own affections, “I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness” (Jeremiah 2: 2), but now He speaks only of the land. He says, “The winter is past”. What was the winter except when your heart ^[p. 68] was cold towards Christ? And there was rain there, too, but “the rain is over, it is gone”. Now those are all past, and He speaks of flowers and warmth and festivity. Then He says, “Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice”; the countenance is what God takes pleasure in; God had lost man’s countenance in Genesis 4, when sin had come in. Man was made upright to look into the face of God. But God regains man’s countenance in one indwelt by the Spirit. So with the voice; there is something peculiar and special about the voice of a spiritual person.

In the last chapter we see the affections regained. The bride comes up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved. She has learnt His love and that she cannot trust her own, but must lean on His; she says, “Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm”, as if to say, ‘I cannot do without you, I must lean on you for ever’. She has learnt two things, love and jealousy, because she has learnt His love. She has learnt that it is stronger than death. He has told her of her own fairness, and she told His to others. That is fitting; there is mutual admiration.

Then “We have a little sister”. She has learnt that what He values is affection, and now that is all right with her, her thoughts go out to her little sister, who is lacking in affection; she represents really typically Judah going out in affection to the ten tribes. It is really Judah that speaks throughout the Song of Solomon. Judah had the birthright; it had come to him at last. Esau had it first, then lost it and it passed to Reuben. He lost it and it passed to Ephraim. Again it was lost and passed to Judah and he held it, so that Christ sprang out of Judah. When he is restored his thoughts go out to the ten tribes. Here we see that one sign of a person restored in affection is that his thoughts go out to others: “If she be a wall”, and, “If she be a door”. I do not know your idea of a door, but mine is self-judgment. A door is a means of ingress and egress. “I am the door: if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture”, John 10: 9. It conveys the idea of shutting out what is contrary to God and letting in what is in accord with God. That involves self-judgment. If there is any sign of that in a man, affection would enclose him with “boards of cedar”. I do not know what they may be, but evidently they speak of dignity. Then, “If she be a wall”; a wall is for preservation and protection. If a man protects the truth, one can count a good deal upon him. One has seen such, men who lack in affection, but who value the truth and protect it; one can build a good deal on such a one. Here it says, “We will build upon her a turret of silver”; that is evidently something very great and imposing.

I am doubtless open to the accusation of not having preached a simple gospel, but the gospel as to the atoning work of Jesus and what He has done to put away sin is known to everyone present. What I would like to impress you with is that He wants your affections, and how He has laid Himself out to gain them.