WHAT IS FOR CHRIST IN THE NIGHT SEASON
David Robertson
Song of Songs 1: 12,13; Proverbs 31: 10-18; Revelation 19: 6-8
One would just desire, beloved brethren, to say something as to what there is for the heart of Christ in the night season. Most of Scripture, I suppose, is written anticipatively of the great day of display when the Lord Jesus Christ will be vindicated publicly and when the glory of His name shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The heart of every true lover of Christ, surely, would love to think of that. Indeed each Lord's day we shew forth His death at the Supper "until he come”. We have in mind the time of His rejection, but we are looking ahead to that day when things will be displayed. Christ will have a day; God will see to that, that blessed One who has been so humbled by men, as the word says, "endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself", Heb 12: 3. We need only to read the ends of the gospels to see the contradiction of sinners against Himself and our hearts feel it; and the more we learn to love Him, the more we feel it. But, beloved brethren, God will give that Man a day. Men gave Him a day but it ended in crucifixion - "ye, by the hand of lawless men have crucified and slain" (Acts 2: 23), and "crucified the Lord of glory", 1 Cor 2: 8. But God will give Him a day - "Jesus Christ's day", Phil 1: 6. And what a day it will be! God has operated in believers through His wonderful divine grace and has given us the company of persons who love that day; as the word says: "who love his appearing", 2 Tit 4: 8. When Christ comes to claim the earth as His own, and when His universal glory will be seen, it will be unrivalled. Powers that at the moment are against it will be dealt with at the outset of that reign: He will purge the kingdom of all offences. It is all to make way for the shining out of the glory of the blessed Man who in the present day is rejected and dishonoured. He is still cast out and rejected: He is the Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
But what I wanted to speak of is what is for the heart of Christ in the night of His rejection, and may I by the Spirit's help arouse in all our hearts a fresh concern to provide something for Him in the night of His rejection. Paul speaks of the Supper in that way; he says, "For I received from the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus". (What an affectionate title that is, the Lord Jesus!) It says, "no one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit", 1 Cor 12: 3. It does not mean the actual words, it is the tone of the voice. A brother rises to his feet and says, Lord Jesus, the Spirit giving tone to the words, conveying the deepest appreciation and the deepest affection. Our young brother did it today, quickening our affections towards that blessed One ... in the night in which he was delivered up (1 Cor 11: 13). It was in the night of his rejection that He instituted the Supper.
This first section read says, "He shall pass the night between my breasts". We are in a circle where we can speak about the Scriptures and the truth in a holy way. Thank God for that, and for the Spirit of God in control of our minds and our affections. Think of what is provided in secret in the night season for the heart of the Cord Jesus, the blessed Spirit operating to secure precious assembly features in the saints. It is not known by the world, it is in mystery. That is the setting here; it is in secret. Paul speaks about the mystery; indeed the mystery was committed to him. He says, "This mystery is great, but I speak as to Christ, and as to the assembly", Eph 5: 32. So the apostle, with a sense of the greatness of the commission that he had been given divinely, would show the dignity that belongs to this vessel. The scripture I have just referred to is often misquoted; we just say, I speak of Christ and the assembly. Scripture says "I speak as to Christ"; think of the dignity that Paul would convey in that! "As to Christ": he presents the holy features of the humanity of Jesus. If men sought to rob Him of His dignity, Paul would dignify Him, the Spirit of God would dignify Him, dignify this glorious Man in our affections today, point Him out so that He might gain a greater place in all our hearts. Then he says, "and as to the assembly". See how he would dignify the assembly. He would speak of it in two ways - as the counterpart of Christ and as the complement of Christ. As His counterpart she is formed by the Spirit to meet every longing and to satisfy every affection of the heart of that glorious Man. As His complement, the assembly in the coming day will be great enough to take her place beside Him in that wondrous, glorious time of display. As we may apply the word: "upon thy right hand doth stand the queen in gold of Ophir" (Ps 45: 9), taking her place there. Think of the complement of Christ, "the fulness of him who fills all in all", Eph 1: 23.
I wonder if we know anything about the inner circle where the King is at His table. He has taken His place at His table in that inner sphere to be satisfied, seeking something that is suitable for His own affections. And then (it is the feminine that is speaking here) "My spikenard sendeth forth its fragrance". I believe that is the assembly freighted with the graces of the humanity of Christ. It is wonderful, beloved, to have some sense of what the assembly is to Christ, what it is divinely, what it is as formed by the Spirit, formed in the wonderful graces of Christ, those wonderful features of His manhood, seen so beautifully in the gospels. Think of the assembly being formed in these same features. Think of Christ as He is in His present condition of manhood. Think of the graces that have been carried through to shine in Him eternally, and these graces reflected in the one who is able to say, "My spikenard sendeth forth its fragrance". I believe it is the fragrance of His own manhood and its formation in the affections of the saints that fill the heart of Christ. Then, "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me". Think of that love that has secured the assembly, that suffering love. It says that "the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it", Eph 5: 25. Oh, beloved, that we had a deeper understanding of the suffering love of Jesus! At the moment I am not speaking of the love of Christ in His atoning sufferings, I am speaking of the love of Christ that suffered to secure the assembly for Himself. "Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it", such was His valuation of it, such was His longing for it. And think of this person typified here in this feminine speaker (I use the word 'person' to convey the idea of an entity formed by every one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit) being able to say "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved unto me". It is not just one feature of the suffering, but every feature of it - a bundle. Think of the wonder of that suffering love, that holy bundle treasured in the affections of the assembly, drawing out responsive affection to the Lord Jesus Himself. Then it says, "He shall pass the night between my breasts". I believe that is the thought of mature affections, beloved brethren. There is nothing more mature than love. Love in the saints is a developed idea. At the end of this book we have a little sister who has no breasts; she needs to be built up; there is care for her. We might have persons like that in our local assemblies who have no breasts, very little in the way of an expression of love for Christ. But do not let us discredit them, let us see if we can build upon them, secure holy and developed affection for Christ, a place where He can rest in the night season. Think of the world all against Him. You go down the street and hear His name taken in vain, and you shudder. The more you love Him the more you feel it. But then what is there for Christ in the night season? It says "He shall pass the night between my breasts". I believe it suggests rest; if I could use the word reverently, consolation, present consolation, present comfort for the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ as love develops amongst the saints. One would appeal for that more than anything else, that we may be concerned to be developed in our love for Jesus and to provide something in this inner sphere where He can rest and have affection and where His heart can find comfort.
To go on to Proverbs, it is not exactly the secret position. It has been well said that what we have here is a type of the assembly in her working clothes. I like to see someone in working clothes. It is fine to see a man getting his overalls on and starting a job. He knows what he is doing; he makes it look easy; he makes it look as if you could do it yourself until you try and find it is not so easy after all. There is skill in it. You see a woman putting her apron on, she gets her baking-bowl out and she starts to work. There is something very fine in a person at work. There is no room for idle persons in Christianity. I trust there are no idle Christians here; there is plenty of work to do. Get your apron on! Get your dungarees on! Get to work for the Lord. Get to work for the saints. Help that old sister. She is not always able to get out. Go over and read to her some night and speak with her about Christ. She will give you as much as you give her, or maybe more, if your experience is anything like mine. It is work, and Christ treasures it. It is a feature of the faithful wife coming to light in the saints. We have, too, in Proverbs the unfaithful wife who allures the soul, and the soul does not know where it is until it is in the pit. I trust you young people have not your eyes on the world. There is the unfaithful wife out there, and she will allure you and destroy your soul. But here are the features of the faithful wife. What is principally on my mind is that it says "She rises while it is yet night". The night does not deter affection for Christ. The night only makes affection for Christ long all the more that there might be faithfulness for Him in the night of His rejection.
In Revelation 19 what we have, I think, is the fruit of night seasons in which our faithfulness to Christ has been tested and when sometimes our affection for Christ has not been what it should be. But the Holy Spirit has remained in faithfulness to help us. There is wonderful fruit from being faithful to Christ in the period of the night season. Think of what it says here: "it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints". That is a plural word - "the righteousnesses of the saints". I would like to encourage every brother and sister here to commit themselves to the will of God. It is a daily matter. It seems to me a wonderful thought, that in any one day of our lives we can do something in being faithful to the will of God, a righteous act that adds to the lustre of the wondrous garment of the wife of the Lamb. Think of all the righteous acts of the saints right from Pentecost until the rapture. I suppose the best of them is when nobody has seen us doing them, but God's eye sees it. I believe that God by the Spirit interweaves that act of righteousness into this lustrous dress of the assembly, preparing her as the suitable bride ready for the marriage of the Lamb. Well, we celebrate the Supper in the night of Christ's rejection. But this supper in Revelation is celebrated just at the outset of the wonderful day of display. May it be in our hearts, beloved brethren. May we commit ourselves to the path of righteousness. May we become like Christ. May it be that we will love righteousness and hate lawlessness. The world is full of lawlessness and idolatry - the two governing features of this present evil world. May we take on the features of Christ and learn to love righteousness and practice righteousness and know for a certainty that we are on the line of these righteous acts to have our part ·in this wondrous lustrous beauty of the dress of the wife, for the supper of the marriage of the Lamb.
Verse 6 gives us the sense of a wonderful divine triumph: "I heard as a voice of a great crowd, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of strong thunders, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the almighty has taken to himself kingly power". How all evil's challenge is met, the false church judged, judged for ever and her smoke going up to the ages of ages. Think of that - Babylon in all her glory in one hour fallen to her eternal ruin, but the church rising from apparent ruin into eternal glory. Beautiful thought! May these things encourage our hearts, beloved brethren, and cause a deeper consideration for Christ in the night of His rejection. For His Name's sake.
PLAINFIELD
26 May 1990