THE LORD'S MOVEMENTS IN RELATION TO THE ASSEMBLY
THE LORD’S MOVEMENTS IN RELATION TO THE ASSEMBLY
Song of Songs 2:8 - 10; Song of Songs 4:16; Song of Songs 5:1; Song of Songs 6:1 - 3
What I have in my mind in connection with this meeting is to speak about the movements of Christ as they are to be known during the period of the assembly’s sojourn here. Scripture also speaks clearly and distinctly about His movements later, when He will return to take up His rights on the earth. He will come out of heaven, we are told, the armies that are in heaven following Him Revelation 19:14, “His feet”, as we read in the prophet Zechariah, “shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives”, Zechariah 14:4. The gospels make much of His movements when He was here upon earth. The lover of Christ feeds his soul in tracing out that path; not only the way, but the very footsteps of Jesus afford delight to those who love Him. Faith spoke of Him in the prophet: “his going forth is assured as the morning dawn” Hosea 6:3; so that the Scriptures abound with references to His movements.
But I wish to confine what I have to say to His movements during the assembly’s sojourn here — His movements in relation to her. It is important to remember that these movements have heaven as their base. Indeed, as one thinks of them one cannot but revert to that wonderful movement of His referred to in John 20, which I believe should appeal to us of the assembly in a peculiar way. The Lord refers to it in speaking to one who loved Him pre-eminently — Mary. He says to her, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father”, John 20:17 [p. 224] That word would appeal to her heart. She knew the movements of the Lord in the days of His flesh; she knew something about His path, and what it meant, and now she hears the word ‘ascended’. To her it would answer to the reference in the prophet, “his going forth is assured as the morning dawn”. The night of weeping was over, the sorrows were all behind, and a new day had begun to dawn, and, as we understand it now through subsequent light of the assembly’s day, it is a day without an evening.
Then He went on further to say to her, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God”. John 20:17. She was to carry into the bosom of that circle the light of that wonderful movement of Christ — His ascension into heaven. Later they saw Him go up and the light of that was carried into the bosom of the circle and was to remain there. It was as the “morning dawn”. You can understand how all subsequent movement would have heaven as its base. He was ascending to Him who was His Father and their Father, His God and their God. That is the position for us. The assembly began with that precious light of His ascension into heaven, so that subsequent movements would all subserve that light. They would maintain, among other things, in the circle of the saints the heavenly atmosphere, the heavenly grace of Christ, indeed, the very life of the assembly would hinge on these movements, for as He lived, the assembly would live, and those who form the assembly would see Him. “The world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also”, John 14:19. The very life of that circle was to be dependent upon the movements that were to follow.
One would love to convey to the saints the divine thought of elevation. The thought of brethren dwelling together in unity in the well-known Psalm 133 [p. 225] is connected with elevation. I refer to this because of the constant tendency with us to drop to the level of the religious circles around us. The goodness and the pleasantness of brethren dwelling together in unity are connected with elevation; indeed, we read of God building His sanctuary like the heights. See Psalm 78:69. We have a sure footing, but in maintaining the foundation let us not forget the heights! “He built his sanctuary like the heights”, and so in the psalm I referred to we have the ointment from the head of Christ, that is to say, it refers to what He is personally. Whether in heaven or on earth He is the same Person; the ointment is from the head of Aaron; the dignity of Christ flows down to the skirts of His garments; the heart is occupied with His personal appearance.
But then there is the dew of Hermon, which is not only connected with His Person, but with His position; “the dew of Hermon that descendeth”, Psalm 133:3 so that the moral fibre of the saints is built up upon these lines — Christ personally in His dignity, and then His position in heaven. The latter maintains us above the level of current religion. Let us beware of finding ourselves on the level of current religion. The admission amongst us of fleshly sentiments, national feelings, local prejudices, family traditions, all these things, with many others, tend to drag us down to the level of current accredited religion in the world; whereas the setting of the truth of the assembly is to maintain us in spiritual elevation. If everything in the way of intelligence comes from Christ, as the precious ointment from the Head, there is no room amongst us for natural ability, or for the religious training that we may acquire in this world; all that is shut out. If we see that the things come from above, we refuse all that is beneath as unholy and unfit for such a circle. And so the movements of the Lord are as it were above. I do not deny that He comes to the [p. 226] level of His failing people, for He does, as we see in Revelation, where He is seen walking “in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks” Revelation 1:13 in the garb of a judge, with eyes as a flame of fire. This is a solemn fact indeed for the people of God, and for all who profess His name on earth!
But I do not speak of that, I speak rather of the normal movements of Christ, so that the loved one here, who may be taken to represent those who love the Lord today, says, “The voice of my beloved!” in an exclamation. I wonder if we have all heard that. It thrills the heart as it is first heard. The sequel shews that she was in surroundings not wholly suitable, nevertheless she had the ear trained sufficiently by a knowledge of the Lord to recognise His voice. That ear has to be attended to. How often the saints of God are deceived by voices. Even a Joshua missed it as he descended from the mount with Moses; he thought he heard the noise of war, whereas he heard the noise of mirth, the noise of an idolatrous song; Exodus 32:17,18. So one would seek to be impressed as to the importance of an exercised ear, indeed a circumcised ear. “Doth not the ear try words”, says one; Job 12:11. Alas, many of us allow all kinds of words through that organ to the defilement of the whole moral being. We have to learn to try words and to refuse the defiling words, to stop our ears from hearing of blood Isaiah 33:15, so that we may be ready for the voice of the Beloved.
But then she describes Him as coming. She says, “Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills”. This bears out what I have been remarking, that the Lord’s movements are above the level of the earth. One loves to think of Him, of the agility with which He moves about, leaping upon the mountains and skipping upon the hills. He is gone, indeed, far beyond the range of all eminences, but He can descend even as He has [p. 227] ascended. So we may think of the Lord in what He is on earth, “From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised”, Psalm 113:3. “Behold, he cometh”, she says. Now the eye is active after the ear. We have to learn in the assembly to look for this. And then she describes Him, “My beloved is like a roe or a young hart”. You see how the soul becomes acquainted with the Lord as watching His movements. The question may often arise as to how the Lord may move and be with all His people. I think we have a spiritual suggestion here as to the agility with which the Lord reaches His lovers. That is the secret of this book; the secret of the Song of Songs is love. You will never understand it unless you love. It is a love song, and the Lord comes to His lovers. As the apostle says, looking at it from this standpoint, “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha”, 1 Corinthians 16:22. Such was his sense of the lovableness of Christ that anyone who did not love Him should be accursed.
But there was a wall, alas, between Him and her. He did not scale it or force His way. One would speak to souls, as to where you are in view of these movements, whether after all, as the Lord comes in His love, a wall exists between Him and you. Let us look to these walls, dear brethren — some secret reservations in our hearts which are obstacles, as it were, to the Lord. But it says, “He standeth behind”. How long? He has come this time to get you to move. He would have you to get out of that house, from behind those windows and that wall. “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away”, He says. If He come, He is going to say something about those circumstances in which you are. In spite of the fact that you can hear His voice and describe His agility, there may be that wall and those lattices, and He is not going to acquiesce in that.
[p. 228] In His love He would ask you to move out of those circumstances. It is a time of movement, and He would have you in the enjoyment of Himself in His movements.
Then in chapter 5, without going into details, He comes now in answer to an invitation. “Let my beloved come into his garden”. The north wind has come, and also the south; the north wind is one of the most effective servants that the Lord has. He knows its source; He has been there. We read in Job 37:9 of “cold” coming out of the north, and in the same chapter we read of “gold” coming out of the north. The Lord Himself has been in the “cold” — in the distance of death — and the gold has come out of it in infinite richness, and so one believes that the north wind in the hand of Christ is one of the most effective servants of His love. Discipline goes on, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me”. The Lord says, No, “My grace is sufficient for thee”. That gold has got to be developed; and the apostle, seeing this, says, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”, 2 Corinthians 12:8. So here you will observe that the north wind has been invited, and the south, to blow upon His garden, and now the invitation is to come into it. The Lord looks for that. The Lord looks for the desire of the heart, “Let my beloved come into his garden”. It is not my garden, but His. Let us be on our guard about ‘my meeting’, ‘our meeting’; that leads to legalism; it is contrary to the house of God. It is, “Let my beloved come into his garden”. If it is not His, it is valueless. Hence He comes into His garden, and He says, “I have gathered my myrrh with my spice”. It is all His. There is now through discipline the acknowledgement of His rights; and there is the myrrh, that precious commodity that was used as an ingredient of the [p. 229] anointing oil of the tabernacle, and typical of suffering love. The Lord looks for that. What it indicated in the tabernacle was His mind, and He never changes His mind. He looks for the myrrh, He gathers it, and the spice. We may think of the Lord coming into His garden, finding the precious fruits of the Spirit in suffering love among His people, the reflex of His own experience here.
Then it says, “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey”. It is the mutuality, as one may say, of a chastened, suffering people, not a reigning people. The Corinthians were reigning as kings; they did not have anything in the way of myrrh, that suffering love that should have anointed them. The second epistle brought out a little of it, but the first speaks of none, save in the abstract. Of course it was seen in the apostles whom God has set forth last “a spectacle to the world, both to angels, and men ... the offscouring of the world, the refuse of all, until now”, 1 Corinthians 4:9 - 13. There was the continuous expression of suffering, for God had set them as models; solemn fact, but they accepted it. The Lord in His movements looks for the myrrh and the spice, and then for the honeycomb with the honey, which is the mutuality of suffering brethren. We are called to that. We are called to the moral dignity of the anointing oil of the tabernacle — the suffering love of Christ produced in the power of the Spirit in His people; and then to the honey, the sweetness of that fellowship, and that communion in the Spirit that belongs to the circle.
You will notice that He eats both the honey and the honeycomb, referring to the mutual feelings, sympathies, and services that He delights in in His suffering people. Then, further, He goes on to say, “I have drunk my wine”. Think of the Lord, in spirit, referring to a stimulant. You can understand that one speaks guardedly, but there was the drink [p. 230] offering which was for God. Jacob anointed the pillar a second time with the drink offering for the pleasure of God; the house of God is for the pleasure of God; wine that maketh glad the heart of God and man; the Lord finds gladness of heart among His people. Then He speaks of His milk, “I have drunk my wine with my milk”; milk suggests satisfaction; what satisfaction there is in the Lord as He finds His milk. Each of these commodities has its own spiritual significance as the Lord is pleased to use them to indicate what He finds in His movements in the circle of those who love Him.
And then in chapter 6 you see further movements of the Lord. He is as One “gone down into his garden”. Here again you have the elevated thought. He has gone down. The lover can now give an account of His movements. One sees progress. There are those who know what the Lord is doing universally. One of one’s greatest exercises is to maintain in one’s soul the recognition of the universal character of the house of God, and the universal activities of Christ, so that whilst one takes account of one’s local responsibility to the Lord, one also loves in the Spirit all the saints, and is interested in what the Lord is doing everywhere, for He is over the whole house. He is the Son who has built it and He is over it as Son, and He moves everywhere, and the lover of Christ is interested in all His movements. Hence she says here, “My beloved has gone down into his garden to feed in the gardens and to gather lilies”. He is doing something for Himself now. Think of the Lord gathering the lilies! What a movement that is, what an attractive occupation for Him! I need not remind you who the lilies are: “Even Solomon in all his glory”, the Lord says, “was not arrayed like one of these”, Matthew 6:29. But He is gathering these in His gardens.
Then she says, “I am my beloved’s, and my [p. 231] beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies”. I apprehend that that means He feeds His flock among the lilies; that is what she knows. I appeal to those of us who seek to take an oversight among the people of God. The Lord has great regard for those who take an oversight; He is Himself the Leader in this, as in all else. He is the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls; 1 Peter 2:25. Hence He has special interest in those who take an oversight among the people of God, and such should be concerned as to where the Lord is and what He is doing everywhere. One’s great desire is that the brethren may be universal in their affections and in their outlook. He has gone down into His garden, but now He is feeding His flock. One thinks with satisfaction of the many whom the Lord has raised up today in different parts to feed the saints; they should be prayed for. The Lord is doing it mediately, as one might say, He fits persons to feed others; as He said to Peter, “Feed my lambs”, “shepherd my sheep”, “feed my sheep”, John 21:15 - 17. He looks for that. He feeds His flock, as I believe it should read, among the lilies. The Lord watches for your soul, and He lays it upon hearts to watch for your soul so that you might be guided aright — shepherded, and also fed: “He feedeth his flock among the lilies”. And note, not only that He feeds them, but also where He feeds them — “among the lilies”.