"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee." [Songs 4:6-7]
We know that marriage is ordained of God to be a picture of Jesus and the church, His bride; for in Ephesians Paul says of marriage and how husband and wife “shall be one flesh,” that, “this is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” [Eph 5:31-32] Marriage ought to be a blessed and accurate picture of how Christ Jesus loves us, and how we submit to Him in reverence and humility. Though it is not always so in practice, yet Jesus, the model and goal, never changes, for “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” [Heb 13:8] The failed attempts of men do not diminish the glorious, unfading love of Jesus. Therefore, we may be encouraged, though the shadows and types of it are falling short, of Jesus’ husbandly love, when the groom of Songs says to his bride in typification of it, “thou art all beautiful, my love; there is no spot in thee.” [Songs 4:7] And again, speaking of the same, the Psalmist writes, “so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.” [Psa 45:11] That our Lord sees us so spotless and pure is evident, for it is included amongst our glorious and abundant New Covenant promises, The Spirit thus encouraging us through Paul,
“And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight: if ye continue in the faith having been grounded and firm, and not being dislodged from the hope of the gospel…” [Col 1:21-23]
In The Father’s sight, through Jesus, (and in Jesus’ sight too), we are presented as spotless and pure, without fault. This view which Jesus holds toward us is not merely professional nor legal, but it is saturated in His love, by which He also shed His blood. And regarding our salvation, let us remember that it is according to “the kindness and love of God our Savior…according to His mercy;” according to “His great love wherewith He loved us,” that we have been saved and brought into fellowship with Him – for, “ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ.” [Titus 3:4, Eph 2:4, 1 Cor 1:9] Jesus “first loved us” [1 Jn 4:19] – even when we were “dead in trespasses and sins,” [Eph 2:1] Jesus came and died for us. “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” [Rom 5:8] Yes, “God so loved the world,” [Jn 3:16] that He sent Christ Jesus for us; and Jesus, being a willing participant, came too for love’s sake, for He told us, “he that hath seen me hath seen The Father,” [Jn 14:9] and thus we can attribute any love of God to Jesus as well.
Praise be to Jesus for this simple truth: He loves us. And in His love for us He sees us as spotless; yes, even sinless and pure, for, “as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us;” [Psa 103:12] and,
“In those days, and in that time, saith The LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found.” [Jer 50:20]
As it says in our verse today from Song of Solomon, let us do; let us, “until the day break,” until “the day star arise in your hearts,” [2 Pe 1:19] until “the day of Christ” [Phil 1:10] fully dawns, “get [us] to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.” [Songs 4:6] That is, may we, for all our present days upon earth, find sanctuary in Christ and His covenant. Let us “get…to the mountain of myrrh,” to “Mount Zion” where our Lord was slain; let us get ourselves swiftly to the foot of the cross, upon that mountain of Myrrh as it were, where our sweet Jesus did die for our sins. Yes, may we go “to Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling,” [Heb 12:24] which “washed us from our sins” and in which we have “washed [our] robes, and made them white in the blood of The Lamb.” [Rev 1:5; 7:14] Let us come with peace to that place and remember Jesus’ blessed sacrifice, which atoned for our souls, taking away our sins once and for all. Let us never stray far from that place of propitiation, where Christ bore our sin; it is there that each of us remember individually that Christ “loved me, and gave Himself for me,” [Gal 2:20] and that because of love.
Yes, and further, let us get “to the hill of frankincense;” let us come to the throne of God, to the Mount of God, to that blessed hill from whence we were once estranged, but now have come to trust under the healing wings of Christ and so find ourselves accepted. Yes, let us get quickly to that hill too, and see our Lord not dead but risen, taking heed to the angel’s great exhortation, “come, see the place where the Lord had been lying,” and entering therein we shall see Him risen, as the women, so long ago, “entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.” [Mt 28:6, Lk 24:3] May we come to that hill and see our Lord’s priesthood, eternal and shining brilliantly; may we take heart and remember,
“He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an High Priest is fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” [Heb 7:25-26]
So, dear Christian, having come to these two hills, remembering therefore Jesus’ death and resurrection; His atonement and His priesthood; His blood and His intercession, may we hear what our Lord speaks: “thou art all beautiful, my love; there is no spot in thee.” Ah! What glorious truth! If it has not struck you, hear it again, good man – Christ sees you as “all beautiful” and without spot, as He says through the groom, “there is no spot in thee.” He does not see us as foul, unclean, nor dirty, but He sees us as lovely and without spot. He sees us as His bride, an object of His desire and love, as it says again in Songs, “how fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights!” [Songs 7:6] And again, “I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.” [Songs 7:10] Jesus loves us and views us with exceeding much grace. His joy over us is evident too, in that we read,
“The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will leap for joy over thee with singing.” [Zeph 3:17]
We have seen briefly of God’s love; and though these things are delightful and sweet, wonderful in their majesty, they shrink back to nothing in comparison to the full reality of His love and kindness toward us. But thanks be to God that we have eternity to see such grace displayed; for as it is written, “[He] made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” [Eph 2:6-7] But how is it that Jesus could say such things? How is that God sees us so purely? For we all know that in practice we still sin. Surely at times we have all felt the grim reality of our fallen bodies and lustful desires. How is it then, that God could proclaim such glorious truths to us? May we consider only two points regarding this. One, through Jesus’ high priestly duties, He presents us as holy; and two, through the New Covenant, we are not under sin nor the law, and thus, remain always uncondemned.
Taking up the first point, let us read in Exodus, concerning the high priest.
“And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before The LORD.” [Ex 28:36-38]
Notice two things: one, the engraving, “Holiness to The LORD;” and two, the result/reason, “it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before The LORD.” Herein there is a great encouragement; for just as Aaron represented the people before The LORD as holy, so too Jesus does for us. Our “advocate with The Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous [One],” [1 Jn 2:1] continually presents us before God as “holy and unblameable and unreproveable in His sight.” [Col 1:22]
And regarding the second point, God tells us in Romans,
“For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.” [Rom 6:14-15]
And,
“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Rom 6:22-23]
Paul, by God’s Spirit who cannot lie, says matter-of-factly, “sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace;” and, “being made free from sin…ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” This is not optional, but necessary. It is God’s promise to us. Praise be to Jesus Christ who has come to “save His people from their sins,” [Mt 1:21] and who has indeed saved us from ours, freeing us from sin’s power and effects, even as Jesus said regarding a man’s slavery to sin, “if The Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” [Jn 8:36] Jesus has freed us from sin and freed us from the law, “that being dead wherein we were held.” [Rom 7:6] And the law being dead, and Jesus having “blott[ed] out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us…nailing it to His cross,” [Col 2:14] sin retains no power; for it is also written, “the sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1 Cor 15:56-57] Because of Jesus’ work upon the cross, we have been freed from sin, as Romans says. We are no longer under sin nor the law, and now, regardless of our obedience or lack thereof, “ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” Through Jesus Christ our sins are done away; though in practice we sin, and “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,” [1 Jn 1:8] yet their power and effect has been removed. And thus, as Romans declares to us, whether we sin from time-to-time (and are not practicing/walking in sin), or not, God will see to it that we are growing in holiness and in the knowledge of Him, which is eternal life. [Jn 17:3] This is truth; these are the words of Jesus Christ through The Holy Spirit. Let us rejoice in them and take heart, for our sins are dashed to pieces as the chaff of the threshing floor and they have been utterly removed from us. God even goes so far as to say our sins have been utterly voided – that is, annulled. As long as we are practicing/walking in truth, they no longer have the power to condemn us or prevent us from laying hold of God’s grace. As it says in Hebrews, “now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to the annulment of sin by the sacrifice of Himself;” [Heb 9:26] and again, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after The Spirit.” [Rom 8:1]
Indeed, these are glorious truths. But what of this grace? What if a man hears this truth and uses it, as it says, using this “liberty for a cloke of maliciousness[?]” [1 Pe 2:16] This grace is not for sin; as Paul said, “what then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.” [Rom 6:15] And again, “what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” [Rom 6:1-2] And as it says in Titus, showing us what things grace instructs us to pursue,
“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” [Titus 2:11-14]
The man who is truly saved does not use these truths to sin. Rather, having heard the glorious effects of the gospel, that he is seen as pure and spotless, altogether holy, a recipient of God’s lavish grace, he uses such knowledge not to sin, but to obey God’s laws. The saved man, in whose heart dwells The Spirit, uses God’s grace not to live in sin – for then he should not be a Christian, (for, “whosoever has been born of God does not practice sin…and he is not able to continue to sin, because he has been born of God.” [1 Jn 3:9]) – but rather, the saved man uses this grace to do as Paul wrote, “live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.”
So, dear brethren, take heart and be of good courage; for our glorious God views you as Christ, without spot and blameless. Go forth therefore with joy, allowing His love and His life to overflow from your heart and your mouth.
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