It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him and would net let Him go.
The real presence, the great want of the Church
As God, Jesus is everywhere; as man, He is only in heaven; as God and man in one person, Mediator and Head of the Church, He is present with us by the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, whom the Father has sent in His Name. This presence, not a bodily but a spiritual presence, is the glory of the Church of God. When she is without it she is shorn of her strength; when she possesses it all good things ensue.
I. Before ever we can bring the Well-Beloved into our mother’s house, the Church, we must find Him personally for ourselves, “It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul loveth.” How can we bring into the chamber of the Church Him whom we have not yet met with ourselves? How can we communicate grace to others instrumentally unless, first of all, we have received it into our own hearts? If thou wouldst bring Christ into the Church which thou lovest, then, first of all, thine inmost soul must so love Christ that thou canst not live without His company. This must be thy cry: “Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?” and this must be the goal of thine aspirations:” I have found Him whom my soul loveth.” It must not be talk, it must be soul-love; it must not be a profession of affection for Jesus, but the inmost bowels of our being must be moved by His Name. These ardent lovers of Jesus must diligently seek Him. The spouse sought Him, sought Him on her bed, sought Him in the streets, sought Him in the broadways, sought Him at last at the lips of the watchmen, sought Him everywhere where He was likely to be found. In seeking our Lord we must use all ministries. The spouse inquired of the watchmen. We are not to despise God’s servants, for He is usually pleased to bless us through them, and it would be ungrateful both to Him and to them to pass them by as useless. But, while we use the ministries, we must go beyond them. Do not imagine that hearing the truth preached simply and earnestly will of itself be a blessing to your souls. Far, far beyond the servant, pass to the Master. Be this the longing of each heart, each Sabbath day, “Lord, give me fellowship with Thyself.” Note that we must search to the very utmost till we find our Beloved. The Christian must leave no stone unturned till he gets back his fellowship with Christ. If any sin obstructs the way, it must be rigorously given up; if there be any neglected duty, it must be earnestly discharged; if there be any higher walk of grace, which is necessary to continuous fellowship, we must ascend it, fearing no hill of difficulty. Oh, for more Enochs, men who walk with God, whose habitual spirit is that of close communion with Jesus, meditating upon Him, yea, more than that, sympathizing with Him, drinking in His spirit, changed into His likeness, living over again His life, because He is in them, the monarch of their souls.
II. If we would be a blessing to the Church, and have already found Christ, we must take care to retain Him. “I have found Him whom my soul loveth; I held Him, and I would not let Him go.” How comparatively easy it is to climb to the top of Pisgah! It needs but a little effort; many bold and gracious spirits are fully equal to it. But to keep there, to abide in that mountain, this is the difficulty. Mark that, according to the text, it is very apparent that Jesus will go away if He be not held. “I held Him and I would not let Him go”; as if He would have gone if He had not been firmly retained. When He met with Jacob that night at the Jabbok, He said, “Let me go.” He would not go without Jacob s letting Him, but He would have gone if Jacob had loosed his hold. He will go unless you hold Him. But note, next, He is very willing to be held. Who could hold Him if He were not? He is the Omnipotent Saviour, and if He willed to withdraw He could do so: let us hold Him as we might. But mark His condescension. Jesus is willing enough to be retained by hearts which are full of His love. And whenever you have Christ remember that you are able to hold Him. She who held Him in the Song was no stronger than you are; she was but a feeble woman, poorly fed under the Old Testament dispensation; you have drunk the new wine of the new covenant, and you are stronger than she. You can hold Him, and He will not be able to go from you. Embrace Him with the arms of mighty affection, enchain Him with ardent admiration. Lay hold upon Him by faith, and clasp Him with love. Be also much in prayer. Prayer casts a chain about Him. He never leaves the heart that prays. Hold Him, too, by your obedience to Him. Never quarrel with Him. Let Him have His way. Watch His words; be careful to obey them all. Be very tender in your conduct, so that nothing grieves Him. Show to Him that you are ready to suffer for His sake.
III. It appears from the text that, after the spouse had thus found Christ for herself and held Him, she brought Him into the church--“I brought Him to my mother’s house.” We ought lovingly to remember the Church of God. By the Holy Spirit we were begotten unto newness of life, but it was in the Church, and through the preaching of the Word there, that we were brought into the light of life. Did I hear a harsh but honest voice exclaim, “But I find much fault with the Church”? If thou lovest her, thou wilt go backward and east a mantle over all. But suppose thy candour is compelled to see faults in her; then there is so much the more need of her Lord’s presence in her to cure those faults. The more sickly she is, the more she wants Him to be her strength and her physician. I say, therefore, to thee, dear friend, above all things, seek to bring Christ into an imperfect Church, and a weak Church, and an erring Church, that she may become strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. The saints can bring Him in by their testimony. I hope that often Christ is here when I have borne testimony to you of His power to save, of His atoning blood, of His exaltation in Heaven, of the perfection of His character, and of His willingness to save. But others can do it by their prayers. There is a mysterious efficacy in the prayers of men who dwell near to God. Even if they were compelled to keep their beds, and do nothing but pray, they would pour benedictions upon the Church. Wrestling prayers bring Christ into the innermost chambers of the Church of God. And there is no doubt that Christ is often brought into the Church by the example of those eminent saints who abide in Christ. You know what I mean. There is a very manner and air about some Christian men which honours Christ, and benefits His people. They may not be gifted in speech, but their very spirit speaks, they are so gentle, loving, tender, earnest, truthful, upright, gracious. Their paths, like the paths of God Himself, drop fatness.
IV. This leads me to the last point, which is this, to charge the Church that she be careful not to disturb the Lord’s repose, if we have been enabled by Divine Grace to bring the Lord into the chambers of our mother’s house (verse 5). Observe, then, that the Lord Jesus in His Church is not indifferent to the conduct of His people. The Lord Jesus Christ, looking around His Church, if He sees anything evil in it, will do one of two things; either He will go right away from His Church because the evil is tolerated there, and He will leave that Church to be like Laodicea, to go on from bad to worse, till it becomes no Church at all; or else He will come and He will trim the lamp, or, to use the figure of the fifteenth of John, He will prune the vine-branch, and with His knife will cut off this member, and the other, and cast them into the fire; while, as for the rest, He will cut them till they bleed again, because they are fruit-bearing members, but they have too much wood, and He wants them to bring forth more fruit. It is not a trifling matter to be in the Church of God. God’s fire is in Zion and His furnace in Jerusalem. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Love’s vigilance rewarded
I. Before we actually come to our text, we may notice three preliminary steps in the spouse’s progress.
1. The first one is implied in the words, “I love Him.” She refers to her Beloved under the title of “Him whom my soul loveth.” Can you give the Lord Jesus that title?
2. Then, in the spouse’s progress, there came another step, “I sought Him.” Can you put your finger on that sentence and say,. “That is true, too”? Have you been seeking Him this Sabbath day? Are you coming to His table to-night seeking Him?
3. Then comes in a little minor or mournful music, for the next clause is, “I sought Him, but I found Him not.” The spouse is so sad about it that the tells out her woe twice, “I sought Him, but I found Him not.” Do you know that experience? I hope you are not realizing it at this time; but many of us have known what it is. Our Lord Jesus Christ would not have us think little of His company; and, sometimes, it is only as we miss it that we begin to appreciate the sweetness of it. If we always had high days and holidays, we might not be so thankful when our gala days come round.
II. Inside the text, there are three further steps: “I found Him,” “I held Him,” “I brought Him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.”
1. This is the first of the second series of steps, “I found Him.” I do not wish to stand here and speak for myself, alone; but I want, beloved, that you should each one of you also say, “I love Him,” “I sought Him,” and now, “I have found Him.” What is meant by the words, “I found Him”? Well, I think a soul may say, I found Him, in the sense employed in the text, when first of all it has a clear view of His Person. My Beloved is Divine and human, the Son of God, and yet the Son of man. Let your soul picture Him so plainly that you can seem to see Him, for this will be a part of your finding Him. But that will not be enough; you must then get to know that He is present with you. We cannot see Him, but yet He that walketh amidst the golden candlesticks is, in spirit, in this house of prayer at this moment. If you can get that thought fully into your minds, that Christ is really here in our midst, you can then each one begin to say, “I have found Him.” But you want more than that, namely, to feel that He loves you, loves you as if there were nobody else for Him to love, loves you even as the Father loves Him. That is a daring thing to say, and I should never have said it if He had not first uttered it; but He says, “As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you.”
2. Now we come to the second step. The spouse says, I held Him. This is a deeper experience than the former one; “I held Him” means more than “I found Him.” How are we to hold Christ? Well, first, let us hold Him by our heart’s resolve. Get you to Jacob’s boldness when he said to the Angel of the Covenant, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me”; but go even beyond that, do not put in any “except” at all, but say, “I will not let Thee go, for I cannot be blessed if Thou art gone from me.” Further, brethren, hold Him by making Him your all in all. Yield up everything to Him, be obedient to Him, be willing to suffer for Him, grieve not His Holy Spirit, crown Him, extol Him, magnify Him, keep on singing His praises, for so will you hold Him. Hold Him, too, by a simple faith. That is a wonderful hold-fast. One word more before we leave this point. The only way to hold Christ is to hold Him by His own power. Think of poor Jacob, who, when the angel did but touch him, felt his sinews shrink directly, yet he said, “I will not let thee go.” And I, a poor trembling creature, may hold the Omnipotent Himself, and say to Him, “I will not let Thee go.” How is that wonder to be accomplished? I will tell you. If Omnipotence helps you to hold Omnipotence, why, then, the deed is done! If Christ, and not you alone, holds Christ, then Christ is held indeed, for shall He vanquish His own Self?
3. The next step is described in the words, “I brought Him.” With this we finish: “I brought Him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.” And where, I pray you, is our mother’s house? I do not believe in any reverence for mere material buildings; but I have great reverence for the true Church of the Living God. The Church is the House of God, and the mother of our souls. How can you bring Christ to His Church? Partly, you can bring Him by your spirit. If you have really found Christ, and bring Him with you into the assembly, you will not be the man who will criticize, and find fault, and quarrel with your neighbour because he does not give you enough room in the pew. You will not be the person to pick holes in other people’s coats; but you will be very considerate of others. As for yourself, anything will do for you, and anywhere will do for you, for you have seen the Beloved. You want other people to get as much good as they can; you are no longer selfish; how can you be, when you have found Him whom your soul loveth? And now your poor brother need not be very choice in the selection of his words; if he will only talk about Jesus, you will be quite satisfied; if his accents should be a little broken, you will not mind that. So long as you feel that he wishes to extol your Lord, that will be enough for you. So, in this manner, you will in spirit bring the Beloved to your mother’s house, to the chamber of her that conceived you. But, dear friend, it will also be a happy thing if you are able to talk about your Lord, for then you can bring Him to the Church with your words. But if, alas! you feel that you cannot speak for Christ, then, beloved, bring Him by your prayers. (C. H. Spurgeon.)