CHRIST AS OUR OBJECT
Romans 3: 23-26
Luke 10: 38-42
2 Corinthians 3: 17, 18
Song of Songs 5: 9, 16
Philippians 3: 13, 14
JL I have been thinking, beloved brethren, of two things that are essential to the saints: one is that we must be preserved with Christ as our Object, and the second is that in order to fully satisfy the purpose of God, we must be brought into conformity to Christ Himself. It may be, if the Lord will, we can consider some thoughts concerning Christ as our Object in this reading and then in the second reading we may consider the matter of being brought into conformity to Christ. In order to help in our enquiry together I have drawn from these five different sections of Scripture with five particular thoughts in mind in relation to that first part of the subject. In the first passage in Romans, I thought we might see how there is a starting point in Christ being presented as an Object for our faith, One in whom we may trust and believe, in view of salvation and blessing from God. In Luke 10, we find that Christ is rather presented as Teacher and Model before Mary, as the One from whom we may all learn, and find in Him a model. In the third passage in 2 Corinthians, I thought we might see how He is presented for our contemplation. It is a very necessary thing to be increasingly engaged with Christ in our affections and to consider His glory as an Object for our affections in a contemplative way. In the Song of Songs, I thought we might be helped to think of Christ then becoming an Object adoringly. I believe there is somewhat of a sequence in the thoughts, and I trust we may be helped in looking into them. Lastly, in Philippians, I thought we might get some encouragement in clinging to Christ as the Object of our hope. We still await the fulfilment of our hope to be with Him and to be like Him where He is, but we need to be preserved in continually looking unto Jesus and having Him as the hope before our hearts in the midst of a darkening world. Do you think that might be of some profit for us?
RWMcC I think so. To be occupied with Christ is essential. I am looking forward to seeing how this develops, but it is interesting that the first enquiry is as to faith, and the final one as to hope. These things go together, do they not?
JL Yes, faith and hope. I had the definite impression that it is not only essential from our side to be preserved with Christ as our Object, but it is according to the Father’s delight, because His intention clearly is to head up everything in the Christ so that He should be the Object of all in the universe, Eph 1: 10. I think it is very evident that it is part of the prime service of the Holy Spirit here to preserve us with Christ as our Object. We can see that it is according to the pleasure of divine Persons as well as a necessity from our side.
RWMcC It is good to seize hold of that, that it is what divine Persons desire and gives them joy, because there is fruit thereby by contemplating Christ and being formed by that.
JL Yes, I am sure that is true. Think of the pleasure of God then in setting forth Christ as a mercy-seat. That is what we seek to do in the glad tidings. In harmony with God’s activities in grace, we seek to present Christ as an Object in order that souls may be helped through the work of God in them to come to trust in the Lord and believe on Him. I was thinking, for example, about the jailor. There was not much time for Paul and Silas to communicate anything to him in his extremity but immediately they presented Christ as an Object for him: “What must I do that I may be saved?” The answer was, “Believe on the Lord Jesus”, Acts 16: 30, 31. They put that Object before him.
RDP Is it immediate, “being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”, and then it says, “whom God has set forth”? So immediately there is the distinguishing of the Person from the world.
JL That is excellent, so that God is not only presenting the means of our salvation and blessing but the Person in whom it essentially has to be found. That is just part of my exercise that we must be preserved with Christ as our Object. We may say this is very foundational in the gospel but it is not foundational in the sense that it is something we start with and then forget about and go on to something else. It is fundamental to our entire progress to be preserved with Christ before us, do you think?
HTF Christ will be our Object eternally. That is God’s thought for us, but the preservation in view of that is now. Do you think also that this is God’s delight? We are brought into conformity with what is of delight to God. I think that is what you have said as to the second reading. We are brought into conformity but that is to exercise us now as we have this before us.
JL I have no doubt that is true. I think it is a present, important necessity. You referred to Christ as being our eternal Object. I have no doubt that will be so, but I am also assured there will be no intrusive element to hinder it from being so. There are plenty of things now that might divert us and turn away our attention and engage our interests and sadly focus them on other things so it is a very urgent exercise to be maintained with Christ as our Object at the present time.
KM We sang in our hymn 110:
Blessed, almighty Creator art Thou!
Would you say a few words about that, please?
JL I was encouraged by the hymn, and as we proceed in our enquiry together, we may rather more come to the point of considering Christ as the great Object for the worship of our affections. He rightly bears these titles of honour and glory that serve to bring out the personal greatness that belongs to Him. I think we may have a starting-point here in that He is presented as a mercy-seat, an Object for our faith, in view of coming into the joy of salvation and blessing and being justified through trusting in Him. As we go on in our souls, one would trust in the case of each one of us, He would become greater and greater so that finally we would have Him before us as the great Object of the worship of our hearts. Think of the man in John 9, brought to bow before the Son of God. What rapid progress he made in his soul!
PM In the old dispensation Jehovah said as to the mercy-seat, “And there will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee”, Exod 25: 22. Is that so in this blessed Person who has been set forth in this way?
JL Very good. I am sure that is perfectly true. The circumstances previously could not permit the full outshining of the heart of God. Indeed it says in a previous verse in Romans, “now without law righteousness of God is manifested, borne witness to by the law and the prophets” (v 21). There is an indication that something superior has come in in the Person whom God is now setting forth because in Him His love has been expressed, and through Him all that’s God’s holy will required has been accomplished. What an Object for our hearts!
DCB So do we first see that Christ is God’s Object, and see how much the mercy-seat meant to God? The blood was on the mercy-seat; God was satisfied.
JL That is good. Say more about that, because as far as we are concerned God has presented Him, set Him forth a mercy-seat, although the way we are given to understand something of God’s appreciation of Him is seen in the place of exultation He has on the throne at His right hand.
DCB The mercy-seat is a wonderful matter. We see how God was going to have a rest there; how God was going to speak there as has been referred to; everything was settled according to His glory and satisfaction there; and He being satisfied in that, He sets Him forth so that we can come into the blessing and the enjoyment of what God is already satisfied with.
JL The very term “a mercy-seat” conveys that, does it not? It was undeserved and yet it has been in the mind and heart of God to present Christ in that way, setting Him forth, “has set forth a mercy-seat”.
RWMcC In setting forth Christ a mercy-seat, speaking reverently, it is not hidden behind curtains.
JL Yes, I have often thought about that. There is no obscurity or confusion in the gospel whatsoever. God has made His mind abundantly clear and, in marvellous mercy, has set forth Christ in that way to make it, we may say, utterly simple for souls. The children would often be accustomed in education these days to questions with multiple choices available and a selection required of what might be appropriate, but that is not like the gospel. God has made it singular in its blessed presentation, has He not?
I was thinking then of Mary, one who must have come to learn something of the blessedness of what was to be found in Christ, and it seemed as if the great desire of her heart was just to be found at His feet “listening to his word”. Safe ground! I think I could justifiably say that sadly there has been a good deal of confusion come in amongst us because of a variety of confusing communications, and a variety of opinions being expressed, and the more I go on the more I see the necessity of having Christ before me. There is a simple blessedness preserved through having Christ continually before us as the One whose voice we have to hearken to. Mary was there at the feet of Jesus “listening to his word”. What would you say about that?
AM I was thinking she chose that place at His feet. And I was thinking of the verse reportedly found in Mr Darby’s Bible -
Low at thy feet, Lord Jesus;
This is the place for me.
JL Such a blessed place! We are on safe ground there, are we not? It may be others can help us and it is intended that that should be so through the help that comes in in the body. We appreciate, I trust, the gifts given and the resources under the wisdom of the Lord Jesus that have been made available. I am not despising that, neither should any of us here, but I can clearly see that through all there is a divine necessity of being preserved with Christ as our Object, “looking stedfastly” on Him (Heb 12: 2), and, as it was in this setting, sitting at His feet. We seek to make way for that in a reading like this, with ears open to hear what the Lord might say.
AM It does not appear that Mary says anything; she is just absorbed with one Object and drinking in what flows from Him.
JL Very good.
RDP It was a necessary service. Martha’s service was necessary and, of itself, it was nothing which was out of order, but how easy it is for such things to become a distraction away from the central thing, do you think?
JL I trust no one present feels I am being critical, therefore, in drawing on this scripture because, if we take the circumstances here in Grimsby, we are not at all unmindful of the heavy burden that lies upon those locally to carry out the needed services for the provision of what is required among the saints today; we value that. But there is a constant need, through all, in grace and guidance, to be preserved with Christ before our affections continually, do you not think?
RDP Yes, I do. All I was meaning was that it was Martha’s house. She “received him into her house”. She had responsibilities as to the necessary service, and yet it deteriorated somehow to almost a criticism of the Lord, which is a serious thing, so that your point is that the Lord is to be the Centre. When they brought the woman taken in adultery in John 8, they “set her in the midst” (v 3); the midst belongs to Jesus, not to the problem.
JL How true that is! He alone is worthy to have that place and He alone can fill it, and the good part for us is to give Him that place in our heart’s affections: “Mary has chosen the good part”.
RDW Was Mary in subjection here at the feet of the Lord? You referred to opinions and things like that. There is no place for those before the Lord, is there, if we are in subjection to Him? It is what the Lord says that matters not what I would have in mind.
JL Yes, that is very good. Is it not repeatedly called attention to in regard of Mary that she was at the feet of the Lord Jesus: falling at His feet (John 11: 32), anointing His feet (chap 12: 3), and in this passage here, sitting at His feet? It seemed to be a place that she loved to take in honour of the Lord Jesus and in that way she expresses her affection for the Lord. She seeks to learn from Him and later anoints His feet, expressing her outstanding love for Him at such an opportunity. It is truly a right place to be in, is it not?
PM In John 11 Martha says to Mary, “The teacher is come and calls thee”, v 28. Had Martha got the gain of this? He was known in that household as “the teacher”.
JL That is a good point. I appreciate that reference. She had come round a long way in that respect, was learning perhaps the value of this good place that Mary had taken, and was now seeking to avail herself of that opportunity, was she?
HTF I was thinking of John 12 and also Acts 9: 13-17. Do you think when we need the adjustment we are speaking of, part of where we are is thinking the Lord has got it wrong somehow, but then we come round to the fact that it is we who need the adjustment and not the Lord. That was Ananias’s lesson, and that was Martha’s lesson, and so with all of us, do you think?
JL It was Paul’s lesson too in Acts 9. Mary chose the good part here, but Paul was abruptly brought down to that point, was he not, subdued in the presence of Christ? How much he so quickly began to learn from the One who is to be our Object in view of enjoying these communications. Think of Paul being able to say later on, “I received from the Lord”, 1 Cor 11: 23. Think of what He had learned from the Lord as the great Object of his heart’s affection, having seen Him in glory. What a unique view he had! Paul said it was like an abortion (1 Cor 15: 8); it seemed out of place according to time but he had grasped that wonderful view of Christ, had he not?
JBI Do you have in mind the Lord Jesus being Model as well as Teacher?
JL I was thinking particularly of the reference in Peter’s epistle where Christ is referred to as Model, “leaving you a model”, 1 Pet 2: 21. I suppose considering the Model, or, as the footnote says, it is ‘A copy, as we say, to write from’, there is something we learn about Him and learn from Him. Would that be right? We get something set out in supreme blessedness in Christ Himself so that we should have an ear to hear His words and take account of these features that marked the Lord Jesus. They are intended by the Spirit to grasp our affections and create a longing to become more like Him, are they? What would you say about it?
JBI So she was in the presence of the Lord Jesus, at His feet, and she was going to see where His footsteps led, and that was a model for her, do you think, in her life?
JL Yes, very much so. I think in that respect it has a bearing on the third thought that I made mention of and that was considering Christ in a contemplative way. We learn from Him in that way. John says in his gospel that they had “contemplated his glory” (John 1: 14), and then in his epistle, in writing to the saints, “That … which we have seen with our eyes; that which we contemplated, and our hands handled, concerning the word of life”, 1 John 1: 1. The apostles had that peculiar privilege of considering Christ and contemplating Him in actuality when here with Him, but we now have the blessed service of the Holy Spirit to engage our hearts with Christ in a contemplative way. I think there is a great need for that amongst us in order that we should be expanded in our affections. Perhaps you can help us about that.
JBI Mary was deliberate in setting aside time for Him, and contemplation is something we need to be deliberate about.
JL That is very good. That would be very true in a world where there is so much pressure upon people. There is a lot of pressure on many persons and life increasingly goes at a more rapid pace in the world in which, as yet, we are. I can say looking back on my own experiences that there is definite profit in taking time to contemplate the glories of the Lord Jesus.
RWMcC I feel very challenged by what is said.
RDP Do you think the way the Lord responds to Martha is a model for us? It could have said, I suppose, that Jesus rebuked her, but it says, “But Jesus answering said to her”, and the first thing He says is, “thou art careful and troubled about many things”. He gives credit to what lay behind the exclamation that had come in before going on. Do you think there is a model in the way the Lord meets what could have been a difficult situation?
JL That is very good. In that respect to some extent the gospels are presented before us so that we may learn from the way the Lord Jesus did things. He is presented as a model and we have the instruction of His personal words, but we see the way that the Lord handled things. Clearly Peter who served later had learned something of the pattern with which the Lord carried things out and acted himself in a different way as he went on in the testimony from what might have characterised his impulsive ways in early life. In a marvellous way Christ is presented as a model for our consideration.
RDP Paul on his departure from Ephesus says, “Ye know how I was with you … and tears, and temptations, which happened to me through the plots of the Jews”, Acts 20: 18, 19. We can only imagine what all that was but it was there in that assembly. He says, “how I was with you”, and “how I held back nothing” (v 20), and “all the counsel of God” (v 27) came out. But what he speaks about is not the ‘what’ he had said but the “how” he had been amongst them.
JL Do you think that is a much needed thing in the way that we seek to work out exercises amongst ourselves and how we speak to one another and how we handle things? We need to learn from Christ as model. How would the Lord have handled such a matter? I think we have to learn from Him in that respect. We surely need immediate guidance from Him to know His mind about particular matters, but there is a pattern to be taken account of in the Scriptures from which we learn from Christ as a model.
DCB Is His simple address, “Martha, Martha”, an example to us, His affectionate address to the sister before He brings in anything to correct?
JL Sometimes the repetition is used in Scripture just to arrest particular attention, but you were thinking that there is almost a gracious appeal behind the Lord saying, “Martha, Martha”, as if He was just making an appeal to her heart’s affections and winning her round?
GJR I see the need of all this.
JL The passage read in 2 Corinthians 3 bears on this. You said you felt the need of what we were speaking about and I take it home to my own heart as well. The apostle says there, “But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord”. There is need of each one of us individually taking up this exercise to be occupied in a contemplative way with Christ in order that the collective benefits should be secured.
GJR Is it fair to say when we read this scripture that if we look on the glory of the Lord, we will be changed? Is this an inevitable consequence? Are we right to read it like that?
JL Mr Stoney went as far as to indicate, I believe, that when truly experienced, it brings about an entire change, JBS vol 2 p261-262. I think he was particularly referring to the metamorphic process. You cannot change a butterfly back into a caterpillar, can you? There is such a change brought about that it remains as an abiding change. Well, I feel challenged about that too but would seek increasingly and especially at the Lord’s Supper week by week where we have the privilege of being freshly occupied with His glories as He comes in amongst us that there should be a change that might remain.
PM The change remained with Peter after the experience on the mount: “eyewitnesses of his majesty … being with him on the holy mountain”, 2 Pet 1: 16, 18. They were beholding the glory of the Lord, were they not?
JL Yes, I think that is very good. The change remained and it seemed in his experience, and in that of Paul’s as well, that things not only became changed but became continually enlarged the more the process was continued.
PM I wondered if the result of that change was not only to affect Peter individually but it was there in the assembly. There was something in the assembly that had never been there before.
JL Is that a little implied in the words here, “But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed”? No doubt it involves what is individually experienced by each of the saints, but collectively that benefit comes in and remains in the assembly through the resulting work of change and formation.
HTF “We know that if it is manifested we shall be like him”, 1 John 3: 2. That will be instantaneous but it is right perhaps to ask why this is a test when applied to ourselves. Am I the same as I was? If I am, that tells me and everybody else something. Have I been contemplating Christ? I find it very testing.
JL Well, the apostle was interested through the report brought to him to find out how the saints were getting on. What a challenging thing that is. Is there progress, is there evidence that I have been engaged with the transforming glory of the Lord Jesus? One would seek for that. I just feel encouraged in presenting the exercise among us that we might all be stimulated in taking it up more fully.
GJR There is reference in Ezekiel to the prince and the people of the land; when the prince comes in, he goes out by the same door that he came in, chap 44: 3. When the people of the land come in to worship, they go out by a different door, chap 46: 9.
JL I was looking at that section recently and enjoying that thought. He remains unchanged in all His personal glory, but your point is that by going out a different way there is the evidence that something has been secured among the people, among ourselves. Say more for our help.
GJR You have put it so well, but it is good to remember that He remains the Same.
RDP The section in 2 Corinthians refers to Israel’s darkness, “the veil lies upon their heart”, v 16. “When it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away”, and one of the most intractable problems of the modern world is as to the race, but “when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away”, a change that will never be reversed when it comes.
JL Very good. That will be truly accomplished in Israel, but what would you say about the present portion of the saints as helped by the Spirit to look upon the unveiled face of Christ in all His glory? Is that not a wonderful present privilege granted to the saints of the assembly?
RDP I was going to ask you to help us as to how this comes about. This would involve “looking on the glory of the Lord”. That is a vast subject. Is this a specific glory or is it individual? It must involve the collective side.
JL Well, I get the impression it must be taken up individually, but there is collective benefit resulting from it as the saints are merged in occupation with the glory of Christ. I do think it not only has a bearing on our individual exercises but has a special place in the privilege of what we enjoy when the Lord comes in amongst us on the first day of the week, do you not think? What glories are brought to our view! Do we go to the Supper and come away unchanged, or is there some enriched apprehension in our souls following what has engaged our hearts as occupied with the Lord Jesus? If I truly apprehend the presence of the Lord, there must be some change, must there not?
DCB This chapter has the new covenant particularly in mind, and the glory He has as “mediator of a new covenant” (Heb 9: 15); and, of course, that would follow as we have the cup before us, and the new covenant before us. We have here distinctly the glory that the Lord Jesus has as “mediator of a new covenant”. Does that especially have a transforming effect for us?
JL Yes, that helps. It would include the thought, would it not, that He is the Administrator then of divine blessing? All the blessings flowing out from the heart of God in the new covenant are administered by Christ Himself, and the overflowing benefits of these reach out to the saints of the present family, do they not? Our brother has been referring to Israel, and rather specifically the new covenant has its bearing on those of Israel, but the overflowing blessedness is administered by Christ towards us now, is it not? “Now the Lord is the Spirit”.
RWMcC Is that why it uses the word “Lord” here? I was thinking of the present bearing of it. We need to recognise His lordship, do we not? For Israel it is particularly the Messiah, the Christ. In the glad tidings we speak about Jesus, but it is important to accept Him as Saviour and Lord, is it not?
JL Sometimes that expression involves the exercise of His supreme rights in authority; I should not say sometimes for that always remains so. What I am rather trying to convey is that while that particular aspect is sometimes emphasised it also conveys that the administration of all divine blessing has been committed into His hands towards the saints. In that way we can think of the Lord as the One through whom the fulness of divine blessing is communicated towards us.
DCB You certainly see the expansion of what is in that divine administration, but the reference that our brother brought in as to Israel, and how they come into the blessing of it as the veil is removed from their heart, is an example for us, that we are going to get into this fulness and blessing as it is a matter that affects our hearts, and our hearts have nothing between them and Christ.
JL Israel as a nation has lost out meantime because Christ is not their Object. They have set aside the Messiah. They have lost Christ as Object and hence there is importance for us, by way of contrast, in taking up the exercise, all the more, to be preserved with Christ before us and enjoying the blessed fulness of all that is flowing out from the heart of God through this Person who is surely Lord and Christ.
AM Moses desired to see His glory and he was not able to. Jehovah said, “thou shalt see me from behind”, Exod 33: 23. Is it not a wonderful thing that in this day we see an unveiled face, the glory expressed in a blessed face available to us?
JL How blessed to see His unveiled face and to see in Him all that we shall ever know and learn of God. Perhaps you can help us about that? In that unveiled face God’s glory is expressed towards us.
AM Yes; the following chapter is “the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God” in that face, v 6. It is a wonderful thing to think that it is in the face of a Man!
JL Very good! In that respect, as having Christ as my Object, I have everything before me, because what else can I learn or know of God outside of Christ? The fulness of all the expression of what God is, the effulgence of His glory, radiates in the blessed face of that Man, the Lord of glory.
RDP “Looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face” has a particular link at the Supper with the taking of the cup. Sometimes we may be tested more as to what we can say in giving thanks for the cup, but as seeking the glory of the opening up and acknowledging “the Lord”, we move on in the service quickly. Think of a scripture like Colossians 1 where the greatness of Christ almost bursts on the scene! Think of the greatness of what the blood is! Perhaps we are limited in our thoughts.
JL It may be, and I would accept too that we may feel limitation in our thoughts, but it is not the divine intention that that should be, because it is the very point at which our hearts and affections should be entirely liberated through the blessedness of all that the new covenant represents. It should really trigger a spring in our affections, and specially so as we have some living apprehension of Christ being before us. We need the help of the Spirit for that. The apostles had the opportunity to see with their eyes and hear with their ears and handle with their hands, but we are cast upon the service of the Holy Spirit, but that does not take away from the reality of the blessedness. It may be the actuality of His presence we still await, but the reality is our living portion now by the Spirit, is it not?
RDP “Even as by the Lord the Spirit”. The main thought in the blood is what is for God in its fulness, and I was thinking of all that comes into our thoughts. Perhaps it is just a personal exercise, that I feel more tested in giving thanks for the cup than the loaf.
JL That might take us to our next scripture in the Song of Songs. If we feel challenged in relation to what we can say about the glory of the Lord, it is a little like what happened here: “What is thy beloved more than another beloved … ?”. How readily she takes up the challenge of that question and enlarges upon His many glories and the place that her Beloved clearly had in her heart. I only suggested reading verse 16 where we have something of a summary brought in following the intimate place that He had gained in her heart’s affections. She concludes, “Yea, he is altogether lovely”. I often go over that little section and delight to think of Christ as the supreme Object of our affections. How adoringly our hearts would rise! How responsively, not only in answer to His many glories, but especially in worship in relation to the greatness of His Person as well.
PM Do we not find in this glorious face what is incomparable? At one time His face was “marred more than any man” (Isa 52: 14); it was beyond compare. But now it is radiant with glory and with the expression of all that is in God’s heart, and it is incomparable.
JL I must say I was very touched last week pondering over the Lord’s own words, conveyed to John in the Revelation, “I became dead”, chap 1: 18. Think of the Lord saying that, “I became dead”. What a way the Lord went in suffering love! It is true to say He was put to death by men, crucified, but no one could take His life from Him: “I became dead”. He yielded up His life in death but now He is the living One, and all the glory of God radiates in the face of that blessed Man. What a thing to have Christ as our Object, to be occupied with the effulgence of His glory, the effulgence of God’s glory finding its expression in the face of Jesus!
PM Would it be right to say that it waited for Him to be in the position in which He is that the fulness of that glory should be known?
JL I am sure that is right because for one reason all that had to be accomplished to satisfy the Godhead necessarily had to be done, but then, for us to take account of these things, we are cast upon the gift and service of the Holy Spirit, are we not? And that could not be put upon sinful flesh. It required the work of Christ to secure us on the ground of redemption and set us free in righteousness before God in order that we might be vessels suitable to be granted the gift of the Holy Spirit and given the capacity to be occupied then with Christ adoringly.
RWMcC The expression, and it is a wonderful expression, “Yea, he is altogether lovely” would show that in every way that we contemplate Him as an Object He is perfect, is He not?
JL In every way! We cannot trace a thing in Christ that would bring about disappointment or any negative feeling in our hearts at all. Oh to be more like this, to be able to be so engaged with Him that we continually and increasingly prove that He is “altogether lovely”!
RWMcC It may be as we go through exercises in our lives that a particular aspect comes before us of these various things that she brings out, but it is wonderful that in all of these things, He does not change; He is always the same and He is always perfect.
JL Why are so many of our brethren going through suffering at the present time? Do you not think in the wisdom of the Lord a variety of ways are taken to wean us away from other things and to help us increasingly to have the yearnings of our hearts focused upon Himself as the great Object to satisfy our hearts affections, and to bring out this spirit of adoration in a responsive way?
JBI What a lovely expression, “my beloved”! The simplicity and depth of that expression is very real, and I am tested as to whether I can really speak of the Lord Jesus as “my beloved”.
JL When she was asked the question, “What is thy beloved more than another beloved … ?”. What difference is there? When she takes up the challenge she says, “my beloved”, and then pours out these expressions of her appreciation. I almost read from Psalm 45 because in Psalm 45 it is direct appreciation that is expressed, in type, to the Lord Himself. Here she is giving descriptive words to others, but it is a fine thing to be able to speak directly to the Lord Jesus in appreciation of our Beloved. What would you say about that?
JBI I like the expression. It is pouring out here; it is the result of her contemplation and appreciation of the sweetness of His mouth.
JL Pouring out, somewhat like, “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer” (Ps 45: 1), and then there is the direct ascription of adoration, “Thou art fairer than the sons of men” (v 2) and so on. It is a fine thing to be liberated in your heart to pour out adoringly your responsive affection towards Christ as the Object of your heart.
AM I was just going to ask about the reference, “His mouth is most sweet”. Verses 10-15 describe what she sees from His head to His legs and then she says, “His mouth is most sweet”. As contemplating the beauty of what she sees, she is conscious of receiving it from Him.
JL It seems to be an expression that conveys a particular intimacy, “His mouth is most sweet”. I have reflected sometimes on the reference in chapter 7 when the Beloved is speaking of the Object of His love and comes to verse 9 and says, “And the roof of thy mouth like the best wine, …”, and then there is an interruption, the only one in the whole of the Song. It seems as if she was so affected by what He was saying that she interrupts, as it were, to say, “That goeth down smoothly for my beloved” as if she would just be so affected by these expressions of intimate affection, do you think?
HTF The challenge is really to compare Him with somebody else: “What is thy beloved more than another beloved”, but she does not really do that, does she? Her answer is that there is nobody to compare with.
JL Very good. We often say He is beyond compare but we are limited by language to give suited expression so we would employ such expressions as she employs here. For example, “The chiefest among ten thousand” that is a comparative term, but when she comes to the part we read at the end, “Yea, he is altogether lovely”, that is not a comparative expression. It is just an exclusive outburst that He alone is worthy of, such an expression of personal honour to the Beloved. Is that what was in your mind?
HTF On the mountain Peter thought of making three tabernacles and then he really learned that there was no comparison, Matt 17: 4, 5.
JL The Father’s intervention served to bring that about: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight: hear him”.
HTF John the apostle was characteristically an adoring person through His contemplation of Christ, and that is so telling in relation to his gospel. He was in the bosom of Jesus, chap 13: 23. That seemed to be a characteristic place. I just wondered with the earlier reference to “we all”: that seems a remarkably exclusive or inclusive thing, but do you think in a sense even if just one of the company is in that position, then there is a side in which we all benefit from it?
JL I am sure that is right. We are often made conscious that the expression by one of enjoyed intimacy in love tends to stimulate the heart’s affections of us all and lifts us up and helps us all to be drawn into it.
In Philippians 3 where we read I was thinking of the increasingly dark days, and perhaps difficult times that we are in, and our preservation, I do believe, is continually keeping our eye upon Christ as the Object of our hope, the goal before us. “I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. What a hope Paul had in his heart! That helps to preserve us in a straight course in difficult times, otherwise we may wander and get into confusion, but if Christ is kept as the singular Object before our hearts’ affections, it helps us to move in a straight path.
RWMcC The prize is different to the goal. Our eye needs to be on the goal, not the prize.
JL That is true, but enlarge on it a little.
RWMcC I do not know that I could, but I just thought that, that there is a prize. In Christianity we all get the prize in that sense; there is no winner or second and third; but we need to keep our eye on the goal as otherwise we will be distracted.
JL In a sense the reference here to the prize is not any exclusive honour for me or for you but rather the great blessedness of being brought into the accomplishment of the purpose of God in love for the saints. That is the prize: it is “the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”.
RWMcC That would link with what we touched in the Song, “he is altogether lovely”. That is really the prize in a sense, do you think, “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”, the appreciation of Him?
JL I suppose the fulness of the thought is that we are really brought into the enjoyment of sonship to be with Christ, to be like Him and to share in all the favour that has been bestowed upon us because of the Beloved.
PM Could you please help me as to this expression, “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”? What does that convey?
JL I understand that to include the purpose of God for me and the purpose of God for you. Why has God taken you up, and why has He taken me up? Not only to extricate me from the misery I was in and under the sentence of judgment because of my sins, but it is “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”. It is the purpose of His love for the saints in view of the place of favour they should have before Him in sonship eternally, is it not?
PM We often speak of “being with Christ, for it is very much better” (Phil 1: 23) and infinitely glorious, but I think what you say is very helpful and would lift our heart to be here in the gain of what our hope is, would it not? The character of it might mark us now.
JL I have no doubt it includes the place we shall be brought into, but I think the calling involves more than that. It seems to be a direct link with the purpose of God in taking me up. That is a very exalted thought.
DCB One of the things that affects you as you read this is that it is a desire. You could ask about the apostle, ‘Who has a greater knowledge and appreciation of the calling, of the light and the truth?’. But he is still concerned to have the energy to enjoy it more, and to enter into it more.
JL Yes, and to keep the light of that before his soul. I think we need to do that in these times as well so that we may be preserved from flagging and discouragement, because the calling of God has not changed. I recall a reference in Mr Raven’s ministry (vol 1 p155) where he says, ‘I do not know anything more comforting to the Christian heart than to know that God can never be diverted from His purpose’. We may say we are in difficult days, in testing times, but God has not cancelled or altered His purpose in any way. He has called us with a holy and a high and heavenly calling and that still stands. Our hope is preserved in keeping Christ before us, moving towards the goal.
RWMcC Does Romans 8 link with your thought, “But whom he has predestinated, these also he has called; and whom he has called, these also he has justified; but whom he has justified, these also he has glorified”, v 30? Does that link with God’s purpose?
JL Yes, it may be that will come into our fuller consideration in our following reading because it is preceded by the comment, “he has also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son” (v 29), and then he goes on to all these other matters. Yes, I think that is all in mind in the hope of the calling, “the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”.
Grimsby
9th June 2018
Key to Initials:
D C Brown, Edinburgh; H T Franklin, Grimsby; J B Ikin, Manchester; J Laurie, Brechin; K Marshall, Colchester; A Martin, Buckhurst Hill; P Martin, Colchester; R W McClean, Grimsby; R D Plant, Birmingham; G J Richards, Malvern: R D Wallace, Spaldwick