Communion Broken—restoration

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them.” — Heb. ii. 1 (R.V.).

In this section the bride has drifted back from her position of blessing into a state of worldliness. Perhaps the very restfulness of her new-found joy made her feel too secure: perhaps she thought that, so far as she was concerned, there was no need for the exhortation, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Or she may have thought that the love of the world was so thoroughly taken away that she might safely go back, and, by a little compromise on her part, she might win her friends to follow her Lord too. Perhaps she scarcely thought at all: glad that she was saved and free, she forgot that the current — the course of this world — was against her; and insensibly glided, drifted back to that position out of which she was called, unaware all the time of backsliding. It is not necessary, when the current is against us, to turn the boat’s head down the stream in order to drift: or for a runner in a race to turn back in order to miss the prize.

Ah, how often the enemy succeeds, by one device or another, in tempting the believer away from that position of entire consecration to Christ in which alone the fulness of His power and of His love can be experienced. We say the fulness of His power and of His love; for he may not have ceased to love his Lord. In the passage before us the bride still loves Him truly, though not wholly; there is still a power in His Word which is not unfelt, though she no longer renders instant obedience. She little realizes how she is wronging her Lord, and how real is the wall of separation between them. To her, worldliness seems as but a little thing: she has not realized the solemn truth of many passages in the Word of God that speak in no measured terms of the folly, the danger, the sin of friendship with the world.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

“Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.”

“Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?... Wherefore: —

We have to take our choice: we cannot enjoy both the world and Christ.

The bride had not learned this: she would fain enjoy both, with no thought of their incompatibility. She observes with joy the approach of the Bridegroom.

In yet more touching words the Bridegroom continues: —

But strong as is His love, and His desire for His bride, He can come no further. Where she now is He can never come. But surely she will go forth to Him. Has He not a claim upon her? She feels and enjoys His love, will she let His desire count for nothing? For, let us notice, it is not here the bride longing in vain for her Lord, but the Bridegroom who is seeking for her. Alas that He should seek in vain!

We have a sad illustration of the deceitfulness of sin in the response of the bride. Instead of bounding forth to meet Him, she first comforts her own heart by the remembrance of His faithfulness, and of her union with Him: —

My Beloved is mine, and I am His:
He feedeth His flock among the lilies.

Poor foolish bride! she will soon find that the things that once satisfied her can satisfy no longer; and that it is easier to turn a deaf ear to His tender call than to recall or find her absent Lord.

The day became cool, and the shadows did flee away; but He returned not. Then in the solemn night she discovered her mistake: It was dark, and she was alone. Retiring to rest she still hoped for His return — the lesson that worldliness is an absolute bar to full communion still unlearned.

I said, I will rise now, and go about the city,
In the streets and in the broad ways,
I will seek Him whom my soul loveth:
I sought Him, but I found Him not!

Communion fully restored, the section closes, as did the first, with the loving charge of the Bridegroom that none should disturb His bride: —

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,
(By all that is loving and beautiful and constant),
That ye stir not up, nor awake My love,
Until she please.

May we all, while living down here, in the world, but not of it, find our home in the heavenly places to which we have been raised, and in which we are seated together with Christ. Sent into the world to witness for our Master, may we ever be strangers there, ready to confess Him the true object of our soul’s devotion.