My Sister, My Bride

You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
- Song of Solomon 4:12 -

Observe the sweet titles the Son of God with intense affection addresses His bride the Church:

"My sister, my bride", one near to Him by ties of nature, partaker of the same sympathies.

"My sister, my bride", by His incarnation, which makes her bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.

"My sister, my bride", one whom He knew of old, and over whom He watched from her earliest infancy.

The Lord Jesus Christ is not ashamed of us.

He dwells with manifest delight upon this twofold relationship.

His delights are with the sons of men, because they are His chosen ones.

He, the Shepherd, seeks the sheep, because they are His sheep.

He has gone about to seek and to save them who was lost.

The church is the exclusive portion of her Lord.

None else may claim a partnership, or pretend to share her love.

Let every believing soul drink solace from these wells.

The Lord Jesus Christ is near to us in ties of relationship.

The Lord Jesus Christ is dear to us in bonds of marriage union, and we are dear to Him.

"My sister, My bride".

Prepare The Way For The Lord

"“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him."
- Luke 3:4 -

The voice crying in the wilderness demanded a way for the Lord.

Let us be attentive to the Master's proclamation.

Let us give Him a road into our hearts.

Low and grovelling thoughts of God must be given up.

Doubting and despairing must be removed.

Self-seeking and carnal delights must be forsaken.

A glorious causeway of grace must be raised.

Every mountain and hill shall be laid low.

Proud creature-sufficiency, and boastful self-righteousness, must be leveled, to make a highway for the King.

The Lord has respect for the lowly, and visits the contrite in heart. But the lofty are an abomination to Him.

Let us beseech the Holy Spirit to set us right with God.

The crooked must be made straight.

The wavering heart must have a straight path of decision for God.

Double-minded men are strangers to the God of truth.

Let us be honest and true before the heart-searching God.

The rough places must be made smooth.

Stumbling-blocks of sin must be removed.

Thorns and briers of rebellion must be uprooted.

May the Lord find in our heart a highway made ready by His grace.

May He make a triumphal progress through the utmost bounds of our soul.

Enemy With The World

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
- Matthew 10:34 -

Christian will make enemies.

It will be best to make none.

But if to do the right, and to believe the true, should cause him to lose any earthly friend, he will count it but a small loss, since his great Friend in heaven will be much more friendly, and reveal Himself to him more graciously than ever.

Christ is the great Peacemaker.

But before peace, He brings war.

Where the light comes, the darkness must retire.

Where truth is, the lie must flee.

He who has the friendship of the world is an enemy to God.

But if we are true and faithful to the Most High, men will resent our unflinching fidelity, since it is a testimony against their iniquities.

Fearless of all consequences, we must do the right.

Better a brief warfare and eternal rest, than false peace and everlasting torment.

Fighting On God's Side

And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
- Isaiah 40:5 -

We anticipate the happy day when the whole world shall be converted to Christ.

We know that the world and all that is in it will one day be burnt up.

We know that afterwards there will be a new heavens and a new earth.

We are not discouraged by the length of Christ's delays.

We are not disheartened by the long period He allots to the church to struggle with little success and much defeat.

We believe that God will never allow this world to be always the devil's stronghold.

Christ had come to deliver this world from the powers of darkness.

What a joy it will be when the glory of the Lord is revealed.

What a shout it will be when men and angels shall unite to cry "Hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God reigns!"

What a satisfaction it will be in that day to have had a share in the fight for the victory of our Lord!

Happy are they who trust themselves with this conquering Lord, and who fight side by side with Him, doing their little in His name and by His strength!

Surely You Did Not Hear

"Surely you did not hear,

Surely you did not know;

Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.

For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,

And were called a transgressor from the womb."

- Isaiah 48:8 -

It is painful to know that this accusation may be laid upon believers. Too often we are spiritually insensible. We do not hear the voice of God as we ought.

There are gentle motions of the Holy Spirit in the soul which are unheeded by us.

There are whisperings of divine command and of heavenly love which are unobserved by our intellects.

Ah! We have been carelessly ignorant.

There are matters within which we ought to have seen.

There are corruptions which have made headway unnoticed.

There are sweet affections which are untended by us.

There are glimpses of the divine face which we do not perceived.

Surely we did not hear.

Surely we did not know.

As we think of it, we are humbled in the deepest self-abasement.

O Holy Spirit, give us the hearing ear, and the understanding heart!