Love's desire - The Song of Solomon

… Song of Solomon plays in chapter 1. Song of Songs, chapter 1, verse 1. The Song of Songs which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. Because of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me, we will run after thee. The king hath brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more than wine. The upright love thee. I am black, but comely. O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me. My mother's children were angry with me. They made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon? For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock and feed thy kids beside the shepherd's tents. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rolls of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver. While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenoid sendeth forth the smell thereof. A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me. It shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Angedea. Behold thou art fair, my love. Behold thou art fair, thou hast those eyes. Behold thou art fair, my beloved, ye are pleasant. Also our bed is green. The beams of our house are of cedar and our rafters of fir. I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting-house and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me. I charge you, all ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the rows and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. I've read into chapter two, because I've read what really is a full section, what we might say is a song or a canticle in itself. And you'll find that last verse that we've just read there repeated again. In chapter five and verse three, you will see if you just cast your eye down to that verse, that it is the same as chapter two and verse seven. And I think that marks the end of another section, another verse, another stanza, another song or canticle. And then if you come into chapter eight and verse four, you'll read a similar verse there as well, bringing to an end another section. If we go to chapter two and verse eight, the voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. And then in the next verse, my beloved is like a roe at her young heart. And then you go to the last verse of the entire song, you'll find that repeated there as well. The book is called the Song of Songs. It doesn't really mean that it's a song made up of songs, although in a sense maybe that is so. And some expositors of scripture, some commentators have tried to tell us how many songs there are, and I understand that not all are agreed on the exact number, so I dare not say how many songs there are. But when we have before us the Song of Songs, we have an hebrism, an expression that's used in scripture, in the Old Testament particularly. And it means the chiefest of songs. The holy of holies in the tabernacle was the most holy place. The holy of holies in the temple was that place which was the holiest of all. And it's in stark contrast to what we read in the last book, the book that's before this, the book of Ecclesiastes, where we read vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity. There was that which was totally empty, the emptiest thing of all, a life without Christ, a life that doesn't bring God in, a life that's entirely meaningless and void. But in this song here, it's the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, but more than Solomon's. It's a hymn that speaks of David's greatest son, but greater than Solomon is here. It's a song that speaks of Christ. If we went back to Ecclesiastes 1 and verse 7, all the rivers run into the sea, and yet the sea is not full. And there's millions that are living lives like that without Christ, searching for something, going further and further away from God, and reaping no satisfaction for their endeavours. We have, and I think it's agreed on every hand and side in Britain today, a materialistic society. People are living for the here and now, amassing something for an early retirement, building some wealth in order that they can enjoy themselves. But it's all empty and void, and the heart is too big, because all the treasures of earth built up and can't fill it. There's no meaning at the end of it all, for one's existence, no reason and no purpose to life. But when we come to the song of songs which is Solomon's, and we understand that the Scriptures are speaking of Christ, as the Lord Jesus says in John's Gospel, then we've got that which is here, that will cause the heart to overflow. The heart will not contain him. The object is too great, if we may speak thus, rather, we should say, like the house in Exodus chapter 12, the house all bitter, little for the Lamb. Our hearts are too small for Christ. We can't contain all that there is, and the wonders and the glories of his person. Just to say, on this line of song of songs, with this dual aspect, that we've got a number of songs put together to form one, but the significance really of that expression, song of songs, has been the chiefest of Solomon's songs that he wrote, and we understand from 1 Kings chapter 4, he wrote a thousand and five of them, that we get in this first section that we've read, and no doubt there is more than we can hope to really touch on this afternoon, we have really, I think, what is set forth as the resulting end of an exercise of soul and of heart that brings in the preciousness of Christ as the object to be loved, and the enjoyment of his love. When you come into chapter 2 and verse 8, I suggest that we have the commencement, in a way, of divine dealings upon the soul that knows Christ in a certain way, but is to be exercised in order that the enjoyment of his love, and that he has her love for his enjoyment too. You find him calling, his voice is heard, in chapter 2 and towards the rest of the chapter. And then in chapter 3, we find her seeking, and then she finds him, and she holds him with a determination that will not let him go. It reminds me of Mary Magdalene in John chapter 20, you know. She finds the Lord on that resurrection morning, and she's going to take a hold of him. I know the Lord forbids that because he wants to raise her thoughts to a higher sphere as he was going into the presence of his father. But there's such a determination on that woman, having found the Saviour, and she's determined that she'll have him, and she'll have him for good. And then you get the verse again about the desire that that holding power isn't disturbed, that closeness of communion isn't disrupted in any way. The next section now, I think there's a waning of that love. There's a distance that comes in. But she's made to feel that. She's described in wonderful terms in chapter 4, there's a little of that at the end of chapter 1 that we were reading, but it's developed more in chapter 4. And he speaks of what he sees in her. But through exercise of soul, as he's removed himself to a distance in chapter 5, we find that she's brought to a point where she really misses him. That should be a challenge to us now. The Lord isn't here in this world. He's being cast out. We're in the time of his absence. We're in the place of his rejection. And perhaps we have to be reminded of this, and we have to be challenged in our own souls, do we really miss him? Are we wanting him to come? The Spirit and the Bride say, come, we'll touch a little on that. But through that exercise, there's such a deep impression in our own soul now of him, that we have that lovely description of her beloved in chapter 5, verses 10 to the end of the chapter. And while there's been an awakening of love, as someone has described it in chapter 2, there's a restoration of love now through this second exercise, where love is deepened. And we come to, again, the thought once more in chapter 8, that there's a desire that that communion of love is not disturbed or disrupted again. I say that in the first section that we've read, and we come back into chapter 1 again, that we have, in a sense, the point to be reached. And this is often done in Hebrew writings, in the Scriptures. Psalm 32, perhaps, is a good example by way of illustration. In Psalm 32, you've got the happiness, the blessedness of a forgiven soul. One whose transgression is forgiven, one whose sin is covered. The joy of that, the blessedness of it, the happiness from the knowledge of that. But you read the rest of the Psalm, and you get the deep exercise of soul that David has gone through in order to get to the happiness of that forgiven state. And I think that's what we've got in the Song of Songs here. The point to be reached we've been reading about. And if I can set the homework, going through the rest of the book in private meditation afterwards, you can perhaps enjoy how this young woman, who's loved by Solomon, is exercised through his dealings with her to win her love, and to maintain and sustain that love. Not simply for her joy and pleasure, but for his own joy and pleasure. Now the interpretation of this book, I think really belongs to Jehovah and Israel. Israel has been loved. She's been brought out of Egypt. But in her disobedience, she's been scattered. And that's the state in which she's found today. There's a time coming when God will take up his dealings with Israel once more. And his activities will be such that he will bring in a small part of them, a remnant that we sometimes say, a realisation of who Jesus of Nazareth really is. And there'll be an exercise, a deep exercise amongst them, that they will be desiring his coming. And they will be ready to embrace him and to welcome him in. We read in Psalm 110, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. He's absent from this world. That in a sense judges this world by its response to him when he came the first time. And particularly the state of Israel, who were not at that time very welcoming of him, and rejected him, and had him cast out. But there's a time coming when they will be brought into the blessing and the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ will be set up here upon earth. And they will be with him here upon this earth, enjoying a place of leadership among the nations. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. My mind goes to Genesis chapter 45. Joseph's been sent into Egypt in a most terrible way. And his brethren in need go down to Egypt. Joseph doesn't make himself known to them immediately. There's a point when he does that, there's a point we read in that chapter where he can't hold himself back anymore. He can't refrain from opening up to them who he is and how he feels about them. But things have to be done rightly. And therefore they're exercised by Joseph to bring them to the point where they confess what they've done and to all their sin in relation to how they dealt with him. But Joseph then, when he's caused the Egyptians to go out, then he kisses his brothers. And that will be the sense in which this godly remnant amongst the nation of Israel in the period of time known as the Great Tribulation will be exercised in their souls about Christ, about the Lord Jesus, and how he was so treated by them when he came the first time. And there'll be that recognition of his worth and of his excellence and of his person, and there'll be a working by divine grace in their souls to bring them to a recognition of who he is. And there'll be that welcome and desire for him to come and to have his embrace. But in application today, that's the interpretation. Someone has said one interpretation in Scripture always, but many applications, and we want to get some benefits of it ourselves in our own souls today. And so an application could be made, of course, of Christ and the Church. Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it. The difference is this, of course. There is a settled relationship today between Christ and the Church. The Church is the bride of Christ. As far as the Jewish remnant is concerned, there's a relationship with them that has to be established. But that for today with the Church is an already established fact. And so we can apply it, in a way, to Christ and the Church and see his ways with the Church and how he wins her for himself and desires her love. But again, there's an interpretation, I think, or rather an application that we can make, and that is in relation to ourselves as individual believers. The Lord would desire to have our love. He wants our love. And these words, let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, I've been thinking, she doesn't really say that. This is the song of songs which is Solomon's. This is what he's written. But this is what he wants her to say. He's putting these words in her mouth. He wants her love and he wants her on intimate terms. And the Lord Jesus Christ loved the Church, but the Apostle Paul could speak of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And I think that would challenge us as to where our affections are in relation to the love of the Saviour who gave himself for each and every one of us. The Lord wants our love. He wants a response. He's given himself. He couldn't give anything greater, and it's not that he's given everything that he has, but he's given himself. And the Lord would look for a response of affection from us. It's more than the fact that he's met us in our sins and forgiven us, as we were talking about in Psalm 32. That's assumed to be settled. The thought here is that there's not now a working upon our conscience with regard to our sins, and the settled conscience that we have that our sins are forgiven. But it's a work upon our hearts that would draw from us affection for himself. And I would say this, although we're not going to touch, but we're just hinting of what follows in the remainder of the song. The Lord will deal with us in love and in grace in order that he might warm our hearts to him and draw out from us the love that he wants. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. Wine would speak of earthly joy. In Jotham's parable, in Judges 9, it's that that cheers God and man. But that's only a picture. That's only a type. This is love that's deeper and more intense and can bring about a joy that is nothing that's natural can match. Thy love is better than wine. I would contrast it with what he has to say of her love. In chapter 4 and verse 10, he says, How much better is thy love than wine? Much better. Strange, isn't it? His love for us. Who can measure it? Who can fathom its immensity and the wonder of it? And we have to confess that in that light our love is so small and perhaps at times questionable. And yet that small love that we, through the activities of the Spirit in our lives, he appreciates it and would say, Much better. When maybe we can only say, Better. Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth. His name is brought in here. We gather to the Lord's name or at least we profess to do so. I think sometimes words come easy and we take words upon our lips and scriptures we use and by maybe the depth of the meaning we haven't grasped in reality. The name is a drawing name. It's a gathering name in Matthew 18 and verse 20. There's an attraction in that name. It says where two or three are gathered. That's passive. We don't gather ourselves. But that name draws in the power of the Spirit to the name of Christ. Because that name would be fragrant of himself and who he is. Thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. One has written, one has said in ministry, in a day gone past that's been recorded in written form, that's the name that he had that he had to make good in dying. He had to die to make that name good. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, the Saviour. To be our Saviour he had to die. And there's a sense in which that name we revere because we're thinking of one who died for us. One who expressed his love in such a way for us. That name of Jesus is precious when we think of how he's exhibited who he is as the Saviour in what he had to go through in order that we might be forgiven and that we might be his. I think of his name, God with us, we're still in Matthew's Gospel there in chapter 1. Emmanuel, God with us. There's that that's in him that's fragrant of what is divine. There's a sense when the Lord Jesus Christ is among us when we're gathered to his name of the divine presence. We're in the holy presence of God. And therefore there must be a sense with spiritual perception of the Saviour of that name. His name, and this is not a title, you know, in John's Gospel we're told of the name of the only begotten Son of God. That tells us who he is. This brings before him, he brings us before himself personally by that name, the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God. This brings us into the depths of the mystery of his being as to who he is in the essence of his person. His name in the revelation, the Word of God. Not only is there an expression of God in the way that he speaks, but there's authority there too as he comes there to take up his kingdom rights of course in Revelation chapter 19. If we think upon his name, what is coming out in that name is all the glories and the personal excellences of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not occupation with what he's done for us merely, but the occupation with who he is, the Son of God, the one in whom the Father finds his delight, the one whose mode of existence, if I can put it that way, is essence in the bosom of the Father to give a narration of divine truth and to unfold to us the Father. Therefore do the virgins love thee. I take it that in this love there must be purity in our souls to enjoy it, nothing that would hinder or would bring in a sense of distance between ourselves and our Saviour. That sweet communion that we can have with him must surely be upon the fact that we're sanctified, we're cleansed, not only justified from our sins that matter of our guilt is settled, but we're sanctified in the sense that the defilement of our sins is gone in order that we might be on intimate terms with the one who is holy and true. Therefore do the virgins love thee. Draw me. We will run after thee. Notice that, draw me. We will run after thee. My mind goes to John chapter 1 verse 36. You have the Baptist there and he's looking upon Jesus as he walks. There's a determined observation by John the Baptist as he watches the Saviour. That's good. It's good to watch the Saviour in his movements in the Gospels and to see that here is someone who's unique and glorious in his movements. It's not now behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. That was verse 29. There we have the person and his work, but his work is now done but the person remains. And on the other side of death we might say is that glorious person. Still the same as ever he was, but he's entered now into a new condition of things. And as we behold him looking upon the Lord's glory to use the expression that we have in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. The Baptist just says, behold the Lamb of God, probably words hardly uttered audibly, but there's two disciples of his and they hear it. We will run after thee. There's one that watches the Saviour, but his attitude is such, his impressions are such that there are those who hear it and they want for Christ through it. We will run after thee. And they want to know where he dwells. Where dwellest thou? He says, come and see. The King hath brought me into his chambers. Of course we know in John chapter 1 he's the one that dwells in the bosom of the Father. And there in John's gospel we have an unfolding, a deeper thing than we have in the song really, of the Son with the Father. And the Father's name is declared. And we're brought into a sphere where the Father's love is enjoyed. The Lord goes into the Father's house, he says in John chapter 14. And he's opened up by going into that place himself, a place for us. That's more than going to heaven when we die. That's an enjoyment of a home where a Father's love is known. Where dwellest thou? The King hath brought me into his chambers. I want to say that this is being brought onto his side of things. We're getting some deep things here right at the commencement of the song in order that we can see the odd point to be reached. And that we might be there willing maybe to go through the exercises through which the Lord might take us to bring us into the enjoyment of these things. Not that we might simply enjoy them, but that he might have us with him to enjoy these things. He brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We can rejoice in our Saviour because our sins are forgiven. We can rejoice in him because he secured for us a place in heaven. We can rejoice in what the Saviour gives, and we can rejoice in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. But it says here, we will be glad and rejoice in thee. This is joy in himself. This is having an object brought before us, if I can use that expression reverently, because the Lord is more than an object, but I think you'll understand why we have to say so. One before us who captivates our souls, who really makes a mark upon our hearts and who wins us for himself not simply because of what he's done for us, that that was necessary in order that we might be before him, but in order that he might unfold to us something of the glories of his person for the satisfaction and for the food of our own souls. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. In Habakkuk, things have fallen into a bad state in Israel. Everything has gone, and yet you come to the end of the third chapter and he says, I will rejoice in the Lord, the God of my salvation. Apostle Paul takes it up in prison at Philippi. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Bad circumstances there may be, and that's never easy to adapt to or to get through. But even so, the Lord is the same, and sometimes maybe these things are brought to bear upon us in order that we might get a better knowledge of him, a greater appreciation of him, so that we can be glad and rejoice in him. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. The song now turns from what he is to her, and our desires for her have been opened up and developed and our affections not only have been awakened but developed and reawakened and rekindled, and so that this sense of the enjoyments of him in his circle of things and may I make this point, it's not the Lord coming into our circumstances, though he does that, but it's him bringing her into his circle for the enjoyment of his things. In Revelation chapter 3 the Lord says, and it's very indicative really of the present time in which we now live, the Laodicean lukewarmness, the Lord says, behold I stand at the door and knock. It's outside in so many areas of our lives. Outside of church life might be plenty going on. Our own lives, we may be doing things which are done in Christian service in a sense, but we're getting along with it fine, and somehow we haven't noticed the Lord's not with us. But he says, as if he's looking for some love from somewhere, if any man hear my voice, if anyone, is there a one? The Lord is seen. And then he says, I will come into him, I'm sought with him. That's the Lord coming into our circumstances, taking an interest in us. Are we up to things that we could bring the Lord in? Are there things maybe in our lives that we would want the Lord to come into and to develop those things with us? That we might have his help, but more than that, that we might have his presence with us in those things. But there's more to it than that, because he then goes on to say, and he with me. The Lord takes over. When he comes in he always has the pre-eminence. And I think he always moves in a way that turns it all round to himself, because he has the right and he would desire to then share with us his great things. But now she turns to speak of herself, I am black, but calmly are you daughters of Jerusalem of the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon. You know, we sometimes think of ourselves as unworthy sinners, and quite rightly. But that's not the only thing that can be said of us. Sometimes said that we're sinners saved by grace, and that's a wonderful thing. And it's certainly true, but it's not the only thing that can be said of us. She has this view of herself which I think under a divine movement in her soul has brought her to recognise the state of what she may be naturally. My thoughts go to Romans 7, the deep exercise of soul that has gone through. I know that in me, that is in my flesh, good does not dwell. It's absent there. But that's not the end of that epistle. Because we come into Romans chapter 8, and we find that we're set up rightly before God in Christ, and that there is the power, in the power of the spirit to bring out that which is of Christ, in the believer's life. And so there is added but calmly. Someone has suggested that she says I am black, but he interrupts and says but calmly. You see, there is a new creation. Anyone in Christ new creation. We're created anew. We're reading the epistle to the Ephesians. And there's that divine work that's done in the soul by the power of the spirit as our eyes are directed to Christ. And there's a moral correspondence that comes in then between Christ and those who are his. That's why he can say such things thou art fair, my love. Thou art fair. Thou art dove's eyes. There are things that he sees in her that are a product of his own working in the soul that will bring out features that match him. Like Eve that's brought to Adam. There's the lesson of Adam looking at the animals and nothing there that would be suitable for him. Obviously not, we might say. But we need to be taught these things. That if we're suitable to Christ, then we've got to be brought out from what Christ has done at the cross. And we've got to be formed in moral correspondence to him as the apostle Paul writes to the Galatians who have been diverted from what was truly Christianity to go back to an old system of things that have been terminated in this death at the cross. And that the apostle would prevail again until Christ be formed in them. And so there is in her moral beauties, but they're not there from natural activity. They're there as the fruit of divine working in the soul. Deep exercise through which we have to be taken in order that features of Christ might be seen in us. If we're the bride of Christ in eternity then there must be that which is suitable and answers to him just like Eve had to answer to Adam. As the tense of Kira. Understand that black skins were put over those tents. But in contrast as the curtains of Solomon and all the materials in the tabernacle. They speak of Christ and the perfections of his person. But there's that in her which is immoral correspondence. Just on verse six. The thought here is of tending to things of others and not attending to our own things. Sadly it's something we're very good at. We're very good at pointing out defects in others. I think when we look around and there is much defects amongst us. But I think very often we've got to recognize that there are things in ourselves that have to be judged. And so she says here that while she'd been tending to the vineyards of others her own vineyard she'd not kept. But moving very quickly to verses seven and eight. The thought has been of the king and the love that the king desires from her as his consort in his administration. The thought now turns to him as a shepherd. It's the same person There's so many attributes that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and there's so many ways in which he's viewed. But the wonder of it all is that he meets us in whatever circumstance we find ourselves. He brings himself in a way that suits our need. And so there's a need for leading. There's a need for feeding. And she recognizes that. And so turning to another thought now, which is probably more apparent in a way in David than it ever was in Solomon. She wants to know where he feeds, where he makes the flock to rest at noon. The heat of the day would probably complain about the cold weather at the moment. We perhaps don't appreciate what it would like to be in a hot arid place. There we're going to need the sense of shelter from the heat of the noonday sun. There we're going to need the refreshment and the sustenance. It's touched a little in the next chapter. The apple tree among the trees of the wood. The shelter that's provided by the foliage of the tree. The fruit, the sustenance, the sweetness of it, that will maintain us despite the heat that blows over us in our lives. But why should I be as one that turns aside by the flocks of thy companions? There's his flock that's mentioned in the next chapter. Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. One flock. My mind goes very quickly to John chapter ten. One flock, one shepherd. We are set in a sense to hold these things and sometimes we try to hold things together ourselves. That will always be an ending failure. There always has to be a drawing to the good shepherd, to the great shepherd, to the chief shepherd. He is the one who will maintain and who will feed us and will keep us and it is his hand that holds us and holds us for good. For why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions? Peter was encouraged to feed the flock of Christ ten to his lambs. But he could never take the place of Christ. And as we profess together to the Lord's name, as we seek to act on the truth of the oneness of his people at the present time, despite the scattering, there has to be really a due recognition of the rights of Christ. There has to be a due sense as to the preeminence that he has. That everything is secured in his hand and we have to entrust ourselves to him. Which touch now just very quickly on verses nine and ten. The rest we leave but we can continue privately on our meditations upon the rest of this. He turns to her, a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Sometimes we speak of the church militant. Being active for Christ, his interests, our object, our pursuit. The cheeks comely with rolls of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. Proverbs chapter one and verse nine. We have there, brought before us about the instruction of a father and the law of a mother. We have the instruction of the father about his son in John's gospel and in other scriptures too. We have the law of a mother. Not the earth in Jerusalem, in Galatians, but that which is from above, that system of grace. And that would form us. The apostle Paul speaks of Christ formed in you, but he also speaks about God revealing his son in me. And there's the instruction of the father that would bring out a correspondence in a spiritual way in the believers. And these borders of gold and studs of silver would suggest that the gold would speak of divine righteousness. The studs of silver would speak upon the ground on which that can be subjected to us. And that is on the ground of redemption. Just being justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. In Romans and chapter three. I've come just to the end to say in this settled condition of things, and if we've enjoyed it, we will not want it to be disturbed. His left hand under my head, his support, his right hand embracing us, an intimacy and an earness. It's what the Lord would want from us. It's what he wants in response to his love. And he would challenge us in this day, when perhaps so many things are called, the atmosphere of lukewarmness that abounds on every hand and side. The Lord would call again, he would make the knock, and he would desire his voice to be heard. And he would want some response to his love. He would want us quietly in his presence, so that he can open up to us something of the glories of his person to satisfy us. But the response toward him, that will be to the satisfaction of his heart. We've touched a little on some of the verses, some we've had to skip for the sake of time. But they would say that there are exercises through which the Lord is taking us in order to bring these things about for his own glory, for his own pleasure and for his own joy. But that too, that he might be that object wonderful in the glory of his own person that will bring real satisfaction to our souls. So that we're not like the sea with the rivers never filling it, and having to cry in despair and vanity of vanities all is vanity. But that we might be singing the song of songs of the Saviour and the wonders of Christ and the glories of his person. The only begotten of the Father's love. May the Lord bless his word. The hymn 364, please. 364. This was written by a man who had just been married and he wondered whether his love for his wife would rival that of his affection for Christ. I understand it's the background to the writings in this hymn that we're about to sing. I would say, just in that remark that that's a wonderful relationship and man would seek to spoil it at the present time. Things are taken up very lightly and very, in a frivolous way. But you know, what we take up in these ways, God holds us to them. And God I'm sure gives us grace and we need it. The enemy is very, very subtle. Have I an object, Lord, below that would divide my heart from thee, which would divide it even flaw in answer to thy constancy, or teach me quickly to return and cause my heart afresh to burn. 364. …