December 24, 2012

• "my best friend was born in a manger" | letter 156 on assurance & fighting for joy

  

  "People say I'm strange, does it make me a stranger,
  my best friend was born in a manger?"
  
  ~ from "Jesus Freak," by Toby McKeehan & Mark Heimermann

  

  Song of Solomon 5:16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely.
  This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

  Matthew Henry on Song of Solomon 5:16:
  

  His mouth is most sweet; it is sweetness itself; it is sweetnesses (so the word is); it is pure essence, nay, it is the quintessence of all delights, 16. The words of his mouth are all sweet to a believer, sweet as milk to babes (to whom it is agreeable), as honey to those that are grown up (Ps. cxix. 103), to whom it is delicious. The kisses of his mouth, all the tokens of his love, have a transcendent sweetness in them, and are most delightful to those who have their spiritual senses exercised. To you that believe he is precious.

  She concludes with a full assurance both of faith and hope, and so gets the mastery of her trouble. (1.) Here is a full assurance of faith concerning the complete beauty of the Lord Jesus: "He is altogether lovely. Why should I stand to mention particulars, when throughout there is nothing amiss?" She is sensible she does him wrong in the particular descriptions of him, and comes far short of the dignity and merit of the subject, and therefore she breaks off with the general encomium: He is truly lovely, he is wholly so; there is nothing in him but what is amiable, and nothing amiable but what is in him. He is all desires; he has all in him that one can desire. And therefore all her desire is towards him, and she seeks him thus carefully and cannot rest contented in the want of him. Who can but love him who is so lovely? (2.) Here is a full assurance of hope concerning her own interest in him: "This is my beloved, and this is my friend; and therefore wonder not that I thus long after him." See with what a holy boldness she claims relation to him, and then with what a holy triumph she proclaims it. It is property that sweetens excellency. To see Christ, and not to see him as ours, would be rather a torture than a happiness; but to see one that is thus lovely, and to see him as ours, is a complete satisfaction. Here is a true believer, [1.] Giving an entire consent to Christ: "He is mine, my Lord and my God (John xx. 28), mine according to the tenour of the gospel-covenant, mine in all relations, bestowed upon me, to be all that to me that my poor soul stands in need of." [2.] Taking an entire complacency in Christ. It is spoken of here with an air of triumph: "This is he whom I have chosen, and to whom I have given up myself. None but Christ, none but Christ. This is he on whom my heart is, for he is my best-beloved; this is he in whom I trust, and from whom I expect all good, for this is my friend." Note, Those that make Christ their beloved shall have him their friend; he has been, is, and will be, a special friend to all believers. He loves those that love him; and those that have him their friend have reason to glory in him, and speak of him with delight. "Let others be governed by the love of the world, and seek their happiness in its friendship and favours, This is my beloved and this is my friend. Others may do as they please, but this is my soul's choice, my soul's rest, my life, my joy, my all; this is he whom I desire to live and die with."

  * * *

  HYMN 300
  in John Berridge's "Sion's Songs"
  (emphasis mine)

  Glory to God in the highest, and
  on earth peace, good-will towards men,
  Luke ii. 14.

  On the birth of Christ.

  An heavenly host triumphant bring
  The news of Jesus' birth,
  They sing and say the heavenly King
  Is come to dwell on earth:

  Is come to save a guilty race,
  By opening mercy's door;
  Is come to purchase stores of grace,
  To set up sinners poor.

  So God's good-will to man is told,
  And friendship is begun:
  What can the Father now withhold,
  Who freely gave his Son?

  Lift up a song to God most High,
  For love so free, so dear;
  Exalt his praise above the sky.
  And make his angels hear.

  And thou, most precious Prince of Peace
  Accept my homely heart,
  Thy name I love, thy feet I kiss,
  For pleasant sure thou art!

  A manger I have got for thee,
  It is my bosom, Lord;
  And if the Lord can dwell with me,
  It will be richly stor'd.

  Ephesians 3:14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16  That he would grant me, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17  That Christ may dwell in my heart by faith; that I, being rooted and grounded in love, 18  May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that I might be filled with all the fulness of God.

  20  Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I ask or think, according to the power that worketh in me, 21  Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (KJV, adapted)
  

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  Related: my other letters on assurance & fighting for joy

  Works found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Federico_Barocci_-_The_Nativity_-_WGA01293.jpg and Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexandre_Couder_-_Woman_Kneeling_in_Prayer_-_Walters_371369.jpg –– both {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

  HT for the text source of John Berridge's "Sion's Songs, or Hymns Composed for the Use of Them that Love and Follow the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity": http://archive.org/stream/wholeworksofrevj00berruoft/wholeworksofrevj00berruoft_djvu.txt

  Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  Lyrics are subject to US Copyright Laws and are the property of their respective authors, artists and labels. Commercial use prohibited.

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