Part 2, Chapter 3: The Things of Our Communion with the Holy Spirit
Of the way and manner whereby the saints hold communion with the Lord Christ, as to personal grace: the conjugal relation between Christ and the saints (Song of Solomon 2:16; Isaiah 54:5, etc.; Song of Solomon 3:11) opened. The way of communion in conjugal relation (Hosea 3:3; Song of Solomon 1:15): on the part of Christ; on the part of the saints.
The next thing that comes under consideration, is, the way whereby we hold communion with the Lord Christ, in respect of that personal grace whereof we have spoken. Now this the Scripture manifests to be by the way of a conjugal relation: he is married unto us, and we unto him; which spiritual relation is attended with suitable conjugal affections. And this gives us fellowship with him, as to his personal excellencies.
This the spouse expresses (Song of Solomon 2:16): "My beloved is mine, and I am his." He is mine, I possess him, I have interest in him, as my head, and my husband: and I am his, possessed of him, owned by him, given up unto him, and that as to my beloved in a conjugal relation.
So Isaiah 54:5: "Your maker is your husband (the Lord of hosts is his name) and your redeemer the holy one of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called." This is yielded as the reason, why the church shall not be ashamed nor confounded, in the midst of her troubles and trials, she is married unto her maker, and her redeemer is her husband. And Isaiah 61:10, setting out the mutual glory of Christ and his church in their walking together, he says it is, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels: such is their condition, because such is their relation: which he also further expresses (Isaiah 62:5), "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." As it is with such persons in the day of their espousals, in the day of the gladness of their hearts, so is it with Christ and his saints in this relation: he is a husband to them, providing that it may be with them, according to the state and condition whereinto he has taken them.
To this purpose we have his faithful engagement (Hosea 2:19-20): "I will (says he) betroth you unto me forever, yea I will betroth you unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies, I will even betroth you unto me in faithfulness." And it is the main design of the ministry of the gospel to prevail with men to give up themselves unto the Lord Christ, as he reveals his kindness in this engagement. Hence Paul tells the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 11:2) that he had espoused them unto one husband, that he might present them as a chaste virgin unto Christ. This he had prevailed upon them for, by the preaching of the gospel, that they should give up themselves as a virgin, unto him who had betrothed them to himself, as a husband.
And this is a relation wherein the Lord Jesus is exceedingly delighted; and invites others to behold him in this his glory. Song of Solomon 3:11: "Go forth (says he) O you daughters of Jerusalem, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him, in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart." He calls forth the daughters of Jerusalem, all sorts of professors to consider him in the condition of betrothing and espousing his church unto himself: moreover he tells them that they shall find on him two things eminently upon this account.
1. Honor; it is the day of his coronation, and his spouse is the crown, wherewith he is crowned. For as Christ is a diadem of beauty, and a crown of glory unto Zion (Isaiah 18:5), so Zion also is a diadem, and a crown unto him (Isaiah 62:3). Christ makes this relation with his saints to be his glory and his honor. 2. Delight: the day of his espousals, of taking poor sinful souls into his bosom, is the day of the gladness of his heart. John was but the friend of the bridegroom, that stood and heard his voice, when he was taking his bride unto himself, and he rejoiced greatly (John 3:29). How much more then must be the joy and gladness of the bridegroom himself, even that which is expressed (Zephaniah 3:14), "He rejoices with joy, he joys with singing."
It is the gladness of the heart of Christ, the joy of his soul, to take poor sinners into this relation with himself. He rejoiced in the thoughts of it from eternity (Proverbs 8:31). And always expresses the greatest willingness to undergo the hard task required thereunto (Psalm 40:7-8; Hebrews 10:7-8). Yea he was pained as a woman in travail, until he had accomplished it (Luke 12:50). Because he loved his church he gave himself for it (Ephesians 5:26), despising the shame, and enduring the cross (Hebrews 12:2), that he might enjoy his bride; that he might be for her, and she for him, and not for another (Hosea 3:3). This is his joy, when he is thus crowned by his mother. It is believers that are mother, and brother of this Solomon (Matthew 12:49-50). They crown him in the day of his espousals, giving themselves to him, and becoming his glory (2 Corinthians 8:23).
Thus he sets out his whole communion with his church under this allusion: and that most frequently. The time of his taking the church unto himself, is the day of his marriage, and the church is his bride, his wife (Revelation 19:7-8). The entertainment he makes for his saints, is a wedding supper (Matthew 22:3). The graces of his church, are the ornaments of his queen (Psalm 45:9-14). And the fellowship he has with his saints, is as that which those who are mutually beloved in a conjugal relation do hold (Song of Solomon 1). Hence Paul in describing these two, makes sudden and insensible transitions from one to the other (Ephesians 5:22-32), concluding the whole with an application unto Christ and the church.
It is now to be enquired in the next place, how it is that we hold communion with the person of Christ, in respect of conjugal relations and affections, and wherein this does consist. Now herein there are some things that are common unto Christ and the saints, and some things that are peculiar to each of them, as the nature of this relation does require. The whole may be reduced unto these two heads.
1. A mutual resignation of themselves one to the other. 2. Mutual consequential conjugal affections.
1. There is a mutual resignation or making over of their persons one to another. This is the first act of communion, as to the personal grace of Christ. Christ makes himself over to the soul to be his, as to all the love, care, and tenderness of a husband; and the soul gives up itself wholly unto the Lord Christ, to be his, as to all loving, tender obedience. And herein is the main of Christ's and the saints' espousals. This in the prophet is set out under a parable of himself and a harlot (Hosea 3:3). "You shall abide for me" (said he unto her) "you shall not be for another, and I will be for you." "Poor harlot," said the Lord Christ, "I have bought you unto myself with the price of my own blood, and now this is that which we will consent unto: I WILL BE FOR YOU, and YOU SHALL BE FOR ME, and not for another."
1. Christ gives himself to the soul with all his excellencies, righteousness, preciousness, graces, and eminencies, to be its savior, head, and husband, forever to dwell with it, in this holy relation. He looks upon the souls of his saints, likes them well, counts them fair, and beautiful, because he hath made them so. Song of Solomon 1:15: "Behold you are fair my companion, behold you are fair, you have dove's eyes." Let others think what they please, Christ redoubles it that the souls of his saints are very beautiful, even perfect through his comeliness which he puts upon them (Ezekiel 16:14). Behold you are fair, you are fair; particularly that their spiritual light is very excellent and glorious, like the eyes of a dove, tender, discerning, clear and shining. Therefore he adds that pathetical wish of the enjoyment of this his spouse: Song of Solomon 2:14, "O my dove" (said he) "that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me hear your voice, let me see your countenance, for sweet is your voice and your countenance is comely." Do not hide yourself as one that flies to the clefts of the rocks, be not dejected as one that hides herself behind the stairs, and is afraid to come forth to the company that inquires for her. Let not your spirit be cast down at the weakness of your supplications, let me yet hear your sighs and groans, your breathings and pantings to me, they are very sweet, very delightful: and your spiritual countenance, your appearance in heavenly things, is comely and delightful unto me. Neither doth he leave her thus, but Song of Solomon 4:8, presses her hard to a closer with him in this conjugal bond. "Come with me from Lebanon (my spouse) with me from Lebanon, look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, and the mountains of the leopards." You are in a wandering condition, (as the Israelites of old) among lions and leopards, sins and troubles; come from there unto me, and I will give you refreshment (Matthew 11:27). Upon this invitation the spouse boldly concludes (Song of Solomon 7:10) that the desire of Christ is towards her: that he does indeed love her, and aim at taking her unto this fellowship with himself. So in carrying on this union, Christ freely bestows himself upon the soul. Precious and excellent as he is, he becomes ours. He makes himself to be so, and with him, all his graces. Hence said the spouse, "My beloved is mine": in all that he is, he is mine. Because he is righteousness, he is the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6). Because he is the wisdom of God, and the power of God, he is made unto us wisdom, and so on (1 Corinthians 1:30). Thus the branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth is excellent, and comely to them that are escaped of Israel (Isaiah 4:2). This is the first thing on the part of Christ, the free donation and bestowing of himself upon us to be our Christ, our beloved, as to all the ends and purposes of love, mercy, grace, and glory, whereunto in his mediation he is designed, in a marriage covenant, never to be broken. This is the sum of what is intended. The Lord Jesus Christ fitted and prepared by the accomplishment and furniture of his person as mediator, and the large purchase of grace and glory which he hath made, to be a husband to his saints, his church, tenders himself in the promises of the gospel to them in all his desirableness, convinces them of his goodwill towards them, and his all-sufficiency for a supply of their wants, and upon their consent to accept of him, which is all he requires or expects at their hands, he engages himself in a marriage covenant to be theirs forever.
2. On the part of the saints, it is their free, willing consent to receive, embrace, and submit unto the Lord Jesus, as their husband, Lord, and savior, to abide with him, subject their souls unto him; and to be ruled by him forever.
Now this in the soul, is either initial, or the solemn consent at the first entrance of union, or consequential, in renewed acts of consent all our days. I speak of it especially in this latter sense, wherein it is proper unto communion, not in the former, wherein it primarily intends union.
There are two things that complete this self-resignation of the soul.
First, the liking of Christ for his excellency, grace, and suitableness far above all other beloveds whatever, preferring him in the judgment and mind above them all. In Song of Solomon 5:9-10, the spouse, being earnestly pressed by professors at large to give her thoughts concerning the excellency of her beloved in comparison with other endearments, answers expressly that he is the chief among ten thousand, yea altogether lovely — infinitely beyond comparison with the choicest created good imaginable. The soul takes a view of all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — and sees it all to be vanity, that the world passes away and the lust thereof (1 John 2:16-17). It views also legal righteousness, blamelessness before men, uprightness of conversation, duties upon conviction, and concludes of all as Paul does in Philippians 3:8: doubtless I count all these things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. So also does the church (Hosea 14:3-4) reject all appearing assistances whatever — as goodly as Assyria, as promising as idols — that God alone may be preferred. And this is the soul's entrance into conjugal communion with Jesus Christ as to personal grace: the constant preferring him above all pretenders to its affections, counting all loss and dung in comparison of him. Beloved peace, beloved natural relations, beloved wisdom and learning, beloved righteousness, beloved duties — all loss compared with Christ.
Second, the accepting of Christ by the will as its only husband, lord, and savior. This is called receiving of Christ (John 1:12), and is intended not only for that solemn act whereby at first entrance we close with him, but also for the constant frame of the soul in abiding with him and owning of him as such. When the soul consents to take Christ on his own terms, to be saved in his own way, and says: Lord, I would have had you and salvation in my way, that it might have been partly of my own endeavors and as it were by the works of the law; I am now willing to receive you and to be saved in your way, merely by grace. And though I would have walked according to my own mind, yet now I wholly give up myself to be ruled by your Spirit; for in you have I righteousness and strength, in you am I justified and do glory. Then does it carry on communion with Christ as to the grace of his person — this is to receive the Lord Jesus in his comeliness and eminency. Let believers exercise their hearts abundantly unto this: be frequent in thoughts of faith, comparing him with other beloveds — sin, world, legal righteousness — and preferring him before them, counting them all loss and dung in comparison of him. Let our hearts give up themselves unto him; let us tell him that we will be for him and not for another; he delights to hear it, and we shall not fail in the end of sweet refreshment with him.
Of the way and manner whereby the saints hold communion with the Lord Christ as to personal grace. The conjugal relation between Christ and the saints — Song of Solomon 2:16; Isaiah 54:5; Song of Solomon 3:11 — opened. The way of communion in this conjugal relation (Hosea 3:3; Song of Solomon 1:15): on the part of Christ; on the part of the saints.
We now come to consider the way in which we hold communion with the Lord Christ with respect to that personal grace we have spoken of. Scripture reveals this to be through a conjugal relationship — He is married to us, and we to Him. This spiritual union is attended by corresponding conjugal affections. And it is through this that we have fellowship with Him in terms of His personal excellencies.
The bride expresses this in Song of Solomon 2:16: 'My beloved is mine, and I am his.' He is mine — I possess Him, I have a claim on Him as my head and my husband. And I am His — possessed by Him, owned by Him, given over to Him — and all this as to my beloved in a conjugal relationship.
So also Isaiah 54:5: 'Your Maker is your husband — the Lord of hosts is His name — and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He will be called the God of the whole earth.' This is given as the reason why the church need not be ashamed or confounded in the midst of her troubles and trials — she is married to her Maker, and her Redeemer is her husband. Isaiah 61:10 sets out the mutual glory of Christ and His church as they walk together — like a bridegroom adorning himself with a garland, and a bride adorning herself with her jewels. Such is their condition because such is their relationship. He further expresses it in Isaiah 62:5: 'As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.' As it is with such persons on the day of their betrothal, in the day of the gladness of their hearts — so it is with Christ and His saints in this relationship. He is a husband to them, providing everything that befits the station and condition into which He has taken them.
To this end we have His faithful pledge in Hosea 2:19-20: 'I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.' The main purpose of the ministry of the Gospel is to prevail on people to give themselves to the Lord Christ as He reveals His kindness in this pledge. So Paul tells the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 11:2) that he had betrothed them to one husband, to present them as a pure virgin to Christ. Through his preaching of the Gospel he had persuaded them to give themselves up as a bride to the One who had betrothed Himself to them as a husband.
The Lord Jesus takes great delight in this relationship and invites others to behold Him in this glory of His. Song of Solomon 3:11: 'Go out, O daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his wedding, and on the day of his gladness of heart.' He calls out to the daughters of Jerusalem — all kinds of professing believers — to consider Him in the act of betrothing and espousing His church to Himself. He also tells them that they will find two things in Him that stand out prominently on this account.
1. Honor: it is the day of His coronation, and His bride is the crown with which He is crowned. For as Christ is a beautiful crown and a glorious diadem to Zion (Isaiah 28:5), so Zion also is a diadem and a crown to Him (Isaiah 62:3). Christ makes this relationship with His saints His glory and His honor. 2. Delight: the day of His betrothal — the day He takes poor sinful souls into His embrace — is the day of the gladness of His heart. John was merely the friend of the bridegroom, who stood and listened for the bridegroom's voice when he was taking his bride to himself, and rejoiced greatly at it (John 3:29). How much more then must be the joy and gladness of the bridegroom Himself — even the joy expressed in Zephaniah 3:17: 'He will exult over you with joy; He will be quiet in His love; He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.'
It is the gladness of the heart of Christ, the joy of His soul, to take poor sinners into this relationship with Himself. He rejoiced in the thought of it from eternity (Proverbs 8:31). And He always showed the greatest willingness to undergo the hard task it required (Psalm 40:7-8; Hebrews 10:7-8). Indeed He was in anguish, like a woman in labor, until He had accomplished it (Luke 12:50). Because He loved His church He gave Himself for her (Ephesians 5:26), despising the shame and enduring the cross (Hebrews 12:2), that He might enjoy His bride — that He might be for her, and she for Him, and not for another (Hosea 3:3). This is His joy — when He is thus crowned by His mother. It is believers who are the mother and brothers of this Solomon (Matthew 12:49-50). They crown Him on the day of His betrothal by giving themselves to Him and becoming His glory (2 Corinthians 8:23).
So He describes His entire communion with His church through this image — and does so with great frequency. The time of His taking the church to Himself is the day of His wedding, and the church is His bride, His wife (Revelation 19:7-8). The reception He prepares for His saints is a wedding banquet (Matthew 22:3). The graces of His church are the adornments of His queen (Psalm 45:9-14). And the fellowship He has with His saints is like that held between those who are mutually beloved in marriage (Song of Solomon 1). So Paul, in describing husband and wife, makes unconscious transitions back and forth between the two subjects (Ephesians 5:22-32), concluding the whole with an application to Christ and the church.
We now come to ask: how is it that we hold communion with the person of Christ in respect of conjugal affections, and what does it consist of? There are some things common to Christ and the saints in this, and some things peculiar to each of them, as the nature of this relationship requires. The whole can be summarized under two headings.
1. A mutual giving of themselves to one another. 2. Mutual conjugal affections that follow from that.
1. There is a mutual giving of themselves to one another. This is the first act of communion as to the personal grace of Christ. Christ gives Himself to the soul to be its own, with all the love, care, and tenderness of a husband. The soul gives itself wholly to the Lord Christ to be His own, in loving and tender obedience. And this is at the heart of the betrothal between Christ and His saints. The prophet sets this out in a parable drawn from his own life — from his relationship with a harlot (Hosea 3:3): 'You shall stay with me for many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.' 'Poor harlot,' says the Lord Christ, 'I have bought you for Myself with the price of My own blood, and now this is what we will agree to: I WILL BE FOR YOU, and YOU SHALL BE FOR ME, and not for another.'
1. Christ gives Himself to the soul with all His excellencies, righteousness, preciousness, graces, and glory — to be its Savior, head, and husband, to dwell with it in this holy relationship forever. He looks upon the souls of His saints, finds them lovely, and calls them beautiful — because He has made them so. Song of Solomon 1:15: 'How beautiful you are, my darling, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves.' Whatever others may think, Christ declares and re-declares that the souls of His saints are very beautiful — perfect with the beauty He has put upon them (Ezekiel 16:14). 'How beautiful you are, how beautiful' — and particularly that their spiritual sight is excellent and glorious, like the eyes of a dove: tender, discerning, clear, and shining. He then adds a tender longing for the enjoyment of His bride: 'O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret place of the steep pathway, let me see your form, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your form is lovely' (Song of Solomon 2:14). Do not hide yourself as one who flies to the crevices of the rocks; do not be downcast as one who hides behind the stairs, afraid to come out to those looking for her. Do not be troubled about the weakness of your prayers; let me hear your sighs and groans, your breathings and yearnings toward Me — they are very sweet, very delightful. And your spiritual countenance — your appearance in heavenly things — is lovely and delightful to Me. Nor does He leave her here — in Song of Solomon 4:8 He presses her earnestly to a closer fellowship in this bond: 'Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon; journey down from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.' You are in a wandering condition — among lions and leopards, sins and troubles — come from there to Me, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:27). On the strength of this invitation, the bride boldly concludes in Song of Solomon 7:10 that His desire is toward her — that He does indeed love her and intends to bring her into this fellowship with Himself. So in carrying on this union, Christ freely gives Himself to the soul. Precious and excellent as He is, He becomes ours. He makes Himself to be so, and with Him all His graces. Hence the bride says, 'My beloved is mine' — in all that He is, He is mine. Because He is righteousness, He is the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6). Because He is the wisdom and power of God, He is made to us wisdom, and so on (1 Corinthians 1:30). So the Branch of the Lord is beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth is excellent and lovely to those who have escaped from Israel (Isaiah 4:2). This is the first thing on Christ's part: the free gift and offering of Himself to us, to be our Christ, our beloved, as to all the purposes of love, mercy, grace, and glory for which He is appointed as Mediator — in a marriage covenant never to be broken. This is the substance of the matter. The Lord Jesus Christ, fully equipped and prepared by the accomplishment of His person as Mediator and the vast purchase of grace and glory He has made, offers Himself as a husband to His saints and His church through the promises of the Gospel. He reveals His goodwill toward them and His all-sufficiency to supply their needs. Upon their consent to receive Him — which is all He requires or looks for from them — He commits Himself in a marriage covenant to be theirs forever.
2. On the part of the saints, it is their free and willing consent to receive, embrace, and submit to the Lord Jesus as their husband, Lord, and Savior — to remain with Him, to submit their souls to Him, and to be governed by Him forever.
This in the soul is either initial — the solemn consent given at the first moment of union — or ongoing, in renewed acts of consent throughout life. I am speaking especially of the latter, which is proper to communion, rather than the former, which primarily concerns union.
There are two things that together complete this self-surrender of the soul.
First, the preferring of Christ for His excellence, grace, and perfect suitableness — above all other loves whatever — choosing Him in mind and judgment above all of them. In Song of Solomon 5:9-10, the bride, pressed by ordinary professors to give her assessment of her beloved's excellence in comparison to everything else, answers plainly that He is outstanding among ten thousand — indeed altogether lovely — infinitely beyond comparison with the finest created good imaginable. The soul looks at everything in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life — and sees it all as vanity, as something that is passing away (1 John 2:16-17). It also weighs legal righteousness, moral uprightness before others, consistency of life, duty done out of conviction — and concludes of all of it as Paul does in Philippians 3:8: I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. So also the church in Hosea 14:3-4 rejects every apparent support — as great as Assyria, as promising as idols — so that God alone may hold first place. This is the soul's entrance into conjugal communion with Jesus Christ as to personal grace: the constant preferring of Him above all rivals for its affections, counting all things loss and refuse in comparison to Him. Beloved peace, beloved human relationships, beloved wisdom and learning, beloved righteousness, beloved duties — all loss compared with Christ.
Second, the accepting of Christ by the will as its only husband, Lord, and Savior. This is called receiving Christ (John 1:12) — it refers not only to that solemn act at the very beginning when we first embrace Him, but also to the ongoing posture of the soul in remaining with Him and owning Him as such throughout life. When the soul consents to take Christ on His own terms — to be saved in His own way — and says: Lord, I wanted You and salvation on my terms, so that it might be partly by my own effort and somewhat by the works of the law. Now I am willing to receive You and to be saved in Your way, simply by grace. And though I would have walked according to my own thinking, I now give myself completely over to be governed by Your Spirit. For in You I have both righteousness and strength; in You I am justified and I glory. At that point the soul carries on communion with Christ as to the grace of His person — this is what it means to receive the Lord Jesus in His beauty and excellence. Let believers exercise their hearts in this constantly: dwell often in thoughts of faith, comparing Him with other loves — sin, the world, legal righteousness — and preferring Him above all of them, counting everything else loss and refuse in comparison to Him. Let our hearts give themselves to Him; let us tell Him we will be for Him and not for another. He delights to hear it, and we will not fail in the end to find sweet refreshment with Him.
