24. The Ways and Dealings of the King of Kings to a Soul
24
The Ways and Dealings of the King of Kings to a Soul1
My beloved spake, and said unto me…
—Song of Solomon 2:10
Now the church relates the words of her Beloved calling upon her; see how many ways the Lord shows Himself to His church: (1) He speaks to her ear. (2) He runs and leaps before her eye. (3) He stands behind the wall. (4) He looks out at the window to her. (5) He ends as He began and speaks to her ear. This lets us see there are some happy times, wherein Christ presses Himself upon His children and fills ears, eyes, tongues, hands, hearts—fills all—with Christ. The soul of the child of God has certain feast days; it is with the child of God as it is with the Jordan [River] when all the banks are full. Sometimes the soul will be full of Christ, so that it is full from bank to brae.2 See how Christ fills the apostle in 1 John 1:1, 3: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;…that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.” Behold, the apostle is going round about Christ and filling himself with Christ, like hungry men at a feast. They hear Him, they see Him, they look upon Him, and eye Him, and even more, they handle Him with their hands. Oh these are glorious times when the child of God gets a great feast of Christ! And if He fills us here while we are [away] from home and are such narrow-hearted vessels that God must enlarge us, how full shall we be of God when we shall see Him as He is (Ps. 119:32)! “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness” (Ps. 63:5). “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved” (Song 5:1). When any of these glorious times come, we may not think that Christ will [go] away again. What should we then do? Even as Joseph did; he caused his brethren to leave a pledge to assure him that they would return again. So you must cause Jesus to leave His seal and His ring and some footsteps of His grace and take instruments in the hand of the Spirit, that He will return.
You see in the church a sweet and commendable virtue in these words. She sets down the very progress of all the ways and dealings of the King of Kings to her soul. In all His ways she sees what Christ is doing; when He is far off, she knows Him, she sees Him running and leaping, she sees Him behind the wall, looking out at the windows, and through the lattice. She hears Him hand speaking.3 She writes up His very words. We see the child of God marks the ebbings and the flowings, the comings and goings of the Spirit of God, and sees Christ in all His footsteps. When Christ comes at the dead hour of the night, she hears His knocks through her sleep and knows His voice. He can put in His hand and open the bar of her conscience to come in. She knows what He is doing. She feels the smell that drops from His fingertips. What breeds experience of Christ? A daily walking with Him. You know of the courtiers that are around the king’s person day and night; they can write a chronicle of the king’s life and can tell how many miles he rides in the day. So says David, “My eyes are ever towards the Lord.”
1. Communion Sermons, 321–22.
2. brae: the steep or sloping bank of a river
3. hand speaking: whispering