Section 633
II. Christ's carriage and behavior to her when in this state, as acknowledged by herself
1st, He called unto her, and that so loud, that she, though asleep, could hear, and own it to be his voice, saying, "It is the voice of my beloved." By the voice of Christ, we must understand the gospel, as preached by his ministering servants; by whom he often calls to his drowsy and sleepy saints to awake, as he does here. In what sense the gospel is the voice of Christ, and how it may be and is distinguished by believers from the voice of strangers, have been shown in Song of Solomon 2:8. I need only add here, that as it is a distinguishing character of believers to know Christ's voice; so they are capable of doing it, even when in a carnal and sleepy frame of soul: believers sometimes, under hearing the word, are very dull and heavy; there is but very little exercise of faith in them; yet: they can then distinguish the gospel from what is not so; though they are little affected with it, and receive but very little advantage by it: nay, it may be further observed, that she could say, it was the voice of her beloved; for though her faith and love were very low, yet they were not lost; but then let it be carefully remarked, that though she was capable of making such observations on what she heard, yet she was not thoroughly awaked hereby, but sleeps on still: thus, notwithstanding Christ's passionate expostulation with his disciples in the garden, saying, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" I say, notwithstanding this, they fall asleep again. Christ's word, without his power, will neither quicken dead sinners, nor awake sleepy saints; neither of these will be affected by it, unless he puts in the finger of his powerful and efficacious grace, "by the hole of the door," as he does in verse 4. Well, Christ calling her by his ministers, and not awaking her, he takes another method: and therefore,
2dly, Knocks, and calls again, saying, Open to me, etc. There is, 1. A knocking at sinners hearts at first conversion. The heart of an unconverted sinner is bolted and barred against Christ, with the strong bolts and bars of sin and unbelief: elect sinners, whilst in a state of nature, are stout-hearted, and far from righteousness; they are unwilling to submit to Christ and his righteousness, nor to open the doors of their hearts, and let the king of glory in: he stands and knocks there, by the preaching of the gospel; and, having the key of David in his hands, "he openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth;" with this key of almighty and efficacious grace, he openeth their hearts, as he did Lydia's; and, with the hammer of his word, breaks them in pieces, and causes all bolts and bars to fly before him; plucks down the strong holds which Satan had made; dispossesses the strong man of his armor, wherein he trusted, to keep his palace in peace and safety; and reduces all in obedience to himself; where entering with his glorious train of graces, and hawing dethroned sin, sets up grace to reign in his stead; and takes possession of the heart as his palace, from whence sin and Satan will never be able to eject him. Now in this mighty work of grace, in thus conquering and subduing a sinner's heart, we are not to suppose that here is a force upon the will; for though before they were unwilling, as well as unable to open and let him in, yet are now made willing in the day of his power, to submit unto him; they become voluntary subjects to him; and Christ meets with a kind reception and hearty welcome from them; so that they are as desirous of having him there, as he is of entering in, when this day of his power has passed upon them. But, 2. There is a knocking at churches, or at the hearts of particular believers; and of this we read in Revelation 3:20. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock," etc. the church of Lacodicea there appears to be in much the same case and condition as the church is here: the church here was asleep, though her heart was awake; and the church of Laodicea there was lukewarm, neither hot nor cold; which being highly displeasing to Christ, in order to bring her to a sense of her present condition, he comes and stands at the door, and knocks, as he does here. Now we are not to suppose that Christ is ever turned out of doors; that the key is turned upon him; or that he has not always a dwelling in his churches, or in the hearts of particular believers; for he is Christ in us, and in all believers, the hope of glory; he is there, and will continue there, till he has brought them to that glory which they are hoping for; though sometimes they are so shut up in their frames, that they can neither come forth themselves, in the enlargement of their desires and affections, and in the exercise of grace, nor let in Christ unto them; there is but very little communion between Christ and them; and though there is no distance or separation with respect to union, yet there is with regard to communion; there stands as it were a door, a wall, a middle wall of partition, between Christ and their souls; and oftentimes, which is still worse, they are secure, careless and unconcerned about it; therefore Christ, in order to bring them to a sense of themselves, and their present condition; that they may see their need of, and that desires may be stirred up in them, after communion with himself, comes and stands at the door, and knocks: which knocking I take to be, not by the ministry of the word, as before: but in a providential way, in a way of chastisement, by taking in his hand the rod of affliction or scourge of persecution, and lashing his children with them; with such severe raps and blows of persecution did he knock at the door of the church, in the times of Constantius, Valens and Julian, emperors of Rome, after she was fallen asleep, through the peace and prosperity which she enjoyed in the times of Constantine: the two former of which persecuted the orthodox ministers and others, in favor of the Arians; and the latter entirely apostatized from the Christian religion, and became a bitter enemy and cruel persecutor of it: and this is thought by some interpreters[3900], to be particularly intended here: and in this sense we are to understand knocking, in that parallel text (Revelation 3:20), as is manifest by comparing it with verse 19, "as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore, and repent; behold, I stand at the door and knock," etc. His knocking there, is no other than his rebukes and chastisements in a way of love, which were designed to bring her to a sense of herself, as appears from that exhortation, "be zealous therefore, and repent;" and that she might see her need of, and have her desires enlarged after communion with him, as is manifest from these words; "if any man open to me, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me;" which also is his end and design in knocking after this manner here; "it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me." There is an emphasis upon the word me! open to me, who am thy Lord, thy head, thy husband, and thy friend: and by opening to him; he means an enlarging of their affections and desires to him, which were now very cold and chill; and an exercise of their faith upon him, which was very weak; which they of themselves were no more capable to do, than a sinner is to open his heart to Christ at first conversion; this can only be done by him, who has the key of David, who openeth and no man shutteth, etc. and therefore we find this knocking was also ineffectual, until he exerted his mighty grace, as in verse 4, his saying to her, "open to me," is designed to convince her of her present condition, and what need she stood in of his presence and assistance.
3dly, Christ not only calls by the ministry of the word, and knocks in a providential way, by his rebukes and chastisements; but he also gives her good words, kind and endearing titles and characters: he calls to her, saying, "Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled." The three first of these titles and characters have been already considered and explained: the first title, my sister, is expressive of the near relation the church stands in to Christ, being "flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone," and has been spoken to on chapter 4:9, the second, "my love," shews the strong affection Christ had for her, she being the alone object of it, and has been opened on chapter 1:9, the third, "my dove," declares the church's harmlessness and simplicity, her cleanness, purity and chastity, as has been shewn on chapter 2:14, and the fourth, "my undefiled, or my perfect one[3901], as it is in the Hebrew text, is what we have not yet met with, and therefore will deserve a little more consideration. And here it must be observed, that all the descendants of Adam, by ordinary generation, are polluted and defiled, both in their nature and actions; all the parts of their bodies, and powers and faculties of their souls are so; their will and affections, understanding and judgment, mind and conscience, are all defiled; and indeed how can at otherwise be, for "who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one:" nay, believers themselves are not free from pollution; but complain of the uncleanness of their hearts and lips; and frankly acknowledge that they are all as an unclean thing, and that all their righteousnesses are as filthy rags: it may then seem strange, that Christ should call his church, and that in her present circumstances, his undefiled one; and so she is, not in herself; but as considered in him, believers are full of spots in themselves, but having in his spotless righteousness, he looks upon them as all fair, and as having no spot in them; they are the undefiled in the way, even whilst in the way to glory: and on this side the heavenly inheritance, which is incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth net away, reserved in the heavens far them. Or else, this character may regard her chastity to Christ; who, though she was guilty of many failings and infirmities, yet she had kept his bed undefiled; had not committed spiritual adultery, which is idolatry, but kept close to his ways and ordinances, as those we read of in Revelation 14:4, who, because they did not join with the whore of Rome in her abominations, are said not to be "defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are they which follow the lamb whithersoever he goeth." Now Christ calls his church by all those loving and endearing titles, 1. To shew that she stood in the same relation to him she ever did, and was loved by him with the same love she ever was; though sleepy and lazy, careless and negligent of her duty, and regardless of him, yet she is his sister, his love, his dove, his undefiled: notwithstanding all this, there was a change in the frame of her soul, and in her carriage and behavior towards him; but no alteration in her relation to him, nor in his love to her, which shews him indeed, "Jesus, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." 2. That all these knocks, raps, and chastisements, were all in love; he meant it for her good, and would have her take it so: we are too apt to think, when chastised and under God's afflicting hand, that it is in a way of wrath, and that he deals not with us as children; but when he knocks, and gives such endearing characters as these, it plainly shews that it is all in love. 3. To manifest how desirous he was of communion with her, and therefore takes all ways to obtain it; he calls and knocks, and calls again, and that in the most tender, moving language that can be. And this is not all, but,
4thly, He expostulates with her, and uses very pressing instances and powerful arguments to persuade her to open and let him in; "for my head," says he, "is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night:" here, because of the great love and affection which he has for his church, and the desire he has of enjoying communion with her; here, he is represented as coming in the night, season to pay her a visit, and standing knocking at her door, and waiting so long there for an answer, until his head was filled with dew, and his locks with the drops of the night: which may be understood, either, 1. Of the doctrines and blessings of grace, which Christ came full fraught with; these being compared to dew in scripture, see Deuteronomy 32:2, Hosea 14:6, and then the sense is, "Behold, my love, I starts at thy door knocking, and waiting to be admitted in; I pray thee, rise and open to me, for I am come filled with the comfortable and refreshing doctrines of the gospel, and wire all the spiritual blessings of the everlasting covenant of grace, which I know are needful and proper for thee:" So R. Sol. Jarchi, by dew, understands God's blessings for those who turn by repentance; though by drops of the night, he thinks are meant punishments tot those who forsake and despise him. Or else, 2. These words may intend the sufferings of Christ, which I rather incline to: Thus Nebuchadnezzar's body being wet with the dew of heaven, is expressive of the forlorn and miserable condition he was in, when being driven from men, he eat grass as oxen, and was exposed to all the inclemency of the heavens; so when Christ's head is here said to be filled with dew, and his locks with the drops of the night, it may mean his sufferings in Ins state of humiliation, who had no where to lay his head; whose constant practice it was some time before his death, in the day time, to teach in the temple, and in the night continued praying in the mount of Olives; and that night in which he was taken, appears to be a very cold one, from Peter's warming himself: so that there seems to be an agreement between those outward sufferings of his, and these represented in these words; though no doubt far greater than those intended here, which he underwent in his own person, on the account of his church; which may be compared to dew and drops of the night, (1.) Because of the multitude of them, the dew and drops of the night being many: Christ's sufferings were many and various; there are the sufferings of his body and of his soul, and many of both sorts; what tongue can express, what heart can conceive what he underwent, when he bore our sins and his Father's wrath? and because of the multitude of them, they are compared, not only to dew and drops of the night, but to floods (Psalm 69:1, 2). (2.) As the dew and drops of the night are uncomfortable and prejudicial to health, especially in those hot countries; so Christ's sufferings were uncomfortable to the human nature, as is manifest from what he said to his Father in the garden, and when upon the cross; and they would have been intolerable to any but himself. (3.) As the dew and drops of the night, though prejudicial to the health of persons, yet are very useful and fructifying to the truth; so the sufferings of Christ, though uncomfortable to the human nature, yet have produced many blessings of grace, and are the means of bringing many sons to glory (see John 12:24). Now the sum of the argument then is this; seeing I have suffered so much and so largely on this account, how canst thou be so cruel so hard-hearted, so base and disingenuous, as not to arise and let me in? so lovers sometimes represent their case in such circumstances as hardly dealt with[3902]; and know not which to call most hard and cruel, the door shut against them, or the lover within: and yet, notwithstanding such a moving and melting argument, what idle excuses does the church make to put Christ off, in the following words?