Sweet Notes from
The Song of Songs (Part 10)
Chapter 3: 6-8
How fitting to the present situation are the words that we come to in this edition of our Sweet Notes from the Song of Songs. Solomon has sent for his young Bride and she is now being conveyed across the desert to the place where the wedding feast has been spread for them both. But the King has left nothing to chance in the safe conduct of his spouse, and so, he has set a strong bodyguard around the sedan couch in which she is travelling. "Behold the bed (couch) which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night."
So it is with the pilgrimage of Christ's Bride – His Church – as she travels through the wilderness of this world. Our Lord calls each one of us to be, no only in that Church, but to be taking our place around that Church as those whom He has called to defend His cause. Our verses from the Song in this edition tell us what manner of Christians we ought to be in the wilderness journeys of our Beloved's Bride.f
(i) We are to be valiant men; "Behold the bed which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel …" To whom else would Solomon have committed the protection of his young Bride than to those men who had proved themselves to be worthy warriors in the King's cause? And how the Church of Christ is crying out in these days in which we live for men, and women, and young people who will prove themselves to be Valiant for Truth. Remember how Mr Valiant for Truth in the Pilgrim's progress earned that title? He earned it by fighting diligently for "the Truth" – the truth that had called him, as he said himself, "out of Dark Land" – the truth that had saved him. He had fought for the gospel of God's free redeeming grace to sinners. And even though he "bore some of the marks of his valour upon him," still withall, he fought, as he tells us, "till my sword did cleave to my hand." This is the spirit that we need to see manifest in those who claim part and lot in the church of Christ's redeemed. When the enemy even threatens – (when he even observes!) – We need men who will drive that enemy away lest he harm Christ's purchased possession.
(ii) But, not only Valiant Men, but valiant men who were armed for every danger: "Behold the bed which is Solomon's; three score valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel; they all hold swords …" Valiant men they might have been, of the valiant of Israel, but valiant men without their swordswould have been of little comfort to Solomon, and of little consolation to his young spouse. And perhaps this is the source of our ills today; we are engaged in the Lord's battles without the Lord's weapons, and so we are fighting according to our own notions. Search the Scriptures, believer, and tell us where we might find Rome's gospel of works, or her Purgatory, or her Mary worship, or her Mass and her daily sacrifice of our blest redeemer in that Mass, or her Priesthood, or her confessionals. Oh, yes, examine her in the light of your own reasoning and no doubt, you may well find some grounds of peace with her. But, when we "all hold swords," the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God then, there is no peace, but war, and war with that chosen weapon of God's truth that we lay aside at our peril.
(iii) But further, these men could use their swords: "they all hold swords," it says, "Being expert in war" Their swords weren't carried as ornaments! Perhaps too many Christians today use their swords as ornaments and not as weapons! Perhaps we're fighting with the scabbard! Perhaps we need to learn what old D.L. Moody had to learn, to "throw away the scabbard and use the blade." Mary Queen of Scots thought it the most dangerous place in the world to be under the tongue of good John Knox – "I fear that man more than ten thousands of soldiers," she said. But then who would fear a feather-blow compared to a rapier thrust of the lightening of God's inspired truth?
What was finally said of John Bunyan's great character? "Thou has worthily behaved thyself," said Greatheart to him. I wonder, brethren, will future generations in Scotland – who will have to take their part in the protection of Christ's Bride in this world – have the same to say about us? "Thou has worthily behaved thyself." "Behold the bed which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel; they all hold swords, being expert in war; every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night."
