“My beloved spoke, and said to me: Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone.” Song of Solomon 2:10,11
The Apostle Paul, in speaking of the spiritual condition of men when they are born, and in which they remain, unless a singular event takes place, is spiritual death. Being totally incapable of saving oneself from sin and death, and additionally being incapable of knowing life eternal, man remains helplessly lost unless there is the intervention of basically one thing, the hearing of the voice of God, of Christ. It was G. Tersteegen who wrote in one of his great hymns: “God calling yet! I cannot stay; My heart I yield without delay: Vain world, farewell, from thee I part; The voice of God hath reached my heart.” What is it that brought Tersteegen to the awareness of his lost condition, a conviction that he was helpless to save himself, but also the conviction of the knowledge and grace of God available to turn from himself, and his sins, and to place all of His trust in Christ to save him? It was the voice of God, Christ speaking to him by the Spirit. This is true of everyone who comes to Christ and is saved, being born again of the Spirit. Christ is lifted up before the eyes of the sinner. There is that awareness of not only who He was, but what He has done. The Lord Jesus spoke of this when He said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will DRAW all peoples to Myself.” (Jn. 12:32) Though the Lord Jesus may be referring greatly to the day when “all creatures great and small” will be gathered before Him, He did speak of the Father’s work in salvation by declaring: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me DRAWS him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Jn. 6:44) If man is born in sin and is thus dead to God and all that He is, then he cannot live unless the voice of God reaches his heart and soul. This is because the word of God is one of Life, with the power and authority to awaken the soul death, calling him to arise, to go forth, knowing forgiveness of sins and the new life in Christ by the Spirit. Thus, one of the great blessings and privileges of every individual is to hear, and respond to the voice of God, of Christ by the Spirit. Some might say that God does not speak to every person, and yet, the Scriptures declare: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows forth His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.” (Ps. 19:1-3) But how does one believe unto salvation, as there must be a knowledge of the objective truth of God’s ways? The Apostle Paul answers our question by asking two more questions: “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14) He then answers his own questions: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (v.17) The Gospel of Christ is the POWER of God unto salvation, for by its truths faith comes to speak life into the dead, and hope into the helpless soul.
In the book of The Song Of Solomon, we have a picture of this most blessed condescension of God to call forth an individual’s heart and soul to know Him. The method of this Beloved is to speak to the heart, trusting to gain entrance by a receptive will. With the hearing of Christ’s spoken words, comes the power and the authority to obediently believe, to rise up, and follow. Life by the Spirit is received when one responds to His Beloved’s voice. The great purpose of Christ is communion by the Spirit.
Dear Father, Speak Life to us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.