“I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh.” Song of Solomon 5:2
Dear Ones:
On this side of heaven, God has given to us all the “limited” revelation we need to believe in Christ. It is a revelation that is adapted very precisely to our limitations, and our capacity to even distort it. It is for this reason that we have the historical testimony of Scripture, written over a span of about fifteen hundred years. But also, we have the coming of Christ, the living Word, the declaration of Who God is, the very essence of God in the flesh. As John puts it: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn. 1:14) There is another “form” of revelation, and it has to do with the testimony of the Spirit to our hearts. It is the revelation of Christ TO THE HEART, not only to satisfy our intellectual pursuit of the truth in God, nor our emotional experience of His presence. The revelation goes deeper, to the depths of our souls, where Christ comes to “dwell” in our hearts by faith.
What a wonderful, incomparable God we have, that takes the simplest truth and illustrates how it applies to our lives, especially with regard to Christ’s relationship is with us. In the book of the Song of Solomon, we find revealed the relationship between the bride, and the bridegroom. In the progression of the book, we find that the concepts of love, leading to an understanding of true love, are revealed to us. In that progression, we find the bride enjoying the delights of her Beloved’s blessings. Her preoccupation with those blessings, her security and satisfaction, causes her to be reserved, and hesitant in her response to the “knock” of her Beloved at her door. She recognizes His voice, but does not immediately rise to give Him access. This illustration is used again in the book of the Revelation, in a letter to the church at Laodicea. But this time, it is used by the Lord Himself, speaking to His church, His beloved. In using the illustration, it is to be applied to the individual as well as the church, because He concludes His address to the church by adding: “…He that has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev. 3:22)
There are two things that we must grasp with respect to this matter of a “closed door,” and the Lord, whose “voice” is knocking at the door. The first is that the One who is knocking cannot be compared with anyone else, no mortal man, and no false or twisted concept of the Divine. He is unique, perfect love and life, our very Creator and Redeemer. There is NO one who loves like Him. The testimony of this is seen when, during his trial, prior to the crucifixion, He turns to look at Peter who had just denied Him three times. Just that look, not of condemnation and rejection, but of love, eternal love, was enough to break, and melt, Peter’s heart. There is NO one like Christ, who loves as He does. The second thing that we must understand, is that He desires access to our hearts, not just for us to know the intellectual truth of such a communion and relationship, but an experience of His power and life. As Christ is incomparable in every imaginable way, with regard to man, so His desire to have fellowship with us, is beyond our grasp to comprehend. The only right response to such a revelation of Christ to the individual heart, is to say “I open my heart to You, Lord Jesus.” And as the hymn-writer adds: “Come ALL Thou hast and art.”
Dear Father, open our eyes to see the beauty, and wonder, of Thyself as revealed to us in Christ. And enable us to grasp something of the blessing to hear the knocking at the door of our hearts and souls by the very voice, and words of Thy Son. Above all, give us grace to run quickly to the door and open it wide to receive “all that You have and are,” that we may have true, everlasting fellowship with Thyself. We praise and thank Thee, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad