“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lillies.” Song of Solomon 6:3
What does it mean to belong to Christ, to be His, and Him belonging to me? It was Wade Robinson who in the conclusion of a hymn wrote: “His forever, only His: Who the Lord and me shall part? Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart. Heaven and earth may fade and flee, First-born light in gloom decline; But, while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.” What is Mr. Robinson seeking to convey to us of what it means, not only to know the truths of oneness, and belonging to Christ, but experience the blessings of such a reality?
To answer such a question, one must begin in the beginning with God, then proceed forward to the sacrifice and completed work of Christ on the cross. But the path does not stop there, for that is but the beginning of one’s history with Christ. There will follow the ministry of Christ by the Spirit, whereby the believer begins to see, to grasp something of the eternal Life to which he is called. And then there is the moment of “translation” when, at death, there is the fulfillment of the blessed purposes of God. Faith becomes sight, and the blessed Hope is realized in its fulness. We must begin therefore, “before the foundation of the world.” (1 Peter 1:20) If we are to grasp something of the magnitude, and permanency, of belonging to Christ, then we must begin with the One who IS the Beginning, “…before all life began.” He alone, by the Spirit, can teach us truths and realities that are beyond the scope of what we could ever “ask or think.” And this He will do, if we trust Him for it. His purpose is not only to lead us into green pastures, along still, quiet waters, but to unveil to us something of the love of God, which only He in wisdom’s measure can make us know and live by. It is this love which fully realizes His highest purpose, and the revelation of His glory.
Christ, in the beginning, revealed from the first pages of His book that He is perfect goodness, and that that goodness is powerful, even to the creation of a perfectly good world, and man upon it. In the context of that perfect goodness, Christ walked with man, communed with him, revealed to him and to his wife, in measured greatness, the wonder and beauty of the living, loving God. It was in the context of this goodness, that man began to know God, Christ. In that day, before the insidiousness of Satan’s sin permeated thought and reason, twisting and turning the truth of God into a lie, man was free in his spirit to know this abounding, abundant life of Christ, that God had created man to received, to know and to live by. The first element of knowing what it was to “belong” to Christ was the revelation to man’s heart of the access that God gave to him to receive such knowledge. Adam and Eve lived a full and blessed experience of communion with Christ because God had promised them this life, to BELONG to them, for as long as they chose to receive it. Belonging to Christ was first and foremost receiving all from Him, living absolutely dependent upon Him, free at all times from doubt and fear, shame and sorrow. To belong to Christ was to have free, and permanent access to faith-filled, and love dominated, fellowship with God. The great proof of belonging to God was Christ’s joy imparted and shared. Belonging to Christ was constant access to Him Scripture would call Wonderful.
The beginning of such knowledge of God’s ways, those paths of experiencing the love of Christ, would remain in place for as long as man would receive them, never doubting or disobeying. Christ would die on Calvary to secure for fallen man a permanent communion with God.
Dear Father, Teach us the truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.