“While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the
smell thereof.”–Song of Solomon 1:12.
This passage may be read in several ways. Literally, when Christ
tabled among men, when he did eat and drink with them, being found
in fashion as a man, the loving spirit broke the alabaster box of
precious ointment on his head while the king was sitting at his table.
Three times did the Church thus anoint her Lord, once his head and
twice his feet, as if she remembered his threefold office, and the
threefold anointing which he had received of God the Father to
confirm and strengthen him. So she rendered him the threefold
anointing of her grateful love, breaking the alabaster box, and pouring
the precious ointment upon his head and upon his feet. Beloved, let us
imitate the example of those who have gone before. What! though we
cannot, as the weeping penitent, wash his feet with our tears, and wipe
them with the hairs of our head, like that gracious woman, we may
reck nothing, of fair adornments, or fond endowments, if we can but
serve his cause or honour his person. Let us be willing to “pour
contempt on all our pride,” and “nail our glory to his cross.” Have you
anything tonight that is dear to you? Resign it to him. Have you any
costly thing like an alabaster box hidden away? Give it to the King; he
is worthy, and when you have fellowship with him at his table, let your
gifts be brought forth. Offer unto the King thanksgiving, and pay your
vows unto the Most High.
But the King is gone from earth. He is seated at his table in heaven,
eating bread in the kingdom of God. Surrounded now not by publicans
and harlots, but by cherubim and seraphim, not by mocking crowds,
but by adoring hosts, the King sits at his table, and entertains the
glorious company of the faithful, the Church of the firstborn whose
names are written in heaven. He fought before he could rest. On earth
he struggled with his enemies, and it was not till he had triumphed
over all, that he sat down at the table on high. There sit, thou King of
kings, there sit until thy last enemy shall be made thy footstool. What
can we do, brethren, while Christ sits at the table above? These hands
cannot reach him; these eyes cannot see him; but our prayers, like
sweet perfume, set burning here on earth, can rise in smoke to the
place where the King sitteth at his table, and our spikenard can diffuse
a perfume even in heaven itself. Do you want to reach Christ? Your
prayers can do it. Would you now adore him; would you now set forth
your love? With mingled prayer and praise, like the offering of the
morning and the evening sacrifice, your incense can come up
acceptably before the Lord.
And, brethren, the day is coming when the King shall sit at this table
in royal state. Lo, he cometh! Lo, he cometh. Let the Church never
forget that. The first advent is her faith; the second advent is her hope.
The first advent with the cross lays the foundation; the second advent
with the crown brings forth the topstone. The former was ushered in
with sighs; the latter shall be hailed with shoutings of “Grace, grace
unto it.” And when the King, manifested and recognized in his
sovereignty over all lands, shall sit at his table with his Church, then,
in that blessed Millennium, the graces of Christians shall give forth
their odours of sweet savour.
We have thus read the text in three ways, and there is a volume in
each; but we turn over another page, for we want to read it in relation
to the spiritual presence of Christ as he doth now reveal himself to his
people. “When the King sitteth at his table”–that is, when we enjoy
the presence of Christ–”my spikenard giveth forth the smell thereof.”
Then our graces are in active exercise, and yield a perfume agreeable
to our own soul and acceptable before God.
In the train of reflection I shall now attempt to follow, my manner
must be hurried; and should it seem feeble, brethren, I cannot help it.
If you get fellowship with Christ, I care little for the merits of my
sermon, or the perils of your criticism. One thing alone I crave, “Let
him kiss us with the kisses of his mouth”; then shall my soul be well
content, and so will yours be also. The first observation we make shall
be this:–
I. EVERY BELIEVER HAS GRACE IN POSSESSION AT ALL TIMES.
The text implies that when the King is not present the spikenard yields
no smell, but the spikenard is there for all that. The spouse speaks of
her spikenard as though she had it, and only wanted to have the King
come and sit at the table to make its presence known and felt. Ah!
well, believer, there is grace in thy heart, if thou be a child of God,
when thou canst not see it thyself; when thy doubts have so covered up
all thy hopes, that thou sayest, “I am cast out from his presence”; yet
for all that, grace may be there. When the old oak has lost its last leaf
by the howling blasts of winter; when the sap is frozen up in the veins,
and you cannot, though you search to the uttermost bough, find so
much as the slightest sign of verdant existence, still even then the
substance is in the tree when it has lost its leaves. And so with every
believer, though his sap seems frozen, and his life almost dead, yet if
once planted, it is there; the eternal life is there when he cannot
discover it himself. Do you know–if not, I pray you may never know
experimentally–that there are many things that keep a Christian’s
spikenard from being poured out. Alas! there is our sin. Ah! shameful,
cruel sin! to rob my Master of his glory! But when we fall into sin, of
course, our graces become weak and yield no fragrance to God. And
too, there is our unbelief, which puts a heavy stone on all our graces,
and blows out the heat which was burning the frankincense, so that no
altar- smoke arises towards heaven. And often, it may be, it is our
bitterness of spirit, for when our mind is cast down we hang our harps
upon the willows, so that they give forth no sweet music unto God.
And, above all, if Christ be absent, if through neglect or by any other
means our fellowship with him is suspended, grace is there–but oh! it
cannot be seen. There is no comfort springing from it. But, beloved,
though we mention this to begin with, we rather choose to pass on and
observe that:–
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”