Marriage Jointure
J.D. Davies Songs 2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feeds among the lilies. Marriage is a mutual identification of personal interests, therefore it fully represents the mystic union between Jesus and the believer. We may not have always the conscious sense of our Friend's nearness to us, still we can always say, "My Beloved is mine." For this is an established fact - a fact revealed - and this fact is ascertained by faith, and treasured in the memory, whether we experience it at the moment or not. If dark clouds hide the face of our Sun of Righteousness, we know still that he is affording us light and heat and life, and still we say, "My Beloved is mine." I. THE HEART'S CHOICE. The door has been opened to Christ, and he has been admitted to the innermost shrine. He has become the soul's Husband and King by sacred covenant. 1. This choice is an effect, not a cause. "We love him, because he first loved us." Said Jesus to his first disciples, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you." His light has shined into our minds. His spirit has given sensibility to our conscience. He has made us sensible of our need. He has restrained us from further rebellion. He caused us to walk in the King's highway. "By the grace of God I am what I am." 2. This choice of Christ is our supremest wisdom. To have made Jesus our soul's Portion is an act of pure wisdom. It is the only right thing to do. He has a right to the chief place, and it would be sacrilege to give our best love to another. Yet, alas! many do. There are men who make money, or social rank, or fame, or pleasure, the best beloved of their heart. The world is their beloved, or their children occupy the place which should be Christ's. We may sincerely congratulate ourselves if we can say, "Jesus is my Portion." 3. Christ has been chosen because of his excellence. Who, in heaven or on earth, can be compared for worth with Jesus? A person is always more precious than a thing. A man is "more precious than the gold of Ophir." And among all persons Jesus is superlatively precious. Who can compare with him for wisdom? Who has dominion over nature and over the lower world like the Son of God? Who can impart strength like him? Can any one convey life but Immanuel? Or who has such influence for us in heaven as our gracious Intercessor? "Infinite excellence is thine, Almighty King of grace." 4. Christ has been chosen by virtue of his love. Even if he did not possess so many excellences, we should have chosen him for his love. His condescension is wonderful His sweet compassion has captivated our souls. As soon as we realized his tender, strong affection for us, we felt that we must have his friendship. As the echo responds to the speaker's voice, our love responded to his love. Or as the flowers respond to the summer sun, so our hearts gave out the fragrance of their love, under the quickening influence of his grace. For his love is not a vapid sentiment. His love is an ever lasting force, ever active, beneficent in ten thousand ways. His practical love persevered with us, touched us in a hundred points, and finally melted our ingratitude. Love has made us subjects, servants, slaves. Such love, when known, is irresistible. II. THIS CHOICE INCLUDES PROPRIETORSHIP. "My Beloved is mine. As I say, This coat is mine," or "This land is mine," so I can say, "Christ is mine." No one can dispossess me. It is an inalienable possession. 1. Mark the nature of this possession. I do not possess it simply with my hands. It is not something outside me, from which I alone can derive advantage. It is a possession within me. It becomes part and parcel of my being. It enters into my very life. I am a totally different being, by virtue of this possession. Jesus is identified with me, and I with him. He is my Life, my Hope. "Christ liveth in me." We possess him, as the branch possesseth the root. 2. The extent of the possession. As the bride becomes by marriage participator of all the lands and estates and honours of the bridegroom, so is it with every believer. The righteousness of Christ is mine. All the excellences of Christ are mine. The wealth of Christ is mine. "I am joint heir" with him. He has chosen to share with me all that he has. His friends are my friends. His servants are my servants. His world is my world. His throne is my throne. "All things are ours, for we are Christ's." 3. The utility of this possession. Does it not bring me great and present advantages? Does it not make me rich indeed? "He is mine to bear all my burdens; mine to discharge all my debts; mine to answer all my accusers; mine to conquer all my foes." He is "mine in absence, mine in presence; mine through life, mine in death; mine in the judgment; mine at the marriage supper of the Lamb." I am secure and honoured and happy, because "Christ is mine." "With him I'm rich, though stripped of all beside; Without him poor, though all the world were mine." III. THIS CHOICE INCLUDES DEVOTEMENT. "I am his." As Jesus has given himself entirely and unreservedly to me, I have given myself wholly and without reserve to him. It is a real surrender. 1. The dignity of self-devotement. The man who devotes his whole self to his king or to his country does not degrade himself thereby. He rises in the scale of being; he rises in honour. Much more does the devoted servant of Jesus Christ rise to the dignity of true living. Better be prime minister of England than king in Dahomey. And nobler far is it to be a servant in Immanuel's kingdom than to boast of vain independence, and be in reality a vassal of Satan. To serve is noble, royal, Divine. Jesus is a King because he stooped to be a servant, and the only road to kingliness is hearty service. The heraldic motto of our Prince of Wales is, "I serve." Devotement to Jesus Christ is eternal honour. 2. The extent of self-devotement. It embraces our whole nature, our entire life. The claim of Christ is complete. There is no organ of our body, no faculty of mind, no moment of time, no particle of our wealth, which does not of right belong to him; therefore we can keep back nothing. We are "not our own." On the grounds of creation, sustenance, redemption, Jesus has a triple claim. And above all, he has our personal consent. By a sacred covenant, we have freely surrendered all we have to his kingly service. The consecration must be complete. 3. This devotement brings supreme satisfaction. There is no joy for the human soul like the joy of entire consecration. This is our proper place, and we cannot find our rest elsewhere. On our death bed, will the review of our life bring us satisfaction, unless that life has been spent, and wholly spent, in the service of our Redeemer? Can we dare to appropriate to ourselves all that belongs to Christ, if at the same time we do not give up all to him? As you cannot put pure water into a vessel that is already full of other things, so you cannot put Christ's treasures into a soul until it is emptied of self. To do my Master's will I must surrender all to him. To become like Christ I must be wholly consecrated to his kingdom. Then shall his joy be my joy. Then shall I discover the truth, and shall sing - "I'm in the noblest sense my own When most entirely thine." D. Parallel Verses KJV: My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. WEB: My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.