Christ's Picture of His Church
J.D. Davies Songs 6:4-10 You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.… The value of an encomium depends on the qualification of the speaker. If a man is a master of eloquent phrases, and knows but little of the person he eulogizes, his encomium is little worth. If, on the other hand, the speaker is a skilful judge of character, and knows well the person, and speaks from pure motives, his estimate is priceless. Now, the best judge of the quality of a wife is her own husband, for no one else has such opportunities of knowing her virtues. If we regard the language in the text as the language of Christ, then he has all the qualities needful to be an accurate judge. As the Bridegroom, he has intimate acquaintance with his bride; and so righteous is he that he will neither exaggerate nor detract in his delineation. He will gauge with perfect accuracy her merit and her worth. Others may not acquiesce in his judgment. She herself may deem it a flattering portrait. But Jesus is an unerring Judge, and we accept with perfect confidence his description of his Church. I. THIS LANGUAGE PLAINLY CONVEYS THE IDEA OF SPIRITUAL BEAUTY. "Thou art beautiful, my love, as Tirzah; comely as Jerusalem." Tirzah was a city on the mountains of Samaria, that had a wide renown for beauty. The name meant "a delightful place." God has given to the human soul a faculty that discerns and appreciates what is beautiful. We detect what is beautiful in material nature, viz. symmetry of form and harmony of colour. We discern also what is beautiful in human character and in human conduct. All beauty springs from God, the Fount. He is perfect Beauty, as much as perfect Righteousness. The constituent elements of spiritual beauty are humility, holiness, and love. These, wisely blended, form a comely character. It is always unsafe, because an inducement to pride, to praise the bodily beauty of a maiden within her hearing. But one of the elements in spiritual beauty is lowliness; hence public praise is an advantage rather than a peril. For commendation is a spur to fresh effort, and whatever quickens our exertion in the culture of humility and holiness is a boon to be prized. Nor is this spiritual beauty evanescent. It is a permanent acquisition. It will develop and mature towards perfection, as the ages roll on. The sun will be quenched in darkness, the stars will disappear or else assume new forms; but the ransomed saints will be rising in excellence, and adding to their spiritual adornments, world without end. This high estate of beauty may not as yet be in esse, but it is in posse. It is not yet an actual possession. But it is in course of development, from the bud to the open flower. It is clearly seen in its perfectness by the prescient eye of our Immanuel. II. THIS LANGUAGE BETOKENS THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. "My dove, my undefiled, is one." In all God's works we find unity amid diversity. Throughout all material forces we discover system. Part is subordinated to part. Everything is linked to everything else. All forces work together for the well being of the whole. There is organic unity. The universe shows the presence of one Mastermind. God loves order. Confusion, conflict, anarchy, are an abomination to him. Yet variety is not displeasing to him. Very clearly Jesus has not ordained a system of rigid uniformity in his Church. That would not add to her beauty nor to her usefulness. But the heart of Jesus is set upon unity. In his great prayer to his Father, prior to his crucifixion, he pleaded, "That they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee." In opinions and beliefs it is next to impossible for the Church to be one. For God has created such diversities of taste and temper in men's minds, that for the time present truth presents itself under many aspects. Likely enough, this will continue until the human mind can more easily grasp the system of truth as a whole. Yet, while opinions and beliefs may vary, Christians can be one in feeling, one in love, one in loyalty to their King, one in aggressive service. This unity of life and love, amid diversities of belief and methods of service, will add to the Church's beauty and the Church's success. All the imagery which God has employed in Scripture to set forth his Church conveys this idea of unity. Is the Church a vine, springing out of Christ the Root? Then the manifold branches and twigs imply a united whole. Is a human body employed as an illustration? Then all the members and organs working in harmony imply unity. So, in our text, the bride is the representative of all saints, in all lands and in all ages. A dominant note of Christ's Church is unity. "There are many members, yet are they one body." III. THE LANGUAGE DENOTES FAME. "The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the women praised her." High and noble qualities of character are sure to command fame. Fame is a doubtful good. Counterfeit excellence, like tinselled brass, sometimes gains currency, and imposes on credulous people. Successful wickedness will, now and then, obtain a transient fame. Nevertheless, real and permanent honour belongs only to substantial goodness. Sooner or later the true Church will secure high renown. "God is in the midst of her." "The highest himself shall establish her." Her spiritual beauty and her beneficent influence shall win for her immortal praise. Beyond all human institutions, the Church will be found the bond of human society, the bulwark of freedom, the inspirer of intellectual life, the guardian of the nation's welfare. Fame is of secondary importance, yet fame must not be despised. For fame is power. Fame is large opportunity for doing good. Fame, as the result of generous and heroic service, is inevitable. Yet the Church will not keep her fame for herself. She will lay it at the feet of her Lord, to whom all belongs. For the present the Church may inherit the world's scorn rather than the world's fame; but when her hidden light and power shall break forth, "the Gentiles shall come to her light, and kings to the brightness of her rising." Resplendent fame is her sure reversion, "for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." IV. HERE IS FURTHER THE IDEA OF HOPE CREATING. "Who is this that looketh forth as the morning?" Morning is the dawn of hope to the benighted and the shipwrecked. Such are the evils that infest human society, that many thoughtful men have become pessimists. "Is life worth living?" many ask. If, after all the struggles and toils and endurances of this life, there is only extinction, or if the future is a dark enigma, then may not suicide be true wisdom? Hope, the backbone of all energy, is destroyed. The great questions are - Is there any desirable future for the human race on the earth? Is there a certain prospect of a better life for righteous souls after death? Now, there is no oracle, outside the Church, that can respond to these queries. The Church is the apostle of hope, the champion of humanity. The Church is a pledge of a better future for mankind. The Church proclaims a universal brotherhood. The Church is the foster mother of all the useful arts; the foster mother of progress, learning, social order, and peace. She changes deserts into gardens, and prisons into palaces. Where dark despair awhile reigned, she comes like the light of morning, and opens a new day. V. HERE IS THE IDEA OF USEFULNESS. "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun." As the luminaries of night and of day perform an office of unspeakable usefulness to mankind, so does the true Church. In some respects the Church most resembles the moon, Her light is borrowed, and hence is enfeebled. She passes oft through manifold phases. The world often obstructs her light. It is only now and then that her light is full-orbed and at its best. This shall not always be. Her light shall be soft and gentle, like the light of the moon; yet for clearness and brilliance she shall be like the sun. Who can measure the potent usefulness of light? How destitute of beauty and of life would our earth be without light! If tomorrow the sun should not rise, what consternation would prevail in every home of man] The wheels of commerce would stand still. Agriculture would be suspended. Food would speedily be exhausted. All artificial light would soon come to an end, and, before many months had sped, all animal and vegetable life would expire. Equally useful, yea, more beneficent still, is the Church in the moral world. Apart from the truth embodied in the Church, what would mankind know of God, or his relationship to men, or his purposes of redemption, or his provision for a higher home? Or what would men know of themselves, their spiritual capacities, their Divine origin, their possible developments, or the resources of Divine help open to them? If you could blot out from existence the Church of Christ, this world would speedily sink into darkness and ruin. Within a single generation of men it would be a chaos, a pandemonium. Usefulness is predicated. VI. A FURTHER IDEA IS DEVELOPMENT. "Who is this that looketh forth as the morning?" The morning is a promise and a pledge of perfect day. Light and warmth advance by regular stages until noon is reached. It is a picture of certain progress - advancement along an appointed way. Such is the destined life of the Church. At her birth she was feeble. Political arrogance at Jerusalem thought to crush out her life. But she steadily grew, passed safely through the stages of infancy and childhood, until now she appears a full-grown, ruddy maiden. Development is evidently God's order. He places trees at zero, and from the lowest point gives them opportunity to reach the highest. At the present hour the Church's development is an impressive fact. She grows in intelligence, in vigour, in power, in influence, in usefulness, day by day. At no period in her history was the Church of Christ so highly developed as she is today. Her progress is assured. VII. HERE IS ALSO THE IDEA OF CONQUEST AS THE RESULT OF CONFLICT. "Terrible as an army with banners." The metaphor imports a majesty of active power that moves onward with confident step to overthrow its foes. "Terrible as a bannered host." The Church on earth is a Church militant. Many regiments of believers make up one army. This consecrated host of God's elect is commissioned to fight against error, ignorance, superstition, vice, and all immorality. Until the day of complete triumph dawns, she must station her sentinels, discipline her recruits, boldly contend with sin, and lead men captives to the feet of Christ. In proportion to her internal holiness and unity and zeal she will be "terrible" to ungodly men. The main secret of her terribleness is the fact that Jehovah dwells in her midst. As the Canaanites of old feared the host of Israel because the rumour of their power had spread on every side, and the mystic presence of Jehovah was with them, so is it still. The more that evil men discern the tokens of God's presence in the Church, the more they tremble. On the banner of the Church, men see the pattern of the cross. This inspires courage in the army, but terror among opponents. And the old battlecry of the Crusaders is still the battlecry of the Church, "By this we conquer!" - D. Parallel Verses KJV: Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. WEB: You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.