Of the fellowship which the saints have with Jesus Christ the Son of God — That they have such a fellowship proved, 1 Cor. i. 9; Rev. iii. 20; Cant. ii. 1–7 opened; also Prov. ix. 1–5.
Of that distinct communion which we have with the person of the Father we have treated in the foregoing chapters; we now proceed to the consideration of that which we have with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now the fellowship we have with the second person, is with him as Mediator, — in that office whereunto, by dispensation, he submitted himself for our sakes; being “made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons,” Gal. iv. 4, 5. And herein I shall do these two things:— I. Declare that we have such fellowship with the Son of God. II. Show wherein that fellowship or communion doth consist:—
I. For the first, I shall only produce some few places of Scripture to confirm it, that it is so:— 1 Cor. i. 9, “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is that whereunto all the saints are called, and wherein, by the faithfulness of God, they shall be preserved, even fellowship with Jesus Christ our Lord. We are called of God the Father, as the Father, in pursuit of his love, to communion with the Son, as our Lord.
Rev. iii. 20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”1 Certainly this is fellowship, or I know not what is. Christ will sup with believers: he refreshes himself with his own graces in them, by his Spirit bestowed on them. The Lord Christ is exceedingly delighted in tasting of the sweet fruits of the Spirit in the saints. Hence is that prayer of the spouse that she may have something for his entertainment when he comes to her, Cant. iv. 16, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my Beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” The souls of the saints are the garden of Jesus Christ, the good ground, Heb. vi. 7; — a garden for delight; he rejoices in them; “his delights are with the sons of men,” Prov. viii. 31; and he “rejoices over them,” Zeph. iii. 17; — and a garden for fruit, yea, pleasant fruit; so he describes it, Cant. iv. 12–14, “A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices.” Whatever is sweet and delicious for taste, whatever savoury and odoriferous, whatever is useful and medicinal, is in this garden. There is all manner of spiritual refreshments, of all kinds whatever, in the souls of the saints, for the Lord Jesus. On this account is the spouse so earnest in the prayer mentioned for an increase of these things, that her Beloved may sup with her, as he hath promised. “Awake, O north wind,” etc.; — “O that the breathings and workings of the Spirit of all grace might stir up all his gifts and graces in me, that the Lord Jesus, the beloved of my soul, may have meet and acceptable entertainment from me.” God complains of want of fruit in his vineyard, Isa. v. 2; Hos. x. 1. Want of good food for Christ’s entertainment is that the spouse feared, and labours to prevent. A barren heart is not fit to receive him. And the delight he takes in the fruit of the Spirit is unspeakable. This he expresses at large, Cant. v. 1, “I am come,” saith he; “I have eaten, I am refreshed.” He calls it פְּרִי מְגָדִים, “The fruit of his sweetnesses;” or most pleasant to him. Moreover, as Christ sups with his saints, so he hath promised they shall sup with him, to complete that fellowship they have with him. Christ provides for their entertainment in a most eminent manner. There are beasts killed, and wine is mingled, and a table furnished, Prov. ix. 2. He calls the spiritual dainties that he hath for them a “feast,” a “wedding,” 2“a feast of fat things, wine on the lees,” etc. The fatted calf is killed for their entertainment. Such is the communion, and such is the mutual entertainment of Christ and his saints in that communion.
Cant. ii. 1–7, “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste,” etc.
In the two first verses you have the description that Christ gives, first of himself, then of his church. Of himself, verse 1; that is, what he is to his spouse: “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.” The Lord3 Christ is, in the Scripture, compared to all things of eminency in the whole creation. He is in the heavens the sun, and the bright morning star: as the lion among the beasts, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Among the flowers of the field, here he is the rose and the lily. The two eminencies of flowers, sweetness of savour and beauty of colour, are divided between these. The rose for sweetness, and the lily for beauty (“Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these”), have the pre-eminence. Farther, he is “the rose of Sharon,” a fruitful plain, where the choicest herds were fed, 1 Chron. xxvii. 29; so eminent, that it is promised to the church that there shall be given unto her the 4excellency of Sharon, Isa. xxxv. 2. This fruitful place, doubtless, brought forth the most precious roses. Christ, in the savour of his love, and in his righteousness (which is as the garment wherein Jacob received his blessing, giving forth a smell as the smell of a pleasant field, Gen. xxvii. 27), is as this excellent rose, to draw and allure the hearts of his saints unto him. As God smelled a sweet savour from the blood of his atonement, Eph. v. 2; so from the graces wherewith for them he is anointed, his saints receive a refreshing, cherishing savour, Cant. i. 3. A sweet savour expresses that which is acceptable and delightful, Gen. viii. 21. He is also “the lily of the valleys;” that of all flowers is the most eminent in beauty, Matt. vi. 29. Most desirable is he, for the comeliness and perfection of his person; incomparably fairer than the children of men: of which afterward. He, then, being thus unto them (abundantly satiating all their spiritual senses) their refreshment, their ornament, their delight, their glory; in the next verse he tells us what they are to him: “As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.” That Christ and his church are likened unto and termed the same thing (as here the lily), is, as from their union by the indwelling of the same Spirit, so from that 5conformity and likeness that is between them, and whereunto the saints are appointed. Now she is a lily, very beautiful unto Christ; “as the lily among thorns:” — 1. By the way of eminency; as the lily excelleth the thorns, so do the saints all others whatever, in the eye of Christ. Let comparison be made, so will it be found to be. And, — 2. By the way of trial; the residue of the world being “pricking briers and grieving thorns to the house of Israel,” Ezek. xxviii. 24. “The best of them is as a brier, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge,” Mic. vii. 4. And thus are they among the daughters, — even the most eminent collections of the most improved professors, that are no more but so. There cannot be in any greater comparison, a greater exaltation of the excellency of any thing. So, then, is Christ to them indeed, verse 1; so are they in his esteem, and indeed, verse 2. How he is in their esteem and indeed, we have, verse 3.