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“His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.”

— Song of Solomon 5:13

Lo, the flowery month is come! March winds and April showers have done their work, and the earth is all bedecked with beauty. Come my soul, put on thine holiday attire and go forth to gather garlands of heavenly thoughts. Thou knowest whither to betake thyself, for to thee “the beds of spices” are well known, and thou hast so often smelt the perfume of “the sweet flowers,” that thou wilt go at once to thy well-beloved and find all loveliness, all joy in him. That cheek once so rudely smitten with a rod, oft bedewed with tears of sympathy and then defiled with spittle-that cheek as it smiles with mercy is as fragrant aromatic to my heart. Thou didst not hide thy face from shame and spitting, O Lord Jesus, and therefore I will find my dearest delight in praising thee. Those cheeks were furrowed by the plough of grief, and crimsoned with red lines of blood from thy thorn-crowned temples; such marks of love unbounded cannot but charm my soul far more than “pillars of perfume.” If I may not see the whole of his face I would behold his cheeks, for the least glimpse of him is exceedingly refreshing to my spiritual sense and yields a variety of delights. In Jesus I find not only fragrance, but a bed of spices; not one flower, but all manner of sweet flowers. He is to me my rose and my lily, my heart’s-ease and my cluster of camphire. When he is with me it is May all the year round, and my soul goes forth to wash her happy face in the morning-dew of his grace, and to solace herself with the singing of the birds of his promises. Precious Lord Jesus, let me in very deed know the blessedness which dwells in abiding, unbroken fellowship with thee. I am a poor worthless one, whose cheek thou hast deigned to kiss! O let me kiss thee in return with the kisses of my lips.

1Corinthians 15:57  “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

Jesus and his disciples are still in the upper room, Judas has gone to get the arresting mob, and Jesus is left with the 11 disciples. As Jesus is talking, he revealed to them that the cross is for His glory and the glory of God. This information was meant to comfort them while they witnessed those events. As he continues, he speaks to them with comfort and care. They were not ready for His departure, but His time had come. 

I am going to start with verse 33 because it goes with verses 36-38. When Peter speaks, he goes back to what Jesus said in verse 33 and wants to get more information about this. 

 “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come… Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.” (John 13:33,36)

As Jesus speaks, he calls them “little children,” a term of endearment. By it, He intended to communicate the tenderest of care for their well being like a parent feels for their children. We find, throughout the scriptures, these kinds of terms used for believers. We learn from these that God is our Father. ” For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:14-15). We are God’s children through adoption. We should feel security and closeness in that. We also understand that we are Babes in Christ. “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” (1Peter 2:2), Showing that we need guidance, as foolish children need to learn from their father. Lastly, we understand that it is used as an expression of tenderness and affection. (Gal 4:19, 1John 2:1,12, 28; 3:7,18; 4:4; 5:21) The writers of the New Testament used it to express this tenderness many times. They shared a closeness with their followers, just as Christ had with them. They also made a point of comforting those they would leave behind as they took their place in glory. 

Jesus told them that he would leave them, and they could not come with him. Six months prior, Jesus had told the Jew that they would not be able to follow him or find him. “Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?” (John 7:34-36) Jesus was telling them that he would go back to heaven, but they would not be able to follow because they had rejected him, and because of that rejection, they would never see him again. Those he spoke to were very confused about what he meant by that. Thinking he spoke of a long journey outside of their jurisdiction. 

Now, Jesus told his close friends that he would leave and they could not come with him. These guys had spent the last three and ½ years with Jesus every day. He had a job to do on the cross that they could not assist him in. What was it like for them for the three days leading to the resurrection? For men who looked for an earthly kingdom right now, they would have struggled with the identity of Christ as the Messiah. A question that the resurrection solved. Then he would be with them for a short time, and he would ascend to glory. And leave them to the mission he had given them. ” And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matt 28:18-20)

The disciples could not go with him because it was not their time to die; they had much more to do. These men would preach to crowds and speak before kings. They would proclaim the message of Christ without fear of death. Because they knew who they believed in and fully persuaded that he was the Christ. 

He assured them that they would join Christ at a later time in heaven when they have completed the job they were sent to do. Right there in the next chapter, he says, ” Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”  (John 14:1-2)  I am going to prepare a place for you.

This message rings down through the ages to us today. It would be wonderful if, when we got saved, we were immediately caught up to heaven to begin eternity with Christ. How amazing that would be. But that is not the plan. We will join Christ and the apostles when we each have finished our course. Now is the time of our witness; it is our time to proclaim the gospel to the world. We must be the hands and feet of Jesus to those in need. We are now carrying the torch of those who have passed on before.  

“And all the children of Israel murmured.”

— Numbers 14:2

There are murmurers amongst Christians now, as there were in the camp of Israel of old. There are those who, when the rod falls, cry out against the afflictive dispensation. They ask, “Why am I thus afflicted? What have I done to be chastened in this manner?” A word with thee, O murmurer! Why shouldst thou murmur against the dispensations of thy heavenly Father? Can he treat thee more hardly than thou deservest? Consider what a rebel thou wast once, but he has pardoned thee! Surely, if he in his wisdom sees fit now to chasten thee, thou shouldst not complain. After all, art thou smitten as hardly as thy sins deserve? Consider the corruption which is in thy breast, and then wilt thou wonder that there needs so much of the rod to fetch it out? Weigh thyself, and discern how much dross is mingled with thy gold; and dost thou think the fire too hot to purge away so much dross as thou hast? Does not that proud rebellious spirit of thine prove that thy heart is not thoroughly sanctified? Are not those murmuring words contrary to the holy submissive nature of God’s children? Is not the correction needed? But if thou wilt murmur against the chastening, take heed, for it will go hard with murmurers. God always chastises his children twice, if they do not bear the first stroke patiently. But know one thing-“He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” All his corrections are sent in love, to purify thee, and to draw thee nearer to himself. Surely it must help thee to bear the chastening with resignation if thou art able to recognize thy Father’s hand. For “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.” “Murmur not as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer.”

1Corinthians 15:56  “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

“Thou art my hope in the day of evil.” — Jeremiah 17:17

— Jeremiah 17:17

The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God’s Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;” and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be “As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer’s sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the “green pastures” by the side of the “still waters,” but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, “Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen.” Oh! say not so, thou who art walking in darkness. The best of God’s saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of his children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God’s full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotten bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.

1Corinthians 15:55  “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

“Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”

— Psalms 119:49

Whatever your especial need may be, you may readily find some promise in the Bible suited to it. Are you faint and feeble because your way is rough and you are weary? Here is the promise-“He giveth power to the faint.” When you read such a promise, take it back to the great Promiser, and ask him to fulfil his own word. Are you seeking after Christ, and thirsting for closer communion with him? This promise shines like a star upon you-“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Take that promise to the throne continually; do not plead anything else, but go to God over and over again with this-“Lord, thou hast said it, do as thou hast said.” Are you distressed because of sin, and burdened with the heavy load of your iniquities? Listen to these words-“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will no more remember thy sins.” You have no merit of your own to plead why he should pardon you, but plead his written engagements and he will perform them. Are you afraid lest you should not be able to hold on to the end, lest, after having thought yourself a child of God, you should prove a castaway? If that is your state, take this word of grace to the throne and plead it: “The mountains may depart, and the hills may be removed, but the covenant of my love shall not depart from thee.” If you have lost the sweet sense of the Saviour’s presence, and are seeking him with a sorrowful heart, remember the promises: “Return unto me, and I will return unto you;” “For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.” Banquet your faith upon God’s own word, and whatever your fears or wants, repair to the Bank of Faith with your Father’s note of hand, saying, “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.”

1Corinthians 15:21  “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” 

Think about these questions as you meditate on the verse. What does this verse teach me? How does this verse apply to my Life? 

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:34) 

How is this a new commandment? It would seem that this instruction had been given in the Old Testament that you were to love your neighbor as yourself. “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” (Leviticus 19:18) Jesus applied this to anyone that you came across that needed help. (Luke 10:30-37) We should do this with great care and vigor. This principle is the guiding rule in our charity work today. 

In this new commandment, Jesus is speaking in a more intimate context. Love for each other is given as one of the fundamental aspects of his kingdom. There is a special love for other believers that is to be expressed in our care and concern. Love for each other would be the identifying mark of the followers of Christ. It would not be our clothes or bodily marks. It would be the care that we give to each other. 

Jesus gives us the standard by which we are to live. We are to match him in his love for the disciples. The disciples knew exactly how he had loved them because they had experienced it. 

He spoke kindly to them, concerned himself heartily for them, and for their welfare, instructed, counselled, and comforted them, prayed with them and for them, vindicated them when they were accused, took their part when they were run down, and publicly owned them to be dearer to him than his mother, or sister, or brother. He reproved them for what was amiss, and yet compassionately bore with their failings, excused them, made the best of them, and passed by many an oversight. Thus he had loved them, and just now washed their feet; and thus they must love one another, and love to the end.

-Matthew Henry

This love for each other must be ever ready, freely given, and constant. It must also extend to the protection of each other even unto death. Most often applied in times of persecution. 

The reputation of believers is wrapped up in the love that we show to each other. From it, the world will wonder at what they see expressed. Understanding that love for self is overridden by the love expressed for others. In this, we reflect the nature of God and are obedient to the will of God for us.   

The love of God sent His only begotten Son to the cross. (John 3:16) The Love of Christ went to the cross with Joy. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) He humbled himself to become a man, he humbled himself to wash his disciple’s feet, and he humbled himself to give his life a ransom for many. There is no greater love than that. 

 Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the Skies of parchment made; were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade; to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from Sky to Sky.

– Frederick M. Lehman