Paved with Love

Song 3:9-10 King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of cedar-wood from Lebanon. Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its top was upholstered with purple, its interior being PAVED WITH LOVE, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

THIS portion of the Song describes the royal bridegroom as travelling up from the wilderness in an eastern palanquin, attended by his bodyguard, and by those who bear torches and burn perfumes. We have a description of the sumptuous chariot-bed in which this great monarch traveled, describing it as being made of cedar-wood, with pillars of silver, a base of gold, curtains of purple, and then within it a tessellated floor, with pavement, not of precious stones, but of priceless love.

Metaphor is suddenly dropped in this last item, and the result is a complicated, but very expressive form of speech. Some regard the expression as signifying a pavement of stone, engraved with hieroglyphic emblems of love, which made up the floor of this travelling chariot; but this would surely be very uncomfortable and unusual, and therefore others have explained the passage as referring to choice embroidery, and dainty carpets, woven with cost and care, with which the interior of the travelling-chair was lined. Into such embroidery, sentences of love-poetry may have been worked.

Needlework was probably the material of which it was composed; skillful fingers would therein set forth emblems and symbols of love. As the spouse in the second chapter sings, "His banner over me was love," probably alluding to some love-word upon the banner; so, probably, tokens of love were carved or embroidered, as the case may have been, upon the interior of the chariot, so that "the interior thereof was paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem." We need not, however, tarry long over the metaphor, but endeavor to profit by its teaching.

This palanquin or traveling chariot in which the king is carried, represents the covenant of grace, the plan of salvation, and, in fact, the whole system by which the Lord Jesus comes down in mercy among men, and by which he bears his people along with himself through the wilderness of this world, onward to the rest which he has prepared for them. It is, in a word, the mediatorial work of Jesus.

The 'ark' was carried through the wilderness preceded by the pillar of cloud and fire, as the symbol of the divine presence in mercy, and here we have a somewhat similar representation of the great King of grace, borne in regal splendor through the world, and bearing his elect spouse with him. May it be ours to be made to ride like Jeshurun, upon the high places of the earth in happy fellowship with him whose goings forth were of old, even from everlasting.

I. I shall beg you to notice, first, this morning, THE GROWTH WHICH IS INDICATED HERE AS TO OUR VIEWS OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE.

The description advances step by step, each sentence mentioning an additional and far-enhanced preciousness. Thus do those who study the work of salvation prize it more and more. At the first glance the sweet singer who speaks in this song perceived that the chariot was made of cedar, a costly wood; a closer view revealed "the silver pillars, beauteous to behold": further observation showed "the base all of burnished gold." From cedar to silver, and from silver to gold, we have a clear advance as to precious material.

On looking again, the observer remarks "the top of princely purple," which is yet more precious as the type of imperial dignity, and the token of that effectual atonement which was wrought out by the ensanguined stream of Calvary. The blood which dyed that purple canopy is much more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire. And then, though one would think there could be no advance beyond the precious blood, the song proceeds yet one step further, for we find that "the interior thereof was paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem."

Beloved, the whole way of salvation was devised by the Lord Jesus Christ. It is all his own planning, and all his own carrying out. Hence the Song says, "King Solomon made for himself a chariot out of the wood of Lebanon."

Jesus is the sole author and finisher of our faith; salvation is his from first to last; every part of the covenant reveals his master hand. This is the glory of the whole, and this the believing eye perceives at the very first glance, and is thereby made glad; but further knowledge reveals other bright and glorious facts, and as the matter is considered, wonder and gratitude increase. Let us, then, take a brief survey of this glorious gospel chariot, that wondrous thing, -- Jehovah's covenant of grace.

The first item is, that it is made of THE CEDAR-WOOD OF LEBANON. The finest wood upon the earth was that of the cedar, and the finest cedars were those which grew upon the Lebanon range. The Lebanon cedars, indeed, appear to have possessed qualities not found in the common cedar with which we are acquainted. That which was reckoned the best wood is used as the token of the super-excellence of the covenant of grace. Cedar, moreover, was not only the most costly wood, and most esteemed, but it is one of the most lasting.

London says that it is particularly valued for its durability; fit type of that "covenant ordered in all things and sure," of which not one jot or tittle shall ever fail. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word on which we trust shall abide for ever. In addition to its other excellencies cedar-wood exhales a sweet perfume, so that a chariot of cedar would not only be very lasting but very delightful to ride in, even as at this day we rejoice in God's salvation, and are filled with peace through believing.

When we look at the covenant of salvation, at the very first glimpse of it we see that there is none like it: many schemes have been imagined and preached up as ways of salvation, but not one of them can be likened to the method of atonement by blood, reconciliation through a substitutionary sacrifice, redemption by the incarnate God, salvation all of grace, from first to last.

When this is compared to a chariot, no timber less noble than the sweet-scented cedar, cut from the monarch of Israel's royal forest, could worthily set it forth. Lies and vanity make up all other plans, but this is royal truth. Other ways of salvation have been tried, but they have soon proved to be failures; the worm of human depravity has eaten into the choicest wood that was ever felled in the forests of human merit; decay has seized upon all the goodly oaks of unaided human endeavors; and rottenness has devoured all carnal boastings, but the cedar-wood of our hope in Jesus has shown no sign of crumbling to decay, and it never will.

There is in the atonement made by Christ a perpetuity of prevalence; it has availed for sin and will avail to the very end of time, so that whosoever confides in it has a hope which will not deceive him. I dare await the test of a long and afflicted life, or of a sudden and painful death, for the ground of my hope is undisturbed by outward circumstances; like the cedar, it is adapted to abide all weathers. As surely as the body of the Lord saw no corruption, so surely shall my hope never turn to despair, and even if it be buried it shall rise again.

What consolation such a hope affords us! And for this reason, as perfume comes forth from cedar-wood, so do fragrant comforts come pouring forth from the salvation which Jesus Christ has wrought out for us. It is a pleasant as well as a safe thing to rest in what Christ has done. Our joy is greatest when our faith in him is most simple- the bare cedar-wood is most fragrant. We derive from every part of his work some joy, every part of it smells most sweetly; he is all happiness, all consolation, all bliss to us; and when our spirit casts itself in perfect simplicity upon him, it breathes a perfumed atmosphere, delicious and reviving. If such be the first and lowest item in the description of the chariot, what will the richer portions be?

We will now look more closely at the royal chariot, and note well the FOUR PILLARS which support the canopy; and as we gaze we find that they are of' SILVER -- something more precious than cedar-wood, for the salvation of Jesus grows upon us, and unto us who believe he is more and more precious. There are some pictures so well painted that you may examine them with a magnifying glass, and instead of detecting defects you will perceive yet greater beauties; so may you examine the work of our blessed Lord microscopically, if you choose; and the more you look the more will you marvel- he is so really glorious, so intrinsically precious, so infinitely to be admired.

And what are these pillars which support the canopy and add such beauty to the chariot? What are they but divine holiness, and infinite purity? Silver is constantly used in Scripture as the type of that which is precious and pure-- "As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." And O beloved, how holy the gospel is; the Lord's word is very pure in itself, and very purifying to those who receive it.

Wherever the true gospel is preached it promotes holiness, and in so doing acts according to its nature, creating its like. There is not a doctrine of the gospel which is not according to godliness, none of its blessings make provision for the flesh, none of its precepts encourage sin, none of its promises wink at iniquity. The spirit of the gospel is always the spirit of holiness- it wages determined war against the lustings of the flesh, and consequently the gospel is abhorred by the unclean. It lays the axe at the root of sin, and like a fire devours all evil.

As for the Lord Jesus Christ himself, is he not immaculate holiness? If you would see holiness embodied, where can you look but to the person of our well-beloved Master? Where are his imperfections? Can you find a flaw either in his language or in his actions, in himself or in the spirit that moved him? Is he not altogether perfect? Look, then, at the gospel, the way of salvation, and the covenant of grace, and you shall see holiness conspicuous everywhere, but especially when you come to deal with the center of the gospel, the great atoning sacrifice.

Four silver pillars hold up this crimson canopy. The blood red propitiation covers us from the wrath of God, and the holiness of God holds up this interposing medium. He is not unrighteous to forget the blood of the atonement. Because he is a just God, he is now the Savior of those who are sheltered beneath the reconciling blood of Calvary. The Lord could not forgive sin till first the honor of his law had been vindicated; but that being done, the selfsame honor requires that the atonement should be respected and the believing sinner saved.

When we see Christ upon the cross we learn how God's inflexible justice, like unbending pillars of pure silver, holds up aloft the crimson shelter of vicarious death, beneath which the saints are secure. Even to save his own elect, Jehovah would not mar his integrity, nor suffer his great white throne to be stained with injustice. He is no respecter of persons, and when sitting on the throne of judgment, even his own chosen, whom he loves with everlasting love, must be treated with the same impartiality as his enemies. This he has effected by accepting his Son in their stead, and exacting from him those penalties which were due from them, but might be justly received at the hands of their federal Head. There is no injustice in the salvation of the believer, there is not even an abatement of the claims of just retribution; all is done openly, and so as to challenge the severest examination. Conspicuously before the eyes of all, the silver pillars of purity upbear the sacred atonement. Is not this a matter for superlative delight?

But we look more closely, and discern what would not have been perceived at a distance- THE BOTTOM of the chariot-bed IS OF GOLD, the most precious metal of all. This is to indicate that the foundations of salvation are imperishable, and unchangeably precious. The base of grace is laid in the immutable purpose and unchanging decree of God, and in the everlasting, undiminished, unchangeable love of God towards his dear Son, and to those who are in him.

Blessed be God for a salvation which will not yield under pressure, or fail us in our hour of peril. It is no base metal, but gold tried in the fire. I cannot understand those who think that God loves his people one day and hates them the next; that though he knew what they would be, and knew that they would fall into sin, yet he resolved to take them to himself as his children for a little while, and then afterwards to disinherit them. God forbid I should ever understand a doctrine so dishonoring to the Lord, who changes not. My own love to my children makes me feel that they must be my children as long as they live and I live; and surely God's children must and shall be his children while God himself shall live and his people shall exist.

Beloved, the base on which we rest as saved sinners is not the shifting foundation of our own feelings, doings, prayings, and resolvings. If our salvation depended upon our good behavior, we might as well build on the clouds, and pile up bubbles as our cornerstones: ay, and if it rested upon our own unaided faith, if there were no guarantee of grace to keep that faith alive, but all rested on the exercise of faith by us, it were better never to have had a hope of salvation at all, than to have had such a wretched, unsubstantial mockery, certain to end before long in fatal disappointment.

You and I have not so learned Christ. We have left the miry clay for the solid rock. God has made an eternal purpose concerning his people, and that will never be changed; infinite love ordained their salvation, and will never reverse its decree, though day and night should cease. Infinite power guarantees the fulfillment of the divine purpose, and what can stand against omnipotence? A complete atonement has been already made, and it will never lose its efficacy, and therefore those for whom it was wrought out must be saved.

There is, moreover, the indwelling Spirit who has come into God's people, to abide with them for ever, according to the covenant promise, "I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Our spiritual life does not hang on a thread, as it would do if it were in our own keeping- but it depends upon Jesus; for has he not said, "Because I live you shall live also"? Nothing can be more secure than the salvation of the soul that believes in Jesus, for it rests in God alone.

Let us view the royal CANOPY of the chariot- "the covering thereof is of purple." As the king and his bride traveled they needed to be screened from the sun's baleful rays, so, over the head of the spouse hangs a regal covering of purple. Look up, my soul, and see what interposes between your God and you! He must smite you, for you are a sinner; but you are covered and sheltered, and are living happily. What is it that does shield you? What, indeed, but the atoning blood!

The atonement shelters us: never was a soul injured by the rays of God's justice when hidden beneath this purple; and never shall there be. There is no repose for the conscience anywhere else, but there is perfect repose here. I often hear theories about what Christ did which remind me of Dr. Duncan's description of Robertson, of Brighton: "Robertson believed that Christ did something or other, which somehow or other had some connection or other with salvation."

This may suit others, but is of no sort of use to me. I feel that if Christ did not actually and literally die as my Substitute, the just for the unjust, I am not saved, and never can be at rest in my heart again. I renounce all preaching whatsoever if substitution be not the leading feature of my theme, for there is nothing worth preaching when that is gone. I regard the 'doctrine of substitution' as the fundamental truth of the gospel, which, denied, you have slain the gospel, and which, cast into the background, you have covered the gospel with a cloud.

That Jesus Christ was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him; that though he was just, he was treated as a sinner, and in our room and place and stead suffered the wrath of God due to us -this is the kernel and vital heart of the gospel. Conscience tells every man that God must punish sin; its voice, more or less loudly, always proclaims that sin must be punished. This is no arbitrary arrangement, it is inevitable; sin and suffering have a natural relationship. If God is just, sin must bring evil consequences upon the man who commits it, and until conscience understands that this evil was borne by Christ, that he suffered what ought to have been suffered by the sinner, and that he was justly a substitute because he was the head and Adam of those for whom he died -- until, I say, the conscience knows this, it cannot find rest.

Get under the blood-red canopy, and then you are at peace, but not till then. Hence you find that whenever God revealed himself to his people, the most apparent thing was always the blood; Abel must bring a bleeding lamb, and Noah a slaughtered beast. When the king feasted with his chosen in Egypt, the blood adorned the lintel and the two side-posts of every house wherein he revealed his saving power. When he marched through the wilderness, one of the coverings of his tabernacle was made of rams skins 'dyed red'; and all within and around the holy courts themselves were perpetual sprinklings of blood, for almost all things were, under the law, purified by blood; the voice of the law always proclaiming what the gospel proclaims too, that "without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin."

Our Savior's life must end in blood upon the tree; and before that closing scene, his last feast of love, his communion with his disciples had for its most conspicuous provision the cup of red wine in which his blood was symbolized. Every time he sets forth visibly his communion with his people here below the wine must be poured forth. God cannot and will not reveal himself to man except through the medium of the perfect satisfaction by the pouring out of the life of the Substitute in the stead of the sinner.

"The covering thereof is of purple." Oh, it is not for these lips to tell how precious that purple is; it is not possible even for this heart to know how precious is the blood of the Son of God, the vital blood which out of love to us, he poured out freely for our redemption. Sit at your ease, my brethren and sisters, in the of salvation, rejoicing as you look upward, and let not doubts nor fears, mistrusts nor suspicions, vex you, for beneath the blood-red canopy you are secure!

There is yet one more step-- we rise from the blood to the love which caused it to flow, and we read of the royal chariot-- "THE INTERIOR THEREOF WAS PAVED WITH LOVE for the daughters of Jerusalem;" not merely the bottom covered with it, but, as in a carriage, the whole vehicle lined with something soft to sit upon, and lean upon; so the whole covenant of grace is, within, garnished and beautified, and made delightful to the believer's soul, by the sweet love of God in Christ!

The covenant is love in its secret places, all love, unalloyed love, invisible love, nothing else but love. When one comes to know most of the covenant, and admires the wisdom, the power, the purity, the eternity of all that God has done, yet the most striking characteristic of it to the advanced Christian, is the love, the mighty love of God, by which he is brought by Jesus Christ into eternal salvation!

You have crowned me with lovingkindness; you have loved my soul out of the pit; you have loved me, and given yourself for me. Your love has redeemed me with a price most precious; your love has made me what I am; your love carries on the work, and your love will complete it, and present me to you in its own perfect image; for "the interior of it is paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem."

The point we have proved is this, that everything in the study of the gospel grows upon you. I earnestly exhort you, therefore, to meditate much in the Scriptures, to consider much the person and character of your Lord, to meditate very often upon his beauties, and upon all the work which he has done in your behalf.

Do not be satisfied with a superficial survey, as many Christians are. These are not the days of contemplation as the old Puritan times were, we are too apt to be superficial; but do remember that while there are nuggets of gold upon the very surface of Scripture, yet the most valuable mines of gold are far down, and you must dig into them. Pray God that you may be well taught in the things of Christ. There are some sciences in which you can master all that is worth knowing in a short time, and the further you go in the study, the more you perceive that nothing is very certain, and you soon get weary of it; but the science of Christ crucified grows upon you; you get more assured of the facts of it, and more intensely delighted in them. I exhort you, therefore, to sit constantly at the Master's feet with Mary, and I pray that each one of us may know, by following on to know the Lord, what are "the heights and depths, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge."

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