Who is this?
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"Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?" Song of Solomon 8:5
A saved sinner is a spectacle for angels to contemplate! That a sinful man who deserves nothing but the eternal wrath of God, should be lifted out of justly merited perdition, into salvation to which he can have no claim—must indeed ever be a holy wonder!
And that you or I should ever have been fixed on in the electing love of God—ever have been given to Jesus to redeem—ever quickened by the Spirit to feel our lost, ruined state—ever blessed with any discovery of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His saving grace—this is and ever must be a matter of holy astonishment here—and will be a theme for endless praise hereafter!
To see a man altogether so different from what he once was—once so careless, carnal, ignorant, unconcerned about his soul—to see that man now upon his knees begging for mercy, the tears streaming down his face, his bosom heaving with convulsive sighs, his eyes looking upward that pardon may reach him in his desperate state—is not that a man to be looked at with wonder and admiration?
To see another who might have pushed his way in the busy, bustling scenes of life, who might have had honours, riches, and everything the world had to bestow heaped upon his head—abandon all for Jesus' sake, and esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt—is not that man a wonder?
To live while here on earth in union and communion with an invisible God—to talk to Jesus, whom the eye of sense has never seen, and whose voice the ear of sense has never heard—and yet to see Him as sensibly by the eye of faith as though the natural eye rested upon His glorious Person, and to hear His voice speaking into the inmost heart, as plainly and clearly as though the sound of His lips met the natural ear—is not that a wonder also? To see a man preferring one smile from the face of Jesus and one word from His peace-speaking lips—above all the titles, honours, pleasures, and power that the world can bestow—why surely if there be a wonder upon earth, that man is one!
May we not, then, say with admiring as well as wondering eyes, "Who is this? Why, this man I knew—worldly, proud, ambitious, self-seeking. That man I knew—given up to vanity and pride. Another man I knew—buried in politics, swallowed up in pleasure and gaiety, abandoned to everything vile and sensual.
But he has now become prayerful, watchful, tender-hearted, choosing the company of God's people—giving up everything that his carnal mind once approved of and delighted in—and manifesting in his walk, conversation, and whole deportment that he is altogether a new creature."
Whenever we see any of those near and dear to us—touched by the finger of this all-conquering Lord—subdued by His grace—and wrought upon by His Spirit—then not only do we look upon such with holy wonder, but with the tenderest affection, mingled with the tears of thankful praise to the God of all our mercies. "Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved?"