*Extract from a sermon by the late Rev. James Smellie, Edinburgh, on Song of Solomon (ii, 4).
“CONSIDER what is the matter of this banquet. It is Christ Himself. ‘I am the bread of life,’ ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.’ How much is there in Jesus, the Surety of the everlasting covenant, to whom all its promises are primarily given, in whom all its blessings are served up, to satisfy the soul! It hath pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. ‘In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.’ There is in Him, for the use of His people, the fullness of Divine love, the fullness of Divine righteousness, the fullness of Divine wisdom, the fullness of Divine power, the fullness of Divine faithfulness, the fullness of the Divine Spirit which the Father giveth not by measure unto Him. And when we think that this fullness is provided for His
people, is accessible to them, is actually made over to them in promise and in sacrament, the exclamation that rises to our lips is not, ‘How abundantly must it satisfy every want and desire of the soul,’ but, ‘How very little of it is the soul capable of receiving?’ We believe that the capacities of the soul will expand indefinitely through Eternity, and ever as it expands it will derive a growing satisfaction and joy from the abundance of Christ’s love and grace. But it can no more exhaust His fullness than the inhabitant of the deep can exhaust the ocean in which it swims and from which it draws its nutriment, or than the flowers exhaust the light of the sun from which they derive their life and beauty.
“Consider, more particularly, how the fullness of Christ, who is the substance of this banquet, meets the wants and cravings of our nature as rational creatures. We have understandings which crave knowledge. So insatiable is this craving that all the stores of human knowledge, all the discoveries of science, all the conclusions of philosophy, all the facts of history, cannot satisfy it. But Jesus can satisfy it, for in Him—the image of the invisible God, the perfect Revealer of the mind and will and glory of the supreme and incomprehensible Jehovah—we have an object of knowledge, the contemplation of which will fill the understanding with new wonder and delight for ever. We have hearts that prompt us to love, and yearn to be loved again. We naturally try to appease these promptings and yearnings with the love of the creature; but ah! how vainly! for the creature is selfish, inconstant, at the best perishable, and must be separated from us by death. But let the heart be turned to Jesus; and in Him, the altogether lovely One, Whose love is free, boundless, unchangeable, it has an object of love in Whom its largest affections can rest and rejoice for ever. We have a conscience which cannot be fully or finally satisfied without perfect rightness with the law of God; and, as we can never meet the demands of that holy and spiritual and already violated Law, we can never satisfy the demands of that tribunal of conscience which God has set up in our souls. But in Jesus, the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, all these demands are met, and conscience is forever peaceful and at rest. Formed originally for immortality, we have a dread of death, and a desire for happiness beyond the grave. How abundantly are the wants of our nature in this respect supplied by Jesus, who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light, who is the true God and eternal Life! In short, made originally in the image of God, we cannot be happy until we have Found God as the end of our being. But in Jesus, the Mediator, the glorious Godman, we meet with God in peace and love, and enter into a fellowship with Him ineffably close and endearing, and lasting as the ages to come.
“And while Jesus thus satisfies all the wants and cravings of our nature as creatures, He does so very specially as fallen and sinful creatures. It is for sinners, those who have no money, no merit, no worthiness in themselves, nothing but sin and need, that this banquet is spread; and very abundantly does Christ, the substance of it, meet all our needs. Are we laden with guilt? He is Jehovah our Righteousness. Are we accused
and condemned? He is our advocate with the Father. Are we ignorant and erring? His name is Counsellor, and in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Are we weak and helpless? We can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth us. Have we enemies to fight? We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Have we trials to endure? He is anointed to bind up the broken-hearted and to comfort all that mourn. All our wants are swallowed up in His sufficiency; and, what a banquet is that sufficiency to set before the soul! His flesh, truly, is meat indeed, and His blood drink indeed; and well might He say, ‘He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.’