“Thy love is better than wine.” — Song of Solomon 1:2
Nothing gives the believer so much joy as fellowship with Christ. He has
enjoyment as others have in the common mercies of life, he can be glad
both in God’s gifts and God’s works; but in all these separately, yea, and
in all of them added together, he doth not find such substantial delight as in
the matchless person of his Lord Jesus. He has wine which no vineyard on
earth ever yielded; he has bread which all the corn-fields of Egypt could
never bring forth. Where can such sweetness be found as we have tasted in
communion with our Beloved? In our esteem, the joys of earth are little
better than husks for swine compared with Jesus, the heavenly manna. We
would rather have one mouthful of Christ’s love, and a sip of his
fellowship, than a whole world full of carnal delights. What is the chaff to
the wheat? What is the sparkling paste to the true diamond? What is a
dream to the glorious reality? What is time’s mirth, in its best trim,
compared to our Lord Jesus in His most despised estate? If you know
anything of the inner life, you will confess that our highest, purest, and
most enduring joys must be the fruit of the tree of life which is in the
midst of the Paradise of God. No spring yields such sweet water as that
well of God which was digged with the soldier’s spear. All earthly bliss is
of the earth earthy, but the comforts of Christ’s presence are like Himself,
heavenly. We can review our communion with Jesus, and find no regrets of
emptiness therein; there are no dregs in this wine, no dead flies in this
ointment. The joy of the Lord is solid and enduring. Vanity hath not
looked upon it, but discretion and prudence testify that it abideth the test
of years, and is in time and in eternity worthy to be called “the only true
delight.” For nourishment, consolation, exhilaration, and refreshment, no
wine can rival the love of Jesus. Let us drink to the full this evening.
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