A garden enclosed is my sister, [my] spouse;
A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits;
Henna with spikenard plants;
Spikenard and saffron;
Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;
Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
A fountain in the gardens,
A well of living waters,
Which stream from Lebanon.
Awake, north wind, and come, [thou] south;
Blow upon my garden, [that] the spices thereof may flow forth.
Let my beloved come into his garden,
And eat its precious fruits.
I am come into my garden, my sister, [my] spouse;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
With these choice words from the Song of Songs, the Bridegroom likens His bride to a garden of delights. Probably, all believers, with hearts opened to understand the Scriptures, would agree that in the Bridegroom, or the “Beloved,” of the Song of Songs, we have a beautiful figure of Christ. Most would also concede that, in the interpretation of the Song, the bride sets forth Christ’s earthly people.
While, however, the strict interpretation of the bride has Christ’s earthly people in view, we are surely warranted in making an application to the church, the heavenly bride of Christ.
Furthermore, if we may discover in this garden the excellencies that Christ would find in His heavenly bride, do we not at the same time learn what the love of Christ is looking for in the hearts of those who compose the bride? May we then, for a little, meditate upon this garden, with its spring, its fruit, its spices, and its living waters, as describing what the Lord would have our hearts to be for Himself.
My Garden – His Garden
First, we notice that the Bridegroom always speaks of the garden as “My garden,” while the bride delights to own it is “His garden.” “Awake, O north wind ... blow upon My garden,” says the Bridegroom. The bride replies, “Let my Beloved come into His garden.” The application is plain – the Lord claims our hearts for Himself. “My son, give Me thine heart,” says the Preacher (Prov. 23:2626My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. (Proverbs 23:26)). It is not simply our time, our means, our brains and our busy service that the Lord desires, but first, and above all, He claims our affections. The garden must be His garden.
As we read this beautiful description of the garden of the Lord, we note five outstanding features which set forth in figure what the Lord would have our hearts to be for Himself. First, the garden of the Lord is an enclosed garden. Second, it is a watered garden with its spring shut up and its fountain sealed. Third, it is a fruitful garden – a paradise of pomegranates with precious fruits. Fourth, it is a fragrant garden with trees of frankincense and all the chief spices. Last, it is a refreshing garden from whence “the living waters” flow, and the fragrance of its spices is carried to the world around.
The Garden Enclosed
If the heart is to be kept as a garden for the pleasure of the Lord, it must be as “a garden enclosed.” This speaks of a heart separate from the world, preserved from evil, and set apart for Him. We hear our Lord tell His Father that His own are a separate people, for He can say, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:1414I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:14)).
Does not the Preacher exhort us to keep our hearts as “a garden enclosed,” when he says, “Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded” (Prov. 4:22For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. (Proverbs 4:2)3 JnD)? Again we do well to heed the Lord’s own words. Unless the girdle of truth holds in our affections and thoughts, how quickly our minds will be drawn away by the things of this world, and the heart cease to be “a garden enclosed.”
How necessary, then, to have our hearts kept in separation from the world and preserved from evil. Nevertheless, the refusal of the world and the flesh will not be enough to constitute our hearts “a garden enclosed.” The Lord desires that our hearts may be sanctified, or set apart for His pleasure, by being occupied with the truth and all that is according to Christ. Does not Paul set before the Philippians “a garden enclosed” – a heart sanctified for the Lord—when he says, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:88Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8))? Thus set free from all that might come in between the soul and God, our hearts will be at liberty to enjoy the things of Christ and our minds free to “think on these things” —these holy and pure things which should mark one whose heart is “a garden enclosed.”
A Watered Garden
The heart that is set apart for the Lord will have its hidden source of refreshment and joy. It will be a garden with “a spring shut up” and “a fountain sealed.” A spring is an unfailing supply; a fountain rises up to its source. The Prophet can say, of one who walks according to the mind of the Lord, that his soul shall be “like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not” (Isa. 58:1111And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah 58:11)). The world is entirely dependent upon surrounding circumstances for its passing joy; the believer has a spring of joy within — the hidden life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit.
As the spring of life, the Holy Spirit meets all our spiritual needs by guiding us into “all truth”; as the fountain of life, He engages our hearts with Christ above. The Lord can say, “The Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me” — Christ in His new place in the glory. Thus as the Spring, He refreshes our souls with the truth; as the Fountain springing up to its source, He engages our hearts with Christ.
Let us, however, remember that the spring, which is the source of blessing, is “a spring shut up,” and the fountain is “a fountain sealed.” This reminds us that the source of blessing in the believer is sealed to this world and wholly apart from the flesh. The Lord speaks of the Comforter as One that “the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:1717Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (John 14:17)). Again we read, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other” (Gal. 5:1717For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. (Galatians 5:17)). We may mind the things of the flesh and turn aside to the world, only to find we grieve the Spirit so that our hearts, instead of being as a watered garden, become but a dry and barren waste.
A Fruitful Garden
The “spring” and the “fountain” will turn the garden of the Lord into a fruitful garden – “a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits.” The ungrieved Spirit will produce in our hearts “the fruit of the Spirit,” which, the Apostle tells us, “is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness” and “self-control” (Gal. 5:22Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. (Galatians 5:2)2 JnD). What, indeed, are these precious fruits of the Spirit but the reproduction of the character of Christ in the believer? The fountain, rising up to its source, occupies with Christ and His excellencies, and, beholding the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory. Thus the heart becomes a garden of the Lord bearing precious fruit for the delight of His heart.
A Fragrant Garden
Not only is the garden of the Lord a garden of precious fruits, but a garden of spices from which sweet odors arise. In Scripture, fruit speaks of the excellencies of Christ, but the spices, with their fragrance, speak of worship that has Christ for its object. In worship there is no thought of receiving blessing from Christ, but of bringing the homage of our hearts to Christ. When the wise men from the East found themselves in the presence of “the young Child,” they fell down and “worshipped Him,” and “presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matt. 2:1111And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)). When Mary anointed Jesus with “a pound of ointment of spikenard,” she was there as a giver to render the worship of a heart filled with the sense of His blessedness. When she is at His feet as a worshipper, with her precious ointment, we read, “The house was filled with the odor of the ointment” (John 12:1-31Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. 2There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. 3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. (John 12:1‑3)).
In our day, if our hearts are to be a garden of the Lord, let us not forget that the Lord not only looks for the precious fruits of the Spirit, reproducing in us something of His lovely traits, but also the spirit of worship that rises up to Him as a sweet odor.
A Refreshing Garden
We learn from the Song of Songs that the Lord wants our hearts as a garden of delights for Himself. He desires to come in and dwell within our hearts. If we are slow to let Him in, He may allow adverse circumstances, trials and sorrows, in order to drive us to Himself, so that we may say like the bride, “Let my Beloved come into His garden.” If we open to Him, we shall experience the truth of His own words, “If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)).
If then the heart of the believer is kept separate from the world, preserved from evil, and set apart for the Lord, it will become like “a garden enclosed.” In that garden there will be found a spring of secret joy and refreshment that, like a fountain, rises to its source. The fountain, springing up to its source, will bring forth precious fruit, the excellencies of Christ.
The fruit that speaks of the moral traits of Christ in the heart of the believer will lead to worship that rises up as a sweet odor to the heart of Christ.
The heart that goes out in worship to Christ will become a source of blessing to the world around.
In the light of these Scriptures, we may well pray the prayer of the Apostle when he bows his knees to the Father, and asks “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” (Eph. 3:16-1716That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, (Ephesians 3:16‑17)).
The Lord claims the undivided affection of our hearts. The garden must be His garden. Moreover, if the Lord claims our hearts to be a garden for His delight, they must have the marks of the garden that is according to His mind.
H. Smith (adapted)