“YOU seem to have got something that I am a stranger to. You all seem so full of joy, and to be so satisfied, while I feel miserably out of it.”
The speaker was a lady who had come to stay for a short time in a Christian household. Kind, amiable, and in every way estimable, she was yet unconverted, and it is no wonder that she felt “miserably out of it,” when the members of the family with whom she was staying gathered one evening, as was their custom, to sing some hymns together.
Poor lady! Though possessed of everything that people in general would consider essential to happiness, she had not yet come to the spring of all true happiness. She had not drunk of the Gospel “wine and milk,” symbols which are used in scripture to set forth the two blessings of joy and satisfaction.
Are any of my readers in this condition? You may have drunk deeply of this world’s streams, but you have not found them enough to quench your thirst. To your friends you may always seem full of happiness, as merry and lively as possible, but to true, lasting, settled joy, you are a stranger. Oh, may God help me to point you to the Fountain whence wine and milk flow freely night and day!
Listen to this invitation: “Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy WINE and MILK without money, and without price” (Isa. 55:11Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. (Isaiah 55:1)).
It is God who speaks. Are you thirsty? Then it is to you that He addresses His invitation. He offers freely as a gift that which you could never purchase by efforts of your own. Joy and satisfaction are His to bestow, and are to be had for the taking.
“But where am I to go, to get this blessing? To what fountain must I betake myself that my soul-thirst may be quenched, and that I may drink of the streams of wine and milk?”
Now notice what is said about Shiloh in verse 12. At His coming, what would He be like? What would He bring with Him? Listen: “His eyes shall be red with WINE, and his teeth white with MILK.”
Here then we learn that the wine and milk follow in the wake of the Lord Jesus Christ, and are to be found in Him alone. Oh, friend! if you are a stranger to joy and satisfaction, it is because you are a stranger to Him. In His presence is fullness of joy (Psa. 16:1111Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)).
If, then, you ask me to point you to the fountain whence the Gospel wine and milk flow forth in all their freeness, I point to Christ, and I say, “He is the Fountain; stoop down, poor weary sinner, and take your fill, for it is free to such as you.”
Yes, it is in Christ alone that God has treasured up joy and satisfaction for the hearts of men.
“Oh, Christ, He is the Fountain,
The deep, sweet well of love;
The streams on earth I’ve tasted,
More deep I’ll drink above.”
The Bride, in the Song of Solomon, knows something of this. She thus begins her description of Him in chapter 5:10: “My beloved is white and ruddy.” It is the same truth that we get in Genesis 49:12,12His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. (Genesis 49:12) that from Him flow the milk in its whiteness, and the wine in its redness; and it was the deep draft that the Bride had taken of that stream that led her thus to praise her Beloved.
Oh, reader, is He your Beloved? Have you tasted of His love? If so, you will know how incomparable is the way in which He fills and satisfies the heart.
So much for the way in which we may get joy and satisfaction. Now I turn to another subject, that of Christ’s joy and satisfaction.
We read in Song of Solomon 5:1,1I 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: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. (Song of Solomon 5:1) that there is wine and milk which He drinks, in the garden of His beloved. What can this mean? Simply that He takes such pleasure in the heart that has unfolded to His love, and that continually basks in the sunshine of His affection, that He turns to it to find His joy and satisfaction.
Oh, infinite love! First, to provide “wine and milk” for our refreshment at the cost of His own life, and then to produce in us, by His Spirit, “wine and milk” which can serve for His refreshment.
What untold blessedness is found in having to do with such a Saviour!
E. V. G.