Chapter 8

EXPRESSION OF HUMAN LOVE

“O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee: yea, I should not be despised”, tells the Shulamite to Solomon in verse 1.

The Shulamite wished her beloved lover had been his real brother who sucked milk from the breasts of her mother. If he had been his real brother, she could kiss him and others would not fault her for this. The Shulamite wished to bring her beloved shepherd king at par with her real brother so that she could give him brotherly kiss. Dear bride of Christ, you may also wish to bring down the Heavenly Bridegroom to the level of your imagination because your finite mind can comprehend the eternal love of the Heavenly Bridegroom to a limited extent on the earthly scale of human love. The Shulamite wished to bring down her shepherd king to the level of brotherly love just to kiss him. Similarly, in order to express your love towards your Heavenly Bridegroom, you may wish to bring Him down to an earthly level so that you can satisfy the desire of your heart for fellowship with Him. There is nothing wrong with it. You want to express your love to Him. At times, your young child may wish to play with you. And you fulfill its desire by coming down to his level and play with him.

In real life of the Shulamite, her beloved shepherd whom she wished to marry cannot be her brother who sucked the milk of her mother. It was merely her wish as she was in a world of imagination. Similarly, we may also equate the eternal Christ with our earthly parents, spouse, brother or sister as our level of understanding the divine love and of expressing our love to Him is very limited. The Shulamite wished to kiss her beloved shepherd in the guise of her brother so that the people around her would not despise her. Similarly, you may wish to express your love to Jesus in an earthly manner, which may not be despised by others. Many years ago, I was very much depressed and wanted to convey my emotions to Jesus. I took a piece of paper and started writing a love-letter to Jesus. I poured out my heart into that letter. Later I published this golden letter in my magazine.

Mary Magdalene kissed the feet of Jesus when He was in flesh and blood. Today we cannot kiss Him in flesh. But we can kiss Him through the word of our mouth or through our deep feelings of love emanating from the depth of our heart saying, “Lord, I love thee”. At times, you may become desperate, surrounded by problems, worries, accusations from your beloved people, disappointments, etc. You may wish to find and kiss Him by expressing your love from the depth of your heart. As you kiss Him, He reveals Himself to you in a special manner. Oh, He fills your heart with abundance of peace and His power through which you can conquer great mountains.

IN MOTHER’S HOUSE

“I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house who would instruct me; I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate”, continues the Shulamite in her dream world in verse 2.

Dear bride of Christ, there is a mother’s house for you. You had been born into the Kingdom of God by the gospel preached to you by a servant of God. In other words, a servant of God had spiritually begotten you. Afterwards you were fed with the word of God in some assembly or church. The people of God responsible for your spiritual growth constitute the mother’s house. Today, you may not be in touch with any of them. Maybe, the assembly or the servant of God concerned who are of the mother’s house has now backslidden or the Holy Spirit is not moving amongst them. It is your responsibility to intercede for them before God’s Throne of grace daily and to see that the Holy Spirit is led and brought into the mother’s house. As and when the presence of God is restored in the mother’s house, you would receive God’s guidance and instructions there as before. Many years ago, when I was in spiritual infancy I was fed with the God’s word in an assembly and the God’s servants there instructed me in God’s word. The people of God of this assembly had since lost the vision of the Cross and the Holy Spirit ceased to work in their midst. But I used to intercede for them in the earnest hope that God would restore them His presence and the spiritual gifts lost by them.

On restoration, you would cause the Holy Spirit to drink of the spiced wine of the juice of your pomegranate. As already discussed in verse 11 of Chapter 6, the pomegranates offer medicinal fruits to the weary and the sick. Those ministers of God likened to the pomegranates endowed with the spiritual gifts, due to their backsliding, might not have been able to produce the juice because the gifts given to them were not used of them mightily for winning multitudes to Christ. They produce one or two drops of juice out of a few pulpy edible seed coats of pomegranates by winning a few souls for Christ. On their restoration being caused by your tearful prayers, they would produce the full quantity of juice, which Christ looks for. Christ does not look for mere juice but spiced juice, which means saved souls who spread the fragrance of the glorious gospel. Christ is not looking for mere believers but for disciples who would take the gospel to every nook and corner of the world. This is the time He visits His garden for the spiced juice of His pomegranate. If you have not made full use of the spiritual gifts given to you by the Lord and produced the spiced wine, He will take away the gifts from you and give the same to another for producing the desired result.

HIS OMNIPRESENCE AND PROTECTION

“His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me”, says the Shulamite in verse 3.

This shows the personal and intimate relationship of Christ with you. His glory covers you and you are complete in Him. His wings shall protect you from the dreaded diseases, accidents of the world and the snare of the Devil. He is like a fire around you. When you feel lonely, as you remember this verse, you would feel His presence. When you attain the old age and are bound for His heaven, this verse would strengthen you on the deathbed. If you are on the sickbed, as you remember this verse, you will become whole.

Dear bride of Christ, you should beseech Christ to manifest His presence in a tangible manner to you whenever you become very desperate. As you feel the loss of God’s presence because of your many backslidings but yearn earnestly after Him, His very presence would surround you so that you feel Him tangibly more than ever before.

HIS CONSTANT LOVE

“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love; until he please”, says the Shulamite in verse 4.

The Bridegroom charges the friends of the bride who surround the disheartened bride, not to stir up or awake His love till it pleases. He directs His love in endless streams to His comfortless and fearful bride. He alone understands the peculiar state of His beloved whereas the friends around the bride are not in a position to sympathize with or understand her. Rather, they surround her and stand in the way of His showering love upon her.

A disheartened and desperate servant of God is flooded with the comfort and love of Jesus. Simultaneously, the children of God who are not aware of the peculiar state of the servant of God disturb him and thus don’t allow him to cherish the love of Jesus in that they disturb his personal fellowship with God or his prayer life by yearning after his ministry. Here is a difference. Jesus seeks His servant but the children of God seek the ministry of His servant.

At such times, Jesus would be more concerned about His beloved servant and would charge the children of God, not to stir up or awake His love.

BOTH IN WILDERNESS

“Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee”, says a third person in verse 5. This person sees the Shulamite accompanying her beloved and leaning upon him while coming up from the wilderness.

In this verse, a third person that is a servant of God testifies to your new birth and subsequent wilderness experience. It is easy for a child of God to give a testimony through his mouth about how he was saved by Christ. But what is more important is a word of testimony concerning your new birth and your changed life by other children of God. The third person in the Song is amazed at the appearance of the Shulamite who comes up from the wilderness, and at her close companionship with her beloved. This world is the wilderness. In this wilderness, you have no other hope except Christ; you have no other person to rely upon except Christ because till the end of your earthly life, the loved ones of yours would either leave this world one by one or forsake you at one time or the other, especially when you become old. Only Christ would abide with you forever and would never forsake you as you learn to lean upon Him for everything. As you pass through the trials and tribulations in this world, you would conform to the image of Christ and the people around you would be amazed at this change in your life.

The third person in the Song continues to say, “ I raised thee up under the apple tree”. Now he addresses the Shulamite. In my opinion, the apple tree mentioned here refers to the king Solomon as per verse 3 of Chapter 2 wherein “the apple tree among the trees of the wood” is compared to the beloved shepherd “among the sons”. Dearly beloved bride of Christ, once upon a time, you were spiritually dormant or were almost dead in your spiritual life. Some servant of God awakened you from your spiritual death under the shadow of the Apple Tree. Your new birth took place only under the Apple Tree and not in any holy place of pilgrimage or in the midst of any people or in any special church building. Under the Apple Tree, your mother brought you forth. Mother means the servant of God or the people of God who brought you the message of salvation or who were responsible for your finding Christ as the Saviour on your new birth. A servant of God or some people of God witness your new birth.

SEAL UPON HIS HEART AND HAND

“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death: jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame”, tells the Shulamite to the king in verse 6.

Dear bride of Christ, you have to beseech Christ to set you as a seal upon His heart. Christ, the divine Shepherd has a huge flock of sheep all over the world. He knows and calls each one of them by name. The seal of a person is set on an object by engraving his image or name. It cannot be erased. You should wish to be a seal upon the heart of Christ. These days, people want their seals to be affixed on worldly possessions. The servants of God want their names or seals to be engraved upon their ministries or institutions so that their children may inherit the same. Even God’s people crave for worldly recognition like conferment of doctorates and want their names to adorn the hall of fames in the Christian world. Alas! They don’t want their seals to be set upon the heart of Christ. If your seal were set upon the heart of Christ and not upon the heart of the world, you would become very intimate to Christ so as to hear His voice. These days, we don’t hear His voice with the result that we give to the world not His message but our own message. We forget that we are His prophets to the world. As a pastor, you don’t give His message to His sheep because your seal is not set upon His heart. If Christ sets you as a seal upon His heart, you would hear His heartbeat and heart-cry for the backsliding members of your church, and for the poor saints of your church.

Secondly, you should wish to be a seal upon His arm so as to secure His power. You have to demonstrate God’s power to this unbelieving world like Elijah did on the Mount Carmel. Prophet Isaiah lamented, “to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed” (Is.53: 1). Through you only, the arm of the Lord is to be revealed. God graves your image or seal on the palms of His Hand (Is.49: 16). God’s power for miracles and healing is released through your seal on His Hand. Christ, the Word, through Whom the world was created will perform the miracles of creation through your evangelistic ministry. People who have lost their organs due to diseases or accidents and who are physically handicapped since birth would get new organs created through your ministry. For this, you have to beseech Christ to set you as a seal upon His arm. You need not either attend any training course of some evangelist or undertake strenuous fast just to receive the gifts of healing from Christ. You should simply ask Him by faith to set you as a seal upon His arm.

You have to seek your seal upon His Heart and Arm for love is strong as death and jealousy as cruel as the grave. Your desire for seal should spring out of your love for Christ, which should be evident from your devotion and obedience to Him. Love is strong as death. The strength of love is compared with death. Death is so strong that every human being whether rich or poor cannot escape its power. Likewise, love is so strong that it transcends barriers of race, religion, nationality and status. Love is so strong that it brought down the Heavenly Son of God. Jealousy is as cruel as grave. Here, jealousy is interlinked to love. It does not mean envy. It broadly means the state of being anxiously heedful or of mistrustfully vigilant or of brooking no unfaithfulness as per Chamber 20th Century Dictionary. The Tamil Version of the Bible means a kind of love, which brooks no dilution. The kind of love, which the Shulamite demands of her beloved, is the one which is steady and undiluted and which is cruel as the grave. The grave is so cruel that it swallows our dead dear ones and ends our earthly life once and for all. Likewise, the jealousy for love is so severe that it blinds the eyes of the person who loves another person and buries every thing, which stands in the way of love. It is not that kind of love, which is unsteady, unstable and wavering. It is not like a flickering flame. It is that kind of love, which is always stable and steady, and is like the flame, which emits from the burning coal. This kind of love brought down into the sin stinking world the Holy One from the Heaven because the love of Christ for us is strong as death and His jealousy for love toward us is cruel as the grave and is so severe that it cannot be quantified and expressed in terms of human language. That is why the divine Author uses the words like death, grave, flame etc., to express the severity of the love of Christ.

CHRIST’S ETERNAL LOVE

“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it; if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned”, continues the Shulamite to speak about love in verse 7.

Dear bride of Christ, you may face problems or afflictions like many waters. The floods may come your way. Floods mean divine judgment being executed as a measure of chastisement by the just God. It can be bereavement or a big loss in business or any other great problem, which upsets your whole life. In the midst of such many waters or floods, you would feel the presence of Christ (Is.43:2) As you open the Bible, He will comfort you by His Word. As you kneel down for prayer, you will hear His small voice. The people of God will speak words of comfort or of prophecy as led by the Holy Spirit when you are in the furnace of afflictions. Many waters cannot quench His love.

The love cannot be equated with or measured in terms of worldly things. You may express your love to someone by gifting some costly thing. The most precious thing of this world cannot substitute love. Even if you start giving away one after another of all worldly possessions to some one whom you love, you would still be found on the negative side only; both the sides cannot be equal. We cannot equate the love of God through Christ Jesus with the glory of the whole world. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. But in return for such love of God, you cannot compensate Him by offering any thing of this world or the whole world. God loved not only a particular nation or a particular race or a particular religious sect called ‘Christians’ but the whole world so that He gave Christ for all the peoples of this world including Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, etc. The love of God towards the human beings is so pervasive over the whole system of the universe or the cosmos that all the celestial bodies are made to function for the benefit of the human race on the face of the earth. The love of the omnipresent God holds and secures the earth in the universe.

BRIDE’S LITTLE SISTER

“We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?” tells the Shulamite and her brothers who now appear on the scene, about their little sister in verse 8. They have a great concern for a physically weak sister of theirs, who has not attained the stage of puberty.

Of the chosen people of God, there are some spiritually weak people likened to the little sister who has no breasts in the Song. They are spiritually so weak that they have not attained the stage of breast-feeding the poor saints or the missionaries in a sacrificial manner. They neither share their material blessings with the poor saints nor intercede in prayer for the servants of God. They don’t have the spiritual breasts to feed. They are so self-centered that they pray to God for His blessings upon their families and relatives and friends of their own circle. They hardly pray for the missionaries and servants of God in different places or give any sacrificial offering to God’s work or to the poor saints in the spiritual Jerusalem.

Like the Shulamite, you should have concern about those members of the Body who are spiritually weak, and who have not attained the spiritual maturity of sacrificing their material blessings for the sake of the poor saints (I Cor.12: 23-25).

LITTLE SISTER – A WALL AND A DOOR

“If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver, and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar”, the Shulamite tells how to take care of her weak little sister in verse 9.

If she were a mere wall of the house, she would be reinforced with a palace of silver. Mere bricks and mortar are not enough to build a strong wall. An outer cover of silver would make the wall so stronger that it would last long because silver is a precious metal, which does not react readily when exposed to water. Silver was used in the construction of Tabernacle (Ex.38: 19). Further, the ugly appearance of the bricks and mortar gets an aesthetic view with a cover of silver.

Silver is figurative of God’s word (Ps.12: 6). God’s word is like the silver refined in a furnace. You ought to spiritually strengthen your little sister through the Word of God. Your young sister is spiritually weak because she has not been fed with the milk likened to the God’s word. The pastors and the teachers don’t teach the whole counsel of God or the whole truth to the flocks. They merely teach the doctrines of their own churches which are at variance with the God’s words. Why do the God’s people lack in the spiritual breasts? It is because they don’t know how to sacrificially give to God’s work in mission fields. They are never taught how to spend their time in intercessory prayers.

We should desire that the little sister, the spiritually weak child of God, be the very wall of the House of God. We should not neglect her at all. God chooses the foolish and the weak things of the world to confound the wise and the mighty (I Cor.1:27-28). Dear bride of Christ, you should not desire to become the visible wall. But rather you must wish you little sister to be the beautiful wall and yourself to be the hidden brick or the stone. The spiritually weak people of God ought to be protected from the attacks of the Devil with the God’s Word likened to the refined silver. They are to be taught from the God’s Word as to how they should not fall into the Devil’s temptations. In the House of God, the people of God should be made a strong wall reinforced with His Word.

The Shulamite wants her sister to be inclosed with boards of cedar if she is a door. A spiritually weak believer should not only be made a wall in the House of God but also a door through which many persons of the outside world should enter the House of God. If your little sister has to be a door in the Kingdom of Christ, it is your duty to inclose her with boards of cedar. You are responsible to mould and train her as an evangelist. A door of the house is to be so attractive that the passers-by are enticed to enter the house. A door covered with cedar board becomes very strong so that the Devil may not enter the House of God through false doctrines. The boards of cedar spiritually mean the sound, prophetic teaching of the Word. A spiritually weak believer needs the prophetic teaching so as to become a strong door in the house of God. Prophets of the five-fold ministry under the New Testament are the cedar trees grown in the Garden of God.

FINDING FAVOUR IN HIS EYES

“I am a wall and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour”, tells the Shulamite proudly in verse 10.

In the preceding verse, she has expressed the desire of her heart concerning her little sister. In this verse, she gives a statement of fact about herself.

Dearly beloved, you are an impregnable and fortified wall of the House of God. The people of God in His House would be very safe because of the strong wall. The fierce arrows of the Devil cannot penetrate the wall. These days, the Devil attacks the people of God with the weapons of a prideful heart, diverse temptations, suspicion about the power of God, a plethora of false doctrines and prophecies.

Secondly, your spiritual breasts are like towers unlike your little sister. You are in a position to sacrificially feed the people of God. Your ministry, which has begun with a humble beginning, would become a tall tower feeding thousands of the people of God throughout the world. You would be the one who finds favour in the eyes of Christ only after you have become a wall with spiritual breasts like towers. Just becoming a child of God in the Kingdom of God after repentance, water baptism, Holy Spirit baptism and fellowship with the saints would not make you find favour in the sight of Christ. You must be a wall of the House of God and have spiritual breasts.

CHRIST’S VINEYARD

“Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon, he let out the vineyard unto keepers: every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver”, tells the Shulamite about the vineyard of her beloved shepherd in verse 11.

Christ Jesus planted a vineyard at Calvary for the salvation of lost souls and, after ascension into the Heaven on resurrection, has let out this very vineyard to the keepers like you. Every one who has become a child of God through Christ Jesus is a keeper of this vineyard. You are a keeper of this vineyard. For enjoying the fruit of this vineyard, you have to pay a price or a rent to the Owner of the Vineyard. As a child of God, you now enjoy the fruit of salvation in this vineyard. The fruit of salvation includes peace with God through forgiveness of sins, peace of God, divine protection from diverse diseases and accidents, material blessings. In return for this fruit, you have to bring a thousand pieces of silver to your Master. Christ Jesus gives us free salvation through His Blood. But the benefit of salvation which you enjoy daily is not enjoyed by the thousands of lost souls in your nation. To enjoy the fruit of salvation, you have to pay a heavy price. Though salvation is free, yet the fruit thereof is too costlier that you have to bring a thousand pieces of silver.

In Bible terminology, “thousand” means a maximum quantity. “Pieces of silver” means material wealth or money. Under the Old Testament, the people of Israel were required to pay tithes to God, which was limited to one tenth of their income. But under the New Testament, the chosen people of God have to pay “a thousand pieces of silver” and that too cheerfully for God loves a cheerful giver. What we notice today is that we spend lavishly for our own comfort and luxuries and pay a little which is not even one tenth of our income to God’s work.

BRIDE’S VINEYARD

“My vineyard, which is mine is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred”, the Shulamite now speaks about her own vineyard which is different from the Solomon’s vineyard in verse 12.

Dearly beloved, you have a vineyard too, which is different from the vineyard of Christ. In the vineyard of Christ, you enjoy the fruit of salvation yourself after paying a thousand pieces of silver but in your own vineyard, you have to labor for the fruit as a co-worker with Christ. Christ comes to your vineyard in search of the fruit. The fruit of your vineyard means the souls saved through your ministry directly or the souls caused to be saved through your ministry indirectly. These days, many children of God are only keepers in the Vineyard of Christ, enjoying the fruit thereof. But there are only a few like the Shulamite who can say, “My vineyard, which is mine, is before me”. Every one of you has a ministry to perform. You are not a mere believer or a parishioner as branded by the apostate church.

The Shulamite wants a thousand pieces of silver to be given to Solomon for the fruit thereof and a two hundred pieces of silver for those who tend the said fruit in his vineyard. As already discussed, you have to pay a heavy price to Christ for receiving His blessings. At the same time, you have to retain a small portion of the price for yourself for tending the fruit in His vineyard. As a co-worker with Christ in His Vineyard, you tend the fruit of salvation for which you can retain a small portion out of the price. It has to be in the ratio of 2:10. For example, if you intend to give a sum of $1000 per month to God’s work, you have to manage your monthly expenses just for $200 per month. If you have to increase your monthly budget of expenditure, then you have to increase the monthly budget of God’s work five times proportionately. In other words, you have to give to God more than what you spend on your maintenance. This is the New Testament standard of giving to God!

BRIDE DWELLING IN GARDENS

Solomon now turns to the Shulamite and whispers into her ears, “Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it” in verse 13.

Are you the one who dwells in the gardens i.e. your own garden and the gardens of other children of God? As discussed earlier, each child of God has a garden, which means a ministry to God. You should not be too selfish to be concerned about your ministry only. There are many ministers of God who covet the intercessory prayers and the offerings of the people of God for their own ministries. I have never come across a magazine or an appeal of a minister in which he has sought the prayers for another minister or the funds for another organization. You should be the one who dwells in the gardens – who should dwell in the gardens of other God’s people also by interceding for them in prayers and helping them financially.

The companions, who mean the people of God around you with whom you have fellowship, hearken to your voice. Who are your companions? They are the chosen people of God in different churches, in different nations and in different continents. They are of the invisible and universal Body of Christ. These companions do hearken to your voice because they are of the same Body and of the same Spirit. Don’t bother if the rulers of the world or the people of this world don’t hearken to your voice. If the people of God hearken to your small voice, Christ would also tell you, “Cause me to hear it”. You may proclaim a God’s message to a few companions around you either by a sermon or by an article in a magazine. It is Christ who would cause it to be heard by the universal Church, His Body throughout the world.

MOUNTAINS OF SPICES

“Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices”, the bride now turns to her beloved and asks him in the last verse of this book. She desires him to come to her quickly and take her to their waiting home upon the mountains of spices where she can begin her life of sweet companionship with him.

Dear bride of Christ, Christ is likened to a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices. Here is a young hart, which dwells on the mountains where spices grow. Christ has a final place for you upon the mountains of spices. It is a high place of holiness in His Kingdom, which is above the earthly kingdom and the dark place of the kingdom of the Devil. It is a place where the glory of Christ manifesting all His traits likened to the spices as described in the Song of Songs is revealed. It is a place where you know Him fully. It is a high place where you are seated with Christ and enjoy His sweet companionship and share His power for a power-filled ministry.

It is a place where you would enter into God’s rest after ceasing from your own works (Heb.4: 9-10). Ceasing from your own works means that doing God’s perfect will and thus ceasing from your own ways. We find in our midst many people of God doing God’s ministries in their own ways without bothering to know the God’s will. In a government or a company, there are many and different departments and the employees concerned are assigned specific and distinct jobs to perform. But in the Church, there is anarchy amongst His servants who duplicate or imitate one another’s work. Though they call themselves the soldiers of Christ, they are not disciplined and do not submit to the captainship and authority of Christ. They serve Christ without knowing their own role or appreciating the role of other ministers and thus lack the vision of His multi-membered Body. Each soldier is fighting his own battle and pursuing his own goal. Sorry to say, the Church is indeed a divided house. Most of the ministers in His vineyard call themselves pastors, though God would have called some of them to serve Him as apostles or prophets or teachers or evangelists. Even evangelists want to call themselves pastors and carry on pastoral ministries. The Word of God says very clearly that Christ “gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Eph.4: 11 & I Cor.12:28-30). As you find God’s perfect will and start doing the ministry to which He wants you to be appointed, you will indeed find yourself upon the mountains of spices, smelling the sweet fragrance of Christ and discovering His multi-membered Body.

Ceasing from your own works also means that you should be 100% dependent upon Christ only. Jesus gives rest to those who labor and are heavy laden and they find rest for their souls. They have to simply go to Him, take His yoke upon themselves and learn from Him for He is gentle and lowly in heart. His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matt.11:28-30). Nowadays, the God’s people or His ministers are restless in their souls because they have not taken His yoke but their own yokes upon themselves. Dear minister of God, you now find yourself restless and find the yoke on your shoulder heavy. It is because you carry on a ministry in accordance with your own will. Secondly, when you take His yoke upon yourself and abide in your call, you will learn from Him. The Holy Spirit, the Teacher will teach you all the truths of the Bible. The religious Gurus or the religious leaders of this world thrust their heavy yokes on the shoulders of their followers and these followers do not find rest for their souls because such Gurus are not gentle and lowly in heart.

The mountains of spices are different from the mountains of Bether as mentioned in verse 17 of chapter 2. Upon the mountains of “Bether”, you were separated from God, gripped with fear, unfaith and restlessness. In this place, you will never be defeated by the Devil and will be more than a conqueror. This is the secret place of the most High where you shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. In this very place, all His promises of protection as per Psalm 91 are available to you.

You should desire Christ to be as swift as a roe or a young hart in order to reach you as you now lead a defeated life. You have to beseech Him to make haste and come to you in order to take you to that place. As you finish reading this book prayerfully, you may now enter this very place by faith along with your Companion. Believe that you are now in the secret place of the most High upon the mountains of spices. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness nor of the destruction that wastes at noonday. Surely, He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand but it shall not come nigh you. Only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward of the wicked. No evil shall befall you neither shall any plague come near your dwelling. Believe that in this place you have a power-filled ministry to perform, notwithstanding all the failures and defeats faced by you earlier. Believe that in this place you are not alone but have the abiding presence of Christ Jesus and the fellowship of His saints, the universal Body of Christ. Amen.

May God bless you in an abundant measure as you have finished reading this book! Amen.