MOUNTAINS OF SPICES

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 i.e. 13th verse in Chapter 8 in the Song of Songs. 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.