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The Church says concerning her Lord, "My beloved is mine and I am His." No "ifs," no "buts." The two sentences are solemn assertions. Not "I hope, I trust, I think;" but, my Beloved is mine, and I am His." "Yes," but you will say, "the Church must then have been gazing upon her Husband's face; it must have been a season of peculiar enjoyment with Him, when she could speak thus." Nay, nay; the Church, when she thus spake, was in darkness; for in the very next verse she cries — "Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bather."

I. I AM MY BELOVED'S, AND MY BELOVED IS THEREFORE MINE.

1. "I am my Beloved's." Glorious assertion! I am His by the Father's gift. But I am my Beloved's, if I be a believer, because of Jesus Christ's purchase of me. But more than this, "I am my Beloved's," for I am His by conquest. He fought for me, and He won me, let Him possess me. Besides this, every true believer can add, "I am my Beloved's" by a gracious surrender. "With full consent I give myself to Thee." We have seen how we came to be our Beloved's, let us inquire in what sense we are so now. We are his, first of all, by a near affinity that never can be sundered. Christ is the head; we are His members. Further than this; we, are our Beloved's by a most affectionate relationship. He is the husband, believers are the spouse. "I am my Beloved's" by an indissoluble connection, just as a child is the property of his father.

2. The second sentence in order of time is, "My Beloved is mine." Ah! you very poor men and women, you who could not call one foot of land your own! If you can say, "My Beloved is mine," you have greater wealth than Croesus ever knew, or than a miser ever dreamed. But how is my Beloved mine? He is mine, because He gave Himself to me of old. But besides that, our Beloved is not only ours by His own gift, which is the bottom of all, but He is ours by a graciously completed union. "I in them, and Thou in Me;" for thus the union stands. Again: Christ is ours personally. We sometimes speak of severally and jointly. Well, then, Christ is ours jointly; but He is ours severally too. Christ is as much yours, however mean you may be, as though He did not belong to another man living. He is all mine, all yours; personally mine, personally yours. Oh that we could realize this fact! And, then again, Christ is always ours. He is never more ours at one time, and less ours at another. The moment we believe in Him we may know our perfect and invariable right to Christ — a right which depends not upon the changes of the hour, or upon the temperature of our frames and feelings, but upon those two immutable things wherein it is impossible for God to lie.

II. I shall now take the text IN THE ORDER IN WHICH IT IS GIVEN TO US, WHICH IS THE ORDER OF OUR EXPERIENCE. Do you not see, that to a man's experience God's order is reversed? We begin thus: "My Beloved is mine." I go to Him, take Him up in the arms of my faith, as Simeon took up the little Child in the temple, and pressing Him to my heart, I say: "Jesus, Thou art mine. All unholy and unclean, I nevertheless obey Thy command; I believe Thee; I take Thee at Thy word; I trust my soul wholly with Thee; Thou art mine, and my soul can never part with Thee." What next? Why, then the soul afterwards says: "Now I am Thine, tell me what Thou wouldst have me do. Jesus, let me abide with Thee. Lord, I would follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest; put me on any service; dictate to me any commandment; tell me what Thou wouldst have me to do to glorify Thee?" Christ is mine — this is faith. I am His — this is good works. Christ is mine: that is the simple way in which the soul is saved. I am Christ's: that is the equally simple method by which salvation displays itself in its practical fruits. God's commands require obedience, and it is essential that every servant be found faithful. Whatever Jesus bids us do, if it save us not from anything else, at any rate the fulfilment of it will save us from the sin of being disobedient to Him.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.

WEB: My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies.