(From the book ‘A Basket of Summer Fruit‘ by Susannah Spurgeon)

“You are so beautiful, My beloved; there is no spot in you.” Solomon’s Song 4:7

“Ah!” I hear some timid, trembling believer say, “such a text can have nothing to do with me! I am the very opposite of all that is beautiful and spotless. The eyes of my soul have seen hideous sights within, which I can never forget; and I loathe myself and my sin so much that, though I believe God has forgiven me for Christ’s sake, I feel it impossible to take those precious words as addressed to one so sinful and imperfect.”

Yet, trembling soul, I would bid you take courage, and look up. Christ’s love for His people is marvelously set forth in this Song of Songs; and if you are a believer in Him, you must be part of that Church—as much His bride and spouse as the greatest saint, or most renowned disciple. The Master makes no difference between upper and lower servants in His household. The same price was paid to redeem the least lamb of the flock, as for the choicest sheep; the same precious blood was poured out to ransom the feeblest child of the great family, as for its strongest and most notable member.

Come, then, timid one, fear not to grasp the truth now put before you; delay not to rejoice in the blessed fact that you are indeed precious to the Lord; and when He says, “You are all beautiful, My beloved,” do not contradict Him by lamenting your blackness; but, rather, adoringly bow before Him in wonder at the miracle His love has wrought in you. It ill becomes the bride of Christ to ignore His loveliness, which He has put upon her, and go about bemoaning the scars and blemishes which His great love overlooks and forgets.

It is quite true that, in themselves, believers are sorrowfully imperfect and sinful; but if the Lord Jesus, in His marvelous mercy, unrobes Himself to cover over their unrighteousness, they may well be content to be thus made “beautiful” in His sight. Do you ask, “Why should He do this?” Look at the succeeding words, “My beloved.” We cannot comprehend the mystery and sublimity of Divine love; but it is the sole and all-sufficient reason for the dear Lord’s estimate of us; and when He uses such endearing language, our hearts melt and are ravished by His condescension. Even as earthly affection is intensified and nourished by tender tones and words of special grace, so, (with reverence we say it,) when our dear Master deigns to address us in accents of love and admiration, our souls are thrilled with heavenly bliss, and we are uplifted beyond all the sorrows and vexations of this world, into an atmosphere of unspeakable spiritual joy! To be “the beloved of the Lord,” to “dwell in safety by Him,” as our Husband and dearest Friend, is so high an attainment, and so glorious a privilege, that it must forever be a marvel why we are so listless in seeking it, or so sinfully content without it.

“My beloved,” Oh, say it again, dear Master! Let the music of Your voice touch and vibrate through the deepest chords of my nature, and awaken sweet responses in my soul! You are the fount and source of all love; oh, fill me, overwhelm me, plunge me in this sea of mercy and of grace! I would be swallowed up in it, knowing no other joy or bliss comparable to that of being able to say, “My Beloved is mine—and I am His.”

“There is no spot in you.” Can our loving Lord really mean this, and mean it of you and I, dear reader? He does, indeed, if only we have believed on His Name to the saving of our soul, and trusted in His precious blood to wash away all our sin. But is it not a love passing knowledge which can cause such a statement to be absolute truth? “There is no spot in you.” “Where, then, are all my spots, dear Lord, for they were legion; and sin must have rendered me vile and loathsome in Your pure sight?” The reply comes direct from the Lord’s own Word: “When I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love. So I spread the edge of My garment over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine!”

“Before He saved her, well He knew,
What a heart like her’s would do.”

All the uncleanness—past, present, and future—all the deformity and blackness is put aside by love, cleansed away by blood, covered by Christ’s righteousness; and so completely is this done, that God Himself can find no remnant or stain of that which would have meant eternal death to an unwashed soul. Oh, the “riches of the glory of this mystery,” this mighty power which lifts a poor sinner from the depths of sin—to the heights of heavenly bliss! “What kind of love is this?” It is so Divine and incomprehensible that, in the contemplation of it, we are lost in wonder and amazement, and have to cry out, with the disciples of old, “Lord, increase our faith! ”

“There is no spot in you.” An old writer says—”Now, if God sees no spot, why should you be prying after one? Poring over your misery, searching after your blackness and depravity, will be no help to you. It is only keeping your eye off Jesus, instead of up unto Jesus. You cannot look two ways at once. How did the poor serpent-bitten Israelites in the wilderness get relief and healing? By looking to their sores, their wounds, their malady? Oh, no! it was by looking to the brazen serpent! And if you would get relief, it must be by looking to Jesus Christ!”

Now, my poor heart, will you not accept your Lord’s own verdict concerning you, and rejoice in His assurance that you are lovely with His loveliness which He has put upon you? That HE thinks you to be “all beautiful” will make you guard against any defilement, and keep aloof from anything which could sully your purity. That He should say, “My beloved,” will help you to listen more eagerly for His sweet voice, waiting upon His lips lest one love-word should be lost. And that He should declare, “There is no spot in you,” will make you so tenderly circumspect that you will be enabled to “walk worthy of God” and of love so unspeakable and Divine.

Lord Jesus, what a glorious Savior You are! How can Your bride, Your Church, tell forth her delight in Your beauty? All the sin, which made her SO black and vile, was laid upon You; yet it only made You “fairer than the children of men;” and the bearing of that awful burden does but immeasurably enhance the glory which was Your with the Father before the world was created. How sorrowful it is that such love should be despised and rejected by thousands whom it could and would save from eternal death!

The question comes pertinently, “What do you think you of Christ?” Bless the Lord, if we can make answer, “He is the chief among ten thousand! Yes, He is altogether lovely!”