“Come Away” And Be Changed (Song 2:8-17)

“My beloved spoke, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away” (vs10).

The Son of God comes to us skipping upon the hills and leaping upon the mountains of our sin and unbelief - “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes” (vs8).  Having paid for sins and being gracious to sinners, our unbelief and obstacles are no problems for Him; He isn’t hindered.

He comes to us saying, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away”. He calls us TO Himself.  Salvation isn’t forgiveness only, but forgiveness and cleansing, so He calls us to obedience, faith, love, joy, and peace, by doing things His way.  

He will cleanse and change the character, so that we can enjoy Him in the change that He makes and the peace of His Spirit, “being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God“ (Col 1:10).  He doesn’t merely say, “I’ll fellowship with you, as you are, in the way that you want to live”, but He says, “Come unto ME all you that labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matt 11:28). I’ll fix you, pardon you, strengthen you, and cause you to obey, and in this, you’ll have power, love, joy, and peace: you’ll have Me (John 14:15).

The Lord could have simply come all the way in and saved her without her response, but He desires us to come to Him - “My beloved is like a gazelle or a young deer: behold, he stands behind our wall, he looks forth at the windows, showing himself through the opening“ (vs9).  He will not have us ignorant or constrained by outside force, but He’ll have us come to Him by faith, confess our sins to the Beloved, and live by willful obedience.  It isn’t the unintelligent worship of the robotic that He seeks but the willing worship of people who need Him and take hold of salvation.

He says, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away” (vs13). Come away with Him.  Do not stay where you are; don’t refuse to repent of known sins, and don’t seek Christ’s peace on your terms. Come to Him, believe, repent, and obey by the Spirit’s power, and you’ll have Christ returned to you in experience: you’ll taste His power, “For, lo, the winter is past, and the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; the fig tree puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell” (vs11-13).

But, be careful. Your Winter season is past for a beautiful Spring time with Christ, but don’t think that you are a big shot now - “Take us, the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes“ (vs15). Yield yourself to Him and lean on Him continually, because your new fruit is tender, and there are foxes who seek to distract and deceive you, taking your eyes off Christ and causing you to sin, so that His presence is gone.  Take great care to maintain fellowship with Christ by repentance, faith, and love continually.  Be changed, and He will stay with you.

Here is an Illustration:

My boss got under my skin, and I can either keep my anger and bitterness, or I can have Christ, but I can’t have both.

Needing Christ for peace, I came to Him, and He instructed me to submit to my boss and then taught me things that I can do to make the situation better, perhaps.  God gave me PEACE, as He gave me His will, pardoning and changing me to love.

Now, Christ RETURNS and I have something more valuable than the pleasure of sin for a season, something better than hate and pride: I have love, joy, and peace.