Song of Solomon 2:2

Many good and learned men have thought that in the first verse we have the voice of the Bridegroom, not of the bride. But surely in the second verse the Bridegroom owns the speaker in the first verse to be His loved one. Everyone agrees that this second verse is the voice of the Beloved. In the first verse, we have no doubt, the bride is the speaker. In the joy of communion she is acknowledging what He in His grace has made her. All her beauty in His sight, and the affections of her heart for Himself, are His own creation.

But hear the answer that this great lover gives to his chosen bride. He takes up her own words, but he adds to them. He adorns them and makes them glow with his love. He uses them as the opportunity to show her the great proof of his great love for her. So he increases her confidence in him, and enlarges her affection for him.

She is the lily. But in the valley where the lily grows there are thorns, and they serve as a background to bring out the beauty of the lily. In the dark valley of this world there are those who have none of the beauty of Christ upon them. They are thorns for the burning, thorns that would only wound Him. But there are also His own, those in whom Christ can delight, the excellent of the earth, lilies among the thorns. They are Christ's sanctified ones, and He has put His beauty upon them. Their dreary surroundings show off their excellences all the more. To have His lily, Christ had to descend into the valley of the thorns; yes, He must wear the thorns to win His bride.

Dr. Thompson, in his book The Land and the Book, says of this lily: "Our flower likes the valleys best, but it grows on the mountains too. It grows among thorns, and I have sadly torn my hands getting it out of them." Suppose we can say, "I am the lily of the valleys." Suppose we know that we are this to Christ. His answer is, "Yes, but the lily among the thorns." He would have us remember that it cost Him something to secure us for Himself. How torn He was in getting us out of the tangled thorns in which we grew! He showed His hands and His side to His disciples when He came to them in resurrection.

Hear what the Bridegroom says of the earthly bride: "As the lily among thorns" — the gorgeous lily growing in the thorn thickets of Palestine — "so is my love among the daughters." We are taught about the thorn: how it came in, and what its end will be. We were all thorns once. We can take these words for ourselves and say that His grace has transformed us into the lily. Clothed in Christ, the believing soul has that fragrance and beauty before Him. God is the One who does this; it is not the result of their scheming and toil.

Perhaps you say, "If I were only in different surroundings! My surroundings are so difficult." Well, that is just what we get here: a lily among thorns. Why does Christ leave His lily among the sharp thorns? That certainly is no suitable place for a delicate lily, you say. But He leaves it there because that is just where He wants it to be. There it sheds its sweet fragrance all around, in gentle grace and spotless purity.

The bride takes her place, and the bridegroom owns only her. She is the lily, the rest thorns. Jerusalem and Israel are restored under the Messiah, delight in Him, and are sheltered under Him.