Come Away (by Eric William Gilmour)

Some people always have something good to say because they are overflowing with a heart ablaze for Jesus.  My friend and fellow evangelist Eric Gilmour is one of those people.  Today we are together in Charlottle, North Carolina having rich and wonderful time of fellowship.  I asked him to share with us what is on his heart and he gave me the following.  It will stir you!

COME AWAY

We cannot rightly say, “I am His,” until we truly believe, “He is mine.”  God has given Himself to us.  The spread arms of Christ on the cross are not only a picture of His openness to all but also the total gift of Himself to us.  In Song of Songs 2.10 we see the Beloved, a picture of Christ, saying to His bride, a picture of the Church, “Arise, my love my fair one and come away.”  This sentence has two commands in it, “arise” and “come away.”

To “arise” is to come up and out.  A man arises from his slumber and his bed.  Shaking off slumber, he comes out of his bed and stands above his bed.  The first command is a call to come out of the world, slumber and lesser things or above the lower things.

“Come away” means separation from all others unto One. Leave these things to solitude where the beloved can be the only object of affection.

He is calling His bride out of the world, slumber and to live above the lower things of this world.  He is calling His bride away from all others to be separated unto Himself alone.

But inside of such a call and command there is installed two encouragements, “my love”and “fair one.”  The phrase my love is a label of love upon an individual.  I say to my wife, whom I love, “Do you want to go with me, my love?”  It is a way to place, “I love you” indirectly in a sentence.  The phrase “fair one” is a phrase of acknowledging beauty in someone.  And this acknowledged beauty is always a sign of attraction.

So the encouragements that follow and proceed the commands and calls are assurance of love and attraction.

I believe that before we can ever come after Him, we must first have seen that He HAS COME AFTER US.  Past tense. He has done all that He can, bleeding to death on that humiliating cross.

If a person is to ever “arise” or “come away.”  If a person is ever to come out of the world above the lower things, or separated themselves unto Him alone, it is imperative that they see His love for them and His attraction to them displayed in no greater way than the lacerations on His back and nails in His hands.

We are in a bad way when we deliver the call from the beloved to His love and leave out the love behind the command.  If we leave out God’s affection for the individual and deliver the command to the individual, we give a partial message.  In fact, to leave out the encouragement of love and attraction, one will have a hard time understanding that He wants them and knows that He is best for them.  They will have a snare of religion in their life, bad religion that is; rules and regulations with no actual power to perform them.  Though repentance is a turning from, it is not just a turning from…it is a turning to.  And it is the power of that which is turned to, that enables the turning from, namely, JESUS.

If we leave out the commands and just major on the encouragements of affection and love and attraction of God, we run the risk of missing the whole point of why He desires us…He wants us for Himself.  He will not share us with the world.  1 John makes it clear that you cannot love both the world and God.  James tells us that the friendship with the world makes us God’s enemy.  The old Mystics believed that God’s jealousy for our hearts is so great that He will not allow us to enjoy anything outside of Him.  Basilia Schlink said, “God tolerates no rivals.”  First love is the only love.  The problem that seems to be in our midst in America is that we don’t see true love for JESUS as exclusive.  We love JESUS and…

So with these things written, hear the Lord say to you afresh, “Arise, my love my fair one and come away.”