Song of Solomon 4:16 "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits."

This morning, society sees the church as an extra social organization or function. To be a member of a certain group only matters to folks in how it improves their standing in the community, what contacts they can make, or how it benefits their endeavors for glory and power.

The church is like no other group on this earth. Our Lord said that His kingdom was not of this world, and our mode should not be to make her look like this world. Rather, our prayer and hope should be that she keeps us from looking like the world. In the church, the members find rest and consolation from the troubles without, and should a local body begin to favour and appear like the world, then the members will find no rest for their souls. In this song, the man and woman are exchanging lyrics that show forth the love that they have for each other. The man (Christ) expresses His love for the woman (the church), and she, in return, answers fondly. This chapter is comparing the woman or church to a garden that is full of pleasant and dainty things that belong to the man. At the end of the man's exchange to the woman, the woman responds in this verse. She declares and prays that the man would have fruit to eat and partake of. The desire is that the north wind would blow upon the garden so that the spices would flow out and the fruit would be ready for the partaking. The Spirit of God is compared to windows seen on the Day of Pentecost. On that occasion, a rushing mighty wind came and blew upon the service. The end result was that 3,000 were converted that very day. In the service today, may the Lord's wind would blow from the north upon His garden and bless us to the praise, honour, and glory of His name. Notice that the wind is coming from the north. Psalm 75:6 tells us that promotion only comes from the north. God is the judge of this matter, and if the north wind is blowing upon us, then the promotion comes from His goodness. There are many winds in this world, but they will only toss us to and fro, but the north wind (from God) will bless us with promotion and proper frame. The end result of this north wind blowing upon the garden is two-fold. The north wind blows firstly for the spices to flow out. There are many pleasant odours in this garden that Revelation tells us are the prayer of the saints. When we pray without ceasing and offer up supplication to Him, it fills the heavenly throne-room with the pleasant smells from the vials being opened in His presence. This smells good to our Lord, and it smells like death to the world.

To the world, we should smell and taste like death, but to the saints of God and our Lord Himself, we should smell and taste like life and goodness. The second result of the north wind blowing is that our Beloved will eat of the fruits of the garden. Now, we must be working for fruit to be growing and ripe. Therefore, if we are in service to our Lord, we need to have our ground prepared and furrowed to receive the word of His goodness so that we would bring forth abundant fruit for and to Him. The fruit is for His glory that others might see and glorify God. But, the fruit is also to Him that He will eat. He tells the disciples that He desired to eat the supper with them, and today He knocks to sup with us (Revelation 3:20). We need to be up and about the Master's business to bring pleasant fruits for Him to eat. Let us be praying and laboring to this end, for even though our eternal home is not dependent upon such things, ought we not to do them for the One who bore the load none of us could bear? Since He trod the path the we were unable, may we tread the path of His example and feel, after Him to magnify His glorious name all the days of our life.