Samuel Rutherford's Letters

11 December 2016

Dear Phyllis,

I came out of a background of deep darkness of liberal Christianity that believed anyone who was so retarded to believe the Bible was the Word of God had a serious problem. One of the first shocks I had after Jesus moved into my heart was to discover that the Bible is actually true. I first began my inquiry of the Scripture by reading the gospels of the life of Christ. Next I looked at the letters of Paul. From there I went into the OT reading Genesis, the historical books, and Psalms. But when I got to the Song of Solomon I thought, “What in the world is this?”. I felt like it was a treasure box with a lock on it. I had been saved about two years when I read a short booklet by Hudson Taylor on Union and Communion. Amazingly that was the only thing Hudson Taylor ever wrote and it is a short devotional on the Song of Solomon. When I read that my eyes were opened and I thought, “Naru hodo (I see) this is all about Jesus and His Bride”. A year after that I fell heir to lead a Bible study and felt led to study this amazing book. That study changed my life.

Six years ago I was in the study of a fine missionary in Japan and noticed he had on his shelf a copy of The Letters of Samuel Rutherford. I don't know if Karl ever realized it or not, but when he reached up and gave me that book he gave away the greatest treasure he had in his study. Today I read The Letters of Samuel Rutherford in conjunction with the Bible every morning for devotions. Of all the people I have ever met, heard, or read, Samuel Rutherford is absolutely unique as the only man I have ever encountered that literally lived the Book of the Song of Solomon. If you don't know the Song of Solomon the letters of Rutherford would be utterly meaningless.

I have seen that there are three levels of relationships with God. It was not without purpose that God made man in His own image. And it was not without desire that He came down in the cool of the day to fellowship with His created being and his wife. The significant thing was that He found them hiding; and ever since that incomprehensible fall, Man has never fully recovered the relationship that was intended in the Garden.

Some men certainly knew God from Able to Abraham. Enoch walked with God for 300 years, Noah found favor with God. But with Abraham God began something genetically new. He took a woman who was utter incapable of reproduction and a 99 year old man to produce a seed that would ultimately become HIS PEOPLE. But it would take 500 hundred years before the descendants of Abraham would multiply to nearly 2, 000, 000. It is significant that when God spoke to Moses in the Bush He said, “I have seen the affliction of MY PEOPLE...” (Ex. 3:7). And in the subsequent conflict with Pharaoh, God consistently used the expression of MY PEOPLE (Ex. 7:4, 16; 8:1, 8 22, 23; etc). After the exodus from Egypt the Lord brought His people to Sinai and made a covenant with them. The total essence of that Covenant was, “I will be your God and you will be My people. The expression of that relationship was what God said, “I will set My Tabernacle among you... I will walk with you, and I will be your God and you shall be My people” (Lev. 26:11,12).

But that Tabernacle was a contradiction. This was the same contradiction that Moses experienced at the burning Bush when God called Moses out of the Bush but then said, “Draw not nigh”, (Ex. 3:5). The fact that God established His Tabernacle with Israel was an expression that God desired to live with His people, but then He told them to put up a Vail (Ex. 26:33; Lev. 16:2). The Tabernacle was an expression of God's desire to be with His people, but the Vail was a barrier to keep them away.

When God met with Israel at Sinai it was terrifying. The whole mountain was an intense fire. Israel said to Moses, “You talk to us but please don't let God talk to us” (Ex. 20:19). Joe Carroll once told me that he was sharing a conference with AW Tozer at Fort Wayne Bible School. They asked Joe to do the counseling. He told me the kids were lined up down the hall coming in for counseling scared to death. I asked Joe, “What was Tozer preaching about?”. “God.” “What in the world could he get out of that?” Joe quoted a couple of verses out of Exodus that said, “God came down on Sinai and the whole mountain was a blaze, and Moses went up into that burning fire and lived”. I thought, “Oh my goodness, I never thought of that. Small wonder those kids were scared silly”. They never knew that God was a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).

When Jesus came to the scene, He introduced us to an entirely new concept. The first words that ever came out of Jesus' mouth was, “I must be about My Father's business” (Lk. 2:xx) And in His first recorded message He taught us, “When ye pray say. 'Our Father'” (Mt. 6:9). To call God Father was radically new. Today Islam has a solid understanding of a creator God. They have an intense conviction of sin. They have a death fear of judgment. But they certainly would never dream of calling Allah Father. The Jews in Jesus' day may have had a slightly higher view of God with a measure of mercy and grace. But they too would not address God as Father. This term came with Jesus. Almost exclusively Jesus called God Father. The reason He did so was because He was the Son of God. And today we have every reason to say “Father”; because we are born-again of the Spirit of God and are sons of God (Jn. 1:12; Rom. 8:15,16).

But there is a higher relationship – that as husband and wife. All Christians universally accept that the Church is the Bride of Christ (Jn. 3:29; Mk. 2:19,20; Mt. 22:2; 25:1-10; Rev. 19:7; 21:9). But a concept that Christians should have a husband/wife relationship with Jesus is offensive. That is why it is so embarrassing to read the Song of Solomon. I was preaching in Mino Mission one night with Betty Whewell interpreting for me. When I stood up and said, “Tonight I would like to share with you some wonderful truths from the Book of the Song of Solomon”; Betty turned to me and said, “We should never talk about this Book in public. It should only be read in the privacy of our bedrooms”. Because of our defiled, fallen, minds it is extremely difficult for us to have any concept of having a holy husband/wife relationship with Jesus. With our clouded minds we are in as much darkness as a frog in a well.

But that was not so with Samuel Rutherford. In his letters – in speaking of Jesus - Rutherford frequently refereed to the smell of His garments (S. of S. 4:11; Ps. 45:8), the smell of His breath (S.of S. 7:8), the tenderness of His kisses (S. of S. 1:2), the taste of His apples (S. of S. 2:3,5) Rutherford spoke much about the Lord taking him into His banqueting house (S. of S. 2:4). To our perverted minds much of Rutherford's letters would be down right pornographic. I believe much of our problem is that we are more centered on doctrine than we are on spiritual reality. We are strong on intellectual orthodoxy but weak on spiritual experience. With Jesus I suspect that it is the other way around.

Life is an experience. Spiritual life is an experience. Love is an experience. Quoting 1 Cor. 13 is not the same as knowing you are loved. Oh how weak we are in experience. How little do we feel that we are deeply loved. I believe in scripture the one who came the closest to truly knowing the Lord was John. In his amazing gospel he never uses his name once. He only refers to himself as that disciple. But from chapter 13 on he uses a unique expression; five times referring to himself as the disciple that Jesus loved (Jn. 13:21; 19:26; 20:2; 21:4; 21:20). What an amazing relationship!

In our perverted world today it is the unusual marriage that is the way God intended it to be. I believe the reason why the violation of 7^th commandment is such a serious issue, and there is so much written about it in the Bible, is because God has given us the institution of marriage to exemplify to us the relationship that God originally intended to have with man. And the devil has made that as one of his primary targets.

With the Fall intimacy with God was impossible. It was necessary that there should be a Vail between God and man. But at the Cross Jesus tore away that Vail. Today we have an imagined access to God. We call God Father. But few indeed have moved experiencially into the ultimate relationship God desires. Most of us are comfortable with calling God Father but we cringe at having a Song of Solomon relationship with Jesus. Praise God we know what the final act will be. That which was originally instituted in the Garden will be culminated in heaven. What John saw will be reality.

I John saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for Her Husband. And I heard a voice out of heaven saying, “Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God”.

Lord Jesus, haste that day.  Bill