Come, Lord Jesus: The Final Cry Text: Song of Solomon 8:13-14
Introduction: The End of the Song
Every story worth telling has an ending, and the ending tells you what the story was about all along. A tragedy ends in death and despair. A comedy ends in a wedding. The Bible, the greatest story ever told, is a divine comedy, and it ends with the marriage supper of the Lamb. And the Song of Songs, this glorious, earthy, and profoundly spiritual love poem, is a miniature version of that same story. It is a story about a real man and a real woman, with all the attendant desires and delights that God Himself invented and pronounced very good. To flatten this book into a bloodless allegory is to commit a kind of Gnostic sacrilege, as though God were somehow embarrassed by the good world He made.
But to leave it on the level of mere human romance is to miss the forest for the trees. The apostle Paul tells us that marriage itself is a mystery, a profound parable that points to Christ and His bride, the Church (Eph. 5:32). Therefore, this song is not just any love song; it is the Song of Songs because it sings of the ultimate love story. It sings of the love that many waters cannot quench. It sings of the gospel.
And so we come to the final two verses. The entire book has been a whirlwind of courtship, desire, separation, and reunion. It has been filled with the lush imagery of gardens, vineyards, feasting, and intimate communion. But how does it end? It ends not with a final, settled embrace, but with a dialogue of intense longing. The Groom makes a request, and the Bride responds with an urgent plea. It is a conversation suspended in time, hanging in the air with glorious, unresolved tension. And this is precisely how it must end, because while the Church is truly Christ's bride now, the final wedding feast has not yet come. We live in the "already, but not yet." We are betrothed, we are loved, we have the down payment of the Spirit, but we still await the final consummation. These last two verses, therefore, teach us the proper posture of the Church in this age: to speak to our Beloved, and to plead for His swift return.
The Text
"O you who sit in the gardens, My companions are giving heed to your voice, Let me hear it!"
"Hurry, my beloved, And be like a gazelle or a young stag On the mountains of spices."
(Song of Solomon 8:13-14 LSB)
The Groom's Request (v. 13)
The second to last verse is the voice of the beloved, the husband, Solomon. Typologically, this is the voice of Christ speaking to His Church.
"O you who sit in the gardens, My companions are giving heed to your voice, Let me hear it!" (Song of Solomon 8:13)
First, notice where she is. She is one "who sit[s] in the gardens." The book begins and ends in a garden. This is not accidental. The story of humanity began in a garden, a place of perfect fellowship with God. That garden was lost through sin, and the story of redemption is the story of God planting new gardens throughout the world. What are these gardens? They are the churches. Each local church is an outpost of Eden, a cultivated space carved out of the world's wilderness, a place where God's people dwell in fellowship with Him and with one another. She is not a wanderer in the wilderness; she is a dweller, a resident in the places Christ has planted for her.
Second, her voice is being heard. "My companions are giving heed to your voice." Who are the companions? These are the friends of the bridegroom, the fellow-servants and saints, both on earth and the great cloud of witnesses in heaven. The Church does not exist in a vacuum. Her testimony, her songs of praise, her confession of faith, her gospel witness, this voice is public. The world hears it, the angels hear it, the saints hear it. The corporate witness of the Church is a beautiful and powerful thing. The companions are listening intently.
But this corporate witness is not the ultimate point. The Groom's desire is for something more personal, more direct. He concludes with a tender command: "Let me hear it!" It is as though Christ is saying, "I hear your testimony echoing among my friends. I see your public worship. I approve of the corporate praise. But what I long for, my bride, is to hear your voice directed at Me. I want the intimate whisper, the personal cry of love, the direct address from your heart to mine." This is a call to move beyond formal religion to fervent, personal communion. Christ does not just want His church to be a well-ordered institution, a garden admired by all. He wants a bride who speaks to Him, who loves Him, who desires Him. He wants to hear from you.
The Bride's Reply (v. 14)
The entire book, and indeed the entire Old Testament canon as it was arranged in the Hebrew Bible, ends with the bride's response. Her voice is the last thing we hear.
"Hurry, my beloved, And be like a gazelle or a young stag On the mountains of spices." (Song of Solomon 8:14 LSB)
Her response is immediate, passionate, and focused entirely on him. He said, "Let me hear it," and she speaks directly to Him. And what is the content of her final plea? It is a cry for His return. "Hurry, my beloved." The King James says, "Make haste." This is the great eschatological cry of the Church. This is "Maranatha." This is, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev. 22:20). The truest and most ultimate thing the Church can say to her Lord is, "Come back!" It is a confession that our fellowship now, as sweet as it is, is incomplete. It is a statement that our greatest joy is not in the present blessings, but in the future hope of His return.
She asks him to be "like a gazelle or a young stag." This imagery has been used before in the Song. It speaks of masculine energy, speed, and untamed strength. She does not want him to amble back. She does not want him to stroll through history at a leisurely pace. She wants him to bound over the hills, to come swiftly, eagerly, powerfully. It is a desire for a decisive, glorious, and imminent return. This is not the prayer of a church that is terrified of the future, trying to delay the final judgment. This is the prayer of a bride who has been prepared and is aching with desire for her husband.
And where is he to come? "On the mountains of spices." This is the destination. What are these mountains? This is the new heavens and the new earth. Spices in the ancient world were associated with beauty, great value, preservation, and fragrant worship. Think of the incense in the temple, or the spices prepared for Christ's burial. The mountains of spices represent the perfected creation, a world renewed and filled with the imperishable aroma of God's glory. It is the garden of Eden, but now elevated, on a mountain, filling the entire world. It is the consummated kingdom, the place of everlasting, fragrant joy. Her final prayer is for him to come quickly and meet her there, on the majestic peaks of the renewed creation, where their love will be finally and fully consummated.
Conclusion: The Proper Posture
So the Song of Songs ends here. The Groom asks to hear his bride's voice, and her voice cries out for his return. This is the blueprint for the Christian life and the life of the Church. We are to be those who dwell in the gardens, faithfully planting and tending our churches, our families, and our communities. Our voice of witness and worship should be heard by all the companions.
But all of this activity must be fueled by a deep, personal communion with Christ, a voice that He alone is meant to hear. And the more we speak to Him, the more our hearts will be filled with the one, great, final desire that animates the heart of a true bride: the desire for the Groom's return. Our work in this world, our efforts to build and take dominion, are not done in order to create a kingdom that makes His return unnecessary. Rather, we work and build and fight as a bride preparing the home for her husband's arrival. We adorn the house because we expect the master to return.
The last word of the Song is a summons. It is a command to the Church in every age. Cultivate the gardens. Make your corporate voice heard. But above all, in the quiet of your own heart and in the prayers of the saints, let the Groom hear your voice. And let that voice be one that says, with all the accumulated longing of the ages, "Hurry, my beloved. Come quickly. Take us to the mountains of spices."