Winter 2003
Important Distinctions That Make a Difference
Wade E Taylor

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if anyone hears My
voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with Me.” Rev 3:20.

The certainty that all Christians experience the indwelling, abiding presence of the Holy Spirit is absolute. There are no conditions to meet, apart from receiving Jesus as Saviour. For all who are redeemed, this is a reality that can be depended upon. The Holy Spirit is always faithful in His ministry of maintaining our redemption, and of making Jesus known to us.

However, the possibility of our experiencing the manifest presence of the Lord is conditional. For this experience to become a part of us, we must have the desire and ability to recognize His presence, and then be willing to turn aside from all activity in order to wait upon Him.

This ability to recognize and rightly respond to His manifest presence is dependent upon our having cultivated a spiritual sensitivity, and our obedience in turning aside in response to His presence, whenever He may desire to visit us.

We must learn how to open the “door” of our inner ear to Jesus when He personally comes and seeks to reveal His presence to us. This means that those who desire to have this experience of intimate communion with the Lord must respond to any indication of His manifest presence, and then promptly turn aside from whatever they are involved in, and wait in His presence.

In the Song of Solomon, the Lord purposely attempted to visit His bride at a time when it was not convenient for her to respond, and she failed the test. This exposed her spiritual need, and caused her to see what her interests truly were. Through this, the Lord was able to teach her concerning the value and the purpose of His “manifest presence.”

When the Lord came and knocked on the door of her heart in order to accomplish this, she heard His knock and acknowledged it; “I sleep, but my heart wakes. It is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to Me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.” SS 5:2a.

She was comfortably resting in bed and made an excuse as to why she could not respond. “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” SS 5:3. Reluctantly, He departed because of her failure to open the doorway that would lead into a time of intimate communion with Him, even though her excuse was reasonable.

During the time in which the bride lived, the latch on the door of entrance into a home was located on the inside of the door. It could only be unlatched by reaching through a small hole in the door and unlatching it from within. This provided a limited means of security and protection.

The Lord so desired to visit with His bride that He pushed His hand through this opening in the door, but He did not open it, as the door of our heart is always in our control and can only be opened by us. This action by the Lord deeply stirred the bride toward Him. Later, she testified concerning this, “My beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for Him.” SS 5:4.

The Lord will never invade or violate our privacy. We must open the door, He never will. This principle is established in Scripture. “If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” Rev 3:20b. An action is required on our part before the Lord will manifest, or reveal His presence to us.

When she realized that His hand reaching through the latch was an expression of desire toward her, she (finally) responded and opened the door to Him.

“I rose up to open to my Beloved; and my hands dropped with
myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the
handles of the lock. I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved
had withdrawn Himself, and was gone: my soul failed when
He spoke: I sought Him, but I could not find Him; I called
Him, but He gave me no answer.” SS 5:5-6.

Now, the Lord will allow her to experience the essential difference between the gifts and blessings that He is able to leave behind for her to find, and the tremendous value of His “manifest presence.” He longs for us to come into the understanding of knowing Him as a person, rather than allowing us to continue knowing Him solely for all of the things that He can provide.

He had reluctantly withdrawn His “manifest presence” from the door of entrance into her spirit. However, the result of His presence had remained upon the lock. When she touched the lock, all of this anointing came upon her. She had a handful of the gifts and blessings that He left for her, when He departed. Previously, she would have been content to have these apart from Him, but now she panicked and longed for the personal presence of the Bridegroom Himself.

Many are not able to differentiate between these two aspects of His presence:

First, there is the general sense of His divine presence that relates to our salvation and to its outworking within our lives. This speaks of the unconditional “abiding presence” of the Holy Spirit within us.

Second, there is the coming of the Lord to personally reveal Himself to us, and to share Himself with us in fellowship and communion. This speaks of a conditional visitation from the Lord, and is referred to as His “manifest presence.”

The first aspect of His presence is general, and relates to His enabling grace and power.

“Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.” Jer 23:24B.

The second aspect of His presence is specific and personal, and relates to His person.

“He stands behind our wall, He looks forth at the windows,
showing Himself through the lattice.” SS 2:9b.

Previously, the bride had vividly expressed a characteristic of the Bridegroom; the sensitiveness of His “manifest presence.” She had said,

“My Beloved is like a roe or a young heart.” SS 2:9a.

She knew that His manifest presence was delicate, and that it could be easily grieved. Therefore, she should have known that He would leave when she delayed her response to Him.

“I opened to my Beloved; but my Beloved had withdrawn
Himself, and was gone … I called Him, but He gave me no
answer.” SS 5:6.

We should carefully consider these things, and then learn from her mistake. We must be diligent in becoming increasingly more perceptive in discerning His presence. Whenever the Lord comes to reveal Himself to us, we should promptly acknowledge His presence. Then, we should quickly turn aside from whatever we are involved in, and in a spirit of anticipation, invite Him to come within the “room” of our spirit to commune with us.

After she realized that He was gone, she turned to those who should have been seeking Him with her, and said to them,

“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved,
that you tell Him, that I am sick of love.” SS 5:8.

There are two different categories of Christians within the Church. This is clearly brought out in the Song of Solomon.

“My dove, My undefiled is but one: she is the only one of
her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The
daughters saw her, and blessed her.” SS 6:9-10a.

The first group is the “Bride.” She has captured the singular attention and interest of the Bridegroom, as she had said to the Lord,

“Tell me, O You whom my soul loves, where You feed, where You
make Your flock to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that
turns aside by the flocks of Your companions?” SS 1:7.

She seeks to go beyond others, to the Lord Himself.

The second group are the daughters of Jerusalem. These are saved and have some understanding of the things of God. They regularly attend Church and become involved to a certain extent. Their testimony is quite different:

“What is your Beloved more than another beloved,
that you do so charge us?” SS 5:9b.

They are saying, “We have gone far enough, we will stay here. Besides, we do not see why we need to go through all these dealings, or continually anticipate His presence.”

The Lord had withdrawn His “manifest presence” from the bride. However, she was not satisfied with simply attending Church, apart from the presence of the Lord in the program. Therefore, she spoke to the Church visible, portrayed here as the daughters of Jerusalem, and said to them,

“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my Beloved,
that you tell Him, that I am sick of love.” SS 5:8.

The daughters of Jerusalem answered her and said, “What is your Beloved more than another beloved.” They only saw the benefits of being a Christian. To them, going to Church represented the doing of their “duty.” Also, it provided them with a time for social fellowship and activities. The thought of fellowship and communion with the Lord Himself was far from their minds or interest.

The daughters of Jerusalem could only say to the bride, “What is He more than a good job, a nice home, or security? What is He more than all of the good things that we have? We are satisfied and content. We ARE the daughters of Jerusalem, and it is enough; do not bother us with your seeking of the Lord. Besides, you are trying to be too spiritual.”

But something had happened within the spirit of the bride. She had experienced the joy and the satisfaction of communion with the Lord. She had been within “the garden enclosed” with Him. Now, she longed for the continuing experience of His personal presence, and felt incomplete when she was apart from Him.

When the daughters of Jerusalem said to the bride, “What is He more than another,” she did not tell them about all of the blessings that she had received from Him. Rather, she began to tell them about the Bridegroom Himself.

“My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten
thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, His locks
are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes
of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and
fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers:
His lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His
hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: His belly is
as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as
pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: His
countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
His mouth is most sweet: yea, He is altogether lovely.
This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend, O daughters
of Jerusalem.” SS 5:10-16.

She gave an intimate, personal description of her beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. She was able to clearly describe His Person because she had been spending time alone with Him, and had a single eye towards Him. She intimately knew Him, and could give clear expression to His beauty and desirability.

The daughters of Jerusalem had said, “What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you do so charge us?” The bride exalted the Lord Jesus and set Him forth as the answer to the inner cry of every heart. This brought a response from the daughters of Jerusalem that is so needed in our day of special gimmicks and programs to build up the Church.

“Whither is your Beloved gone, O you fairest among women?
whither is your Beloved turned aside? that we may seek Him
with you?” SS 6:1.

Their hearts were stirred by the testimony that flowed out from of her, as she expressed her love for Him. The bride set forth the Lord Himself, in evident view for the daughters of Jerusalem to behold.

In Acts 1:8 the Lord said, “But you shall receive power, after the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to Me ...” As we set our gaze upon Him and “witness to Him,” His beauty is reflected through us for others to behold.

The enemy of our spiritual life will seek to turn us aside from this, and will try to deceive us by saying: “It is selfish to seek to become personally spiritual. Do not waste your time alone in fellowship with Jesus. Rather, go out and witness. Get so busy working for the Lord that you have no time to meet with the Lord in your own devotional life.”

The enemy knows the power that can flow through the life of one who has been alone with the Lord in His chambers. He knows the heart cry of those who will eagerly respond when they witness the beauty of Jesus being expressed through the life of one who truly knows Him.

We must be willing to set apart time to wait upon the Lord in His presence, whenever He comes to us for this purpose. As we do this, we will fall so completely in love with Jesus that we will be changed and become like Him.

Then, the “result” of His manifest presence, which we have experienced in our times of intimate communion with Him, will cut through the bondages in those who are witnessing His life in us and they will respond, “Whither is your Beloved turned aside that we may seek Him with you?”

“For many are called, but few are chosen.” Matt 22:14.

The “many” refers to the daughters of Jerusalem. The “few” refers to the bride. Another way to say this is: “The daughters of Jerusalem are called, but those who are willing to respond to His presence and come apart to seek Him, are being chosen out from among them.”

Here again, two different categories are expressed. The called, and the chosen. The “called” includes all Christians. The “chosen” refers those who are pressing on to know the Lord Himself, and are obediently turning aside to spend time with Him alone, even when it is not convenient for them to do so.

The Lord is calling a bride out from among those who are still saying, “I have gone to bed, how shall I get up?” These “daughters of Jerusalem” know the voice of the Lord to a degree, but they are not committed. They have a limited involvement in the Church, and are willing to go only “so far.” They draw a line and refuse to go further, saying, “I will not become one of those fanatics.” The price for going on to truly know His manifest presence is very high, and they are not willing to pay this price.

“The daughters saw her, and blessed her.” SS 6:9b.

The daughters of Jerusalem have enough spiritual capacity that they see the bride, and enough spiritual sense to bless her. However, they can only know the Lord through the description that the bride gives, when she with a glow within her spirit, says to them, “This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.”

May each of us arise from our beds of indifference, and respond to His knocking on the door of our heart, and invite Him to come within. Those who do this will never again be content with merely knowing about Him through the knowledge of His “omnipresence” within the Church.

These will be progressively drawn upward into the place where they will come to truly and intimately know Jesus through the ongoing revelation of His “manifest” presence.