LILY, LILY OF THE VALLEYS
(Song of Solomon 2:1-2) Those are fragrant flowers, well known by name in this our climate; but there is reason to suppose, that what are distinguished by those names in Scripture very far excel in beauty, fragrancy, and medicinal use, the lilies of those colder countries like ours. However, even with all those disadvantages, the lily, and the lily of the valley with which we are acquainted, may merit a place in our Concordance, in that Christ and his church are spoken of under the similitude. The original name in the Jewish Scriptures, is Susan or Schuschan. Some have said, that this is the Persian lily, or the crown imperial; but it is evident, that what the church saith of Christ, Song of Solomon 5:13. (that his lips are like lilies,) must prove, that this was a red flower. But be this as it may, one thing I beg to observe, that all historians agree in this, that this lily was common in Judea, and grew in fields. Hence Jesus saith, (Matthew 6:28-29) "Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do the spin; and vet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."
There is a great beauty in the similitude of this flower to Jesus. Jesus is the flower of the field; Jesus is also imperial; Jesus is open to the traveller by the way. And as the flower of the field is not of man's planting, neither cultivating, so this plant of renown is wholly raised up by the Lord JEHOVAH himself. (See Ezekiel 34:29) And if we consider the lily of the vallies also, (as Jesus speaks of himself, Song of Solomon 2:1) There is no less the same striking resemblance in every view. Nothing surely could be more suited, to denote the unequalled humility of the Son of God, than the figure of the lily, which loves the retired, low, and obscure spot of the valley. It was in the valley of this our lower world the Son of God came, when he came "to seek and save that which was lost." And when we consider the modesty, the whiteness, the fragrancy, the fruitfulness, in short, the whole loveliness of this beautiful flower, what can more pointedly set forth the Lord Jesus, under all these endearednesses of character, than the lily of the vallies? Oh, thou holy, harmless, undefiled Lamb of God, without blemish, and without spot!
But we must not stop here. It is a sweet and interesting part of this subject to consider, that while Jesus compares himself to the lily of the vallies, so doth he no less compare his church to the same lovely flower. "As the lily among thorns, saith Jesus, so is my love among the daughters." There is this difference indeed between the comparison; for while Jesus saith, that he is the lily of the vallies, he only saith of his church, that she is as the lily. And the reason is very plain: what Jesus is, he is in himself, underived, and of himself; whereas, what the church is, she is wholly in him, and from him. But while this distinction is never to be lost sight of, but thankfully preserved in the recollection, it is very blessed to see, that from our union with him, and interest in him, such as Jesus is so are we in this world. Is Christ the lily of the vallies? so, saith Jesus, is my love among the daughters. Is Jesus JEHOVAH our righteousness? then shall his spouse the church be called by the same name. (Jeremiah 23:6; Jeremiah 33:16) Is Jesus fair and lovely, sweet and fragrant as the lily of the vallies? so shall the church be in his sight, from the comeliness that he hath put upon her, (Ezekiel 16:14) In a word, all that Jesus is as the glorious Head of his body the church, such shall be his body, glorious in his glory, and lovely in his loveliness, because in him, and from him all is derived, for "we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." There is one thought more the subject suggests concerning the church, and that is, that as a lily the church is said to be among thorns; meaning, that in this world Jesus's church is in a wilderness. Corruptions within, and persecutions without, the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of the heart, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life, the reproaches of some, and the heresies of others,
These make the situations of the godly but too strikingly resembled by the lily in the midst of thorns. For, as the prophet speaks, "the good man is perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men; the best of them is a brier, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge." (Micah 7:2; Micah 7:4) How truly blessed is it thus to prove the doctrine of Christ by testimony, and yet more when a child of God discovers, through the Holy Ghost, his own personal interest in it.