September 29, 1929 — Radio address, CJHS, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Into this cathedral of the air we come, O Lord, to worship Thee. It is as though eternity were the altar before which we bow and space the great organ upon which to voice our praise. Thou art the God of the Universe, but Thou art more — Thou art become our salvation and our joy. We praise Thee that our hearts can be temples of worship, too, and that we may rejoice in Thy abiding presence with us. Speak, then, to us, O Lord, that our faith may be strengthened, our hope brightened and our love enlarged. This we ask in thy holy Name. Amen.

It has been suggested to me that I speak to you on “The Rose of Sharon.” I have consented because I can never refuse a request for this particular message; it holds a charm and blessing for me which none other has, in the entire Word of God.

Rose of Sharon! No doubt these three words mean so much to me chiefly because of my wonderful Vision of the Rose. But there are other reasons, too, and these are found within the pages of the Bible itself. For the Bible is not at all silent on this subject although, because so few sermons are preached upon it and so few books written about it, we may be apt to think it unimportant. Indeed, we seldom hear anyone mention Jesus as the Rose of Sharon, yet the Bible reveals Him so.

True, He is the Good Shepherd, the Counsellor, the Guide, the Lamb of God, the Divine Teacher, the Bright and Morning Star, the “altogether lovely,” yet He is more. He is the Rose of Sharon. The proof of this is found first in that figurative book called Song of Solomon, present Christ as the Bridegroom and His Church, the Bride. The second chapter of the book and the first verse discloses the Bridegroom’s voice saying to His Bride, “I am the Rose of Sharon.”

The day I discovered these words, my mind went immediately back to the vision given me some months before; and although I thought I could not possibly appreciate it more than I already had, yet I found that I did appreciate it even more and certainly understood it more clearly, after I had read of the Rose of Sharon in the Song of Solomon.

“I am the Rose of Sharon.” If Jesus is represented as the morning Star, the Sun of Righteousness and the Lily of the Valleys it is not at all strange that He is also the Rose of Sharon. Growing yonder on the plains of Sharon, a fragrant, beautiful flower, of sturdy stock and tender petal, Rose of Sharon! A stranger might pass it by, but certainly not anyone who knew its religious significance or its contribution to the reverence and worship of mankind, through the ages of the world.

Look for a moment at the other Scriptures on the subject. We shall think and speak of them in their own vernacular. Here is the first: Isa. 53: 2, “He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground.” The second Scripture pertains to the ground from which the plant should rise. Isa. I: 29,30, “For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.” The relation between these two Scriptures is unmistakable. The history of the Hebrew people, from the earliest times, was but the stage-setting for one of the greatest dramas in history, the life and death of the world’s Redeemer.

God took that little nation and made it a mighty power until Israel was no longer content that God should be their King. They wanted a man as king, “like other nations.” They laid out their “beautiful gardens” of prosperity and splendour. They were going to have their “strong oak” (and do not forget that as the Rose is the king of flowers as the oak is the king of trees). The prophet warned them, however, that the strong oak was to fade, and their garden was to become dry, with every flower wilted and trampled down. Then! Out of the dry ground was to come the root that should blossom and fill the earth with its fragrance. Out of the parched earth should spring a “tender plant,” and its very tenderness was to make it stronger than the strongest oak, king of trees.

At the coming of the Tender Plant a great effort was made to have it uprooted and destroyed. Instead, hundreds of other little plants Bethlehem were destroyed but the one Plant sought had disappeared and was not harmed. Years later rumour testified to the existence of a Plant in the garden at Nazareth and so powerful had it become that many had been healed by believing on it. There was healing, then, in this miracle Plant. As unpretentious as their own Rose of the Sharon plains, it still held some strange, exotic fragrance which drove disease from tormented bodies and sorrow and bitterness from troubled hearts. From some strange plants we often get an ointment that soothes and heals and thus becomes a benefit to mankind, yet the plant itself derives its strength and life from the penetrating rays of the sun. Now the Scripture insists that Jesus is the “Sun of Righteousness arisen with healing in His wings.” Is it no wonder then that being also the Rose of Sharon there should be in the virtue of His own name that inherent healing power which needs no assistance other than His own Words? We read that His “name is an ointment poured forth” — a healing, comforting, restoring nard. The Rose of Sharon meant healing for the nations and salvation for the lost souls of mankind.

So, on this wise was the Rose of Sharon manifest. Root out of a dry ground, and the dry ground a result of Israel’s desire for “the strong oak” and the “beautiful gardens.” A time of dearth for the Jewish people, both politically and spiritually. Yet when spiritual conditions were such as to discourage even the most bold of those who still foretold the coming of the Messiah, He did come!

Simeon in the temple was told that he should not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. When Jesus was brought by His parents to the temple, Simeon lifted the Child in his arms, and we read that he took “him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” This was the witness to Simeon that the Messiah to come had already come, that salvation, such a precious gift, was already given for the birth of Jesus was a sure knowledge of salvation suffered for and provided, so dependable were the promises of God.

The Rose of Sharon, root out of a dry ground, as the world saw it, was growing up before God as a tender plant and remining so in his sight forever.

“Lo, the world is gone after Him,” was the statement made by some very troubled, and we might add, troublesome, Pharisees upon the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. But despite their prejudice and ill-justice in many matters they, for once, had told the truth. The world was certainly gone after Him. There were Greeks there and they said to Philip, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” It was the first voice from the outside world, the Gentile world was interested in the Messiah of the Jew. And history was to show that when the Jew had refused the message the apostles would say, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles” and that salvation, which the angels said should be “Good tidings of great joy unto all people,” were to be heard by the Gentile world as well as the Jew.

Jesus understood that, for when the Greeks were brought to Him it was as though He had looked down through the years to come and had seen the army of the Redeemed extend beyond the borders of His native land and into the kingdom of Rome and from thence throughout the earth. It was then He spoke of His death. It seemed strange to His disciples at the time but later they must have realized that, being the Rose of Sharon, His death must be following such a time of triumph.

It was, indeed. Palm leaves waves from hands lifted high, songs flung onto the breeze by voices hilarious with a kind of spiritual exhilaration: the multitudes which crowded the streets of the city and welcomes the Master seemed to believe Him more than a prophet. They accepted Him as the King’s Son. In a few hours He was to die. He told them so amidst the palm leaves and the songs.

His death was like the splendour of a rose unexpectedly shattered and left with crimson petals scattered upon the walk. That is, unexpected to the passer-by, but not unexpected to the rose. One hour in its supreme glory, all its petals open to the sunshine, its fragrance wafted on the breeze — then, a little later, crushed and scattered. Dead.

That was the death of the Rose of Sharon. Crimson drops at the food of the Cross told of tragedy of the dying Rose. And it seemed so uncalled for, so without cause. Yet it had happened. No protest from the Rose. Simply submission to death — and through that submission, conquering it forever.

The disciples realized that afterward. It had not bee useless and vain as first it had seemed. His death was the useless and vain as first it had seemed. His death was the greatest contribution ever made to the life of the world, for this was a miracle Rose. After its shattered petals had fallen they were gathered again into the full-blown perfection which had been its beauty before. The Rose alive again! Risen with a spendour with which even its former ministry had not enhanced it!

The Rose of Sharon still. Here is the miracle, that after two thousand years we still feel and know the presence and glory of His own Divine personality. He is still real, still precious, still abiding, still gracious. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever.”
Now, before this little instrument I need only to whisper the words, “Jesus, Rose of Sharon,” and my voice is carried to you who are now listening, living miles away from where I now stand, yet there where you are you say in return, “Amen,” and know that what I say is true: He still lives, His beauty and fragrance still permeates the world and you open your heart wider today that it may be suffused with this eternal sweetness from the Rose of Sharon.

Nor do we omit that Scripture which refers to His earthly reign. I read from Isaiah 35: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose, It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.”

At His first coming He was the tender Plant, Root out of a dry ground. When He returns the whole earth will be filled with His glory and never did Rose have such a conspicuous part as will then be had by our blessed Rose of Sharon.

We have mentioned four specific Scriptures relative to the subject of Rose of Sharon yet it seems to me, as I turn the pages of the Bible, that every verse pertaining to the attributes or ministry of Jesus makes more clear to use this picture of Him.

Tarry a moment longer. Let us think again of that first Scripture mentioned: “I am the Rose of Sharon.” The Bridegroom speaking to His Bride is seeming to say, “Do I mean something more to you than a provider? Do you love me more for what I am to you than for what I do for you? He portrays Himself here as the source of all joy and delight, of all beauty and fragrance to the Bride. The rose is not valuable for its usefulness. All the value there is to a rose is the pleasure it brings to those who look upon it. Jesus would have us “delight ourselves also in Him,” would have us spend time in His presence not to pray for things but to worship and adore Him. It is thus that we gain something of His own Spirit, its lowliness and its loftiness, its submission and its triumph, its silence and its eloquence.

When His Spirit dwells in your heart richly, by faith, and you show by your daily life that you love Christ, it will be because in those secret moments of worship and adoration, the fragrance and beauty of the Rose of Sharon filled your heart and thus sent its radiance forth into every department of your life.

Source: Why I am a Preacher: A Plain Answer to an Oft-Repeated Question, by Uldine Utley (NY: Fleming H. Revell), pp. 97-105.