Song of Solomon 5:6
I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
The verse belongs to an Oriental love poem that sets forth in warm Eastern coloring the love of Christ for his church, with Solomon's experiences typical of Christ and his church. Its surrounding passage represents a former arrangement in which people knocked and the door was opened to them, in contrast with the present call in which Christ knocks and people must open to him. The beloved is Christ who has withdrawn himself and is gone, and the speaker is the church seeking him without finding him and calling him without receiving an answer, expressing his wonderful love met by a response that can lack faithfulness and constancy.
The verse portrays the Laodicean church finally opening to Christ after he has stood at the door and knocked, only to find that he has withdrawn and is gone because of its delay in responding, as a solemn warning to open before it is too late. It shows that some within the church who lack the wedding garment will realize their condition too late, rising to open to the Beloved only after he has withdrawn, with their seeking and calling receiving no answer. It means the Lord knocked for admittance while the church was too indolent to arise, and by the moment she opened he was gone.
It presents one changeable state of the church from Abraham to the present day, variable as the wind, asleep one moment and seeking the next, unmoved by his loud voice over the hills and then won by his soft whisper of love. The verse warns that when people grow indifferent and keep Jesus shut out, he may withdraw so that their later seeking and calling find no answer, making their condition a warning that the decisive moment has come and the choice is a matter of life or death. It shows the soul responding to the beloved but finding him gone, then seeking and calling without an answer, which applies to a sinner who, after hearing God and recognizing the danger of sin, seeks Christ but does not find him at once, searching and asking where he is.
The verse shows the distress of a soul when the beloved has withdrawn, and applied to Christ his absence leaves a sad and fearful vacancy in the heart, while feeling that loss is a consolation because it shows the soul knows its need of him. It warns that if Christ's people do not open to him at once, he may withdraw so that they seek without finding and call without receiving an answer, that God's patience has limits, and that delayed repentance can leave people unready when the time of probation is ending. It shows the beloved withdrawing after the speaker opens too late, leaving her to seek without finding and call without receiving an answer, warning that Christ may withdraw from a heart that does not respond when he knocks and calls, that his presence must not be presumed, and that the heart should be opened to him without delay.