Song of Solomon chapters 4-8; While reading these chapters of love one cannot help but capture the infatuation with the two lovers for the other. Their minds try to capture in words what their hearts can only feel. There is elation in their words, there is joy and overwhelming consuming with the love they have found in each other. In chapter 4 we have King Solomon describing his beloved Bride – I’m not sure but I don’t know how his description of her went over. I’m not eloquent with words, but I would have thought better comparisons could have been made! I wonder how she took the many comparisons to her physical appearance?
Eyes like doves
hair like a flock of goats
Teeth like newly shorn ewes
lips like a scarlet thread [well that’s not too bad]
Temples like a slice of pomegranate – I guess that means they are really rosy
Neck like a Tower of David
Breasts like two fawns, twins of a gazelle
They say that love is blind, well with King Solomon it sounds like he was hallucinating. 4:7 – You are altogether beautiful, there is no blemish in you! I couldn’t help but think of Ephesians 5:26-27; where Jesus the Bridegroom is “washing with the water of the Word” his Bride [the Church]; so that she is without wrinkle, spot or blemish. Jesus loves His Bride to the utmost. He loved her to the ultimate sacrifice of laying down Hos life for her. In worship today we observed the Lord’s Supper. I had many thoughts as the pastor read from 1 Corinthians 11. With the readings from our passage this week maybe I had a heightened sense to the wedding feast the Church and Jesus will celebrate as described in Revelation 19:7-8. What is significant is this is the Marriage of the Lamb of God’ only those specifically invited can attended. There will be no wedding crashers in Heaven!
How do we get to Revelation 19:7-8? We had to go through John 6:56; where Jesus tells the crowds that except the “eat of His body and drink of blood” they cannot be His disciples. Well that just sounds gross to me, and it did to them as well. But Jesus brings clarity to this command in the Upper Room in John 13. The symbolism is so rich in this analogy of Jesus giving His life for His Bride. It’s like Hosea going down and buying Gomer off the slave block, knowing that she has played the harlot and cheated on him – breaking the wedding vows most sacred by giving herself to another! Yet Hosea goes and buys her back. This really is what Jesus did for us; He purchased us in the deplorable condition we were in – fallen to the deepest depths of sin and immorality.
Wedding are great, but none are perfect. I have had the pleasure to perform several of them. I always require counseling before the marriage. It always amazes me how gaga the two are for each other. It seems the love breaks the connection between the heart and mind. I have also heard people gossip about the two couple before the wedding – “What does she see in him?” Oh, this is a marriage made in heaven, they are meant for each other and similar remarks.
The love written in words never meets the measure found in the heart. Solomon calls his bride “my sister, my bride.” I didn’t the meaning the first time I read this; but after thinking about it, here is my thinking: “don’t be unequally yoked.” By this Solomon can call his bride His “sister” she is his sister by relationship with the LORD GOD. I understood this with my wife. While I may not always be in agreement with my wife, as a sister in Christ – I am compelled to continue to love her and the LORD Jesus loves her. That means I have a greater respect and awe for her. For I think of her in thoughts as our Savior does.
Thinking of the Wedding to be in Heaven – Bride and Bridegroom; Jesus and us!
There is not greater love than a man lay down His life for His friends. Solomon captures for us in the Old Testament book how strong and passionate love can and should be. We would all do well to remember our “first love.” It should bring a smile across your face and a rapid heart beat that longs for the day we participate in the Marriage Made in Heaven!
preachbetweenthelines 