Tonight we want to look at the Song
of Songs, which is Solomon's.
By the title, it indicates that Solomon felt
that this was the finest of the 1
,005 songs that he wrote.
This is the excellency of the songs that
he has written.
Of the 1,005 songs this one is
it, as far as Solomon is concerned.
In Ecclesiastes we had a theme, Vanity of
Vanities.
In this we have Song of Songs.
The vanity or the emptiness of the world,
apart from God.
The emptiness of the world in achievement, any
achievement that is apart from God.
Now he speaks of the Song of Songs,
which is Solomon's.
And the Song of Songs is a song
of love.
Now, there are some people who consider the
Song of Solomon no more than just an
erotic oriental love song and feel that it
has no place in the scriptures.
But others have found tremendous inspiration in the
Song of Solomon by looking at a spiritual
allegory, seeing it as a spiritual allegory.
Now, to the Jews, it became a spiritual
allegory of God's special relationship to the nation
Israel.
As God is seen in the figure of
Solomon the king, and Israel as the favorite
choice wife, and as they express their love
of each other.
So God's expressions of his love for Israel
and Israel's expressions of their love for God.
And of course, through a lot of the
prophets, we find the same theme as God
addresses Israel as his wife.
And God tells of his love, his deep
love for his people.
And the espousals of the youth, when you
first discover me, where is that love that
we had in the beginning, God said.
Why have you turned away from the love?
Who has drawn you away?
And as Israel turned their hearts from God
and began to worship Molech and Mammon and
Bel and some of the gods of the
Canaanites, God spoke out against it.
As having forsaken me, your first love, the
true love, and you've taken up with these
other paramours that are going to leave you
desolate.
And so to the Jew, it became a
beautiful spiritual picture of the relationship of the
nation Israel, the special relationship the nation Israel
experienced with God.
To the church, because the church is often
seen in the New Testament as the bride
of Christ, it became a picture to the
church of the bride of the church, her
relationship to Jesus Christ, her bridegroom, her coming
king, who we look forward to.
And so the spiritual allegories are then made
applicable to Christ and his love for the
church and the church's response to his love.
John Gill, one of the great Puritan preachers,
preached to his congregation 122 sermons out of
the Song of Solomon.
So for those that are looking for sermon
material, seeking to find it in the spiritual
allegories, there's just a lot of material here.
He preached 122 sermons out of this book.
Bernard of Clairvaux preached 62 sermons to his
congregation just out of chapter one.
So the book is filled with imagery and
possible allegorical applications.
Now, I am not one who really goes
into the mystic allegorical applications of the scripture,
though I do see here many beautiful allegories
and you can take the text and spiritualize
upon them.
That just hasn't been my method of ministry,
of taking a text and seeking to spiritualize
the text, because different people can see different
things in an allegory.
And even in the Song of Solomon, there
have been various interpretations of the Song of
Solomon.
The basic interpretation of the Song of Solomon
is that this is a young Shulamite girl
that Solomon has fallen deeply in love with,
and she is in love with him.
And he addresses himself to her, declaring his
love and declaring her beauty, and she responding
to him, while the daughters of Jerusalem are
there asking questions of the young girl concerning
her love for him, asking Solomon of his
love for her.
And so the, actually again it's a song,
so you see it's set up in a
dramatic kind of an opera.
You have Solomon standing there singing in his
rich baritone voice of his love for his
bride, and she with her high soprano answering
him and, you know, singing, come my beloved
into my garden and drink, you know, taste
of its fruits and so forth.
And then you have the chorus over here,
the women's chorus, the female chorus, and they
every once in a while sing in, tell
us of thy beloved, you know, where is
he grazing his flocks and so forth at
this time, and they are interjecting.
Now there is another interpretation of the Song
of Solomon, basic overall interpretation.
And this one is followed in the Amplified
Bible and suggested in the Amplified Bible.
And that is that here's the same beautiful
young Shulamite girl that Solomon has fallen madly
in love with, and he is seeking to
make her a part of his harem, for
Solomon had a harem second to none.
And he is seeking by his wealth, by
his grandeur, by all of the gifts and
then the wealth to cause her to become
a part of his vast harem, seeking to
woo her and to seduce her.
And she is brought in with the other
virgins, and she is telling them, they wonder
why she isn't responding to his love, and
she is telling them that she has a
true love, a shepherd.
And she doesn't respond really to Solomon's love,
because her heart is after another, her shepherd
lover, who she longs for, who she seeks
after.
And in the spiritual allegories to this other
way of looking at the Song of Solomon,
Solomon in this other allegory represents the world,
the Shulamite woman, the Christian, and how the
world is seeking to allure the Christian away
from her love for her shepherd, Jesus Christ.
And she has this deep, fervent commitment to
her shepherd, even Jesus Christ, and cannot be
allured by all of the wealth and the
glory and the grandeur of Solomon as he
seeks to seduce her and draw her into
his harem and all.
And so this is another possible interpretation, but
this is the problem, the basic problem of
spiritualizing the text and seeing it in an
allegorical sense, because as you go through the
book, either one fits, but surely they are
diametrically opposed to each other as far as
an interpretation goes.
And yet you can see and you can
read it so that either way it fits.
Solomon is the one she loves and they're
expressing their love for each other, or she
is sort of rejecting the love of Solomon
because of her true love for her shepherd
lover.
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, it
begins with the first singer who is this
young Shulamite, beautiful girl, and she sings, let
him kiss me with the kisses of his
mouth, for thy love is better than wine.
Because of the savor of your good ointments
or your perfumes, thy name is as ointment
or perfume poured forth, therefore do the virgins
love thee.
Draw me, we will run after thee, the
king hath brought me into his chambers, we
will be glad and rejoice in thee, we
will remember thy love more than wine, the
upright love thee.
Now speaking of herself, she said, I am
black, yet beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,
as the tents of Kidar and as the
curtains of Solomon.
Look not upon me, because I am black.
And it doesn't mean that she was an
Ethiopian, but she says, because the sun hath
looked upon me.
She was well tanned.
My mother's children were, my stepbrothers actually, were
angry with me.
They'd made me the keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard or my own complexion
and so forth, I have not kept.
I'm ruddy and tan and so forth.
Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,
where thou feedest, where you make your flock
to rest at noon?
For why should I be as one that
turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
So her opening declaration of having been brought
into the king's chambers, her addressing the daughters
of Jerusalem concerning her own unkept condition because
of being outside, keeping vineyards, sort of a
Cinderella kind of a story.
The wicked sisters made her do all of
the work and she wasn't able to keep
up her own cosmetics and all.
Now the king responds to her, if thou
know not, O thou fairest among women.
And the question is where you feed your
flocks.
If you know not, O fairest among women,
go thy way forth by the footsteps of
the flock and feed thy kids beside the
shepherd's tent.
I have compared thee, O my love, to
a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.
Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels,
thy neck with chains of gold.
We will make the borders, now these are
the daughters of Jerusalem, the virgins, the chorus
responds, we will make the borders of gold
with studs of silver.
And the bride responds, while the king sits
at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the
smell thereof.
A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved
unto me, he shall lie all night betwixt
my breast.
My beloved is to me as a cluster
of camphor in the vineyards of En Gedi.
The camphor trees or cypress trees and just
that beautiful smell of the out of doors
and trees in blossom there in En Gedi.
Behold thou art fair, the king answers, my
love, behold thou art fair, you have dove's
eyes.
She responds to him, behold thou art fair,
my beloved, yea pleasant also, our bed is
green, the beams of our house are cedar
and our rafters of fir.
So you have the opening of this love
drama, the song of songs of Solomon.
I am the rose of Sharon and the
lily of the valleys.
The bridegroom responds, as the lily among the
thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
The bride responds, as the apple tree among
the trees of wood, so is my beloved
among the suns.
I sat down under his shadow with great
delight and his fruit was sweet to my
taste.
He brought me to the banqueting house and
his banner over me was love.
Stay we with flagons, comfort me with apples,
for I am sick and the it probably
should be translated sick with love because we
have a we have a thing of sick
of love.
We think that you know I'm sick of
it but that isn't the meaning here.
I am sick because of it.
I am sick and like I would say
I'm smitten of a bad malady or something.
Well I am sick of love.
Love is the cause of my sickness.
I'm sick with love.
I'm just lovesick we would say.
His left hand is under my head, his
right hand doth embrace me.
I charge you oh daughters of Jerusalem by
the rose and by the of the field
that she stir not up nor awake my
love till he plays.
And then the bride goes on to speak.
The voice of my beloved.
Behold he comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping
upon the hills.
My beloved is like a row or a
young heart.
Behold he stands behind our wall.
He looks forth at the window showing himself
through the lattice.
My beloved spake and said unto me rise
up my love my fair one and come
away.
For lo the winter is past the rain
is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth in the
time of singing.
The birds has come and the voice of
the turtle is heard in our land.
The fig tree put forth her green figs
and the vines with the tender grapes give
a good smell.
Arise my love my fair one and come
away.
Oh my dove thou art in the clusts
of the secret places of the stairs.
Let me see thy countenance.
Let me hear thy voice for sweet is
thy voice and thy countenance is beautiful.
Take us the foxes the little foxes that
spoil the vines for our vines have tender
grapes.
My beloved is mine and I am his
and he feeds his flocks actually among the
lilies until the daybreak and the shadows flee
away.
Turn my beloved and be thou like a
row or a young heart upon the mountains
of Bethar.
She continues to speak by night on my
or sing actually because it's a song.
By night on my bed I sought him
whom my soul loves.
I sought him but found him not.
I will rise now and go about the
city in the streets and in the broad
ways.
I will seek him whom my soul loveth.
I sought him but I found him not.
The watchman that go about the city found
me to whom I said did you see
him whom my soul loves.
It was but a little that I passed
from them but I found him whom my
soul loved.
I held him and would not let him
go until I had brought him into my
mother's house and into the chamber of her
that conceived me.
I charge you oh daughters of Jerusalem by
the rose and by the hinds of the
field that you stir not up nor awake
my love till he plays.
Who is he that cometh out of the
wilderness like pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense and with the powders of the
merchant.
Behold his bed which is Solomon's.
There are three and that would be the
marriage chariot that he made the nuptial bed.
Behold his bed which is Solomon's.
There are sixty valiant men around it.
The valiant men of Israel they all hold
their swords being expert in war and every
man has his sword upon his thigh because
of the fear in the night.
King Solomon made himself a chariot of the
wood of Lebanon.
He made the pillars thereof of silver, the
bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it
of purple, the midst thereof being paved with
love for the daughters of Jerusalem.
Go forth oh ye daughters of Zion and
behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his
mother crowned him in the day of his
espousals and in the day of the gladness
of his heart.
And now the bridegroom speaks behold thou art
fair my my love behold thou art fair.
Thou hast dove's eyes within thy locks.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats
that appear from Mount Gilead.
Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep
that are even shorn which came up from
the washing whereof everyone bears twins and you're
not missing any.
There's an unbearable among them.
Now I don't know that if you would
try to express your love to your girlfriend
like this how well she might take it.
Your teeth are like sheep that are all
evenly shorn that just came up from their
washing and everyone bearing twins.
Well it means your teeth are matched you
know you both you know as you go
across they're even they're they match and so
forth which is important I guess.
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet
and thy speech is comely.
Thy temples are like a piece of pomegranate
within thy locks.
Thy neck is like a tower of David
builded for an armory where on there hang
a thousand bucklers all the shields of mighty
men.
Thy two breasts are like two young rose
that are twins which feed among the lilies.
Until the daybreak and the shadows flee away
I will get me to the mountain of
myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
Thou art all fair my love there is
no spot in thee.
And people of course as a bridegroom is
speaking of his bride and as you make
the spiritual analogy of Christ to the church
which of course is a correct and proper
analogy.
Christ's view of the church thou art all
fair there is no spot in thee.
The bible speaks of the church as being
without spot or blemish or any such thing.
The way the lord views us and that's
to me a glorious thing that the lord
views me that way.
Because he views me through love and the
bible says that love covers a multitude of
sins.
And God sees us through the eyes of
love and as he sees us through the
eyes of love he sees us not in
our imperfect state but he sees us in
that completed perfect state in Christ Jesus.
And it's so comforting for me to realize
that God looks upon me and sees no
fault, sees no sin, sees no blemish.
Looking upon me through love seeing me in
Christ Jesus I stand before him without fault
in Christ.
Come with me from Lebanon my spouse with
me from Lebanon.
Look from the top of Amman and from
the top of Shinar and from Hermon from
the lion's dens and from the mountains of
the leopards.
Thou hast ravished my heart my sister my
spouse thou has ravished my heart with one
of thine eyes with one chain of thy
neck.
How fair is thy love my sister my
spouse.
How much better is thy love than wine
and the smell of thine ointments and all
spices.
Thy lips oh my spouse drop as the
honeycomb.
Honey and milk are under thy tongue and
the smell of thy garments is like the
smell of lemonade.
A garden enclosed is my sister my spouse.
A spring shut up a fountain sealed thy
plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant
fruits camphor and spikenard spikenard and saffron calamus
cinnamon and all of the trees of frankincense
myrrh and aloes with the chief spices a
fountain of gardens a well of living waters
and streams from Lebanon.
All right.
The bridegroom is very expressive it's like the
French say you Americans are so you know
you have only one way to tell a
woman you love her we Frenchmen have a
hundred ways and and it would seem that
we macho American men are poor lovers I
guess as far as really expressing our love
our adulation for our wives.
This song of songs which is Solomon's as
he expresses his love uses figures of speech
that I would never think of in in
in seeking to express the beauty that I
see in my wife.
I just she says honey do I look
all right and I say yeah you look
fine you know and well are you sure
I look all right sure you look great
you know well do you like this yeah
I like the dress it's nice well and
I said well you're beautiful she said well
thank you and we go out you know.
I think that we could probably take some
lessons from Solomon and learn a little bit
about how to express it's interesting how that
women wives do need a constant assurance
of love.
You love me honey sure I told you
last year I loved you.
I haven't changed I still come home but
it doesn't satisfy they need a continual assuring
of that love the continual assuring of their
attractiveness to us our love for them that
our desire is for them and it's a
smart husband who will give to his wife
that continued assurance that she needs.
It's a thumb clock that tells her once
a year he loves her and thinks that
she'll be satisfied so he is just described
now oh she's like a garden the fragrances
that come forth from her body are like
spices it's just glorious and so she picking
up his phrases of love and the garden
concept sings back awake oh north wind and
come thou south and blow upon my garden
that the spices thereof may flow out let
my beloved come into his garden and eat
his pleasant fruits beautiful response to the declaration
of the bridegroom as he describes the beauty
of his bride a garden kept for itself
has little value the work of God in
our lives is never just subjective the real
purposes of God are not really accomplished in
us until there is a flowing out awake
oh north wind come thou south those who
see now the spiritual allegories here seeing the
spirit which in the Hebrew the word wind
and spirit are in Greek the word wind
and spirit are the same in Hebrew the
word breath and spirit are the same but
in Greek pneuma which is wind or air
or spirit that through the spirit
there might come the outflow of the beauty
of the work of Christ in our lives
that it might touch others that others might
benefit from the work that God has done
in me and that is always the purpose
of God objective subjective first he wants to
work in you but then he wants that
work that has been accomplished in your life
to flow out and be of benefit to
others let the spices flow out and then
let my beloved come into his garden and
eat of his pleasant fruits the invitation of
Christ into the church that he might come
into our midst and partake of the pleasant
fruit of his garden as we bear forth
and bring forth fruit unto him in chapter
five the bridegroom replies i am coming to
my garden my sister my spouse i have
gathered my myrrh with my spice i have
eaten my honeycomb with my honey i have
drunk my wine with my milk eat oh
friends drink yea drink abundantly oh beloved now
the bride responds and she said i sleep
but my heart is awake it is the
voice of my beloved that knocks saying open
to me my sister my love my dove
my undefiled for my head is filled with
dew and my locks with the drops of
the night i have put off my coat
how shall i put it on i've washed
my feet how shall i defile them my
beloved put his hand by the hole in
the door and i was moved for 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 spake i
sought him but i could not find him
i called him but he gave me no
answer the watchman that went about the city
found me they smoked me they wounded me
the keepers of the wall took away my
veil from me i charge you oh daughters
of jerusalem if you find my beloved that
you tell him that i am sick with
love and so the daughters of jerusalem the
chorus now responds and answers her what is
thy beloved more than another beloved oh thou
fairest among women what is thy beloved more
than another beloved that you do so charge
us she charged them if she finds him
tell him that she's just sick with love
and she answers now concerning her beloved as
she describes him 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 the eyes of doves by the
rivers of water washed with milk and fitly
set his cheeks are as the bed of
spices as sweet flowers his lips like lilies
dropping sweet smelling myrrh his hand are as
gold rings set with a burl his belly
is a bright ivory overlaid with sapphires his
legs are like pillars of marble set in
sockets of fine gold and 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 oh daughters of jerusalem as she describes
her lover and thus again in seeing the
allegory of christ in the church as jesus
christ has come to us to be the
fairest of ten thousand as he has become
to us the altogether lovely one and our
love for him now the daughters of jerusalem
respond to her the chorus sings back where
has your beloved gone oh thou fairest among
women whether or where has your beloved turned
aside that we may seek him with you
and she answers my beloved has gone down
into his garden to the beds of spices
to feed in the gardens and to gather
lilies i am my beloveds and my beloved
is mine and he feeds among the lilies
now the bridegroom responds to her and he
says thou art beautiful oh my love as
terza as comely as jerusalem terrible or awesome
as an army with banners turn away your
eyes from me for they have overcome me
your hair is as a flock of goats
that appear from gilead thy teeth are like
a flock of sheep which go up from
the washings where everyone bears twins and not
there's not a barren one among they says
the same thing to her so he isn't
you know that you know after a while
you got to repeat you know i mean
you only say so much as a piece
of pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks
there are 60 queens and 80 concubines and
virgins without number my dove my undefiled is
but one she's one among them all she's
she is the only one of her mother
she is the choice one of her that
bear her the daughter saw her and blessed
her yes the queens and the concubines and
they praised her so he's declaring all of
this praise for his beloved and this daughters
of jerusalem the chorus now responds as he
is declaring again of her beauty and her
glory and they say who is she that
looketh forth as the morning fair as the
moon clear as the sun as awesome as
an army with banners and as you see
this in the spiritual allegory as representing the
church who is she who looketh forth as
the morning the history of man has been
dark and bleak we are still living the
world in darkness it's been a long night
of sorrow pain suffering anguish tragedy that man
has brought upon himself by his wars by
his greed by the atrocities by the inhumane
treatment of fellow man by the oppression and
the exploitation of the weak and of the
poor it's been a long dark night of
history but the church looketh forth as the
morning and the church declares to the world
that is wrapped in its darkness there's a
new day about to dawn and that is
always the consistent message of the church new
opportunity that god gives to man not only
to the world is a new day going
to dawn very soon but a new day
can dawn in your life and that darkness
in which your life has been held can
turn into a new day god's work is
always that of a new beginning letting you
start all over again for if any man
be in christ he is a new creature
the old things are passed away all things
become now looking forth as the morning always
the anticipation living in the anticipation of the
new day that is going to dawn for
man there is the moon the moon's light
is reflected light the light of the sun
reflected in the moon and so the church's
light is a reflected light it is the
light of jesus christ who said i am
the light of the world and if any
man walk in me he will not walk
in darkness but will have the light of
life john testifying of jesus christ said he
is the true light that lighteth every man
that cometh into the world but man put
the light out they hanged him on a
cross they put him in a tomb and
rolled the stone over the door of the
sepulcher and as far as the world was
concerned they had extinguished the light but the
third day he rose again and he lives
today and even as the light of the
moon declares to you that the sun is
still shining though you cannot see the sun
but as you look at the moon and
see the reflected light of the sun you
know that the sun still shines so the
world who cannot see jesus christ knows that
he lives as they see the reflected glory
of christ from our lives the light of
jesus christ shining forth from us ye he
said are the light of the world a
man doesn't light a candle to put it
on the under a bushel but on a
candlestick that it might give light to the
whole house the moon was the lesser light
to rule the night to rule in the
darkness and thus in the darkness of man's
history god has a light fair is the
moon his light his witness as we reflect
the light and the glory of jesus christ
to the dark world around us in order
to properly reflect that light of jesus christ
we must live above the world for if
we live in the world if we partake
of the worldly things if we are living
as the world then we do not reflect
the light to the world you've got to
live above the world by a higher standard
than the low standards of man around us
there is always the peer pressure there is
always the mores of a society that would
seek to draw you down to a lower
level of living there is always the rationale
but everybody's doing it to encourage you and
to draw you into a lower level of
experience and life but living on a low
plane you'll never reflect the glory of the
sun it's only as we live above it
that the world can see the light reflecting
from us clear as the sun again
there needs to be a slight change in
the word sun instead of spelling it s
-u-n capitalize it and spell it s
-o-n clear as the sun the church
we are to be pure as he is
pure we are to be holy as he
is holy god said be therefore holy for
i am holy saith the lord jesus said
be therefore perfect even as your father in
heaven is perfect and he who has this
hope purifies himself even as he is pure
christ is our standard for righteousness which immediately
eliminates all of us because none of us
are as pure as christ none of us
are as holy as christ none of us
are as perfect as god christ our standard
for righteousness but it is a righteousness that
i cannot attain by works by rules by
regulations by laws for if righteousness could come
by the law then christ died in vain
but god has established a new basis of
righteousness which is not a new basis of
righteousness it is the same basis by which
abraham was accounted righteousness for abraham believed god
and it was accounted to him for righteousness
400 years before the law ever came by
moses the law was never intended to make
a man righteous but only to show man
his sin and his guilt in order that
we might be driven to a righteousness that
is apart from us the righteousness which is
of god through our faith in jesus christ
so we read in galatians the law was
a schoolmaster to force us to christ to
drive us to christ to make us realize
that we can't do ourselves we need help
and god has provided that help and thus
we become clear as the sun because it's
his righteousness that has been imputed to us
by our believing and trusting in god and
so that's why the bridegroom could say hey
she's without spot that's why god looks at
you hey you're you're without spot you're without
blemish you're pure you're righteous because he sees
you in his son and the righteousness of
christ having been imputed or counted to your
account and finally the church is seen as
awesome as an army with banners and this
is what god intends the church to be
to the enemies of jesus christ that we
might be a terror to the enemies of
god even as an army with banners was
a very terrifying thing to behold to stand
in front of or to try to withstand
so the church should be a terror to
the enemies of god the bridegroom continues his
song i went down into the garden of
nuts to see the fruits of the valley
and to see whether the vine flourished and
the pomegranates budded or ever i was aware
my soul made me like the chariots of
a minute dib return return oh shulamite return
return that we may look upon thee the
chorus responds what will you see in the
shulamite and he answers as it were the
company of two armies now the daughters of
jerusalem address themselves to the shulamite and they
say how beautiful are thy feet with shoes
or within thy sandals oh prince's daughter the
joints of thy thighs are like jewels the
work of the hands of cunning workmen thy
navel is like a round goblet which wanteth
not liquor and thy belly is like a
heap of wheat set about with lilies and
i suppose that was complimentary to them i
i'm not that kind of an expressive person
and it doesn't do much for me thy
two breasts are like two young rows that
are twins thy neck is as a tower
of ivory thine eyes like the fish pools
of hegevon i imagine
blue pretty by the gate of bath rabbin
thy nose is like the tower of lebanon
now i don't know that i would appreciate
that which looketh toward damascus solomon built this
tower in lebanon after he had completed his
palace so some 20 years after he was
married to the daughter of pharaoh there are
some who believe that the one he speaks
of is pharaoh's daughter but this sort of
precludes that because the song evidently was written
after 20 years of marriage to her and
and it seems that a new interest has
taken him with this shulamite thy head upon
thee is like carmel and the hair of
your head like purple the king is held
in the galleries or he is bound by
that beauty how fair and how pleasant are
you oh love for delights this thy stature
is like into a palm tree and thy
breast two clusters of grapes i said i
will go to the palm tree i will
take hold of the bowels thereof now also
thy breast shall be as clusters of the
vine and the smell of thy nose like
apples and the roof of thy mouth like
the best wine for my beloved that goeth
down sweetly causing the lips of those that
are asleep to speak the bride responds i
am my beloved and his desire is toward
me now think of this in the church
and jesus christ and it becomes very beautiful
indeed he loves me i am my beloved
and his desire is toward me he desires
me christ desires you your love your response
he desires me that that to me is
just uncanny come my beloved let us go
forth into the field let us lodge in
the villages let us get up early to
the vineyards let us see if the vine
flourishes whether the tender grape appears and the
pomegranates bud forth there will i give thee
my loves the mandrakes give a smell and
at our gates are all manner of pleasant
fruits new and old which i have laid
up for thee oh my beloved the bride
continues her song oh that thou were to
as my brother that nursed upon the breast
of my mother when i should find thee
without i would kiss thee yea i should
not be despised i would lead thee and
bring thee into my mother's house who would
instruct me i would cause thee to drink
of spiced wine of the juice of my
pomegranate his left hand should be under my
head his right hand should embrace me i
charge you oh daughters of jerusalem that she
stir not up nor awake my love until
he please the bridegroom speaks who is this
that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon
her beloved i raise thee up under the
apple tree there thy mother brought thee forth
there she brought thee forth that bear thee
sent me as a seal upon your heart
as a seal upon your arm for love
is strong as death jealousy is as cruel
as hell the coals thereof are coals of
fire which has a most vehement flame many
waters cannot quench love that always speaking of
course these are very picturesque and very powerful
demons uh declaration of of how strong love
is like coals of fire most vehement flame
and many waters cannot quench love neither can
the floods drown it if a man would
give all of his substance of his house
for love it would be utterly contemptible in
other words this kind of love cannot be
bought men are always trying to buy love
and there is a certain kind of love
that can be bought but not true love
not this kind of love this is a
true love of christ for us you can't
purchase it and an endeavor to purchase it
only cheapens it it's utterly contemptible for people
to try to buy their way with god
if you gave tonight hoping that you could
sort of buy your way with god please
ask the ushers for a refund when you
leave it's contemptible to think that you can
buy your way with the lord that you
can buy his love god's love for us
is uncaused by us and it just comes
flowing forth to us you can't buy that
kind of love you can't quench that kind
of love god's love for us is unquenchable
and it just comes flowing out to us
and it is just ours to accept and
ours to receive now the bride responds we
have a little sister who is not developed
what shall we do for our sister in
the day when she shall be spoken for
and the bridegroom responds if she is discreet
we'll build upon her a palace of silver
we'll display her if she be brash we'll
build a wall around her we'll enclose her
in boards of cedar we'll fence her up
and then the bride speaks and she answers
i am a wall are discreet and my
breasts are like towers then was i in
the eyes in his eyes as one that
found favor solomon had a vineyard at belhahman
he let it out to the vineyard to
the keepers and everyone for the fruit thereof
was to bring a thousand pieces of silver
or he leased out the the vineyards for
a thousand pieces of silver my vineyard which
is mine is before me thou oh solomon
must have a thousand and those that keep
the fruit thereof 200 but thou that dwellest
in the gardens the companions hearken to thy
voice cause me to hear it make haste
my beloved and be thou a role or
like to a role or to a young
heart upon the mountains of spices make haste
my beloved this takes us to the last
of the book of revelation when jesus said
unto john behold i come quickly and john
responded even so come quickly lord jesus and
so the final word of the bride is
significant make haste my beloved to come and
our prayer today is oh lord come come
quickly that we might enter into that fullness
of thy love in thy kingdom that you
might bring us into your banqueting house place
your banner of love over us that we
will be there forever with thee in thy
glorious kingdom make haste come quickly lord jesus
shall we pray father we thank you for
that love that we have experienced through jesus
christ we thank you lord that we know
the beauty the glory and the blessing of
thy love and now lord let us go
out to declare thy love to a needy
world and to share thy love with others
let our lives oh god become a fit
witness of thy love in jesus name we
pray amen shall we stand now you
that are romanticist and and true uh sort
of mystics you can take that song of
solomon and you can find all kinds of
exciting things in it as i say i'm
not much of one to make allegories or
to to get involved in that because again
you can read so many things i think
though that it is good i think that
i think though that here is a bit
of of in a sense existentialism that you
need to experience it personally what does the
lord say to you in it and i
think it's good to give god an opportunity
to speak to you in it and because
you are different in many ways from me
in temperaments or or whatever some of you
will find all kinds of beautiful exciting things
in the song of solomon where god will
just speak to you in just a very
beautiful special way but i think that there
is something that is very intimate and personal
with love and thus as the expressions of
love are here i really don't think that
they do stand well in in a public
expression because it makes it sort of a
general impersonal thing in a public expression i
think that the deepest expression of it does
come in your own personal devotions as you
let god unravel the book to your own
heart and make the application of the love
to you individually and as you read it
in your own personal kind of devotion being
open to the spirit of god he can
make many beautiful applications of the song to
your relationship with him and you'll find it
exciting indeed as he declares his personal love
for you and as you are able to
relate and express your love for him so
don't just pass by the song of solomon
go back and read it with an open
heart that god might minister to you on
an intimate personal basis his deep fervent fiery
love that cannot be quenched by many waters
god bless you watch over you this week
give you just a blessed week as he
keeps his hand upon your life to guide
you according to his will and may you
walk in his love and may you be
enriched in his love and in all things
in christ jesus