I'm sure it's a real delight to my
heart to be here again, and most of
all to look into the precious and the
holy word of God.
Will you turn with me in your Bible
to the Song of Solomon, chapter five, and
read with me, beginning at verse nine to
the end of the chapter, by the grace
and help of God, we desire to speak
through the morning sessions of this week on
the beauty of the beloved, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself.
One well-wrote many years ago, the work
of Christ is the perfect resting place for
the conscience.
The word of Christ is the perfect guide
for the path, and the person of Christ
is the perfect object for the heart.
And it is relating to the person of
Christ, and the beauty of the person of
Christ, we desire to take up the study
of this section in the Song of Solomon,
chapter five, in our morning session.
I read at verse nine, and read down
through to the end of the chapter.
What is thy beloved more than another beloved?
O thou fairest among women, what is thy
beloved more than another beloved that thou dost
so charge us?
My beloved is white and ruddy, the cheapest
among ten thousand.
His head is as the most fine gold.
His locks are bushy and black as a
raven.
His eyes are as the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters, washed with milk
and simply scent.
His cheeks are as a bed of spices
as sweet flowers.
His lips like lilies dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.
His hands are as gold rings set with
the pearl.
His belly or body is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphire.
His legs are as pillars of marble set
upon sockets of fine gold.
His countenance is as lebanon excellent as the
cedar.
His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is
altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my
friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
May God bless the reading and hearing of
his words.
In my humble opinion, I believe to my
heart at least, there are two portions of
scripture that describe the glories of the Lord
Jesus in a very intimate way.
One of them is found in the book
of Hebrews chapter one, where only God the
Father could ever pen such words as you
may read concerning the glories of his beloved
son, in the opening verses of Hebrews chapter
one.
The other portion is the one we have
just read in the Song of Solomon, where
we find the language of a spiritual heart,
and the language that should be the expression
of the blind of Christ toward the bridegroom,
her beloved the Lord Jesus.
Solomon is the author of this great book.
I believe that we can say, truthfully, according
to the scripture at least, that Solomon wrote
the book of the Song of Solomon.
He wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, and he
wrote the Proverbs, many of them.
Many Hebrew scholars believe that Solomon wrote this
book, the Song of Songs, in the spiritual
prime of his life.
He wrote the book of Proverbs later in
his experience of earthly wisdom and knowledge, and
then in the latter days of his life,
unfortunate days that declined spiritually for him, he
wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.
To a believing Jew, a pious Jew, the
Song of Solomon was the song of Jehovah's
love for Israel.
To a New Testament Saint, in this present
period of grace, the Song of Solomon is
the testimony of the love of the bridegroom
for the church, and the church's or the
bride's affection for the bridegroom.
And, we find the language that can be
used of every spiritual heart in relation to
the expressions in this chapter.
It's more from the human side of the
heart that we have these words so descriptive
of the beauty of the beloved to those
who know him and who love him.
And, it would seem that in the terminology
of scripture, human terminology, the Lord reaches down
and pens by the spiritual Solomon descriptive words
out of every realm of human nature that
can be used metaphorically to describe the beauty
of the beloved.
Note with me the opening of the portion
in verse nine, please, for in the ninth
verse there is a challenge, and the challenge
is what is thy beloved more than another
beloved?
O thou fairest among women, what is thy
beloved more than another beloved that thou dost
so charge on?
There is no question of doubt that to
every believer in the Lord Jesus, there is
none equal in his or her affection and
opinion.
There is none equal to the person of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the
beloved Son of God should be, if he
is not, the preeminent affection and character whom
the heart desires and loves.
But, there is a challenge from those who
perhaps know not our beloved, asking what is
thy beloved more than another beloved that thou
should so charge us?
And, the words that follow by the divine
Spirit have been written as the answer of
every spiritual heart.
Now, let me qualify again.
It is the answer of every spiritual heart.
I say frankly that it takes a spiritual
heart to enjoy and fathom to some degree
the depth of appreciation these words express concerning
the person of the beloved Saviour.
Meditate with me this morning upon the first
verse in answer to that question, and that
is the tenth verse.
For she opens her mouth to say, my
beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among
ten thousand.
The expression is spontaneous, as to her heart
and to her mind the beloved comes, saying,
my beloved.
And, you know, it's the joy of being
able to say he's my beloved.
Remember the psalmist wrote, the Lord is my
shepherd.
He is a shepherd.
He is the shepherd.
He is the good shepherd that gave his
life for the sheep.
He is the great shepherd that cares for
the sheep.
He is the chief shepherd who is coming
for the sheep.
But, one of the most precious words in
that phraseology of Psalm 23, in the opening
words, is that little word, mine.
The Lord is my shepherd.
And, perhaps one of the greatest truths that
we find in this precious book for the
believer is the expression, my beloved is mine,
and I am his.
And, may I ask, can you call him
your own?
Can you say, this is my beloved?
Her first description of him is, he is
white and he is ruddy.
The combination of two colors, the combination of
both red and white.
For, white and red are the chief colors
and characteristics of the human form and of
the human countenance.
My beloved is white and red, and the
bridegroom of the church is recognized and distinguished
from all others, and from every other beloved,
as the object of affection and regard among
the sons of men by these two distinguishing
colors, white as well as red.
I would like you to think with me
of the words that are written of Solomon
in the first book of Kings, chapter 8.
For, in the portion there, or chapter 4
rather, of the book of Kings, in that
section the word of God records that Solomon
was wiser than all the men of the
earth.
The wisdom of Solomon, perhaps humanly speaking, has
never been attained to by others.
If we can, and which we should, take
the word of God for our statement.
He was wiser than all men, wrote the
Spirit of God.
And, when Solomon wrote these words, the great
mind of Solomon may have been reflecting, as
he wrote my beloved is white and red,
upon the red blood of the snowy fleece
lambs that were sacrificed daily upon the altars
of Israel.
He may have been reflecting, as the Scriptures
portrayed in their prophetic vein, he may have
been reflecting upon the coming of that one
who was to be led as a lamb
to the slaughter, and as the shearers before
her stood down, he opened not his mouth,
and reflecting upon the person of the Son
of God who was to come, he could
write by the divine Spirit of one who
is the Lamb of God.
For, the colors white and red reveal to
us the characteristic features of one who is
the Lamb of God.
May I point out to you that, in
relation to this great book of the Song
of Solomon, the Lord Jesus is seen as
the blind groom, and, of course, the church
is the bride, and, as the blind groom,
the Lamb is the blind old name of
the Lord Jesus.
And, in that coming day which is described
in Revelation chapter 21, the bride is called
the Lamb's wife.
When the marriage takes place in Revelation 21,
it is called the marriage of the Lamb,
and the wedding feast is called the marriage
supper of the Lamb.
Therefore, in this allegory of the Song of
Solomon, the Lamb is portrayed as seen, and
indicated as being the bridegroom's name, intimately associated
with his marriage, and the marriage of Christ
the Lamb to his bride, the church.
But then, on the other hand, the Lamb
is not only the bridal name of the
Lord Jesus, the Lamb is the sacrificial name
of Jesus, as many others well know.
John the Baptist stood one day and said,
Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world, and he attributed
to that blessed person the sacrificial name of
the Lamb of God which taketh away the
sin of the world.
God's thoughts of redemption throughout all Scripture are
associated with the sacrificial Lamb of God from
the beginning to the end of Scripture.
It is the Lamb that was foreordained to
be slain.
It is the Lamb who was slain.
It is the blood of Christ without blemish,
and without farce, that is the only ground
of sacrificial redemption for you and for me.
And the Lamb is the sacrificial name of
the Lord Jesus.
My beloved is white and red, and thus
in the two uniform colors, unchanging token, he
is to be recognized as being my beloved
by the colors of the white and the
red.
May I point out to you that, as
we read in Revelation chapter five, in heaven
we shall behold him as the Lamb that
was slain.
On the earth, the Spirit describes him as
the one, the blood of the Lamb by
whom we have been delivered, the blood of
the Lamb without blemish and without farce, and
whether we see him in heaven with the
saints gathered there as shall be in the
coming day, whether we acknowledge him upon the
earth, he is my beloved, the Lamb of
God, both white as well as ruddy.
But, I'd like you to examine with me
both of these colors carefully and separately.
My beloved is white.
My beloved is white, for the two colors
are very important to recognize in their meaning.
My beloved is white.
First of all, my beloved is white in
the perfectness of his humanity, the perfection of
his human nature.
When we speak of Christ, we exalt him
above all others as she is challenged.
What is thy beloved more than another beloved
that thou dost so charge on?
And when the believer speaks of our precious
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, my beloved is
white in the perfection of his human nature.
He is different than all the rest of
us.
My beloved is described in the words of
the Spirit of God in chapter seven of
the book of Hebrews as being harmless, as
being undefiled, as being separate from sinners.
And, in the midst of a world of
sinners, in the midst of a world that
could be described as black Ethiopians, he shines
in his pure whiteness as a Nazarite of
purity and perfection, whiter than snow.
The mire and the stench of sin was
all around him, but he himself was without
spot and without blemish.
And, when we gaze upon the character of
that person who, in his human nature, was
without blemish and without spot, we say this
is my beloved.
The Spirit of God writes through Peter, he
did no sin.
We cannot say that of any of us.
We must say of my beloved, he did
no sin.
Paul writes of the beloved to say, he
knew no sin, and affirms the definite impeccability
of the human character of Jesus Christ.
He knew no sin.
John writes, saying, in him was no sin.
My beloved is right, more than any other
beloved, and our pleasure to recognize the distinct
values of his perfect humanity.
Oh, thank God for the perfect purity of
that human nature, and impeccability of our failure
to know Jesus Christ.
But then, he's not only right in the
purity of his human nature, he is also
right in the infinite purity of his divine
nature.
There is not only a human purity to
that blessed one, but there is also a
divine purity that is infinite.
For my beloved is not only human, my
beloved is also very God.
For the beloved, my beloved, is the God
-man.
He is not only man, he is also
God.
And, truly, more than any other beloved, he
stands to theme as being in the deity
of his presence whiter than all others.
Ye may I go further this day.
The divine glory that was his does not
obscure his perfect humanity, and neither does his
perfect humanity obscure the divine, or impair the
divine in any manner.
It was God the Father that wrote those
words of him in Hebrews chapter 1 and
verse 3.
He is the effulgence of God's glory.
He is the expression of God's substance.
Now, listen carefully.
Drink it into your soul.
This beloved is more than any beloved because
of the whiteness of his divine effulgence, the
outshining of the character of God, and all
the attributes of the being of God are
resonant in him.
The effulgence of God's glory, and the expression
of his substance.
When I see my beloved, I see him
in all the perfection of his human nature,
but I see him as being also in
the perfection of his divine nature.
You say, what is God like?
My beloved.
Whatever God is, my beloved is.
You name all the attributes of God.
God is love, God is might, God is
holy, God is light, God is truth, God
is righteous, God is right.
Name them all.
They're resonant in him, and in that perfect
human form, the divine was present, and the
human did not impair the divine, and neither
did the divine glory obscure the human.
The fullness of the Godhead shines brightly and
gloriously through the whiteness of his spotless humanity,
for the beloved is white as no saint
in heaven, as no angel.
He is the Lamb that is without spot,
this blessed one.
You know, it is important to recognize, to
acknowledge, as well as to rejoice in the
character of this beloved.
May I repeat what I stated at the
commencement?
The person of Christ is the perfect object
for the heart, and when he's upon the
earth, the father would text him on occasion,
this is my beloved son in whom is
all my delight, and I'll bless it to
recognize this is my beloved.
For you and for me, fellow believers, this
is our beloved, and thus we can see
him in all the whiteness, the perfection of
his humanity, the perfection of his being.
I think one of the great things we
need to know and realize more than we
have, and more than we do, is who
my beloved is, who he is.
But he's not only white, but he said
he is also red.
My beloved is white and red, red with
his own precious blood.
The only pure and precious blood that ever
flowed through human veins flowed through the veins
of my beloved Savior.
The only blood that was pure, holy, that
was ever shed upon the earth was the
blood of the Son of God that was
shed upon the cross of Calvary.
All mothers possess the hereditary stain of sin
in their blood.
The only precious blood that ever flowed for
sin, and has power to atone and take
away our sins, was the blood of our
beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is the whiteness of his person that
undoubtedly makes the precious blood what it is
for you and me.
The red within him is just as pure
as the white, as it does flowed in
his blessed veins.
But that red blood that was shed upon
the cross, and listen to the joyous message,
that red blood that was shed upon the
cross by his grace and power can make
his whiteness our own.
We sang that lovely hymn at the close
of our worship meeting, and is it so
that I shall be like thy son?
Is this the grace which he for me
father of glory taught beyond all thought to
his own blessed likeness brought?
The power of that blood to bring his
whiteness, the righteousness of his character, to be
thus provided for us to be accepted in
the presence of God.
Well said the poet.
Yes, well wrote the psalmist.
Wash me, and I shall be wiser than
snow.
And, oh the joy of recognizing my beloved
is white and red.
You cannot separate the colors.
He stands out in all the whiteness of
his purity, both human and divine.
He stands out with all the redness of
his precious blood as the one whose blood
alone can take away sin, and wash away
every sin, and present you with me heartless
before a holy God.
Then I say, you'll never tell all the
truth if you don't say my beloved is
white and red.
Within the veil of heaven there is no
blood recognized, save the blood of the lamb,
and by his own blood he entered in
once into the holiest place, having obtained eternal
redemption.
Praise his blessed name, and that's for us.
May I suggest, in heaven angels are white.
They're never white and red.
In heaven saints are white.
They are never white and red, for they
washed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the lamb.
The blood of martyrs has been shed upon
the earth, and the very voice of that
blood cries to God above for vengeance.
But, the only blood that is acknowledged within
the veil of heaven is the blood of
the lamb that was slain, and in the
midst of that zone, and in the midst
of those living creatures, and in the midst
of that glory, we shall fall down before
the lamb, acknowledging that he was slain, and
we shall see him whose blood was shed
for us.
He will be the only one who can
be acknowledged white and red.
The sacrificial value of his blood, and the
whiteness and the glorious character of his person
forevermore.
What if you ever noticed this?
It's remarkable to me, as well as significant.
When you read the book of the Revelation
all through, you have enumerated more than any
other title that is given to the Lord
Jesus, you have the expression the lamb.
I believe 28 times referring to the Lamb
of God.
28 times, and in the diminutive, in the
Greek language it's written in the diminutive, I
literally mean the little lamb.
And the language expresses this fact.
It is the book of Revelation when the
unveiling of his glory will be made known
to the universe.
When God will take him who is the
lamb that was slain, will humiliate him more
than any of the sons of men, and
in that day he will exalt him, and
in that eternal day of glory it will
be the little lamb that will be magnified
and glorified above all others.
And the world and the universe will know
that in that eternal day of glory, the
Lamb, the one with the sacrificial name of
the Lamb, the one with the bridal name
of the Lamb, both white and red, he
will be manifested in glory forever above the
universe around.
Yea beloved, he's worthy, for he's both white
and red.
May I meditate with you in the dying
thief when he was hanging, as two of
them were one on either side of the
Lord Jesus when on the cross?
The dying thief knew the beloved by these
two tokens, white and red.
The dying thief looked at the Lord Jesus
and said, as you may remember, he recognized
the whiteness of the Lamb in his prosperous
humanity, for he confessed, this man hath done
nothing amiss.
You know, beloved, that was the revelation to
a man of such character, dying worthily in
judgment and in death upon a tree for
the crimes he had committed.
But, out of his soul, he acknowledges to
the one in the center, this man of
him he declares he has done nothing amiss.
He not only acknowledged him in the whiteness
of his humanity, he acknowledged him in the
glory of his deity.
When he added, Lord, remember me when thou
comest into thy kingdom.
And then, you know, he saw something that
you and I can never perhaps literally see,
but we have by faith.
He saw that pressured blood flowing down the
body of that blessed one he acknowledged.
I don't know, we sing it in poetry,
the dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain
in his day, and there have I, though
I must see, washed all my sins away.
But, may I pause in worship for a
moment to realize with you the dying thief
saw not only his person, his by faith
and divine revelation to it, so he acknowledged
him in all the whiteness of his glory,
and he saw visibly the outpouring of that
precious blood that washed away his stains.
But, you know, let me ask, what can
give anyone the boldness, the liberty of looking
upon such a person as the Son of
God?
Beloved, there's only one thing that can give
to you and me the liberty, the boldness
of looking with acknowledgement and adoration upon the
person of the Son of God, and that
one thing is the power of his precious
blood, the power of his precious blood that
cleanseth from all sin, and enables that believing,
trusting sinner to thus acknowledge the one, the
Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
Let me think with you for a moment
of Thomas.
Do you remember on the first resurrection day,
Thomas was not with the disciples, and he
said when they reported to him of the
glorious resurrection of their savior, they told him,
we've seen the Lord!
He's risen!
And, as they described the brightness of the
risen Lord, Thomas doubted and said, I'll not
believe until I could put my finger into
his nail print, and my hand into his
wounded side.
And then, the following week, Thomas was with
them when the Lord came into the midst,
and the Lord said, Thomas, reach into thy
finger, put it into my hand, reach into
my thy hand, and thrust it into my
side.
Be not faithless, but believing.
And, Thomas, we do not read that he
ever did what he attracted to do, but
the moment he saw the whiteness and glory
of that blessed one, and recognized the wounds
that were his on Calvary, Thomas was convinced,
and he said, my Lord and my God,
this is my beloved, he's right, he's right,
and this is the answer to the question,
what is my beloved more than another beloved?
First, my beloved is right and right.
May I pause for just a moment before
closing the text with the expression that follows?
To ask the question, my beloved, what is
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
to you?
I wish you'd forget, relegate to one side
what so many speak of as just being
the mere historical Jesus.
Will you not recognize what the Word of
God says, and who He is?
Not only what, but who He is, and
what every spiritual heart will say that knows
Him?
My beloved is the God-man, right in
the perfection of His humanity, right in the
glory of His deity, red in the color
of His precious redemptive work that took away
my sin.
This is my beloved, and this is the
one upon whom my soul rests for my
eternal salvation.
Thank God for Christ.
This is my beloved more than any beloved
that no other one who could, who had,
and who today will take away sin by
the blood of His cross.
Think again with me of those words of
John the Baptist, Behold the Lamb of God
which taketh away the sin of the world.
John says this is God's land, the appointed
land, and not only knows who He is,
but knows His power to take away sin.
And, look the scope of that power!
The sin of the world!
Hallelujah!
I don't care who you are, know what
you are.
His precious blood can cleanse from all sin.
This is my beloved, and I'm sure it's
the best place to start to describe the
beloved, isn't it?
The Lamb, white in all the glory and
perfection of His humanity, and the glory of
His deity, and the one who shed His
blood upon the cross of Calvary.
But, in note of the end of the
text, he goes on to say He is
the chief of ten thousands.
He is the one to whom she ascribed
preeminence.
She did right.
He stands out by Himself, alone in His
excellence and beauty.
No other can share His glory.
He must have the preeminence in all things.
This is my beloved.
Can I ask you a question?
To your heart, believe her in my easy
preeminence, that in all things ye might have
the preeminence.
And, standing out cheapest among all others, His
preeminence she acknowledges.
Do you?
Do I?
There are three expressions I'd like to bring
before your heart that are found in this
scripture.
The first is in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 and
verse 8, where the wise man is written
of that same beloved.
He is higher than the highest.
No matter what takes place upon the earth,
and the wise man describes what many things
do, many things that do happen in that
scripture context, but he says there's one that
sees, there's one who regards it, there's one
who notices it, and he is higher than
the highest.
Whether it be man, whether it be angel,
whether it be above cherubim, cherubim and seraphim,
above Michael the archangel, above Gabriel that great
angel, above the highest created angel who is
Lucifer, my beloved is higher than the highest.
No, you can't go any higher than that,
can you?
That's where he is, higher than the highest
in its preeminence.
And, then, may you also remember the expression,
the text from which I quoted earlier in
Hebrews 7 26.
The one who is harmless, undefiled, separate from
sinners, has become our high priest, and has
been made higher than the heavens, the exalted
and in the glory.
My beloved is higher than the heavens.
You know, you can't find my beloved on
the earth literally.
You cannot find my beloved upon this earthly
scene.
My beloved was born at Bethlehem.
My beloved lived in the land of Israel.
My beloved died on the cross of Canterbury.
My beloved was buried, and rose again, and
my beloved ascended, and is now higher than
the heavens.
For God hath highly exalted him, and given
him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.
For, may I go on to confirm the
fact which I quoted in Scripture, and which
is repeated in substance in Psalm 89 and
verse 27.
He is to be higher than the kings
of the earth in his future supremacy.
Higher than the kings of the earth, higher
than the highest in his created glory, higher
in the heavens in his present exaltation, and
someday he's coming again, and he's going to
be higher than the kings of this.
You know, I wish he were here.
I wish the earth was being reigned by
my beloved, for I want to tell you
frankly I'm grateful of this.
I know the one man who's going to
straighten everything out upon the earth, including the
amen, and what a joy to realize he's
going to be higher than all the kings
of the earth.
She says, this is my beloved.
Oh beloved, to all of his followers he's
always the chief.
Over the whole universe of creation is the
one glorious prince, the chief of ten thousand.
Then may I close by reminding you of
this tremendous contrast.
Though he is the chief of ten thousand,
I think in the language of Paul in
1st Timothy chapter 1 and verse 15, the
language of the bride would say she knows
someone else who is chief, but in an
opposite direction.
She acknowledges what Paul declares is true.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of
all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief.
And beloved, I don't know anything greater to
say in closing that the one who is
greater than all others, the chief amongst ten
thousand, loved the chief of sinners, you and
me, the bringest to himself, the chief of
offenders, and this one the chief of deliverers.
This is my beloved.
I pray that it's yours.
Shall we bow in prayer?
Our blessed God and Father, thy son declared,
no man knoweth the son but the father,
and blessed father we are amazed that in
the light of holy scripture, and by the
divine spirit of God, thou art able to
enlighten these hearts and minds of ours to
see the beauty of thy son.
Who has become to all who believe upon
him their eternal beloved.
We who are thy people would praise and
bless thee for this one who is altogether
lovely, our Lord Jesus, and pray that anyone
who knows him not will realize this is
the one who shed his blood to save
sinners, and may they trust him today.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of our Father God, the fellowship
or the conviction of the Holy Spirit be
upon us.
Amen.