Session 1 Introduction to Studying the Song: Why and How? For *additional study material pertaining to this session, see mikebickle.org
I. WHY STUDY THE SONG OF SOLOMON? A.
One of the greatest needs in the Church today is to understand Jesus’ love. Leaders throughout church history have encouraged people to read the Song. (See *additional study material.)
Well, I have been teaching the Song of Solomon now for about twenty-five years, and so I get asked, “Why would you teach that book?”
Of course that is the first question I asked the Lord when He really emphasized that He wanted me to do this. I will tell a little bit of that story briefly in just a little while. I did not like the Song of Solomon when I first read it. It was like “Ugh!” I mean really, I did not get anything!
I just said, “Lord, are You sure that You are really want me to do this, to study this book?” Well, some years later I am really glad because I began to see the heart of Jesus in a new and a powerful way.
One of the greatest needs in the Church today is to understand Jesus’ love. As simple as that is, I believe that is probably the greatest, not probably, the greatest gap and need of the people in this room. I mean the people who are on fire for the Lord across the earth, and there are millions of them. It is the greatest need in my life to go deeper in this.
It is not to get more ministry skills, though I want more ministry skills. Not more leadership skills, though I need more leadership skills. But it is to experience the heart of God in a deeper way because that shifts everything when this happens progressively in our heart. I have really appreciated the testimony of some of the most prominent leaders through church history and some of the great revivalists who have emphasized the value of the Song of Solomon.
Each week I will have the teaching notes, and then I will have a corresponding set of notes on mikebickle.org that I am calling additional study material, which will give a lot more information. In this week’s additional notes, I have a number of quotes from men like John Wesley, Charles Finney, and George Whitefield—some of the great revivalists of history—and what they felt about the Song of Solomon.
Now my favorite Bible teacher is Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones from London; some of you know this name. He was the pastor of Westminster Chapel for about fifty years right in the middle of the twentieth century, right there in London. Probably the largest church in the earth at that time, I am assuming. In my opinion and the opinion of many people, the best Bible teacher on the planet.
I have talked to many scholars who said that Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones was unquestionably the man who had the deepest understanding of the Word. Now again, you really cannot give that title to any one man, but for those of you who do not know him, he is not a lightweight theologian; this is a deep man of God.
“Has He ever said to you, whispered to you, ‘My Beloved is Mine?’”
Read the Song of Solomon and see how the Bridegroom expresses His feeling to his Bride, His love. How lightly we skip over these great statements so that we may argue about our pet ideas and theories!
In one sense the whole object of being a Christian is that you may know the love of Jesus Christ, His personal love to you; that He may tell you in unmistakable language that He loves you, that He has given Himself for you, that He has loved you with ‘an everlasting love’.
He does this through the Holy Spirit . . . What do we know of these secret intimations?
Read the lives of the saints throughout the centuries and you will find that they all know about this. They have known Him to come to them and speak to them, and love them, and tell them that He loves them. He embraces them and surrounds them, and lets them know, more certainly
than they know anything else, that He loves them with all the intensity of His divine Being.
It is because we are married to Him that He does this.” (From Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ commentary on Romans 7:4)
This is one of my favorite quotes on the Song of Solomon, I took this right out of one of his commentaries on the book of Romans, on Romans 7. He asks, “Has He ever said this to you? Has He ever whispered to your heart, My Beloved is Mine.” Then this great Bible teacher exhorts us, “Read the Song of Solomon, to see how the Bridegroom expresses His feelings for His Bride, His love. How lightly we skip over these great statements [in the Song of Solomon] so that we could argue our pet theories and our pet ideas!”
Now of course he was right in the middle of theological controversies through his whole ministry of fifty plus years. He says, “In one sense the whole subject of being a Christian is that you would know Jesus’ personal love, that He would tell you in unmistakable language that He loves you, that He has given Himself for you. He does this through the Holy Spirit.” He goes on to say, “Read the lives of the saints throughout the centuries.”—I mean the great men and women of God. I do not mean the famous ones per se. I mean the ones that are famous for going deep in God, not necessarily for having a big following. But they were well known in their generation for going deep with God. He says, “Read their lives throughout the centuries, and you will find they all know about this reality. They have known Him to come to them and to speak to Him and to receive the love of God...” You can read more about that on your own.
B. I highlight two distinctives that are emphasized in the Song: God’s emotions for His people and the first commandment. By being students of God’s emotions, we will see more of God’s love.
1. God’s emotions: By seeing God’s love, delight, desire, and enjoyment of His people, we are empowered to love God with all of our heart (1 Jn. 4:19). The Song emphasizes the emotional side of God’s personality and His relationship with His people.
2. First commandment: God’s first priority for His people is that they love Him with all of their heart. One purpose in studying the Song is to position ourselves to receive a greater impartation of the Father’s love for Jesus (Jn. 17:26).
2“I have declared to them Your [the Father’s] name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (Jn. 17:26)
When I think of the Song of Solomon, the eight-chapter love song, I think of two distinctives or themes. There are more than two, but these are two that I really lock into. I am not so interested in understanding every verse and what it means and the symbolism;
I am interested in two major themes. So when people ask if they should study the Song of Solomon, I respond, “What you need to study are these two themes from the book.” I am going to highlight these two, and you will find them a deep well in the Song of Solomon.
So it is not the book itself that excites me. It is this two-fold message. One of the themes I emphasize in the song is God’s emotions for His people. David was a man after God’s own heart. He was a student of God’s emotions. When I look back over forty years of walking with the Lord and being a Bible teacher for forty years, I would say the number one issue that I locked into and tried to go deep was this subject.
In my twenties, over thirty years ago plus, I wanted to be a student of God’s emotions. I wanted to see how God felt. I love Allen Hood’s testimony when he was about twenty-one, twenty-two years old, and he first came from Florida and joined our church just to be a part of learning about this. He was captured by the idea of being a student of God’s emotions.
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The second theme is the call to the first commandment. I believe those are the two primary distinctives or themes that have captured my heart, and that is what God wants me to emphasize from this book. Number one, God’s emotions. What a radical, life-changing reality to see God delights in you, He desires you, He actually enjoys weak and broken you and weak and broken me. He actually enjoys you. He enjoys you far more than you enjoy you, seriously. That sounds kind of clever, but it is real. When I began to understand that, then I began to experience a little empowering of my own heart. But I need a lot more of this. I wrote a book many years ago, about twenty or twenty-five years ago, called Passion for Jesus. Anyway, people have asked me all of these years how to get passion for Jesus. I say, “I know for sure. Study Jesus’ passion for you. Be a student of God’s emotions.”
Number two, the first commandment. Of course you hear us say it like a broken record around here: the Holy Spirit is going to restore the first commandment to first place before the Lord returns. That can become a cliché. I pray it is more than a cliché. The number one priority, from God’s point of view, in your life is that the first commandment would be first. That is what He is after. That is why He is revealing Himself. He is after that. He wrestles with us. He hems us in. He blesses us. He restricts us. He un-restricts us. He does all of those different dimensions because He is after this in our lives. Just consider the prayer of Jesus in John 17.
I encourage you, if you do not have a lifetime verse—you do not have to have one, but I have had one for years; it is this one. I have had this one for, I do not know, since my young days in my twenties. John 17:26; I just said, “That is the one I am going for.”
Jesus is praying to the Father. He prayed and said, “Father, here is my prayer: that the love with which You loved Me would be imparted to them. They would love Me like You love Me, Father.”
Beloved, I cannot imagine anything more dear or more important to God or to us than this prayer. Jesus ends His high priestly prayer with that statement.
He says, “Abba”— right before He goes to the garden and then the cross—“Father, the love with which you love Me, that You would impart it, and they would be captured with it, empowered by it.” Beloved, when we understand the simple truths of the Song of Solomon—it is not a complex book—this thing will stir our hearts.
It is not only in the Song of Solomon. You could find these truths from Genesis to Revelation. Actually you will find more in the book of Psalms from David than in Song of Solomon.
Song of Solomon has it all condensed in one eight-chapter love song. I mean David actually says more than his son Solomon said, but it is spread out through the whole book of Psalms. Paul the apostle took the theme; many subjects on this in Paul’s writings.
C. The Song sets forth in a poetic way some key principles that we need to grow in love and partnership with Jesus. It gives us insight into how God’s people are to grow in passion for Jesus.
Understanding this Song equips us to discern what God is doing in the different seasons of our lives. People often find themselves in two different seasons of this Song at the same time. Another reason why we study this book is that it gives us a pattern.
It gives us a model of what I call the progression of holy passion. It gives us the progression. It shows us the steps. It shows us the principles.
In this eight-chapter, love-song poem, the Spirit lays out the pattern that He is going to use to bring you and me forward. So when I read this song, and I understand the different seasons in the song, I can locate myself in that season. Through the near-fifteen years of IHOPKC, how many leaders in the early days when they were learning this song, would say something like, “O man, I am struggling! I am in Song of Solomon 3.” We all know what they
are talking about. “Oh no! I am in Song of Solomon
2. He is challenging the comfort zone.” “Now I am in Song of Solomon 4. I am rising up to go to the mountain.” We understand that those are all different seasons of our life. They have different challenges and different dimensions to them, and God captured these in poetic language.
One of the reasons I believe He put it in poetic language is because poetry is such that it feels different.
That is, though the truths are the same, it feels different. A poem does to every single person, though we might understand the same general ideas. That is just a guess why He gave this song, this poem, and He put so much intensity about how He feels into this song or poem. The song sets forth in a poetic way some of the key principles we need to grow in love and partnership with Jesus. He wants us to grow in love—that is not just a phrase—and He wants us to grow in partnership. He does not want us just to love Him. He actually wants us to do the things of the kingdom with Him. It is not enough that we love Him, that we stand at a distance and say, “I love You. My heart is warmed for You.” He says, “I want more than that.” Of course love always means partnership, always in the real sense. He says, “I want you engaged with Me in what I am doing.” “Lord, it is so little what You are doing in me.” “It means something to Me,”
the Lord would say, “that we do it together.” When I began to see my ministry as partnering with the Lord and seeing what He sees and what He feels, and I try to respond to that—I do not mean in just trying to find out the “mysterious direction for the future.”
Because people would say, “So you know what is the Lord doing? You know what is He saying about the future?” I mean more than that. I mean how does He feel when we are in the midst of challenges, when the money is not working right, where there is conflicts, when we are in the routine and the mundane?
I say, “Lord I want to be faithful in this. How do You feel about me being faithful when it is mundane and routine and just day in and day out?”
That is what I mean by partnership; that is a very powerful dimension of partnership. Some people have the idea of love that they stand at a distance and just feel warm feelings for Jesus, and that is it.
Love is so much more than that! Love and partnership are really the same thing. This Song, when you understand it, helps you to locate what season you are in. Sometimes you are in two places; in one season in your life you are in two different places in the book at the same time.
D. The end-time church must be equipped with the revelation of God’s love and beauty to walk in victory in the midst of the most emotionally wounded and sexually broken generation in history.
Why is this book is such an important book now, at this time? Because I believe we are in the early days of that generation. I will say this a thousand times: it is not a prophecy! People have asked, “Are you prophesying?” No, nothing like that. I just see the signs of the times.
It is an opinion, but it is an opinion that I feel stronger about as the decades unfold and things are escalating so fast. I may not see it in my day, but it is not too early to begin to get ready and prepare spiritually. And, the preparation is spiritual.
There is always a guy up in a mountain, you know, storing guns. I have no thoughts about that. I do not even want to bother with the guy unless he comes and knocks on my door. The preparation from the biblical point of view is spiritual preparation, so that we do not get offended, so we do not get seduced, we do not get deceived,and so we do not get angry at God.
In my opinion we are in the early days of that generation that is going to escalate. Again, it may unfold in many decades; it may go faster or it may go slower. I do not know. You may not see it in your day, but you might. Your children may see it or maybe their children, but we are in that day where it is escalating and things are intensifying.
I will tell you this, the generation in which the Lord returns will be the most emotionally broken—sexually, I mean— the most wounded, sexually broken generation in human history.
The knowledge of how God feels about us heals our wounds; it fascinates us in a way that the seductions of society of the culture have far less power when our heart is fascinated. With the emotional brokenness and the sexual brokenness that is escalating so rapidly, I can understand why the Lord is saying,
“I want My Church to know how I feel. It is not enough to keep them busy; they have to know what I feel about them and how I see them. I want to touch their emotions, not just use their hands in labor.”
E. The Lord spoke to me in July 1988 while I was reading Song 8:6 and praying, “Let Jesus seal my heart with the seal of His love.” The Lord said He would release grace to the Body of Christ worldwide to walk in Song 8:6-7; this speaks of walking out the first commandment in our life.
It was 1988. I have the story written down in detail in several places, so I am not going to spend a lot of time on this. After a morning prayer meeting, I went to my office about eight o’clock. I was looking through the mail. I was looking at a wedding card, and it had the verse Song of Solomon 8:6 on it,
它是1988年。我把这个故事详细地写在几个地方，所以我不打算在这上面花太多时间。早晨祈祷会结束后，我大约八点钟去了办公室。我正在看邮件。我正在看一张结婚卡片，上面写着所罗门的诗8章6节，
“Set me as a seal upon your heart, As a seal upon your arm; For love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave; its flames are flames of fire.” I thought, “Okay, that is a cool verse for a wedding.” A lot of weddings use that; I have seen it many times over the years.
求你把我放在你心上如印记、带在你臂上如戳记。因为爱情如死之坚强，嫉妒如阴间之残忍。它的火焰是火焰的火焰。我想，“好吧，这是一首很酷的婚礼诗。”很多婚礼都用这个;这些年来我已经看过很多次了。
Something happened differently this time when I saw this Song of Solomon 8:6, about putting the seal of love on the heart. Suddenly I just prayed in a way that I had never done before with this verse. I said, “Jesus, put the seal of Your love on my heart.” I began to weep, and the presence of God began to rest on me. I was just so overwhelmed, struck by this because it was so sudden and so intense. It went on for a few minutes, and so I picked up the phone—it was at the church office—I called the receptionist and I said, “Hey, if somebody comes by, just say that I cannot talk right now.
当我看到这首所罗门之歌8:6，关于在心中印上爱的印记时，事情发生了不同的变化。突然间，我以一种从未有过的方式祈祷。我说、耶稣阿、求你将你爱情的印印在我心上。我就哀哭、神的同在也临到我身上。我非常震惊，因为它是如此突然和强烈。电话持续了几分钟，我拿起电话——是在教会
办公室——我打电话给接待员，说:“嘿，如果有人过来，就说我现在不能讲话。”
Something is happening, and I do not know what it is.” You know, in thirty-five years plus of pastoring I have only done that one time in my life where the Spirit moved on me and I actually picked the phone up and said, “Please no matter what, even if it is the boss”—that would be my wife—“no matter what, don’t interrupt me.”
发生了什么事，我不知道是什么事。“你知道,在35年+的牧师我一生中只做过一次精神感动我,我拿起电话,说:“请无论如何,即使是老板”——将我的妻子——“无论如何,不要打扰我。”
Because my heart was so touched and I was weeping. I said, “Jesus, seal my heart with Your love. I do not even fully know what it means.” Suddenly the phone rings about ten minutes later. I could not believe it! It is amazing how you can go from the heights of engagement with the Lord to being in the flesh. I went, “What?!” The whole thing kind of lifted. Picked the phone up, “Yeah?”
因为我的心如此感动，我哭泣。说：“耶稣、求你用爱心放在我的心上如印记。”我甚至不完全知道这是什么意思。大约十分钟后，电话铃突然响了。我简直不敢相信!你如何能从与主的接触的高度，升到肉身的高度，是令人惊奇的。我:“什么? !整件事都被提了出来。拿起电话，“是吗?”
The guy on the phone said, “Hey, I hate to do this, but Bob Jones is on the phone.” Most of you know the name Bob Jones, a prophetic man. He said, “Bob says he heard the audible voice of the Lord. He has a message for you, and it is urgent.”
电话那边的人说:“嘿，我不想这么做，但鲍勃·琼斯正在接电话。”你们大多数人都知道鲍勃·琼斯这个名字，他是一位先知。他说:“鲍勃说他听到了神的声音。他有话要告诉你，而且很紧急。
I thought, “I better let him in.” I said, “Yeah, that is good.” I am on my knees, Bible open, wedding card there, weeping. I say, “Hello Bob.” Bob says, “I only got one minute.” He says, “I just heard the audible voice of the Lord. He told me Song of Solomon 8:6-7.” I cannot believe it! He says, “The Lord told me it is for you.
我想，“我最好让他进来。”我说，“是的，很好。”“我跪在地上，打开圣经，在那里看婚礼邀请卡，哭泣着。我说，“你好，鲍勃。”
鲍勃说:“我只有一分钟。”他说:“我刚才听见耶和华的声音。”他告诉我所罗门之歌8:6-7。“我简直不敢相信!”他说:“耶和华告诉我，这是给你的。
Whatever the message of that is,
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You are to lock into that all of your days, but it is more than that. The Lord said He is going to release grace, an anointing of the Spirit worldwide. He is going to raise up people all over the world. He is going to release whatever the theme of this is about, and He is going to empower people to walk this out.” Well, the theme is the first commandment and understanding of God’s emotions.
I mean he talked to me less than a minute, sixty seconds, maybe two minutes maximum, probably one minute. He hung the phone up. I was sitting there just overwhelmed. I said, “Okay God, this is amazing.” So after a little time it lifts, and I mean this thing—it was so intense.
So I call my wife and I say, “I have the most remarkable thing, Bob Jones just called me and said ‘Song of Solomon.’ Thing is, I was reading it, I mean the very passage. Nobody knew I was reading it. How did that happen? The Spirit of the Lord was resting on me in a way I have never talked about before at that kind of level.”
She says, “Wow, this is amazing.” So I hang up, and I decide to read the book. I mean, he really said Song of Solomon 8:6-7, but, hey, you know it is at the end of the book. I had never read the book in a serious way. I had read the book in a joking way, you know, to make jokes to the junior high group and stuff when I was a youth pastor, but please do not do that!
So I read it through in a serious way, all eight chapters. It was horrible! No, I mean horrible. You know: flowers, perfume, body parts, flowers, perfume, body parts, I said, “NO!” I mean it was horrible. I come home that night from the office, and Diane says, “Hey, fantastic day! Tell me more about it.” I say, “Well, before I tell you that about what happened with Bob, have you ever read Song of Solomon?” She says, “Yeah, it is amazing.” I say, “No! It is horrible!” I told her, “
I asked the Lord to give it to the ladies’ ministry. I do not want, I do NOT want to do this book.” I could not get any connect with it because I was not thinking of the heart of Jesus for His people. I could not even connect at all; it took me a while. I knew the Lord wanted me to stay with it so I stayed with it.
My point is, it was unfamiliar, but I stayed with it. Again, it is not the book itself. He wanted me to study it to catch these themes about His heart and, over time, you know a couple years—it did not take so long—a year, two or three, probably two or three years, if I remember right. Now I look back twenty-five years later, and I am telling you the encounters. Meaning, I do not mean some exaggerated thing. I do not mean encounter like “Wow!” I am talking about the little stirrings of my heart multitudes of times through twenty-five years is what I mean. I am using encounter—small “e” for encounter. I tell you it is the most precious reality, and I have found these truths in the book of Psalms. I have found them all through the New Testament. I found them all through the writing of the Prophets. It is the heart of Jesus. II.
INTERPRETING THE SONG OF SOLOMON A.
Natural interpretation: This view depicts a love story between King Solomon and his bride, a Shulamite maiden. It sets forth principles that honor the beauty of love within marriage.
We take the Song at face value where Solomon mentions his courtship and the various stages of his marriage.
We are going to look at how to interpret the Song. There is the natural interpretation that says the Song depicts a real love story between King Solomon and his bride, the Shulamite. She is call the Shulamite—and I have
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that written down here in the notes—because she came from the city of Shunem. So she is called the Shulamite because of the town, the little village that she lived in.
I have a bit more detail on this in the additional notes and there is a little bit on the website tonight; we are going to have a lot more in the next couple of days. I mean I have got pages and pages and pages that we are getting it all edited, etc.So I have a lot more about the natural interpretation.
This is a very valuable interpretation. The natural interpretation sets forth the principles that honor the beauty of love within marriage or the beauty of married love, a very powerful biblical theme in the Song of Solomon. I have studied that. I love that theme, the natural interpretation. It is a real story of which Solomon wrote a song about the journey that he went on with a young woman that became his wife.
B. Spiritual interpretation:
This view employs a symbolic interpretation of the Song to emphasize the Lord’s relationship with His people as the Bridegroom King. The typological approach to the Song recognizes the OT historical events in Solomon’s life and marriage, while celebrating Jesus’ love for His Bride, the Church, in the NT. I will use this approach in our study of the Song, so that we may grow in understanding of the relationship between Jesus and the individual believer. This has been the most common interpretation of the Song for the last 3,000 years.
Again I have quite a bit on the website, besides the teaching notes tonight, on the natural and the spiritual interpretation. The spiritual interpretation uses symbolic interpretation to emphasize the Lord’s relationship with His people as their Bridegroom King. He is not just a Bridegroom, but He is a Bridegroom King. He is a King with power, AND He is a Bridegroom with desire. He is a Bridegroom King.
C. Allegorical and typological interpretations can be helpful if used to illustrate truths that are clearly established throughout the New Testament. See mikebickle.org for my article “Avoiding the Dangers of Allegorical Interpretation.”
1. An allegory is a fictional story with symbolic meaning, not based on historical facts. It is a literary form in which truths are presented through symbols. Paul on occasion gave an allegorical interpretation of an Old Testament passage (1 Cor. 9:9-10; 10:4; Gal. 4:24-26; Eph. 5:32).
2. The typological approach to Scripture honors the historical situation set forth in a passage and then makes a spiritual application.
3. The majority of commentaries throughout church history have interpreted the Song as a typological or allegorical portrayal of the relationship between Jesus and the Church. Now if you are going to use the spiritual interpretation, which we are using in this course, or the allegorical interpretation, we want to make sure that we are only embracing truths that are clearly established by the New Testament. Some people use a spiritual interpretation of Old Testament stories, and they come up with truths that are not found anywhere. If it is not found in the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the apostles, do not accept it. The only valid spiritual interpretation of Song of Solomon must be rooted in New Testament truth. Again, I have a bit more on that online.
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D.I strongly encourage the use of the historical-grammatical interpretation of Scripture, which is to seek to understand a biblical passage in its plain meaning by taking it at its face value. We are to understand its historical context and see how its author intended it to be understood.
E. Each book of the Bible was given by the inspiration of the Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16). He exalts Jesus in all that He does. He has a fierce loyalty to fill people with love for Jesus. It seems improbable that the Spirit would inspire a book in the Bible that would not ultimately magnify Jesus.
14“He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” (Jn. 16:14) Each book of the Bible was written, given, by inspiration of the Spirit. Jesus said, “The Holy Spirit will glorify Me.” The Holy Spirit has a fierce loyalty to Jesus. Some people have said that Song of Solomon is not about Jesus. I say that the Song of Solomon is an eternal book. We will be reading the Song of Solomon a million years from now in the resurrection. It is in the Bible. There is no book in the Bible that does not last forever. I believe it is inconceivable that a Holy Spirit-inspired book, inspired by the fierce jealousy of the Holy Spirit, does not find its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. I just cannot fathom that. I cannot imagine that a million years from now we have a book about marriage when marriage does not exist in the age to come, in the resurrection. We just talk about “way back there you know, a couple of billion years ago, when there was marriage.” No, I do not think so. I think the book has its fullest meaning in Jesus. It has meaning in natural marriage, but it could not possibly, in my opinion, have its ultimate meaning there, because a million years from now we will still be edified by reading this book.
F.
We must refuse all sensual overtones in interpreting the Song of Solomon allegorically, and in our understanding of the Bride of Christ message. Jesus is not our “lover” or “boyfriend.” I say this like a broken record. I have said it for twenty-five years. We must refuse all sensual overtones in interpreting the book, and 99.9 percent of people do. I have only met two or three people—I mean literally two or three in twenty-five years, maybe three or four, but it is a very small number—who actually though Jesus was their boyfriend. I said, “Really?” They said, “Yeah.” I said, “Really?” “Yes, let me tell you why.” I said, “Do not tell me! It is perverse, and that is darkness, and that is deception. He is not your boyfriend. He is not your lover, never. He is your God forever.” What He is talking about is our heart being stirred by the power of God in the first commandment. Nothing that has its roots in a sensual, romantic relationship in anyway, whatsoever. True, God is the author of natural, romantic, sensual love within marriage, He is the author of that, and it is beautiful and glorious, but that is not what this book is about in the spiritual application.
G.
Jesus spoke of Himself to the disciples on the Emmaus road from all the scriptures. 27 He expounded…in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Lk. 24:27) Jesus spoke of Himself to the disciples on the road of Emmaus from all the scriptures. He did not just pick out three or four books. The Bible says He used all of the scriptures to speak about Himself. He knows the Bible
well, so I think that He did not need any notes, did not need any handouts, nothing. He talked from His heart about Himself from the Word of God. I believe He taught from all of the scripture—the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament including the Song of Solomon.
H. God’s Word lasts forever, and earthly marriage does not continue in the resurrection (Mt. 22:30). The redeemed will forever read all of God’s Word. Thus, I do not believe that the themes related to natural marriage can exhaust the eternal message and scope of this part of the Scriptures. I.
Paul described believers as betrothed, or “engaged,” to Jesus in this age (2 Cor. 11:2). The “consummation” of the marriage is in the age to come when we see Him face to face.
2For I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. (2 Cor. 11:2) J.
Jesus is returning for a Church established in her bridal identity before Him (Rev. 22:17). 17And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”…
20He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! (Rev. 22:17-20) Jesus is returning for a Church established in her bridal identity. It is not just the Church as an army, though the Church is an army. It is not the Church as a family, though we are the family of God forever. It is not just the Church as a Body, though we are the Body of Christ forever.
Yet there is one generation where the Spirit will emphasize the Church in her bridal identity as a cherished Bride. We will look at this in the days to come. The Bride of Christ doctrine is not about being male or female. Women are the sons of God; men are the Bride of Christ. As sons of God, we have access to God’s throne and God’s power.
As the Bride of Christ we have access to His heart, to His emotions. So we have both: we have His throne and His heart. We have His power and His emotions. We do not pick between them. He is a Bridegroom King. Both are part of destiny of His people. The Spirit has never emphasized this. He has spoken it to a group here and a group there. I believe we are in that hour of history where there are going to be millions of people worldwide speaking and capturing this. It is already happening. In the last ten or twenty years there have arisen thousands of ministries capturing these themes about the Bride of Christ, talking and singing, prayer ministries and preachers. The Lord is stirring it up all over the earth. I remember twenty-five years ago, I was looking for people that could give me a little comfort on this. I found a guy here and a gal there, here and there, but I am telling you there are now thousands of people across the earth being touched by this theme. I believe it is one of the signs of the times of the early days of that generation, this awakening globally of intrigue and interest and more to the theme of the Bride of Christ. When Jesus returns, He is returning to a Church. Yes, they are sons of God. Yes, they are in the family of God. Yes, they are the Body of Christ AND they are inbridal identity as a Bride saying, “Come, Lord Jesus. We know who we are to You now. Come, we know who You are.”
K. The essence of the message of the Bride of Christ is the revelation of Jesus’ beauty, His emotions for us, His commitments to share His heart, throne, secrets, and beauty with us as our Bridegroom King, and our response of wholehearted love and obedience to Him.
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The essence of the message of the Bride of Christ is the Bridegroom message. It is the revelation of His beauty. It is the revelation of His emotions. Here it is the revelation of His commitments to share His heart. To open His heart, to share His heart, His throne, His secrets. He is not allowing us to witness just His power. He is sharing His heart, His throne, His secrets, and His beauty with His people. He is saying, “Come near. I have things to share with you.” Beloved, this is amazing! What a fascinating journey we are on for those who have ears to hear! Meaning the Spirit is beckoning people to say, “Hey, Jesus has things to share about His heart. Do you want to? Do you care? Do you have time?” L.
Some see the Bride of Christ as only consisting of those who walked in mature love in this age. In the resurrection, I believe that the Bride includes the entire Church from all history. The Spirit will bring God’s work to completion in every believer (Phil. 1:6). I see the Bride of Christ as including all believers, since they will all eventually be perfected in love, in the resurrection. III.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN THE SONG A.
King Solomon: In the spiritual interpretation, King Solomon is a picture of the triumphant Christ as the Bridegroom King who possesses all power, yet is filled with affection for His people. King Solomon is a picture of the triumphant Christ as the Bridegroom King. He is the Bridegroom King, obviously. B.
Shulamite maiden: In the spiritual interpretation, the Shulamite is a picture of the Bride of Christ. She is introduced as a maiden who grows up to become the Bride who enjoys mature partnership with Jesus. She is mentioned once by her name (6:13), which is derived from the city of Shunem. The Shulamite is a picture of the Bride of Christ. She starts off in the book as the maiden, but right in the middle of the book, Song of Solomon 4, she becomes the Bride. C.
Daughters of Jerusalem: In the spiritual interpretation, they speak of sincere yet spiritually immature believers. They look to the Shulamite for answers on how to grow close to the King. They are not an actual group that we can identify in history. They typify immature believers. The daughters of Jerusalem speak of sincere yet spiritually immature believers. They are sincere. I mean they are the real thing, and they are all through the book. The times they show up in the song, they are eager to learn, and they are attentive. I want to mention one more point. It is not an actual group of people. I have had people ask, “Well, would that group over there be like the daughters…? I say, “No! Do not pick that church on the other side of town or that denomination and say they are the daughters of Jerusalem. No! It is completely wrong. The daughters are just personifying sincere but immature that is in the process of learning.” So if you get really mad at someone, do not say, “You daughter of Jerusalem, I mean, how dare you?” “You Shulamite!” “Ah, thank you, thank you!” Forget all of that stuff! Do not go there.