2025-01-15A
THE BRIDE IN SEARCH OF HER GROOM
THE BRIDE: 1 On my bed by night I sought the one my soul loves; I sought him, but I did not find him.
In between typing letters for her employer, shopping, baking bread and helping her children with their schoolwork, (or a rugby match, a council meeting, a raid on a drug dealer’s house, a flight to the International Space Station) she again lost contact with her Bridegroom. She is now looking for Him, but not seriously. She is in her inner room, on her knees, sort of speaking to him. But it is somewhat of a lazy search – more a thinking about, than a search for Him. On her bed, between sleep and wakefulness, she misses Him, but not intensely. Her thoughts about other things, keep her mind occupied. She is calm within her human enclave, her spiritual comfort zone.
In Scripture, He promises that those who seek Him will find Him, but the seeker must know how to seek Him.
Then from there you will seek the LORD your God and find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut 4:29).
A half-hearted seeker can spend a lifetime seeking intimacy with Him, without finding it, and that because his love has grown lukewarm (Rev. 3:16). The Bridegroom once explained by way of a parable how earnestly his Bride should seek him:
Or what woman, having ten coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? (Luke 15:8).
What He is saying is that the woman (bride) did not lie on her bed wondering what had become of her precious coin, no, she got up, lit a lamp, took her broom and swept every corner until she found it. That is real seeking! (See: The lost coin .)
That is how He must be sought. Is He not much more precious than a coin? Is He not like the pearl of great price for which the merchant sold all he had to buy it (Matt. 13:46)? And did not the Father give His Best, His Only One, as a ransom for His Son’s Bride? And did not He, the Crown Prince, leave the glory above, come all the way to earth, endure the mockery and rejection of humanity, and even the shame and pain of crucifixion for Her? In this relationship, the crux of the matter is this: if you want to experience His all, you must give your all. Access to heaven is free, at His cost, but intimacy with Him is only gained through reciprocal, passionate love.
THE BRIDE: 2 I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the broad ways; I will seek Him whom my soul loves. I sought Him, but I did not find Him.
Finally, she can no longer bear the longing for the kisses of his mouth (the spiritual experience of his loving presence). The mutual love, worked by the Holy Spirit, the God of love, burns like a blazing fire within her. Another Bride, the prophet Jeremiah, described this burning pain of separation (in his case due to unwillingness to convey His words to others) as follows:
And if I say , I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name; then it is in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones: and I weary myself to endure, but could not. (Jer 20:9).
She closed the door behind her and headed into the city.
[In this pericope, the city is symbolic of what man creates to provide for his needs and satisfy his desires. For the vast majority, it is the flesh in action; the intellectual solution to his search for peace, pleasure, and security. In this he trusts in himself. It makes man his own god and excludes his Creator or assigns him a subordinate role.
The spiritual antipole, the opposite of the city, is nature; the mountains, wildlife, fields with flowers and shepherds with their sheep, mentioned in an earlier text. These are the handiwork of God; things that cannot be created by man and are used here as an image of the spiritual work He does within man.]
[WE NOW JOIN THE AUTHOR OF THE SONG AND FURTHER DEVELOP THE STORY AS IF IT HAPPENED ON THE HUMAN LEVEL.]
She walks down the street, furtively peeks into shop doors, crosses the squares where old and young are loitering, looks searchingly into every face, asks the same question over and over again: “Have you not seen my Beloved?” Then she describes Him: “Meek, quiet, peaceable, humble, pure, upright, one who can endure evil, kind, a peacemaker, always cheerful, having a wise and comforting word for everyone. It is as if a delicious fragrance is surrounding Him. He towers above all others. No one can fail to notice Him!”
Jerusalem is the city of God; surely, someone should know where He is. But, some mock her, others look at her sourly or are surprised, astonished. A jolly young man calls over his shoulder: “Lady, this is the city square, the place of trade and merriment, go enquire at the temple, from the priests. Take a turtledove with you as a sacrifice”. A man with a colourful cloak and numerous rings on his fingers, fishes out a leather bag, shakes a number of shiny gold coins into his palm and holds them out to her: “Madam, here is my beloved: Gold. The more I love him and his children, the more I collect, the better I live. This dazzling diamond in my ring I may have acquired by pulling some strings, but it now adorns my finger. No lady, you don’t know what you are missing. Can he do this for you? No, I don’t know your lover and I have no interest in meeting him.”.
Others see her as a beggar or a peddler; someone to avoid or pity. They have no time to listen to her question. Everyone is chasing something. Could they all be mistaken or do they know something she does not? But then a Voice whispers in her ear:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God remains forever. (1 John 2:15-17)
A couple in love walks by, but she stops them. Surely, they understand what love is and will be able to help her. She asks her question again. Yes, they know Him and He is somewhere here in the city centre. Then why don’t they seek Him out, she asks in surprise. They smile at each other meaningfully. No, one cannot openly, in public, demostrate one’s association with him, they reply. The girl actually blushes just thinking about it. “Your friends will be shocked, they will be ashamed of you.” The young man adds that if your employer were to see you doing this, you would never get promoted again. His firm would lose clients. “No,” he explains further, “such a relationship with Him is a very personal matter; one does not speak about it in front of, or to others.
But, the two of them are not cold towards Him, they explain, they do things for him, things that please him. No one objects to that. They are, in fact on their way right now to deliver this container of rusks and gingerbread to a dear lady in a home for the aged. On Sunday they also attend a meeting in the building over there, the one with the high tower. There one may be seen with Him. There it is appropriate and everyone does it and receives recognition and praise from each other for it. There is no need going around searching for him like this. He will understand. They greet her kindly and walk on.
In her heart the same Voice whispers words she read somewhere:
For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and that of the Father and of the holy angels (Luke 9:26).
Suddenly she feels very lonely. “That’s what happens when you love Him so much,” she thinks. Later on you won’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend with whom you can spend a weekend like this. They will just wave at you from a distance, then hurry away. Again a word comes to her heart:
… Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. … Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns with jealousy”? (James 4:4,5).
Her eyes fill with tears and she continues her search for Him. But let her tell the story herself:
THE BRIDE: 3 The watchmen who go about the city have found me. Have you not seen the one my soul loves?
The guards noticed her. Her behavior was strange. They approached to question, if necessary to arrest her. They wore uniforms of piety, but abused the Law and ordinances of God which He had given to draw the lost Himself; laws intended to illuminate his perfect path of righteousnous like street lamps do. The straying sinner would thereby come to realize that he was on the wrong way, leading to the abyss. He could then turn to God receive forgiveness and empowerment by His Spirit to walk the path of love.
But these so-called watchmen never humbled themselves like this, but rather used the Law to their own advantage. They added commandment upon commandment and line upon line, braiding the Law into a whip to beat man to submit to them. The poor listener was thereby so overcome with guilt that he fled even further from God. By denying the grace of God, they drove man away from Him, placing themselves between Him and His creatures. What is more, because they knew these ordinances by heart, people thought that they were very holy, observing them all. Thus they forced the common believer to bow the knee in reverence to them, instead of to Him, the most holy, loving and merciful God.
They also had to ensure that the King and his Son would not regain the Kingdom that their leader had cunningly wrested from Him in Paradise. So, as soon as they noticed someone who might be a Bride of the Son, they attacked him or her with all their might. The Bride of our story, however, was alert. One look into their steely eyes made her realize she should never have consulted them. She quickly turned away, slipping back into the crowd.
She had hardly done this, when she saw a man standing a short distance away. He looked quite ordinary; not like the important people of the city, the prominent ones. He kept his eyes fixed on her, friendly, questioning. The crowds in the square gave Him a wide berth, looking at him with disgust. Some ladies covered their noses with a handkerchief.
… He had no form or glory that we should regard him, nor appearance that we should desire him. … (Isa 53:2).
As a human, the Lord Jesus was probably not particularly tall and desirable like King Saul or handsome, skilled, or musical like King David. It was only when He addressed the crowds that they were amazed at the wisdom of His words and the authority with which He spoke.
He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their face: he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isa 53:3) .
This is how the people saw Him as He hung on the cross. They despised Him, little knowing that He was busy doing the greatest of all works; a work that only He, the spotless Lamb of God, could accomplish. However, those who know Him, recognize Him immediately by the glory that radiates from His character; the fragrance of everlasting life; the fragrance of love.
For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the latter a fragrance from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. … (2Cor 2:15,16).
Everyone in whom He dwells spreads the same fragrance. They are avoided because the teaching and example that emanates from them, condemns sin in every form and reminds man of the eternal death that awaits the lost. To them, therefore, his myrrh and spikenard are a fragrance of death.
Now the Bride in our story no longer pays attention to the crowds, because she is totally focussed on Him. She takes a step forward. Immediately He does the same. She takes another; so does He. Suddenly they are together.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. … (James 4:8).
THE BRIDE: 4 Scarcely had I passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loveth: 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 bare me.
Yes, she discovered: This is He, this is He, her Bridegroom. She recognized Him by the scent of his myrrh; so different from the smell of the cheap perfume of the people of the city. He took her hands in his, looked deeply into her eyes and suddenly the pain disappeared from her heart. Her eyes shone. She grabbed hold of his cloak and pleaded that He would come with her. So she brought him into her mother’s house, the birthplace of her humanity.
[And now we must add that she found Him not in the flesh, but in her spirit, deep within herself. This is where He stepped forward, came to her, and where she took hold of Him by faith – but, of course, you understand that.]
THE BRIDE : 5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the deer of the field, not to awaken or arouse love until it pleases.
Again, similar words as before flowed through her mind: “Love is jealous; once you have surrendered to it, it never lets you go again.”
She also learned an important lesson: Do not seek Him in the city, the symbol of human wisdom. Man teaches you either to embrace evil because it brings you benefits, or to try to resist it by the power of your own will. Also, do not try to plan your life and find fulfillment in it by the effort of your own abilities and without the help of your Creator. In short, do not let Man persuade you to live independently of God.
Seek Him by the working of his Spirit, symbolised by the pastures and flocks of sheep, the vineyards where Henna flowers bloom and the valleys of daffodils and lilies. Seek him in the spiritual garden of your own heart where his Spirit is in control.
By intercession, accompany Him in the vineyards of your fellow Brides where he is busy pruning and catching the little foxes. Walk with him through his Word and note the paths He walks. Let his Spirit take you by the hand and lead you into his room of intimate communication. Let him also bring you into his throne room of worship. When you are in your car or in an airplane on your way home or to work, let Him guide your thoughts like a shepherd his sheep, to think of the things above and not the cares or temptations of the world around you. In so doing, you will be with him constantly. Rest in Him like the daffodil and the lily and you will spiritually be a delight to the eye and spread its fragrance all over. Entrust yourself to Him and rest in His peace.
“Do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down; 7 or “Who shall descend into the deep?”; that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what does it say? “The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart”; … (Rom 10:6-8).
HE IS CLOSER TO YOU THAN YOUR PARENT, WIFE OR CHILD: HE IS WITHIN YOU.
Think deeply about this truth so that it can take on meaning for you.