2025-01-27A
A. THE BRIDE MEETS THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM AND THEY TALK ABOUT HER GROOM.
THE BRIDE: I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? That I am sick with love. What is your beloved more than another beloved, O fairest among women—what is your beloved more than another beloved, that you have adjured us thus? (5:8,9).
In the passage read, the Bride continues to search for her Beloved in the city which is defined as the physical city of Jerusalem. What does Scripture say about this city?
…for Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is the mother of us all. (Gal 4:25,26).
Hagar was a slave and the son, Ishmael, whom she bore, was therefore, according to the law of that time, also a slave and so it would continue from generation to generation, until someone redeemed her or her offspring. Nor could she earn any money as a slave with which to redeem herself. She toiled day by day, simply to stay alive.
Jerusalem and its inhabitants are equated with this condition. Sinai is the mountain on which God gave his Law to Moses and Jerusalem is here equated with Sinai because Jerusalem’s spiritual leaders abused the Law and thereby made slaves of its inhabitants. They crucified Jesus, their God-given Messiah and Saviour, and preached that man could keep the Law by his own strength and thereby inherit eternal life.
The earthly Jerusalem is therefore not just a physical city in Palestine, but a spiritual heresy that makes anyone who follows it, a lifelong slave who tries to live perfectly day by day but never succeeds. Such a person cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven, because that Kingdom can only be inherited and, a slave is never an heir to his master’s estate. To inherit from God, you must be his child, born again by his Holy Spirit. Children of God are joyful, redeemed slaves. This is further explained in the Book of Hebrews:
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous ones made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Heb 12:22-24).
Back to the Bride. First she was in conflict with the guards of Jerusalem and now she meets some of the citizens of the city: the daughters of Jerusalem. According to the flesh they were born of the people of Israel but spiritually they were not born of God and therefore not citizens of heaven, citizens of the New Jerusalem.
They have a fear of God; He is the Giver of the Law, but they do not believe that a person can have a person-to-person relationship with Him. When He spoke in an audible voice to their ancestors from Mount Sinai , they fled in fear and asked Moses to listen to what the Lord said and then come tell them what they should do (Ex 20:19). They did not want to meet Him personally, as Moses, Aaron and Joshua did. They were willing to try to keep the most important of His commandments day by day, but there had to be a safe distance between them and Him. They did not want to have Him there at their tents, seeing what they did and hearing what they said.
Today there are still millions of such unfortunate people. They appear outwardly pious and God-fearing because they keep certain of the Lord’s commandments. They are neither cold nor hot. Thus they are sometimes difficult to distinguish from recently born-again children of God who are waging a fierce battle against deep-rooted sins of earlier years.
It’s actually only when you try to have a joyous, in-depth conversation with them about the King, that their true colours come to light. They will feel uncomfortable and threatened by such a conversation and reply: “Don’t preach to me. I read my Bible and I have my church. My mother taught me not to talk about politics and church – it only brings strife. You’re completely too serious. Everything has its place. I don’t walk around with my Bible under my arm. After all, everyone is a child of God. We all serve the same Lord. We shouldn’t judge each other. Jesus also made wine. It’s also written somewhere in the Bible, I think.” On Sunday they go to church, now and then, but are glad when it’s over.
They certainly do not have the same Beloved as the Bride, but each has his or her own beloved; a special someone or something to whom or to which their hearts belong: Career, Carnal Pleasure, Wealth, Honour, Self-will, or whatever. The do not know the Bride’s Beloved.
Wherever the Bride turns, nowhere does she find anyone who knows her Bridegroom, or has even seen Him, let alone being able to show her the way to Him. They readily admit that she is a “Great Christian,” for her actions and conversations clearly testify to it. “Oh, fairest among women,” they call her.
She will continue looking for Him, but perhaps théy will run into Him by chance and could tell Him that she is looking for Him. That way He will know that she is sorry for not having opened the door to the room for Him. This may make Him to come looking for her. But will these aloof, cold hearted people heed her request? So she adjures them to convey her message to Him. This means that if they fail to carry out her instructions, some disaster will befall them. But what exactly should they say about her? “That I love Him so much that my human body can no longer bear to be without Him; I feel quite sick with longing. As I feel now, I desire nothing more than to be in His arms.”
(Fellow Bride of Christ, let these words of the Bride sink deep, deep into our hearts; let us meditate on them and pray until they are transformed into a spiritual reality within us.)
Her words arouse resentment in their hearts: “What does this woman imagine? She thinks she is far above us in her religion.” They scornfully ask her: “What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you have so adjured us?”
She raises her eyes to heaven, lost in a dream world of her own and without a moment’s hesitation, she begins to testify about her Beloved, to describe Him to them:
B. THE BRIDE PRAISES HER BELOVED: HE EXCELLS EVERYONE ELSE.
THE BRIDE: My beloved is dazzling white and ruddy, more excellent than ten thousand. (5:10).
He is holy, not just spotlessly white but shining like polished metal, like blinding light and his Blood cleanses all with whom He comes into contact to be just as pure as He is.
THE BRIDE: His head is gold, pure gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven, (5:11).
The head is the center of a person’s faculties such as his thinking, sight, smell, taste, hearing, voice and speech. It gives him the ability to show his emotions by his facial expression and offers him the opportunity to beautify his overall appearance by means of his hairstyle and beard (in the case of a man). Gold is a precious metal that does not tarnish over time and is the most expensive and desirable of all metals. A head of gold symbolizes excellence in every respect. A raven’s feathers are glossy black. This symbolizes elegance, status and power. State cars of national leaders such as presidents and kings are often black. The waving of his hair indicates constant care of it. In human terms: “You can pull Him through a ring”.
THE BRIDE: … his eyes are like doves by streams of water, washed in milk, sitting by a well of water (5:12).
His eyes reflect his thoughts. They are like doves come to drink water: peaceful, calm. At his baptism in the Jordan, his Heavenly Father also typified him in this way by the Spirit descending on him in the form of a dove (Luke 4:22). His ministry to his beloved is gentle, comforting, loving. His invitation is:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Mat 11:28).
The doves are washed in milk. They are pure white, like wool, like snow (Isa 1:18). So is He: during His thirty-three and a half years of humanity He did not sin once in deed, word, or thought – just as great a miracle as His resurrection from the dead.
He drinks from a calmly flowing river and a full spring, namely the fullness of His Father Who is the Source of all good things.
THE BRIDE: His cheeks are like beds of balm, terraced beds of fragrant plants; his lips are lilies, dropping myrrh. (5:13).
The cheeks give shape, attractiveness, beauty and character to the face. Sagging cheeks speak of a sick body, a troubled mind or old age. High cheekbones in a lady are considered by some beauticians to be conducive to beauty. Her beloved’s cheeks are not only attractive like numerous terraced beds laid out one above the other on the mountain, but also multitudinously fragrant like beds containing a multitude of balsam and many other kinds of fragrant plants.
With his lips He conveys his love to his beloved by means of a soft wordless kiss and with his lips he whispers words of love in her ears.
THE BRIDE: His hands are round bars of gold, filled with chrysolite, his body a work of art of ivory, covered with sapphire stones. (5:14).
The round bars probably refer to the ten fingers, all different from each other and each with a unique purpose so that His hands can do all things. Nothing is too big for Him to do: the sun, moon and all the multitude of galaxies He sculptured with His fingers (Ps 8:4). Nor is anything too small and insignificant for His fingers. He pressed them into the ears of a deaf man and remotely touched the nerves, hair sensors and drums so that he could suddenly hear. Then He spat on His finger and there with touched the man’s tongue and, … at once he spoke (Mark 7:33).
A millionaire’s fingers flow with much gold, but the Bridegroom’s hands are gold. By them He gave all His gold into the possession of man (Hag 2:8). His hands work both life and death. With His finger He engraved His will for His people on stone tablets (Deut 9:10) and with His hand He wrote King Belshazzar’s sentence before his eyes on the wall of his banquet hall (Dan 5:5).
He does not just wear two or three rings with precious stones on his fingers like an earthly king; his hands sparkle with inlays of translucent green or red chrysolite gemstones as seen on the breastplate of Aaron, in the visions of Ezekiel and as are the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem.
His body, from shoulders to hips is made of ivory, another precious commodity that kings collected little by little at great expense. King Solomon’s throne was made of ivory (1Ki 10:18). Only the super rich could afford it. In addition, her beloved’s body was covered with sapphire stones which, like chrysolite, is mentioned in several places in the Word in the context of excellence.
What makes the Bride’s Beloved special above others is this: the kings of the earth may adorn their houses, thrones, robes, and crowns with gold and precious stones, but He Himself is the gold and the desirable stones. These earthly precious items are only illustrative of the beauty of His spiritual attributes, characteristics. The gold, chrysolite, and sapphire are just the pictures; He is the reality. He is the heavenly, gold, chrysolite, sapphire, and ivory.
THE BRIDE: His legs are like pillars of marble, set on sockets of fine gold; his form is like Lebanon, chosen as the cedars. (5:15).
Marble comes in many different colors and is polished granite, carefully cut and prepared for a specific purpose, in this case to serve as pillars for an important building. It can bear weight without collapsing. So are her beloved’s legs: like tall, broad, marble pillars. He carries the incalculable weight of the universe on his shoulders, walking with it day by day through the ages. For his servant Moses, he helped to carry the burden of his people, Israel (Num 11:14). He lifts the strayed sheep on his shoulders and carries it back to its fold (Luke 15:14). Also his weak bride, who so often breaks down under the pressure of her daily life and responsibilities, he carries, without her knowledge, day after day, as a man carries his son, (Deut 1:31).
His stature is upright like the cedar; it always points upwards, to the heavens where God the Father dwells; it grows higher than the other trees. To every master carpenter it was a sought-after tree .
As Mount Lebanon towers above the surrounding lowlands, so He towers above every human being who has been, is, and ever will be. Even the skeptical inhabitants of Jerusalem had to admit this.
And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this? What new doctrine is this, that with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him? And immediately the fame of him spread throughout all the region round about Galilee. (Mark 1:27,28).
THE BRIDE: His palate is pure sweetness, yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. (5:16).
He is not only a connoisseur of what is sweet and beautiful and right, but spiritual sweetness flows from Him like honey from the beehive. He is the source of sweetness: love, joy, optimism, cheerfulness, kindness, sharing, forgiveness.
But enough of that. What more could she say; HE IS BEAUTY ITSELF!
C. HAVING HEARD HOW MARVELOUS HE IS, SOME OF THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM WANT TO KNOW WHERE HE CAN BE FOUND.
Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? (6:1).
After this breathtaking description of the Bridegroom, the majority of the daughters of Jerusalem probably felt embarrassed and fled, but perhaps one or two remained, charmed, to join the Bride in her search for her desirable Beloved because an irresistible desire for Him had suddenly flared up in their hearts too.
My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to play (or feed) in the gardens and to gather lilies (6:2).
No, He is not at home here in the city of Jerusalem. He has gone to His Bridal Gardens, the hearts and lives of His Bride.
I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine—he who feeds among the lilies (6:3).
After her desperate, painful search, his Spirit fills her heart with a glorious glow of quiet certainty: “I am my Beloved’s and He is mine. I am his lovely lily and he is my charming Shepherd:
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Ps 23:4)
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