2025-01-30A
THE BRIDE: 7:10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.
The Bride is enraptured after listening to her Beloved’s love song in which He describes in detail her footsteps, shoes, navel, body, head, hair, eyes, nose, neck and love and equates them with everything that is impressive and desirable. She could never have imagined that she, a Shulammite peasant girl, would be so beautiful to King Solomon, the most esteemed, richest king in the world – spiritually speaking, the Beloved of Heaven, the Prince of the Universe, the Son of the Almighty. All she can whisper to herself is: “From my crown to my toe I have given myself to Him and from the scalp to the sole of my foot He has taken me; what more could I desire!”
THE BRIDE: 7:11 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the field, let us lodge in the villages. 7:12 Let us go early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine has budded, the grape blossoms are in bloom, the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. 7:13 The mandrakes give their fragrance, and at our doors are all kinds of precious fruits, new and old; these, my beloved, I have stored up for you.
On occasion, a queen enjoys accompanying her husband, the king, traveling through his realm and reveling in the works he began and are now taking shape. His business is also her business. She does not just sit around in the luxury of the palace, occupying herself with trivial matters. No, she travels with him, making intelligent comments on the structures and roads under construction, the herds of cattle, sheep and goats grazing in the meadows and his fields of wheat, maize, etc stretching as far as the eye can see.
Likewise the Heavenly Groom invites his Bride to accompany him on a tour of his domain. They view the different esates. Some were neglected by the farmers and even sown with harmful seeds. The King will have to pay attention to these. The growth will have to be burned to destroy the weeds so that they do not spread to the surrounding crops. This was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah, but He wanted to discuss it with His Bride, Abraham, first and visited him at his tent.
Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” (Genesis 18:17,18).
They first dined on the meat and bread rolls Sarai prepared for them. Then it was time for business:
.. 20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous. 21 I will see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know it. … .
Then Jesus and Abraham walked together to a point from which they could gaze over the Jordan Valley below. The two angels who accompanied them, then continued onwards toward Sodom and Gomorrah.
Abraham stood still before the LORD. 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city; wilt thou also destroy, and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? (Gen 18:20-22).
And so the conversation between the Bridegroom and Bride continued. In due course they agreed that He would at least spare the Bride’s nephew, Lot, and his family from destruction.
This is just one of hundreds of incidents recorded in the Old Testament where the Bride gave her love to her Lover by way of interaction between Him and her concerning matters pertaining to His Kingdom.
To this day such interaction continues. You often find her on her knees before the Throne of Her King Father where she prays in the Name of her Beloved that He may appoint, call, equip and send out labourers to gather in His harvests worldwide.
Then he said to them, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2 )
Sometimes it seems as if She is defenseless and helpless while thus serving Him, but invisibly He is with Her every step of the way.
Go therefore; behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no scrip (purse), no sandals, and greet no one on the road. (Luke 10:3,4)
After one such outreach, She returned and testified jubilantly:
… Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. (Luke 10:17) Then he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:17,18)
Thus she gathers fragrant love apples of victory over the Bridegroom’s enemy. She never lacks testimonies of what God accomplished through her, during times gone by, but also of what He is doing at present. “All this, my Beloved,” she says, “I have done for you!”
THE BRIDE : 8:1 Oh that you were to me as a brother who sucks at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yet they would not despise me. 2 I would lead you, I would bring you into my mother’s house; she would instruct me; I would make you drink spiced wine, the juice of my pomegranate.
The Bride cannot spend the whole day behind a closed door with her lover, moreover, most of the time she is, as the text says, “out there”, busy with her daily human life obligations. Everywhere and in everything, she sees Him, “they rub shoulders”. Then her feelings of love flare up and the “temptation” is great to throw her arms around his neck and plant just one kiss on his lips, but this will not bring honour to both Him and her. In the culture of her time, such an act by a woman was unacceptable. She would be seen as a street woman and her act as a shameless attempt to seduce an honorable man in broad daylight.
Therefore, her thoughts take a flight of imagination and she daydreams: “If only He were my younger brother for a while, I could pick Him up in my arms and caress Him to my heart’s content and no one would blink an eye. If He were a little older, I could take Him by the hand as if his older sister and lead Him to our mother’s house. There, behind the closed door, He can be Himself again and my spiritual Mother will even teach me to give Him my love.”
We have already spiritualized the story somewhat, so let’s go further and get to the bottom of it. The Bride finds herself in a spiritual world that is hidden from the people around her. They know about God or, “The Man Up There”, as some, who are even more ashamed, refer to Him. To live in a love relationship with Jesus and to express it publicly, is unthinkable to them. Such conduct will also offend their friends who are highly regarded in this world. A person doing so will therefore be despised and rejected by society. David experienced this when he, the King of Israel, danced with all his might through the streets of Jerusalem before the ark of God:
And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD: and she despised him in her heart. (2Sa 6:14,16)
Love, gentleness, tenderness, humility, washing of feet and taking on the form of a servant are, to those who are considered men and heroes in society, abhorrent and cowardly. Their king of darkness detests it and to remain in his favour, and in count with his subjects, they also scorn such behavior. But, to those who experience the Prince of Light as Bridegroom, it is simply natural and inwardly refreshing to glorify Him in public.
Is the Bride right to withhold herself from worshiping Him in public and wanting to bring Him to the privacy of the inner room before openly expressing her love? Jesus also warned against giving what is holy to dogs, and casting your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces (Matt 7:6). Sometimes public testimony of our love for Jesus can touch the hearts of many and call them to repentance. However, it can also be misplaced, be in the flesh, and harmful to the Kingdom. As in everything, we must be led by the Spirit.
Whatever the case, her intention was good: she wanted to bring Him to where she could, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, intoxicate Him with the choice of her spiritual gifts of love: spiced love and pomegranate syrup.
“Spirit of God, teach us to love, we still understand so little about it!”
THE BRIDE: 8:3 Let his left arm be under my head and his right arm embrace me.
She still longs for his presence, more than that, for his embrace. He must lie beside her with his left arm, not between them but under her head so that she can lie close to him. His right arm must be over her, wrapped around her, so that she will be in his embrace. She wants to be protected, feel safe, snuggled against his bosom, feel his heartbeat. Everything around them must be excluded, be at a distance. No other being may disturb their “togetherness”. She wants to lose herself in his love and protection.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:38, 39).
THE BRIDE: 8:4 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, Why do you awaken and stir up love before it pleases?
The love of God gives all and demands all, therefore man must reflect carefully before giving his heart to Him. It is the beginning of a lifelong process of surrender to the Source from which it comes.
And great multitudes went with him: and he turned and said unto them, 26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever taketh not his cross, and cometh after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have enough to finish it? 29 Lest, when he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all that see it begin to mock him, 30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish. (Luke 14:25-30)
EVERY DAY WE DISCOVER ANOTHER PIECE OF OURSELVES THAT WE CAN SACRIFICE TO HIM.
AND EVERY TIME WE PLACE ANOTHER PART ON THE ALTAR, HE REWARDS US WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF A DEEPER FLOOD OF HIS LOVE.
When the man went out eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits; and he brought me through the waters—waters up to the ankles. 4 Then he measured another thousand and brought me through the waters—waters up to the knees; and he measured another thousand and brought me through—waters up to the hips. 5 And he measured another thousand—a stream that I could not cross! For the waters had risen—waters to swim in, a stream that no one could cross. (Ezek 47:3-5).
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