Good evening, brothers.
As we come to the study of God’s Word, there is a principle of Bible study that is indispensable—absolutely indispensable. I need to be reminded of that principle all the time. We do not want to take it for granted, and we do not want to substitute helps for that which is indispensable.
I am talking about total reliance upon God’s Holy Spirit. It is only as we come as little children that God—Who alone can reveal God—delights to reveal Himself. He longs to show Himself to our hearts.
The last time we gathered together in this place, we were looking at the book of Malachi. So I would like to begin with a verse from Malachi, as a transition and as an indispensable-principle verse. Please turn to Malachi 3.
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger,
And he will clear the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple;
And the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.—Malachi 3:1
Once again, verse 1: “The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple. The messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—behold, He is coming,” says the Lord.
For a moment, I want you to forget all that verse has meant in the first coming. There were many times He suddenly came to the temple. The record is clear; I counted five times He came to the temple in the New Testament, and I am sure that verse has application to some of those occasions.
And forget, for a moment, all that verse will mean in the future in terms of the second coming. There is no doubt in my mind that it has a final application there.
But for our purposes this evening and this weekend, I want to remind you of 1 Corinthians 6:20: “Do you not know that you are”—finish it—“the temple of the Lord”? You are His temple. I am His temple. We are His temple.
According to this promise, this is the present foretaste of that principle: for those who seek Him and for those who delight in Him, He will suddenly come to His temple. Is that too much to expect of the Lord this weekend—that because you seek Him and delight in Him, He will suddenly come to His temple?
I am talking about this in the sense of John 14:21:
“He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself unto him.”
—John 14:21
Is that not a wonderful verse? “I will come and disclose Myself to him.”
So let us settle it right up front, brothers, before we open the Word and look in the Song of Solomon. The question this evening and this weekend is not, “Do you have the Lord?” I trust that was settled a long time ago.
It is not even, “Do you understand your portion in Him and have full assurance of that?” The question is this: Is He disclosing Himself to you? Is He manifesting Himself to you?
Malachi 3:1 says that the Lord will suddenly come to His temple. In that context, it is the introduction to the new covenant. The disclosing of Christ—the manifestation of the Lord—is one of the promises secured by the new covenant.
This is my prayer this weekend, and I hope it is yours: that we have come so delighting in Him and so seeking Him that He will surprise us, suddenly come to His temple, and disclose Himself.
With that as an introduction, let us bow together and commit this time to Him.
Our Father, how glad we are for that everlasting truth, that age-abiding principle: those who seek and those who delight are visited. Lord, suddenly come to Your temple. Surprise us. Meet us. Visit with us individually and corporately.
Thank You for every part of Your Bible, and in a special way this weekend, for the marvelous Song of Songs. Guide our meditations, we pray. Deliver every one of these brothers from that which is flesh and blood. Deliver us all from sermons. Give us a word from heaven. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Please open to the book of the Song of Solomon—Song of Songs, Canticles, for those of you who like the Latin.
I think it has been announced already that we will be meditating on this precious book. Because of the nature of this book and the many different approaches to it, I would like to take this evening as an introduction lesson and simply set it before you.
We are not going to start in chapter 1, verse 1, and proceed through some kind of outline. I have gone through the book, and I would like to lay before your hearts what I believe is the burden of God’s heart—and what has become the burden of my heart. If we can get that together this first evening, then, Lord willing, tomorrow we will begin looking at the book itself.
God has given us analytical minds. Of course, that can hurt when you come to a book like the Song, because it is poetry, and you can kill it. You take a song and outline it—you do not want to do that.
But so that we are all together, and so that everything is as clear as clear can be, here is what I would like to do tonight: I want to give four general observations. They are very general—nothing deep, probably nothing new—but I believe they will help us, as we get into the book, to press to the heart of the Lord. That is what it is all about.
I am sure this book means different things to different saints. Perhaps some of you are like one of my relatives, who told me the other day, “I never read the book. I do not care about Solomon and his girlfriend.”
I do not know whether you have tried to read it, whether you have been discouraged by reading it, or whether it has meant much to you. Different people have entered into it in different ways. By looking at these observations, I am trying to give us a taste for the book and call our hearts’ attention to great principles that will be true as we study it together.
My first observation concerns the distinctive theme of the book. What is it about? What is its message? What is the common denominator of the book?
I was amazed, when I began to study this some time ago, by how many different approaches there are to this wonderful Song of Solomon. Because there are so many approaches, I think it is important to find the common denominator in them all—not where we differ, but where we agree.
There are, broadly speaking, two basic approaches. Let me set them before you and then try to give you the common denominator.
The first is called the historical approach. In other words, this is actual history. It really happened. It is not a make-believe story. There was a real man, Solomon, a king.
Depending upon how you approach it, Solomon either had a girlfriend whom he courted and later married, or they were married early and the book describes their love affair and wedded bliss. But it is considered a real story, told in poetry.
Among those who say it actually happened, there are two groups. Some say it is the story of a shepherd-king, Solomon, who falls in love with a little country girl—a damsel, a Shulamite maiden. He courts her, finally marries her, and the record is the courtship and marriage of the king and this maiden.
Others say, “Yes, it is history, but the lover is not Solomon. In fact, Solomon is the villain.” They believe there was another shepherd who loved the girl. King Solomon came with all his kingly wooing and tried to win her affection. For a while she was enticed, but in the end she returned to her shepherd-lover.
Harry Ironside had a variation of that view. He said there is a shepherd-lover, but it is the same man. Solomon first comes as a shepherd. She does not know that he is a king. He approaches and woos her as a shepherd, and later she discovers that he is a king. They marry and live happily ever after.
Why is that important? It is important because your approach affects how you determine who is speaking. Is this Solomon the king? Is this the bride? Is this the daughters of Jerusalem? Is this another shepherd? Who is doing the talking?
There is a second view: the book is not historical at all; it is allegorical. It is not based on fact but is a poetic device—a poem picturing ideal love. There is no plot and no historical characters; it is simply an imagined story in an Oriental setting.
The scenes change. Sometimes it is in a garden, sometimes in a palace; sometimes it is springtime, then summertime, then autumn. Sometimes it is on the mountains, in the valley, in the wilderness, in the house, or out in the street in the city.
Those who take the allegorical view say it is an allegorical story presenting dispensational truth. Some say it is about God and Israel. Others say it is broader than that: it is about God and His people, about God and the church. But they do not believe it actually happened.
So we can avoid all the controversy over the shepherd, Solomon as villain or hero, the identity of the speakers, whether it is about God and Israel or God and the church. We can fight over those details.
Let me give you what I believe is the common denominator—and it certainly will be our basis this weekend as we study this marvelous book. I am convinced, with the light I have—and if it does not ring true, scrap it—that this is a love story of two worlds.
It is a human love story, and it illustrates a heavenly love story. It is both. Whether it is allegorical or historical does not affect that interpretation. The point is that it is a love story of two worlds.
Some have pointed out that in Song of Solomon 6:13, the damsel—the Shulamite—has the same name as the groom. Solomon means peace; that is masculine. Shulamite is the feminine form of Solomon. It is the same name, and it means peace.
The son of peace has married the daughter of peace, and they have become one. I like to put it this way: on the low level of earth and in heaven’s highest place, that is marriage—when the Son of Peace has married the daughter of peace, and they are one.
Do not answer, brothers, but does that describe anybody’s marriage here? Come on to my house and watch the Son of Peace as He relates to the daughter of peace.
It is a true earthly story, and it is a true heavenly story. I am convinced that if all you get is the earthly side, you have an incomplete view of the Song of Solomon. I am also convinced that if all you get is the heavenly side, you have an incomplete view.
Song of Solomon 5:10 says, “He is the chiefest among ten thousand.” You say, “That is Christ,” and indeed it is. But let me ask you this: are you the chiefest among ten thousand to your life partner? It also has application there.
Song of Solomon 5:16 says, “He is altogether lovely.” Is that how she sees you? Song of Solomon 7:10 says that His desire is toward her. Song of Solomon 6:16 says, “This is my beloved, and this is my friend.” That is true upstairs, on the heavenly level. Is your wife your best friend? Is there that union?
His love is exclusive. Song of Solomon 8:6 says that He loves us with a jealous love. Those of you who are married, pray that God will give you a jealous love for your wife—a love intolerant of rivalry, a love insisting upon exclusive devotion. That is how God loves you.
It is on both levels. We need to see it on both levels.
One thing I will encourage you to do, because we will not have time to cover all eight chapters in our sessions, is to go through the book and find the characteristics of love. Apply them on the human level, then multiply them by infinity and apply them to the Lord.
I will not develop these, but let me give you five characteristics of love that I find in this book:
Go through the book and study those characteristics. Here is an interesting fact, brothers: this book is all about the heavenly Bridegroom and how much He loves you and me.
For interest, does anybody know how many times the name of God is mentioned in the Song of Solomon? Depending on which version you use, if you have the King James Version, it is not mentioned at all. In some other versions, such as Darby, the New American Standard, or the American Standard, it is mentioned once.
The name of God is mentioned only once, in Song of Solomon 8:6:
“Put me like a seal over your heart,
Like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy is as severe as Sheol;
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
The very flame of the Lord.”—Song of Solomon 8:6
There it is: the Lord. Though His name is only mentioned one time, the Lord is in every syllable of this book. As you watch the groom, you are going to see your heavenly Lover.
That is the first characteristic: it is a love story of two worlds.
Do not answer this, but let me ask: how many of you married men—there are many single men here, and I will address you in a moment—pray to the Lord, perhaps not in so many words, but as the prayer of your heart, that your earthly love affair will reflect your heavenly love affair?
That is what this is all about. That is what marriage is all about. That is why Satan hates a real marriage grounded in the Word of God.
I could not believe what I read the other day. Somebody wanted a divorce but could not afford it, so he took out a home-improvement loan to finance his divorce. Talk about irony—home improvement.
If my union with Lillian is what it ought to be, people should be able to look at us as we relate to one another and say, “Now I know how much God loves me.” They ought to be able to look at her and say, “Now I know what it means to surrender to the Lord.”
That is one of the prayers we are going to pray as we go through this book. This common-denominator approach makes marriage sacred to the nth degree—a very, very precious thing.
Because we have limited time, you know where my emphasis will be. We are going upstairs. We are going to look at the Groom as He relates to the church, as He relates to the bride. But I will also pray that God will help you translate that as you go home and relate to your life partner.
Some of you young men who are not yet married may be saying, “What am I doing here at this conference studying the Song of Solomon? This will not apply to me at all.”
Yes, it does. One of the wonders of this book is its relationship to Isaiah 54:5. Listen carefully, single men. Isaiah 54:5 says:
“For thy Maker is thy husband.”
—Isaiah 54:5
Whether or not you are married to a woman, if you are a Christian, you are married—to the Lord. That is what we are going to be talking about.
Some say the prophet Daniel was never married. Yes, he was. He trusted the Lord, and Isaiah 54 says that he was wedded to his Maker. His Maker was his husband. Every believer is married to the Lord.
We talk so much about the new covenant, and we love the new covenant. But check the background of the new covenant: it is a marriage covenant. Daniel was married to Christ while he lived on earth. Daniel is married to Christ right now in heaven. Daniel will be married to Christ through all the ages of eternity.
In that sense, there is no such thing as an unmarried Christian. Some people say, “Do not read the Song of Solomon until you are married.” I say, “Read it right away. Get into it. Learn how much your heavenly Groom loves you.”
It applies to all of us. It is a love story of two worlds.
Brothers, may God help us with this. We are not here to play games. I know I handed out that material, and I will tell you why in another connection, but this is not a game.
If I were to tell you that the theme of the Song of Solomon is, “God loves you,” I would not be going far enough. That is not the theme. God loves you—but the theme is deeper than that.
God is in love with you. That is not the same thing. God not only loves you; He is in love with you. He is in love with me.
God chose the sweetest of all unions—marriage. He chose the sweetest of all affections—love. He chose the most intimate side of the most intimate relationship on the planet earth—the physical side.
God chose the most profound expression of the heart—poetry—in order to tell us that He is in love with us. What a tremendous book. May God give us eyes to see it, not only as it relates to us and the Lord, but also as it relates on the level of earth.
Hold that. This is the first principle, the common denominator: whatever your approach, this is a love story of two worlds. Whether you take the historical approach or the allegorical approach, we are studying a love story of two worlds.
The second principle can be stated in these words, and every word in this statement is important: The message of the Song of Solomon is the climax of the redemptive experience on the earth.
Let me speak about “climax,” “redemptive experience,” and “on the earth.” It is the climax of the redemptive experience on the earth.
As you know, Solomon wrote three books in the Bible: Proverbs—or most of the Proverbs—Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Some people try to determine which one he wrote first. Let me say right up front: nobody knows. Godly people take all sides, assigning one to early life, another to middle life, and another to late life. Nobody knows the order in which he wrote them.
Some become hung up on the fact that God chose Solomon, of all people, to be the human author of one of the greatest love songs ever written. Solomon was guilty of so many illicit love affairs. Why did God not use the sweet psalmist to write the Song of Songs? That might seem to make more sense on the level of earth.
1 Kings 11:1–8 tells us that Solomon had many—not love affairs, but lust affairs. He had seven hundred wives, and according to the Bible every one of them was a princess. They all came from royal families. He also had three hundred concubines.
Deuteronomy 17 warns kings to avoid three things: do not multiply wives, do not multiply horses, and do not multiply gold and silver. Solomon did all three.
We usually think of Solomon in terms of the temple: Solomon’s temple, singular. But when you read 1 Kings 11, you are shocked to find that he built many temples—not merely Solomon’s temple, but temples for the false gods of his many wives.
How can a man guilty of so many lust affairs write such a book, a book God has used through the years to purify the love affairs of His people? I am not sure I can fully answer that. But one answer is this: it certainly shows the sovereignty of God in the inspiration of Scripture.
And I will tell you this: are you not glad that God uses unworthy instruments? Oh, my—where would we be if God did not use unworthy instruments?
I read one commentary that said this is an impure book. Then why is it not popular among impure people? I do not see sinners reading the Song of Solomon. You go to some den of iniquity, and they do not say, “Let us look at the Song of Solomon.”
Why are those who have loved the Lord most often the ones who have loved this book? It is not an impure book; it is a very pure book. God has used an unworthy instrument to give us this pure book.
I believe the Bible is providentially guided by God and arranged in its proper order. He has overseen the canon of Scripture, and every book is in its right place.
I think He gave us Proverbs first—not chronologically, but logically and redemptively—because in Proverbs Solomon tells us that there are two ways to live: wisely or foolishly.
Then He gives us Ecclesiastes and says, “If you live foolishly, this is what your life will look like.” Then He gives us the Song and says, “If you live wisely, this is what your life will look like.”
The Song is supernatural life. Ecclesiastes is natural life—life under the sun. Under the sun, everything is vanity apart from fellowship with God. The Song of Songs is above; it is a heavenly book. Nothing is vanity in the Song. Everything is satisfying.
When we study the Song, we are studying poetry. How many poetical books are there? There is a section called poetry: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song. These five poetical books follow the seventeen historical books.
That is not an accident. That is how God does it: He gives you the history first, and then He explains the history. He did the same thing in the New Testament. He gave the Gospels and Acts—that is the history—and then He gives the Epistles, which explain the history.
The difference is that the books of poetry in the Old Testament explain redemption in seed form, while the Epistles explain redemption in fully developed form. But it is the same thing.
God used poetry because it is the language of devotion. It expresses the heart and the spirit. The Song is not merely one of the poetical books; it is the last book. It is the climax of the explanatory section in seed form.
It is the book that takes the redemptive experience as far as it can go on earth. When you begin to see the Song of Solomon, you begin to see the climax of the redemptive experience in Christ.
Many think that if they really enter into redemption, the climactic expression will be mission, soul-winning, or evangelism. No, that is not the climax of redemption; it is an outworking of the climax.
Others say holiness is the climax of redemption: “If I really enter in, I will be transformed. I will be like Him.” That is not the climax either.
What is the climax of the redemptive experience? Brothers, may God write this in our hearts: your love affair with Jesus is the climax of the redemptive experience. My love affair with Jesus is the climax of the redemptive experience.
1 Kings 4:32 says of Solomon, “He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five.” Solomon wrote one thousand and five songs. Where are the other one thousand and four? We do not have them.
The reason is that, of all the songs, this is the superlative song. That is why it is called the Song of Songs.
“Holy of holies” is a superlative. Of all the holy places on earth, this is the holiest of all. “King of kings” means that of all the kings on earth, He is the King of the kings. “Lord of lords” means that of all lords, He is the Lord.
“Vanity of vanities” means that of all the emptinesses on earth, there is no emptiness like walking on earth apart from fellowship with God. That is vanity of vanities. “The heaven of heavens” is likewise a superlative.
So when we say this is the Song of Songs, we mean that of all songs—not merely Solomon’s one thousand and five—this is the greatest. The angels sang at creation, but that song was not like this song.
Hannah sang in 1 Samuel 2, but it was not like this song. Deborah sang in Judges 5, but it was not like this song. Miriam and Moses sang in Exodus after crossing the Red Sea, but it was not like this song.
Luke 2 contains wonderful songs: the Ave Maria, the Magnificat, the Benedictus, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, and the Nunc Dimittis. But, brothers, this is the Song of Songs. Of all songs ever written, there is nothing like this book.
It is the climax of the redemptive experience. It speaks of God’s love affair: He is in love with you. He sings it out. As He explains it in this final book, we see the redemptive experience.
Let me say a word about the word experience. We are so grounded and so deep in the things of God that we sometimes tremble when someone says “experience.” We say, “Let us not get subjective. Let us not get emotional.”
We do not want to get emotional, even though the word beloved, used sixty times in the book, means “to boil over.” That is the Hebrew word. This is a redemptive experience.
I know it is poetry, and we have to get beyond the poetry. We are not used to speaking as freely, in a wholesome way, as some Oriental peoples speak about love and love affairs. What is a high compliment to the Oriental mind might even sound like an insult to the Occidental mind.
That is why I handed out that particular picture. If you simply look at the imagery literally, you miss the poetic meaning behind it. I do not suggest that when I say take these principles home to your wife, you tell her, “My darling, you remind me of a horse.”
Do not do that. The bride in this book is beautiful; she looks nothing like that picture. Do not tell your wife that her hair is like a flock of goats, her neck like the tower of David, her nose like the tower of Lebanon, her belly like wheat, or her navel like a goblet. Do not do it.
It is poetry. We must get beyond the poetry. But it describes a redemptive experience.
Do not be afraid of the word experience. It is reality. This is far more than mental assent, acknowledging some idea and saying, “I believe all that. I have it positionally. I have it in the heavenly places.”
I know the pain of seeing something positionally and having no vital experience of it in my heart. I know the despair and hardness of heart that come from thinking, “It is all up there.” Someone says, “Yes, but what about your life?” And you answer, “Yes, I know, but it is up there. I have it, and I believe it.”
But in reality, my heart is dead, cold, dark, and weary. I know I have the fullness of truth, and it is all positionally mine, but there is emptiness in here.
I will tell you, brothers—and may God help us with this—I have tasted this. I know what it means to appeal with pathetic logic, saying that there is nothing wrong when everything is wrong.
We say, “The Bible says it is all up there. You are in Christ and in the heavenly places.” Indeed, that is true. But is that our experience?
This is a redemptive experience. It is something God wants us to enter into. I know something of the hardness and cynicism that result when we appeal from an empty heart to a perfect position. May God help us as we study this book.
God does not tell us about our perfect position in Christ so that we can have some spiritual excuse for a lack of joy in our hearts or a lack of union and relationship with Him.
This is a book of experience. It is a book we are supposed to enter into, not merely say, “I have learned all that wonderful truth, and it is all mine in Christ Jesus in the heavenlies,” and then go out dry, dead, barren, hurt, and weary.
I am convinced that God did not tell us about our glorious position in Christ Jesus so that we can announce that everything is right when it is not.
The message of the Song breaks through that crust of excusing our real lack by bringing us into a union with Christ that is actual and real. That is the climax of the redemptive experience.
That is my second observation: do not be afraid of experience. May God deliver us this weekend from all pretense and artificiality, and grant us a vital, climactic, redemptive experience.
As we seek the Lord and delight in Him, may He suddenly come to His temple. That is why we are here. It is a glorious book. It is not merely theory, doctrine, or positional truth. It is real. It is experience.
The Song of Solomon is a love story of two worlds. It is the climax of the redemptive experience on earth. I add “on earth” because this will not be consummated, to use a Song of Solomon word, until He comes again. But it is the climax of the experience on earth.
Here is my third observation: as you go through the Song of Solomon, you will see that it is a book of the many comings and goings of the Groom. He keeps coming, and He keeps going.
I introduced this lesson with Malachi 3:1: “He will suddenly come to His temple.” The coming of Christ is the theme of all Bible prophecy. He has come. He will come. He will come again. He keeps coming.
There was a time in your life—I know there was in mine—when He came for the first time. In that sense, He will never come again. But He is going to keep showing up.
As we trace the progress of the bride as she goes forward in union with the Groom, He keeps coming and coming. He manifests Himself, and the next thing you know, He is gone.
Consider these scenes:
Then there is the question, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?” There is the call, “Come with me from Lebanon, my bride,” descending from the summits and from the lions’ dens and mountains of leopards. Then He says, “I am come into my garden, my sister, my bride.”
Later, the bride says, “I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone.” She searched for Him but could not find Him. She called Him, but He did not answer.
You go through the Song of Solomon, and He is there; then He is not there. “Oh, there He is, coming over the mountains.” Then He is gone. “Oh, He is in the garden. He is in the wilderness. Here He comes.” Where did He go? Look on the streets.
That is what the Song of Solomon is: “Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither hath thy beloved turned himself?” Then, “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.” And again, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?” The book ends, “Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.”
May I suggest, and this is simply an observation, that as I go forward in the Lord and as you go forward in the Lord, every forward step is a fresh coming of the Groom. He comes. After a while, you look around, and He is gone. Then suddenly He shows up again.
That is the Christian life: Jesus showing up—Jesus coming and coming and coming. He is always here, and He is ever coming. Just when He arrives, He comes again.
Let me give one more observation, and then we will wrap it up. Not only is the common-denominator principle of this book that it is a love story of two worlds; not only does it present the climactic redemptive experience on this earth; not only is it a record of the comings and goings of the Groom.
This is also the story of the progress of the bride in her union with the Groom, the heavenly Lover of her soul.
When I say bride, that is a singular word. Yet as Christians, we are used to thinking of the bride collectively: the church is the bride, a great company of people.
But as you read the Song of Solomon, you are struck by the fact that there are only the Groom and the bride. I am not saying there are only two people in the Song; the church is there.
You read about the house, the mother and her house, the mother’s sons, the bride’s brothers and sister, the Groom’s companions, the bride’s companions, the flock, the shepherds, the daughters of Jerusalem, the watchmen, the virgins, and the caretakers of the vineyard.
As you go through the Song of Solomon, there is much about the group: the church, the body, the mother’s house, the flock, the vineyard, the brothers, sisters, companions, shepherds, daughters of Jerusalem, daughters of Zion, virgins, watchmen, and caretakers of the vineyard. It is all part of the body.
But then there is the bride, and she steals the whole show. I am not saying the church is not there. I am saying that the story is told as though nobody else is there.
I have an idea that the watchmen, the daughters of Jerusalem, and the others each represent different branches in the body in terms of their maturity in the Lord. We do not have time, and I do not even have the ability, to lay that before you.
But I know this: it is all about the bride and all about the Groom—His sister, His bride, His garden, His perfect one, His unique one, His darling, His lily among thorns.
Let me illustrate this. In 1 Kings 4, we read about Solomon’s table. He had a remarkable table. Listen to 1 Kings 4:22:
“And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal,
Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.”—1 Kings 4:22–23
That was every day. That was at his table.
1 Kings 10 describes the Queen of Sheba when she came and saw Solomon’s table. When she perceived all the wisdom of Solomon, the house he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance and attire of his waiters, his cupbearers, and the stairway by which he went up into the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. One translation says she fainted dead away.
She saw that table with all that food. You say, “Who was at the table? Was it just the bride and groom with all that food?” No, there were many people at the table. 1 Kings 4:27 says that everybody who came to his table was supplied.
But read the Song of Solomon. When you come to chapter 1, verses 12–14, you are at that table. It is a table spread with everybody around it. Yet as you read the record, there is only the Groom and the bride.
The story is told in terms of her. The church is there, but it is in the background. They are all around, especially the daughters of Jerusalem. They are everywhere. But the story is about the bride and the Groom.
Was it Augustine who said that God loves you so much that if you were the only one who had ever lived, He would have come just for you? The Song of Solomon is written as if there is no group and no body. It is just you and Him.
Now listen. We are studying the Song of Solomon. We are a bunch of men who have come together this weekend. We are serious about seeking the Lord, delighting in the Lord, and longing that He would suddenly come to His temple. We are here on purpose. We paid to come here.
Here is a body. Here is a group. Our brother read the Scripture—how precious it is for brothers. But this weekend, may God help you to realize that you are the only one here. It is just you and Jesus.
That is what this book is about. If you do not study it that way, you will miss the book. You will miss the heart of God. It is about you, and it is about the Lord.
Song of Solomon 1:4 says, “Draw me; we will run after thee.” There is the we—there is the plural—but it begins, “Draw me.” Everything is so personal. It is just you and Jesus; it is just me and Jesus.
It is personal: “Draw me.” But the pursuit is collective. Four hundred people respond to Jesus, but they did not come as a group. One person came four hundred times. That is how He deals with us. It is always individual.
As we read this book, brothers, we are going to get into a lot of love talk, because God talks to us. But He is talking to you, and He is talking to me.
If you respond when He talks to you, the first thing you will notice is this: “We will run.” If you respond to the Lord, just you, you will discover that you are not alone.
That is the glory of this. If you respond as an individual, suddenly you are not alone. The very moment you begin getting involved with Jesus, you begin getting involved with those who are involved with Jesus. It is simply the nature of the thing.
This is a very, very personal book.
Those four things, brothers, I hope, will prepare our hearts:
If God can dawn that upon us, I have an idea the Song of Solomon will make a major contribution to your life. May God help us. Let us pray.
Father, thank You for this book—not for what we think it is about, but for all that You inspired it to be. Prepare our hearts, Lord. We do seek You. We do delight in You. Suddenly come to Your temple. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.