Ornithology Series

1. THE BRIDE

"Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes."

Christ is admiring His bride the church. Doves’ eyes are perfectly round, speaking of completeness. The church is complete in Christ - "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:10). Doves’ eyes are large, speaking of the largeness of our spiritual blessings in Christ - "I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place" (Psalm 118:5).

2. THE BELOVED

"Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant."

The church extols Christ.

Fairest of all the earth beside,

Chiefest of all unto Thy bride,

Fulness divine in Thee I see,

Wonderful Man of Calvary!

3. THE BUILDING

"...our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir."

A bed is a place of recovery. Christ recovers us from our spiritual sickness.

Beams are horizontal lengths of wood. They support and strengthen a building. "The LORD is my strength" (Psalm 28:7).

Rafters are sloping lengths of wood. They bear the weight of the roof. Christ bore the weight of our sins at Golgotha after climbing the sloping hill of Mount Calvary. He carries His people throughout their earthly pilgrimage. Exodus 19:4 "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself."

"One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was

walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the

sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he

noticed two sets of footprints in the sand: one

belonging to him, and the other to the Lord. When

the last scene of his life flashed before him, he

looked back at the footprints in the sand. He

noticed that many times along the path of his life

there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed

that it happened at the very lowest and saddest

times in his life. This really bothered him and he

questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, You said that

once I decided to follow you, You’d walk with me all

the way. But I have noticed that during the most

troublesome times in my life, there is only one set

of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed

you most you would leave me." The Lord replied,

"My precious, precious child, I love you and I would

never leave you. During your times of trial and

suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it

was then that I carried you."