King Solomon was looking for what we may call "true love"… Oh, yes, many beautiful women were part of his royal harem, but they were there as exhibits, displaying his earthly glory as rich king… He was looking not for beauty, but for true love, a woman to love him for his character, not for his position or money…
King Solomon’s practice was to travel around disguised as a shepherd while looking for his dream-woman… On a journey Solomon met a young shepherdess of surprising beauty. She fell immediately in love, and she answered in the same manner to him. And he promised to her to bring her to a palace and be a queen.
- "Oh sure” said the girl laughing. You are dreaming, you are just a shepherd, but doesn’t matter, I will be your bride anyway because I love you I’m not interested to live in a palace or a garden like papardise, but to be with you".
Solomon left and for a while the girl felt lonely, and not understanding why the shepherd is not coming back… She was deeply in love and waiting. In the mean time the King’s chariot came to bring her to the palace. By the order of the King she was immediately taken captive and brought to Jerusalem. She did not understand… And Solomon dressed as king approached her pretend as to win the love of this simple shepherdess, a peasant girl (Shulamite). But she rejected him:
- “My place is not here your Majesty. My heart belongs to a poor shepherd whom I love as nobody else in the entire world.”
- "OK, I see - said Solomon - and where is that shepherd? He left you, didn’t he"?
- "Oh no, he will come back some day. I will wait, even my whole life if will be the case. I am his".
And King Solomon, revealed himself to her, as Joseph did it before his brothers. "I am that shepherd, and now I know that you love me indeed and you are ready to be my wife and my queen not for what I have here at the palace, but truly for me"!
The Song of Songs is a poetic love story between the King and a lowly country girl, which uses exotic and striking language. It celebrates love and affection between a man and a woman that cuts across class barriers.
But what did God intend in including it in the Old Testament canon? The great key to understanding it is to see that it describes the spiritual relationship between Jesus, the Bridegroom King, and the Church, the peasant girl Bride.
We could close the Bible here for now and go home, being blessed so far with this input from the Song of Solomon… but we need to furthermore, to find another … by CONTRAST this time.
Isaiah 4:1 - "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothes: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach".
Seven Women Shall Lay Hold of One Man! According to the prophet Isaiah, two kinds of churches will exist in the last days. And I believe these two types of churches are already in existence. We do not have to speculate about what they will be like - because Isaiah gives us a very clear, prophetic description of both.
Isaiah 4:1 is one of the most misunderstood verses in the entire Bible. I see this entire chapter in Isaiah as one of the clearest, most unmistakable prophecies about how Christianity will look just prior to the coming of the Lord.
In Revelation 1, John sees Jesus standing in the midst of seven golden candlesticks - "...and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace..." (Revelation 1:14-15).
John was smitten by this frightful sight - and he fell on his face in fear! Remember, this was the same John who once leaned his head on Jesus’ bosom. And now, as he sees the Lord in this state, he is utterly stricken.
Scripture makes it very clear that these seven candlesticks represent seven churches - that is, the entire religious body of believers in the last days, all that we call "the church." And Jesus walks among these seven candlesticks, His piercing eyes searching the seven churches. Because He is looking for a bride…
SCRIPTURE ALWAYS REFERS TO THE CHURCH AS A WOMAN/ BRIDE!
The seven would-be brides Isaiah mentions are clearly a type of the characteristics of many in the last-days’ church. I am saying that I believe you will find the characteristics of all seven churches in all churches through the ages. But also, a second application, all churches who were the tag - CHRISTIAN…
These seven would-be brides are seeking to lay hold of one man, whom I take to be Christ. Yet these brides are not interested in loving Him. On the contrary, they have only one thing on their minds - the removal of their reproach! "...We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach" (verse 1).
I see here those women approaching a man and saying: Let’s cut a deal. You don’t have to provide food for us. We’ll take care of our own bread. And you don’t have to provide any clothes for us. We’ll provide our own robes."
You don’t have to be very deep in theology to see the significance here. After all, "...sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34) - reproach of guilt! Sure, these women want to be the bride of Christ - but only on their own terms. They want an arrangement without intimacy, love or devotion.
The number seven used in regard to these brides to remind us that is perfect description of a total failure… In churches claiming to be Christian, is this concept of marriage license only, on the paper, without submission, respect, obedience…
ILL. Every year, in US they are at least 50,000 couples who are married just for the citizenship… I know a bright young man; his name is __________, who after several years of waiting his green card, with no possibility to run his own business without legal papers, decided to take this short cut. He found a lady somewhere in Atlanta, 20 and some years older than him, accepting to marry him for $10,000 in cash. They married, he got a marriage licence and a green card. He lived in another city, with no relationship with his “bride”. Starting a business…Big mistake. She transformed him in a milky cow. Blackmailing him… He is now deported. Every time letter from his lawyers was destroyed by that lady, because he was receiving mail at her address… An missed all the opportunities to live here free and have a wife, one for good…
Seven women in an attempt to "take hold of one man" - Christ - only to get relief from the guilt and condemnation of their sin. They don’t want intimacy with Him. They want nothing more than forgiveness - to have the reproach of sin removed. To deceive other around them about a status of high regard: I am married, I have a husband, look here, I am wearing his name…
Please understand,I believe in justification by faith. It is by faith alone in Jesus Christ that we are saved. We are justified by His finished work on the Cross. And because of this we can live without guilt, fear or condemnation. This is the great meaning of the gospel.
But if that is all you ever want of Jesus - if you don’t want to be intimate with Him, to live on Him as the bread from heaven, and to come under His fiery gaze, which searches and convicts - then being forgiven is your entire focus!
ILL. I passed a big amphitheater advertising a Christian rock concert. I stopped to watch the kids set up their equipment for the show. Unbelievably, some of them wore T-shirts with a message that included a four-letter word. It read: "Guilt!" I can’t even quote the word to you here - and these were so-called Christians. Apparently, all they wanted was to get rid of guilt! (Illustration by David Wilkerson)
Many pastors and evangelists today preach a "forgiveness only" message - and that’s all they preach! They cry, "Come, accept Jesus and enjoy a life without guilt, fear or condemnation. Just believe and confess, and you will be His bride. You can walk your own walk and talk your own talk!"
I do not believe we are saved by the law - but the law has a purpose. It is a mirror that holds up before us the commands and demands of God. And when we see we can’t fulfill those commands, we are driven to Jesus. But God help us if we don’t hear this kind of preaching!
Many churches have replaced the Word with ten-minute speech/skit that contain no convicting gospel at all. There is no preaching of holiness, no word of obedience by keeping God’s commandments, nothing about sanctification or dealing with chronic sins. Yet the leaders defend themselves by saying, "People don’t want to hear a hard gospel. We’re simply giving them what they need to cope in these troubled times."
Indeed, the Bible says of those who attend such churches: 2 Timothy 4:3 - ...after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears"
These churchgoers are saying, "You don’t have to feed us, Jesus. We can provide our own bread. We have our own gospel!"
All across America churches are feeding their sheep the same cotton-candy, "feel-good" gospel. These places are packed with thousands who have merely repeated a sinner’ saying "I believe!" But the Bible says even the demons believe - and they tremble at the very thought of God!
"...We will eat our own bread..." They don’t want the bread that comes down from heaven - that is, Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected and seated at the right hand of the Father.
"...We will...wear our own clothes..." Listen, Lord, you don’t have to provide us with clothes. We’ll make our own and clothe ourselves."Keep your white robe for yourself – it is not in fashion anymore. Instead, they say, "We will dress as we please!"
These would-be brides have no desire to submit to the authority of a husband. They don’t want to live under the same roof with him. Nor are they interested in his needs. They don’t want to know his heart or care about his concerns. They are totally consumed with self – an independent life…
So they have as little contact with him as possible - maybe one hour a week. Is there any intimacy, love, companionship, submission in this arrangement? No! Is there any clinging to Him? No! Do they desire to spend hours in His presence - in secret, sharing His very heart?
No - they spend most of their time with "other loves," such as sports, TV, theater, pleasures of all kinds. Without exception, such Christians always turn to a self-centered gospel.
CALL. And while this fierce competition, seven brides for just one Groom, goes more crazy year after year because the wedding’s day approaches, the true bride is waiting in silence and preparing herself.. Revelation 12: 1 - And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
His holy remnant church! "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21).
Do you want to belong to Jesus, forever with Him, a never-ending love-story? While He was a simple man walking down here, an ordinary man as he appeared to be, “Mary and Joseph’s son, the Carpenter, he was looking for a bride, a church. And He told the dride: John 14:1-3: I will be back to bring you the the palace, and to my bride.
Very soon you will be a queen. I will never leave you nor forsake you!" Amen!
(I used some mateerial from David Wilkerson’s sermon called "Seven Women Shall Lay Hold of One Man!"
