June 19, 2021
As we noted last week, Jewish Scholars believe that Solomon wrote “The Song” during his early life and marriage to his Egyptian Princess. For a long period of time, she was his only wife. It was an exclusive relationship.
But why is this depth of intimacy found in Scripture? Even Jewish rabbis, who had a healthy and robust view of sexuality, had great difficulty seeing how this secular love song could be found in holy scripture.
Which brings us to My Favorite Thing about SONG of SOLOMON = It reveals the intimate relationship God desires to have with us.
I believe what we have in Song of Solomon is an and/both rather than an either/or situation.
In a world that has devalued sex and intimacy to a purely, “what’s in it for me” endeavor, Song of Solomon shows us there is beauty in the exclusive, other focused, relationship between a husband and wife. It is a tribute to the joys of wedded life – only they can satisfy the desire they have for each other - and it deserves a place in Scripture because intimacy within marriage was ordained by God.
AND
It gives us a divine perspective on the kind of relationship God would like to have with us – a deep intimacy and knowledge of the other:
• Song of Solomon 6:3 - I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine, He who pastures his flock among the lilies.
• Isaiah 62:5 - …. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you.
• Jeremiah 31:3 - The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
• Hosea 2:19-20 - And I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, 20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD.
Adam and Eve left a human-shaped hole in the heart of God when they chose to believe the lies of Satan. But God’s love for the human race is so deep, His longing for relationship so intense, that He went looking for us:
• Genesis 3:8-9 - And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
• Song of Solomon 3:1-4 - All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves; I looked for him but did not find him. 2 I will get up now and go about the city, through its streets and squares; I will search for the one my heart loves. So I looked for him but did not find him. 3 The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. "Have you seen the one my heart loves?" 4 Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother's house, to the room of the one who conceived me.
He created a way to get as close to us as possible:
• Exodus 25:8 - And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.
• Ezekiel 37:26-27 - And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever. 27 My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people.
His heart broke when Israel committed spiritual adultery by chasing after other gods:
• Hosea 11:1-4, 7-8 - When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. 2 The more they called them, the more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. 3 Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; but they did not know that I healed them. 4 I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; and I bent down and fed them….. 7 So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, none at all exalts Him. 8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, all My compassions are kindled.
He instituted a system which provided restoration and pointed to the ultimate relationship restoring act – Jesus’ death on the cross:
• Genesis 3:15 - And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.
• Genesis 22:7-8 - And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" 8 And Abraham said, "God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son….
• Exodus 12:21-22 - Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, "Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. 22 "And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
• Isaiah 53:5-7 - But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
• John 1:29 - The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
As the above verses demonstrate, God has a deep and abiding love FOR us, but an intimate relationship is a two-way street, so we are also talking about a deep and abiding love He longs to have FROM us:
• Psalm 42:1-2 - As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God?
• Psalm 63:1 - O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.
• Psalm 84:1-2 - How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O LORD of hosts! 2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
• Psalm 143:6 - I stretch out my hands to Thee; My soul longs for Thee, as a parched land.
• Isaiah 25:9 - And in that day it will be said, "Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
• Jeremiah 9:24 - but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.
• Matthew 13:44-46 - The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. 45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Blaise Pascal – In Every Person There is a Void in Their Heart That Can Only Be Filled by God.
There is nothing this world offers that will fill the innate longing of the human heart for something outside itself because it is God who created that longing:
• Ecclesiastes 3:11 - …. He has also set eternity in their heart ….
and more than anything He WANTS to fill us with Himself.
Augustine – You [God] have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.
We have been gifted with the opportunity to have a deep intimate relationship with the God of the Universe.
He doesn’t need “fans” to fill the pews every week nor will a PhD ABOUT Him be enough. He doesn’t want us to only seek Him when we want or need something. He wants us to want Him for Who He is – because we love Him. Just as He loves us.
• 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.
To realize that the God of the universe looks at you with that kind of passion and pleasure is remarkable to consider.
I grew up in Sunday School
Memorized the Golden Rule
And how Jesus came to set the sinner free.
I know the story inside out
I can tell you all about
The path that led Him up to Calvary.
But ask me why He loves me
And I don’t know what to say.
But I’ll never be the same
Because He changed my life when He became….
EVERYTHING to me
He’s more than a story.
More than words on a page of history.
He’s the air that I breathe.
The water I thirst for.
And the ground beneath my feet.
He’s everything, everything to me. - “Everything to Me” - Avalon
