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True Love For Him Series
Contributed by Nick Hodges on Jan 4, 2016 (message contributor)
Summary: The bride’s true love for her groom was expressed through #1 Her Sacrifice, #2 Her Adoration and #3 Her Commitment.
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Intro
• So far in Song of Songs we have seen a beautiful love story between a man and his bride.
• We have seen their joy for one another as they begin their love.
• We have seen that even though that they had a desire for one another that their love for one another waited to the appropriate time to be expressed physically.
• Also, we have seen that these two have moved from a couple in love to now husband and wife; their true love for each other was then expressed physically for one another.
• The last section we looked at has brought us half way through the book and it was also the high mark of the book.
• If it has not been apparent so far, one can definitely tell from the next few chapters that this husband and wife truly have a deep love for one another
• It is a love that sees no one else in this world but their spouse.
• If you remember in chapter two, the groom referred to his bride as a “lily among thorns” and the bride referred to her groom as “the apricot tree among the trees of the forest.” (2:2-3)
• As we continue our study of Song of Songs, this week we will look at her True Love for Him and next week we will look at his True Love for Her.
• As I have said before, I want us to beware of wrong thinking. If we are not careful, we could conclude that love is only a physical action between a man and a woman. But love is much more than this.
• Today we will see that love truly is much more than just physical, it is also emotional. We will see this and understand it a little more as we see the bride wrestle with her own emotions after the couple’s honeymoon.
• By becoming his wife, she has given her all to her husband.
• By doing so, she has expressed her true love for him.
• Today we will see that the bride’s true love for her groom was expressed through #1 Her Sacrifice, #2 Her Adoration and #3 Her Commitment.
• Prayer
#1 Her Sacrifice
• Song of Songs 5:2-8
• When looking at this scripture, you have to also look at Song of Songs 3:1-5 because it calls back to this imagery.
• This imagery also has a double meaning that doesn’t leave much to the imagination; I will do my best to leave it to your imagination as well.
• If you remember, Song of Songs 3:1-5 describe her anxiety as she approached her wedding night; this is the same imagery but it is in reflection of her wedding night.
• In chap. 3:1 she laid awake thinking of their meeting at the window and their desire for one another.
• Here in chap. 5:2 he was knocking at the door – appeals to her to let him into the house.
• He is likened to someone standing outside of a house in the pouring rain and wanting her to allow him to come into the house.
• In verse 3 she states that she has “taken off her clothing” and “washed” her feet. In other words, she was not going anywhere – on her wedding night, she had arrived at the “point of no return.”
• Because of this, we see in verse 4 that her groom open the door and entered the house – her feelings stirred for him; continues into v5
• In chapter 3:2, the bride searched the city for her groom but could not find him – her desire for him. In 5:6 he is obviously present however she feels alone and abandoned emotionally.
• In 3:3 the guards (symbol of virginity) ignored her request to help find her groom but here in 5:7 the guards beat her (symbolize the loss of virginity)
• Because of this, she cries out to the Jerusalem girls, that if they see her lover, tell him she needs him.
• She cries out to the girls because she needs their emotional support as she deals with this experience and the loss of her virginity.
• In losing her virginity, she has opened herself up to emotional hurt: perhaps isolation and depression.
• She may even ask why she did this at all.
• If you will remember from our previous studies, a woman had to prove her virginity on her wedding night.
• If she could not prove that she was a virgin, she was executed.
• Think about it, all her life she had protected her virginity and now as a married woman, she freely gave it away knowing that she could never get that back. – She made a huge sacrifice for her husband.