The Brides Identity In The Beauty Of God (1:12-2:7)
Experiencing the Fathers heart:
1:12; While the King is at His table. My spikenard sends forth it’s fragrance.
While the King is at His table: Jesus is the King. The table represents the Cross!
Spikenard: Spontaneous worship.
* She is feasting on the truth of the Cross. Praise and prayer are ascending to the throne of God (Revelation 4:8).
1:13; A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved to me, that lies all night between my breast.
Myrrh: Expensive, fragrant oil. Burial spice.
That lies all night between my breast: The costly death of Jesus on the Cross permeates her heart all night long.
* She is in spontaneous worship over the costly work of the Cross. She shall only boast in Jesus Christ crucified(Galatians 6:14).
1:14; My Beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms in the vineyards of En Gedi.
My Beloved is to me a cluster of henna blooms: His fragrance is sweet. He is not burdensome.
En Gedi: The most intense fragrance, from the best vineyard in all of Israel.
* 1 John 4:17-19; Perfect love cast out all fear. The Lord is not tiring nor burdensome. He is Matthew 11:29-30. He is slow to anger and rich in love.
1:15; Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes.
Fair: Beautiful. The affirmation of the Lord is an extremely important revelation to grasp!
Dove’s eyes: Picture of the Holy Spirit. Perfectly faithful. Her having dove’s eyes speaks of her vision to pursue the truth of Jesus. Also, a dove has no peripheral vision. So to look at its mate it has to be super close and right in front to view the one it loves. As well, it mates for life, it never strays to other lovers. Matthew 6:22.
* We must grasp the affirmation of the Lord. With out love we are nothing. With out love we pursue and study in vain.
When Charles Finney decided to become a pastor they told him to go to Princeton. He replied that he would not. He did not want to become the product of those around him(they all had gone to seminary). Not trying to bash seminary. But Finney new that the Lord was greatly on him, even in only his 1st year of salvation he knew the calling on his life was big. So instead of Princeton he agreed to study under the pastor of his church. And still after tons of debating and not agreeing with his pastor or the hundreds of books he was forced to read, they gave him a pastoral license. The whole point of this bunny trail in the making is to say that later that whole group of intellectual leaders of the church would recant for not having the love of God in their lives. Many which would come out to say that they were never even truly saved, including Finney’s pastor.
Perfect love cast out all fear. Stop buying in to every little lie that tells us otherwise. Stop judging ourselves and let the judge of our life rule our thoughts and heart completely.
The Lord hears the yes in our hearts. He is saying, behold, your tenacity for this relationship is beautiful. Your eyes are locked with a perpetual gaze toward Me. You are beautiful to the Lord!!!
1:16; Behold, You are handsome, my Beloved! Yes, pleasant! Also our bed is green.
Behold, You are handsome, my Beloved: She is fascinated, and is falling more in love with the beauty of Jesus.
Bed: Rest and security in Jesus.
Green: Speaks of abundance. She is filled with life!
* She is fascinated by the beauty of the Lord. She only finds rest and security in the Lord. Her maker and lover has filled her with life from the dead! In a constant battle over our dull hearts, we need to cry out for the fascination of the beauty of the Lord to be a real existence in us.
1:17; The beams of our houses are cedars, and rafters of fir.
Cedars: Hard, strong fragrant wood. Also speaks of their joined, co-heirs with Christ Jesus.
And rafters of fir: Speaking of the house of the Lord.
* A strong relationship stands alone in the strength of your foundation. We are co-heir with Christ Jesus. His house is a house of prayer. Our life must be a life in prayer. This is how we become one with the Lord.
Her identity as Jesus’ beautiful inheritance. 2:1-7
2:1; I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
* She comes to the revelation that the bride is the only inheritance promised to Jesus by the Father.
2:2; Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
Lily: Purity.
Thorns: Sins; Hebrews 6:1-8
* God has covered us with honor and glory. To have this revelation is key! It will give us strength and power to overcome the works of the flesh. God does see us as lovely through the finished work of the Cross of Christ Jesus.
2:3; Like an apple tree among the tree’s of the woods. So is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down in His shade with great delight. And His fruit was sweet to my taste.
Apple tree: She see’s Jesus as refreshing.
Tree’s of the woods: Tree’s are all the other men of the world. She see’s Jesus as the most refreshing of them all.
I sat down: Resting fully in God.
His shade: Moments of being in the refreshing presence of the Holy Spirit.
Great delight: Expressing her deep joy for the presence of God in her life.
* We need a deep revelation of the joy of the Lord over our lives. We can, and are called to take joy in the resting of the Lord. Instead of running away and releasing the stresses of our lives on unworthy cracked cisterns, we are invited to partake in the divine resting and healing of the Lord.
2:4; He brought me to His banqueting house, and His banner over me is love.
Banqueting house: Nourishment and provision that leads us to rest and the joy of the Lord.
His banner: In the context of failure. His banner over me is love, not rejection! We are sons and daughters of the most high King( Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:5-11).
* We are sons and daughters of the Lord. Surely goodness and mercy He has given. He see’s through the veil of our impurity and restores our souls. He is lovesick over us. Romans 8:1: When we are in need of restoration He gives to us nourishment free of charge.
2:5; Sustain me with cakes of raisins, refresh me with apples. For I am lovesick.
Sustain me: The confidence to lean only in Jesus.
Cakes and raisins: Word of God.
* She is saying, Lord I trust in Your goodness, and the promise of Your faithfulness. Now sustain me with the water of Your word, refresh me with truth, for I am lovesick. He makes us lovesick to bring us into maturity. As well to keep us from giving up in this pursuit of the Holiness of God.
When we enter into the word of God, and our hearts are pressed forward, we encounter the truth and the deep affectionate emotions of God! This causes us o become lovesick and all other things fail in comparison.
2:6; His left hand is under my head, and His right hand embraces me.
Left hand: Activity of God in our lives that we cannot see.
Right hand: Manifest presence of God that we can clearly see and feel.
* Psalms 23; The restoration of our souls. It is amazing when we feel and see the manifestations of God in our lives. Yet it is even more amazing when the Lord takes us and heals us from the corrosion of the heap that has wearied us. God is constantly delivering us in ways we cannot see until a season or more goes by. The very presence of sincere desire to obey Jesus is the beginning of Spiritual victory.
2:7; I charge you. O daughters of Jerusalem. By the gazelles, or by the does of the field. Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases.
I charge you: God is directly charging others not to distract her in this season.
We can relate the 4 seasons of the natural to the Spiritual.
1. Spring: New seeds of truth sown into our heart.
2. Summer: New seeds of truth cultivated. Pruned and watered.
3. Fall: Harvest; Seasons of happiness. Reaping the benefit of what has been sown.
4. Winter: Death! Paul, in Acts 22-23 was imprisoned for 2 years. From there he wrote the word of God. Seasons of intense struggle mature the bride and take them away from the spirit of the age.
Daughters of Jerusalem: Immature believers.
By the gazelles: The importance of gentleness.
Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases: Do not awaken her from this season until the Lord pleases.
* We must always be gentle and tender hearted with one another. Some seasons we go through together. But there are a lot of seasons when the Lord has us scattered in the way that He is working in our lives. We must allow each other to come through these different seasons without damaging what the Lord is trying to do. The Spirit charges us to not interfere. The restoration of our souls is for the Lord to do in His way and in His timing. If we are not in compliance with the Spirit of God we will only hurt or damage the process.
No comments:
Post a Comment