Morning Light – December 30th, 2017 – Song of Solomon 5: Hide and Seek with the Bridegroom.

Morning Light – Song of Solomon 5
Today: [Song of Solomon 5] Hide and Seek with the Bridegroom. In Song of Solomon chapter 5 the bridegroom seeks to enter the bridal chamber but the bride doesn’t want to be inconvenienced. If you are going to be a part of the bridal company get ready to be inconvenienced in your walk with God. Be prepared to be interrupted in your plans and what you think needs to happens next. The bridegroom is at the door but when the bride delays she finds Him gone and she casts about to find Him only to be abused by the watchmen. Have you ever been abused by spiritual leadership? In spite of this problem the bride continues now to seek Him who she inadvertently denied through delay to open to Him. Many who would never deny Jesus outright nonetheless delay saying yes to Him because they don’t want to be inconvenienced by the call of God. In this chapter we renew ourselves in repentance and give ourselves over to pursuit of Jesus our Bridegroom.
[Sng 5:1-16 KJV] 1 I am come into my garden, my sister, [my] spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. 2 I sleep, but my heart waketh: [it is] the voice of my beloved that knocketh, [saying], Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, [and] my locks with the drops of the night. 3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? 4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole [of the door], and my bowels were moved for him. 5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped [with] myrrh, and my fingers [with] sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. 6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, [and] was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
The Song of Solomon is a love narrative between the Bridegroom and the bride, a narrative of passion between who you are in your inner man and Jesus the lover of your soul. The previous chapter concludes with the bride inviting the bridegroom to come into her garden. Verse one of chapter 5 is the Bridegrooms response “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse…” Why does the Bridegroom refer to the bride as a spouse AND a sister? It is a deference to the purity and holiness of their relationship. Jesus is both our Lord and Master but He is also our Elder Brother. He is the only begotten (John 3:16) but He is also the first born of many brethren.
[Rom 8:29 KJV] 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
The bride declares that all preparation has been made. She has gathered myrrh wherewith to perfume her bed and she has eaten the honeycomb and partaking of the wine of the Spirit and the milk of the word. What does honey represent? God promises us that the land of promise is a land flowing with milk and honey. Milk represents the written word of God and honey represents the prophetic word of God over your life. Peter tells us (1 Peter 2:2) to desire the sincere milk of the word. Deborah in the book of Judges was a prophet of God over the Israelites and her name means “bee”. This is the nature of all prophetic people. They go out in search of the pollen of God’s words and bring it back to the hive, to the people to partake of and be strengthened.
Jesus as our Bridegroom knows that preparation has been made and that the bride awaits but still He calls out to her to open to Him as her Beloved. Even though she represents a prepared bride there still must be an opening of the way in our hearts for deeper intimacy. What does this look like? Remember Peter who insisted that he loved Jesus? Three times in John 21:17 Jesus asked Peter the question to Peter’s great frustration. Jesus was compelling Peter to move from 30 fold intimacy, to 60 fold intimacy and into a 100 fold level of intimacy with Him. This is what it means to go from glory to glory. Deeper intimacy is the message of Song of Solomon. Remember ch. 1:1 “let Him kiss me with the kisses of His lips for thy love is better than wine…” In other words more than the words of God the bride mentality of the believer wants intimacy with the lips that spoke the words. This is the heart’s cry of every true believer “Deeper Still O God Deeper Still!”
7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I [am] sick of love. 9 What [is] thy beloved more than [another] beloved, O thou fairest among women? what [is] thy beloved more than [another] beloved, that thou dost so charge us? 10 My beloved [is] white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. 11 His head [is as] the most fine gold, his locks [are] bushy, [and] black as a raven. 12 His eyes [are] as [the eyes] of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, [and] fitly set. 13 His cheeks [are] as a bed of spices, [as] sweet flowers: his lips [like] lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. 14 His hands [are as] gold rings set with the beryl: his belly [is as] bright ivory overlaid [with] sapphires. 15 His legs [are as] pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance [is] as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 16 His mouth [is] most sweet: yea, he [is] altogether lovely. This [is] my beloved, and this [is] my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
In verse 5 after initially delaying the bride finally opens to the Bridegroom but He is gone. This is the great danger for believers who delay in counting the cost of greater fidelity and intimacy with God. He is a patient Bridegroom but He won’t wait forever. Many hesitate and then finding themselves alone try to manufacture a false intimacy and spiritual depth that has nothing to do with deep communion with who Jesus is on the inside of you. Beware the cathartic spiritual experiences that move us to tears but fail to bring us any closer to Christ.
The Shulamite goes out into the streets again as in chapter 3 yet this time the watchmen who previously pointed the way now abuse the bride and mishandle her. They strike her and take her veil away. This was a great insult to a bride in ancient culture. To take away a virgins veil was a great intrusion on the sanctity of the relationship between the bride and bridegroom. Have you ever been mishandled by spiritual leaders? Have you ever found yourself in a situation that a leader was demanding of you what only belonged to Christ? This is one of the earmarks of spiritual abuse. Never allow yourself to look to your leader for what you ought to be looking to the Lord for. In this passage inspite of a bad experience with the watchmen the bride’s focus is still on her king. Why? Because verse 8 tells us she is sick of love.
As the bride continues her search now she is bruised and battered by the watchmen but remains determined. She describes her beloved to the daughters of Jerusalem. If you are going to look for someone you better know how to describe Him. His countenance is ruddy, his eyes as the eyes of the bride are dove’s eyes. His lips are like lilies and his legs are as pillars of marble. His countenance is as Lebanon and excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea He is altogether lovely. Is the mouth of your beloved altogether sweet? Many feel that their anointing is to preach loud and bitter messages fill with denunciation and harshness. This is not the message of the bridegroom. Why? Because above all else the Lord wants to see change come into the hearts of men. That doesn’t come through harshness or denunciation:
[Rom 2:4 KJV] 4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Many so-called prophets, or misdirected, ill trained prophets focus on the negative and delight to denounce and vilify their listeners under the pretense of a call to repentance. Even if that worked it isn’t the repentance that Jesus is looking for. True repentance comes as a result of God’s goodness Paul maintains in Rom. 2:4 and not His severity. There is in truth severity in God but God leads us to repentance through His goodness. The bridal mentality – the believer who is without spot or wrinkle is not focusing on the severity of God but upon the Love of God manifest in the character and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.