HIS HEART SONG…PART 1

“Responding to Our Bridegroom…O, How He Loves Us”

A Study of the Song of Solomon

  • Just like in the natural…through the ages…lovers have always written songs for each other….some of the songs we sing at weddings…like “Truly, I’m truly in love with you, girl”…by Lionel Richie (that was mine and Donny’s song)…..just like in the natural, we have love songs…it is the same in the spiritual….
  • After all…it only makes sense that the most incredible Lover of all would write His Bride a love song….we call it the Song of Songs….meaning that there is no other song above it!...the Scripture even tells us that we have a SINGING GOD!!!
  • Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with SINGING."
  • The Song of Solomon..or Song of Songs is like a Cinderella story…in the natural, it shows us the love of Solomon, a king, who fell in love with a maidservant, a Shulamite……………….don’t you think it’s amazing how the Cinderella story is almost universally known?...
  • The young woman in the story is from the town of Shunaem..a village north of Jezreel…she was a peasant girl whose family was responsible for the care of the King’s garden. But with the death of her dad-the major work fell to her—her brothers gave her the hardest stuff to do..while she was tending the flocks …a handsome shepherd came by and their friendship grew into passionate love. He promises to return one day for her and he was gone a long time…then he returned and made her his “Bride”
  • THE SONG OF SOLOMON is considered “wisdom literature”…wisdom lit emphasizes common, everyday experiences that is to be understood in a larger sphere of God’s love for us…just like Proverbs
  • In the SPIRITUAL…the Song of Solomon tells us of our relationship with our Bridegroom…
  • The Bridal theme runs through the whole Bible…from Rebecca…to Esther…to Ruth…to the children of Israel…. in the Old Testament
  • But also in the New Testament….
  • John the Baptist said that he was the friend of the Bridegroom in John 3:28-29 “I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of Him.” The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for Him…”
  • Jesus’ first miracle was at a WEDDING….that was no coincidence!
  • We have talked a TON before about the Jewish wedding customs and how they totally mirror our relationship with our Bridegroom…
  • We have to get the fact that when Jesus said “I am going to prepare a place for you”…that He said it as a Bridegroom to His coming Bride….and He totally was aware that it fulfilled part of the Jewish wedding tradition of the man preparing a house for his bride….
  • When He poured the wine for the Last Supper…He was completely aware of the Jewish custom that said that this was the ENGAGEMENT meal…
  • Even in the last public teaching of Jesus, He said in Matthew 22:2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a WEDDING banquet for his son.”…then in verse 4 He says to “Come to the wedding banquet”
  • In the last private time with His disciples he tells them about the end-times in Matthew 25:1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”
  • It only makes sense…that as we prepare to meet our Bridegroom…that we listen to His lovesong to us!
  • Paul even talks about this bridal call…2 Corinthians 11:2 “I am jealous for you with a godly jealously. I promised (betrothed) you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him.”
  • We can look at the end of THE BOOK to find out what our ultimate destiny is!.....it’s to be the ETERNAL companion of the God-Man, Jesus Christ!!!! We will be united to Him in wedded bliss at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!!! WOO! WOO!
  • Why did He come to the earth as fully man, yet fully God????....He did it to claim His BRIDE! To claim His BELOVED!....THAT WOULD BE US!!!!
  • We KNOW our FUTURE! We are going to be wedded to our Bridegroom King…………………….we need to LIVE in a way that reflects our ROYAL ROLE!!!! THINK ABOUT IT!...is that how you see yourself???...it should be!
  • 2 Corinthians 11:2 “For I am JEALOUS OVER YOU with godly jealously…”
  • Revelation 19:7,9 “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife has made herself ready. And He said to me, ‘Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ These are the true sayings of God.”
  • Isaiah 54:5 “For your Maker in your Husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called.”
  • Revelation 21:9 “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
  • DO YOU GET THIS!!!???....this is the love you never dreamed was possible!...When Jesus looks at us…He sees He BLOOD-BOUGHT Bride!!!
  • His heart overflows with love for us!...look at the words that Jesus speaks over us…
  • Song of Solomon 4:9 “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.”
  • Song of Solomon 4:10 “How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is your love than wine! And the smell of your ointments than all spices!
  • Song of Solomon 6:4-5 “You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah…turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me…”
  • TIRZAH…the Hebrew word meaning “She is my delight”…it sthe name of a town in Israel…
  • RAVISHED: to overcome with emotion
  • Can you believe that WE make HIM feel this way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!? …seems too good to be true….BUT IT IS TRUE!
  • We are His eternal Joy! WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
  • And He wrote this spiritual Song to tell us about His longings and to tell us about His most inner thoughts for us!
  • Why in the world did He do this?...... so that we can grow closer to Him…so we can go deeper in Him than we ever thought possible…..
  • Rabbi Akiba says, in the Talmud…another sacred book to the Jewish people… that all the Scriptures are holy…but the Song of Songs is the Holy of Holies…..these Rabbi’s saw God’s people as MARRIED to the Lord
  • At first glance, when you read the Song of Solomon …it seems like just a love song written by a young King Solomon to a young foreign lady…..but when the Holy Spirit starts to reveal the deeper meaning….you’ll never be the same!
  • We’ve talked a million times before that the Old Testament is a “type and shadow” to the New Testament….the Holy Scriptures are layer upon layer…you can read something one day and then go back and read it again months later and God reveals an even deeper meaning than you originally realized was there! Bible “stories” we tell as “children’s stories” have incredibly deep meanings (EX: Noah’s Ark, Jonah and the Whale…)
  • This journey into the Holy Song of Songs is FILLED with spiritual secrets from the very heart of our Bridegroom….and the secrets are for YOU!
  • After all…He says in Jeremiah 29:13 to “Seek Him and you will find Him when you search for Him with ALL your heart.”
  • Just like that song we sing…”The more I seek You, the more I find You…the more I find You, the more I LOVE You…I want to sit at Your feet, drink from the cup in Your hands, lay back against You and breathe and feel Your heartbeat….this love is so REAL, it’s more than I can stand, I melt in Your peace…it’s overwhelming…..”
  • The more He reveals….the more you will fall deeper and deeper in love with Him…
  • God is calling us to go deeper…………
  • To go deeper…we have to understand that we are the Bride of Christ…
  • We’ve talked about it before….but the whole message of the Bible is about a GREAT BIG HUGE WEDDING….our wedding…our marriage to our Bridegroom…JESUS!
  • The Bridal message of the Bible is an invitation for us to experience GOD’S HEART…His emotions and affections for us…He wants us to KNOW the love of Christ
  • Ephesians 3:18-19 that “you may have strength to comprehend…the breath and length and height and depth, and to KNOW the LOVE of Christ.”
  • The more we are aware of this intense love He has for us…the more LOVESICK we become for Him…
  • SOMETHING WE GOTTA GET: We are sons of God…but we are also the Bride of Christ…..let me explain a little…
  • SONS OF GOD: According toRomans 8:17 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
  • So……………as sons of God we are in a position to experience God’s THRONE as heirs…that means POWER and AUTHORITY
  • Galatians 3:26-28 “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”
  • As the BRIDE…we are in position to experience God’s HEART…His emotions and affections and desire for us….
  • BOTH of these positions are INCREDIBLE!
  • Just as women are sons of God…..so are men the Bride of Christ………most Christian women don’t struggle with the idea of being sons of God cause they don’t see it as God asking them to be “less feminine”…..BUT sometimes men struggle with being the Bride of Christ because they think it is God asking them to become “less masculine”….THAT IS NOT THE CASE AT ALL!!!!

Jesus’ Bridegroom affections toward us are FIERY! He BURNS for us…He LONGS for us

  • John 15:9 “As the Father has love Me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”
  • ABIDE: endure without yielding; remain, continue, stay

Jesus as the Bridegroom is ZEALOUS…He destroys all the hinders love…these next verses are pretty INTENSE…WOW

  • Proverbs 6:34 “For jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.”
  • Zechariah 8:2 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: "I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her."
  • ZION: the church, the Bride
  • Ezekiel 38:18-19 “On the day that Gog attacks the land of Israel, I will be filled with burning anger, declares the Almighty LORD. In my fiery anger I tell you this. On that day there will be a large earthquake in the land of Israel.”
  • GOD: supernatural beings…giants or demons

Jesus as our Bridegroom FASCINATES our hearts…because He is so incredibly, indescribably BEAUTIFUL!!!

  • Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord…to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.”
  • We (meaning the Church as a whole) have pretty much understood that we are the sons of God…but we are just now starting to really understand our role as the BRIDE of CHRIST…there is a reason why God is revealing and uncovering the hidden mysteries in the Song of Solomon………because when Jesus returns…the Church will be known as the BRIDE!!!!
  • I believe He is coming back soon….and He is revealing these mysteries so that His Church is ready….so that we are the pure and spotless Bride that He is coming back for!!!
  • All you have to do is to read the last bit in the Bible to see what happens….
  • Revelation 22:17 says “The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
  • It’s not the Church as the WARRIOR or the FAMILY of GOD, or the ARMY…or the KINGDOM…or the BODY…or the TEMPLE…or the PRIESTHOOD……it’s the Spirit and THE BRIDE!!!!!!
  • Look at that verse again…..what do you see?....we see the Church in incredibly deep unity with the Holy Spirit…..the Holy Spirit and the Church, the Bride, are saying THE EXACT SAME THING….
  • We see the Church….ANOINTED with the Spirit because we are ONE with Him…doing exactly what God has asked us to do…..remember last week….
  • We talked about the need for us to BURN so that we would be so in love with Him that we were compassionate for people’s souls…that we truly LOVE ONE ANOTHER…..???
  • Check out what is happening in that verse, Rev. 22:17….the Church….completely at ONE with the Spirit ….is calling out to the lost….to those who are THIRSTY….to WHOEVER WISHES…..to come and drink for the water of life!!!!!!
  • He is calling and calling and calling us to this BRIDAL position…
  • Today, we are going to take a look at how our Bridegroom calls to us…He has such a desire for us to get to know Him better…but how are we responding to Him???
  • Song of Solomon 2:10-13 “My beloved spoke and said to me, ‘Arise, my love, my fair one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the tender grapes spread their fragrance. Arise, my love; my beautiful one, come with me. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountains, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
  • He is calling His bride to come and join Him in celebrating the glories of Spring….He pleads with her to catch the little foxes
  • Song of Solomon 2:15 “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.”
  • DO YOU SEE CRAZINESS HERE????....He is calling to His bride and calling her to come and join Him in because He wants to see her face and hear her voice…….He wants her to please get rid of the little distractions that keep them apart
  • LITTLE FOXES: that’s the little petty things in our lives that are DISTRACTING us from our Beloved….
  • She should have jumped up and ran out to Him when He called to her so she could have had incredible JOY….but…she didn’t
  • WE HAVE GOT TO UNDERSTAND: It’s the little things that rob our joy…
  • God is calling us to live an overcoming life….full of joy….above all the misery of the world….BUT…we are too busy having pity parties for ourselves…caught up in little things…jealousy’s, envying, strife, bitterness, offenses, what “someone else” is doing…..these “little things” that are messing up our vines…
  • THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY: On Sunday, you are up at the front, worshipping with all your heart…but with your hands raised and eyes closed…all you can really think about is what that person who is supposed to be your friend, did to you….you SAY you forgive them….but these thoughts keep coming back …..these are “little foxes spoiling the vine”
  • So then, what do you do then????....Do you run off to hide in the hiding place, away from God???....if you do, then you will find yourself less and less enthusiastic about living an overcoming life….and all because of those little foxes….
  • Little foxes speak of the devil….those little demonic temptations and attitudes that rob and spoil….some translations say “rob and STEAL”
  • Now, check out what the Bride says after that…in the bottom of the verse…
  • Song of Solomon 2:15b ”…our vines have tender grapes”
  • Tender grapes are easy to squish
  • So, first …she is saying she can’t come because of the little distractions….then she tells Him she can’t come because the “grapes are too tender”….in other words…she is to weak
  • Uh………………HELLO……do we not remember the verse that says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”
  • Look how awesome He replies….”Your tender grapes spread their fragrance”
  • To live the overcoming life…we don’t have to be “together” or “strong” for Jesus…He is not the one who whispers in our ears to tell us we are unworthy and that we are “not where we should be in Christ”…..THAT would be the ENEMY…or as in our VBS skit…”The Negator”
  • We have got to get the FACT that He loves us just where we are…but He also loves us too much to leave us there in that place!
  • Now let’s jump to chap. 3
  • Song of Solomon 3:1 “By night on my bed I sought Him who my soul loved.