THE SONG OF SONGS EXPERIENCE THE PASSION OF JESUS

Transcription

1 THE SONG OF SONGS EXPERIENCE THE PASSION OF JESUS SERMONS DELIVERED MARCH AND APRIL OF 2015 by

2 1: Don t Stop Solomon s Song of Songs (Song of Songs 1:1) The Song of Solomon is one of the shortest books in the Bible, yet it is one of the deepest. This book is an invitation to explore the depths of Jesus heart. Through the Song of Solomon you will go to places you have never gone before and experience things you have never experienced before. All the Old Testament Scriptures point to Jesus (Luke 24:44, John 5:39), whether in prophecy or in types and shadows. In a summary, the Song of Solomon is about a king, Solomon- the son of David, who humbles himself to take care of some sheep in the countryside. There he finds a peasant girl and falls in love with her. It s mysterious as to why a rich, powerful ruler, would fall in love with a lower-class girl with a broken soul and a burned body. But, grace is never easily explained. Solomon had 700 wives and the prime motivation was nothing other than having peace with the other kings. These were princess! So, he would take the daughters of other kings as part of his wife collection- ensuring peace between his country and hers. For a King to marry a princess came with: 1. Political benefits. (peace) 2. Economic benefits. (trade) 3. Military benefits. (back-up) Yet, in this story, Solomon is pursuing a poor peasant girl from the countryside. She had no father (in the story), doing slaves work. Maybe she was especially beautiful, like Esther? Is this another rags to riches story- like Esther or Cinderella? We know Esther got picked to be queen because everyone knew she was absolutely stunning. Yet, it s apparent that the general public wouldn t consider this girl as beautiful- for she is burned up by the sun (Song 1:6). Maybe she had the wisdom and competency of Abigail? Remember, David married Abigail- not because of her looks, but her brains and competency. Yet the girl in this story is one who has a history of failure (Song 1:6).

3 Maybe she just exuded confidence and had this magnetic charisma? Maybe Solomon likes woman with strong personalities. But, we read that this young woman doesn t even want people to look at her (Song 1:7). Ok now, she is not a princess, who doesn t come with political, economic, military benefits. She is no supermodel. She is not the most competent either. She doesn t really like herself too much and seems social awkward (Song 1:6). Why would a King want someone like her? The same reason our King - Jesus - wanted someone like you. Solomon is a type of another son of David, Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself to enter into our world (Philippians 2:8) as the good shepherd (John 10:11), in order to win a bride for Himself. This bride is far from His equal, she is far from perfect, stained by sin and scared by sinners. Why would the king of Kings pursue the sinner of sinners? Grace. Grace is more than a concept, but has a face and a name- Jesus (John 1:14). Solomon knew there was something special about this song. Out of the 1,005 songs that he penned, he called this the Song of Songs, declaring that it was the greatest. It is the greatest of all songs because it is not primarily about Solomon, but about the greatest lover in all of history- Jesus. And, it is about the greatest love that one can ever know, which is the love Jesus has for His bride- the Church. Tracing back to 200 A.D. with Origen, 400 A.D. with Jerome, through the Middles Ages with Bernard and Jeanne Guyon (17th Century), the puritans (18th Century), to Spurgeon (19th Century), to a few generations ago with Moody and Watchman Nee. The church has always seen the Song of Songs as a love story revealing the relationship Jesus has with His Church. The Apostle Paul talked about the relationship between Jesus and His Bride as a great mystery (Ephesians 5:32). God hides mysteries for us, not merely from us. This very mystery is contained in the Song of Solomon, and by the help of the Holy Spirit, we get to unravel this mystery. The Jewish rabbis have been saying for the last 3,000 years, that out of the three books of the Bible that Solomon wrote, the book of Proverbs is the outer court of the temple, the book of Ecclesiastes is like the inner court of the temple, and the Song of Solomon is the holy of holies. The holy of holies is where God s manifest presence resided.

4 Reading the Song of Solomon is an invitation into the holy of holies, where the presence of God becomes your experience. In the Song of Solomon, you go beyond just discovering God s principles and purposes, but His passion. There are three types of believers: The first are the Proverbs believers. They love God s principles and enjoy the good, practical teachings of the Word. There is no book more practical than the book of Proverbs. Secondly, there are the Ecclesiastes believers. They found God to be the answer to many of their philosophical questions. There is no book more philosophical than Ecclesiastes. Finally, there are the Song of Solomon believers. They have experienced the heart of Jesus for His Bride and have become addicted to loving Jesus and being loved by Him. This third group are the ones who are most acquainted with the manifest presence of God. The first group are primarily students, who covet wisdom so they can live a blessed life. The second group consists of primarily philosophers, deep thinkers, who found a great sense of meaning and purpose in God. The third group are primarily lovers, who adore Jesus. In the book of Psalms (penned by Solomon s father David and other psalmists), we see God as a need-meeter. In the book of Proverbs, we see God as the wisdom-giver. In the book of Ecclesiastes, we see God as the purpose-giver. In Psalm, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, there is the common theme of fearing God and being obedient to the Great King. Yet, in the Song of Solomon, we are introduced to God as a passionate and pleasurable lover. We never outgrow the reality that God is a holy King. Even in the Song of Solomon, the bridegroom in the storyline is a king. It s essential to understand that righteousness and justice are the foundations of God s throne (Psalm 89:14). We must not lose our awe and wonder, nor humanize the Almighty God. He doesn t exist for our glory, we exist for to worship Him. We must never stop taking God seriously and undermine sinning against Him. However, God doesn t want us to get stuck in Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. He wants us to move on into experiencing Him in Song of Solomon. Don t

5 put a period where God puts a comma. The foundation of the previous three books is a good launch pad, it s not the finish line.

6 2: He is the Song of Songs What is the purpose of a song? 1. Songs stimulate the mind and stir the emotions. We have all had songs get stuck in our heads, often times it is easier to remember lyrics to a song, than just plain liturgy. Some can fire up your emotions, so you feel ready to exercise or compete in a sport. Songs can also melt your heart, and tempt you to be melancholy. As the Song of all songs, Jesus can fascinate your mind like no other, and can stir your emotions like none else. He wants to get into your head, so you can t stop thinking about Him. He wants to play the strings of your emotions. Some have condemned that having an emotional relationship with Jesus as immature. Although our emotions aren t always objective, God gave us emotions for a reason. He wants to tickle our emotions and He wants us to love Him with our emotions. Stoic spirituality is unbiblical. 2. A song captures and conveys the passion and pleasure in your heart. People sing about what they are passionate about and what brings them pleasure. This explains why there are more songs about pretty girls than dirty shoes. There are more songs about sex than socks. Passion and pleasure produces songs. In the Song of Solomon, the bride sings to the bridegroom and the bridegroom sings to the bride. God wants us to overflowing with passion for Jesus and pleasures in Jesus that can help but to sing new songs to Him and about Him. Yet, that s only one side of the coin. He also wants us to hear the songs He is singing over us. He wants us to hear the passion in His heart for us and get a revelation of how much pleasure He receives from His Bride. Jesus is the Song of songs, because He is the eternal source of passion and pleasure. No one is more passionate about you than Him. No one can provide greater pleasure than Him. His eyes burn like fire, because of His unmatched passion (Revelation 1:14). He is seated at the right hand of God, for He is pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). Creatures of Passion and Pleasure We are creatures of passion and pleasure, that s how God wired us. It is no accident that pornography is a strong addiction, since it portrays passion and promises pleasure. A short man with a mustache, named Adolf Hitler, mesmerized a nation with his passion.

7 Twisted passion, yet passion nonetheless. Many have sold their souls to drugs because of their pleasure-hungry hearts. Concerts, clubs, movies, and amusement parks would have no customers if there dry and boring- that may explain why many churches are empty. We will always gravitate towards that which brings us most passion and pleasure. Just think about why you do what you do on your free time. You may be thinking, Well, if this is how God wired us that all our destructive addictions are His fault right? No, it s that we have turned to the counterfeiter of passion and pleasure, rather than the originator. The counterfeit always comes with consequences. Maybe you have wondered, Why couldn t God just make us attracted and addicted to that which is boring and bland, so we stay out of trouble? The answer is simple. God created us for Himself, and He is the opposite of boring and bland. That proves that He is not in dead religion. He is the passion of passions, the pleasure of pleasures, the song of all songs. We keep singing the world s tunes and keep turning to their music, because we have not yet found the Song of all songs- Jesus. Passion and pleasure are not found in moral codes and religious rituals, but in a Person- the One with fiery eyes, Who sits at the right hand of God.

8 3: His Kiss Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth for your love is more delightful than wine. (Song of Songs 1:2) This story starts with passion and pleasure. The Bride-to-be pleading for a kiss, her reason being that his love is more pleasurable than wine. As the Church, we see ourselves in this story and it must be our hearts desire for a kiss from the Lord. Before you wonder how a physical kiss from Jesus can be fulfilling, let s make this clear: Our relationship with the Lord is not sensual or sexual. We are talking about something spiritual and emotional, not erotic. We don t know Jesus according to the flesh (2 Corinthians 5:16), but the spirit. Spiritually speaking, it was in the Garden of Eden that God breathed into Adam the breath of life. That kiss from the Lord breathed life into what was just a dirt-body. The Holy Spirit was imparted into Adam, which was God s original intent for the human being. He wanted to live inside of us. Yet, when sin entered the human heart, the Holy Spirit had to exit. Yet, Jesus came to restore what was lost. He breathed on His disciples to receive the Holy Spirit. When we meet Jesus, the Song of all songs, we become a candidate to receive the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit comes into us, we become born-again, new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17)! These kisses from the Lord speak to us about how the Lord is desiring and able to touch us emotionally. A kiss is an expression of affection. We generally don t kiss those who despise. When we get a kiss, we feel cherished. This Bride-to-be wants to feel the affections that the king has for her. A kiss is not mental, but experiential. We don t want to know God s love in merely a heady way, but in highly experiential way. Mentally assenting to God s love is not fulfilling enough for the human soul. We must feel it. We don t depend on our feelings, but it s not wrong to desire to feel His love. Join the prayer of the bride and tell the Lord, I want to feel your affections for me. It s only when we are feeling His love for us, in a tangible way, that we are able to say no to the pleasures of sin. As creatures wired for passion and pleasure, if we are not getting it from the Lord, we will frantically look anywhere and everywhere for it- settling for lesser pleasures. C.S. Lewis wrote about how our problem is not that we love pleasure too much, but not enough. He went on to explain that we are too easily satisfied. God is not requiring of

9 us to give up pleasure for no pleasure, but lesser pleasures for greater ones. The greater pleasures are found in the experience of His affections. The bride could not give up the wine she obviously enjoys, unless she is getting loaded on what is more pleasurable. Wine is a picture of the pleasures of this world, that which you frequently find yourself turning to. To just recant the worldly pleasure but to not replace it with the pleasures of God s heart, will result in a double-life. Many secretly engage in the very pleasures they condemn, because they did not replace inferior pleasure with superior ones. Have you ever tried to squeeze a water balloon, only the find the water move to another section? When we try to suppress our desire for pleasure, it leads to that desire showing up somewhere else, often in a secret life. Other times, the suppression of pleasure leads to perverted practices. Don t suffocate your desire for pleasure, satisfy it. The Kiss of Judas vs. the Kiss of Jesus The kiss of Jesus is without hypocrisy. Judas betrayed Jesus with a hypocritical kiss. We have all been injured by the kiss of our Judas s. We know what it is like to feel used. We know what it is to have those closest to us, hurt us the deepest. We know what it is like for someone to be really into you, only to quickly lose interest. We are no strangers to betrayal and rejection. The only cure for the kiss of Judas is the kiss of Jesus. The kiss of Jesus is of absolute sincerity, it s the purest form of love. The affections of Jesus for us, which never changes in quantity or quality is the healing balm for our souls. The only other place we see something similar to a kiss from the Lord is when Isaiah confesses that he is a man of unclean lips, and an angel brings a fiery coal from heaven to his mouth, then told him, See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for (Isaiah 6:7). Imagine the burn that he felt. Yet, after that encounter Isaiah was ready to speak for the Lord. This kiss from the Lord purified him and gave him the confidence he needed. Now, we know that the root of our problems is not our mouth. The mouth is just the outlet. It s what s in our minds and hearts that is often unclean. Isaiah s mouth was just spilling out what was filling his mind and his heart. We need a kiss from the Lord to heal our hearts and minds. How often have we spoken out of our hurts, our fears, our anger, our pride, our greed, and the list goes on. The love of Jesus is not only the cure to the symptoms of our uncleanness, but the root of it. We need His love to heal us of our hurts, to free us of our pride, to replace our lusts, and displace our greed. That is why we say, Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth.

10 Not Just One Kiss Think about when you first experienced the love of God in such an emotional way. That was a kiss from the Lord. Maybe you have been led to believe that only when we are baby Christians needed to feel His love like that, and now that we are more mature, sophisticated, and educated in theology, we don t need to feel His love in a way that overwhelms our emotions and exhilarates our souls. That s like saying to your spouse, Well, we don t need to kiss anymore- since we did that already- now our relationship has matured... All the while, God is saying, There is plenty more where that came from...what I gave you when you just got saved...that s the appetizers, I got some stronger stuff for you, but you have to want it. Becoming a mature Christian doesn t mean you become dry and dead. We need to keep asking God, I want to feel your love...i want to feel your affections for me... His love is compared to wine, but better. Just like there is stronger wine- He has stronger love to share with you! He never runs out of stronger substance of His love. When He fills us with His love and we say, God I can t take any more! He looks at you and says, You are so weak. This is what our relationship with Jesus is to look like. That is what the Song of Songs is inviting you into. God expects us to grow in our love (1 Thessalonians 3:12) for one another, yet how can we do that if we don t keep experiencing stronger measures from Him? Someone might argue, Well if I feel His love like that...then I m not living by faith anymore. You are already living by faith, because you can t see Jesus. The Bible does say that we are blessed if we believe in Jesus without seeing Him, yet, nowhere does the Bible say that we can feel the joy of His love for us. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8) I may not see Him, but I believe Him, and I get to feel Him. I get to experience the love that is poured into my heart by the Spirit (Romans 5:5). The result is joy- which is a fruit of the Spirit. Proximity A kiss requires getting up-close and personal. Sometimes, you don t want someone to get too close. If you feel insecure about yourself, you probably rather keep people at a

11 distance. Sometimes our own insecurities, keep us pushing the Lord away. In this verse however, the bride is wanting the groom to come close. The grooms presence comes with the kiss. The bride is saying that she wants the groom to come close. When the Lord comes close, when His presence comes upon you, that s when He can impart revelation to you. The Jewish Rabbis for the last 3,000 years have interpreted the kiss from the Lord as the kiss of His holy Word. We want the Lord to speak to us so that our hearts burn within as did the hearts of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as they were in close proximity to Jesus. Yet, for that kind of heart-burning revelation, there must be proximity. From the mouth of the Lord comes from truth, wisdom, and understanding. Also, if you want a kiss from the Lord, you better now have your lips locked with something else. You want to give the Lord room. When our minds are fixated on the television, social media, on the lusts and cares of this world, we make it difficult for us to receive from Him. The greatest motivation that we should have for not wanting to be french kissing our worries, our animosity, our lusts, and our greeds, is that are not making room for an encounter with the love of God. Some people get mad at God, and vent, Why aren t You touching my heart with your love? God may be saying, How come you keep making out with the temporary and fleshly things of this world? Positioning We don t want to be a moving target, after asking the Lord to kiss us. That is why giving the Lord our time and attention is so pivotal, since proximity and positioning is necessary for a kiss to land. If we want to experience the love of Jesus, we need to be still in prayer- focusing on the Lord, just waiting in prayer, without getting thrown around by distractions. We are in probably the most distracted people in human history and our distractions are keeping us from encountering God, which is the secret to spiritual power. Be still and know than I am God (Psalm 46:10). We don t know how to just wait in expectation, and focusing on the Lord. When your heart is facing Him, you are in the right position to receive from Him. Turn your heart to the Lord and stay there for a time. I wonder if there have been countless number of

12 times when He got really close, and we were just about to have an encounter, but we turned away and missed it. When a kiss successful lands, you feel your heart come alive, you feel passion grow exponentially, He becomes so real to you, you often hear His voice and all of a sudden you know- that you know- that you know- something you didn t before. You find yourself being pulled into His presence and you can often feel it. The kiss draws you into His presence. More Powerful The love of Jesus is not only more pleasurable, but powerful than wine- which typifies the pleasures of this world. Although wine has healing properties for the stomach (1 Timothy 5:23), but it can never heal the heart. Wine has never healed a broken heart, only eased the symptoms. Alcohol may disinfect a wound, but can t disinfect a wounded soul. It only temporarily quiets the symptoms. We need the love of Jesus to heal us of our hearts and disinfect it. We need His love to heal our hurts, to free us from our pride, to replace our lusts, and to displace our greed. But, we do need to ask for it, pray that we may know the love of Christ, just as Paul prayed for just this over the Ephesian church (Ephesians 3:17-19). Intentionally ask to go deeper into the love of Jesus. Holy Kisses In the book of Revelation, we see a sword coming out of Jesus mouth. That is not a literal sword by the way- nor are these literal kisses. While the sword is the judgment of God, these kisses contain the kindness of God. Both proceed from His mouth. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Romans 11:22). What keeps us from the sword coming out of His mouth, is appreciating the kisses that come from His mouth and allowing those kisses to transform us. Isaiah received a holy kiss from the Lord, when a coal from heaven s altar was applied to his mouth, cleansing him of his self-professing unclean lips. Now, Isaiah may have thought his lips were the problem, but Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Isaiah didn t have lip problems, but heart issues. That coal from

13 heaven not only cleansed his lips, but did something in his heart- making him willing to do what God had called him to do. A kiss from the Lord more not always be pleasurable. It may be corrective in nature, yet it will leave you free, purified and pruned for the Master s use.

14 4: His Power and Glory Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you! (Song of Songs 1:3) The perfume oil here speaks of the anointing of Jesus, while the name speaks of the personality of Jesus. Jesus is the Anointed One- that is why He is the Christ, which means Anointed One. What does it mean to be anointed? The anointing has a two-fold function: empowerment and positioning. When someone is anointed, the power of God is notably operating through their lives, and they are empowered for a specific purpose. Therefore, an anointed person will have something special about them, and God may bring them out of obscurity into a place of service. When we get to know Jesus in His power, His position, and His personality, we will find Him irresistible. 1. His Power Jesus once asked, Do you believe that I am able to do this? (Matthew 9:28) This was a question of His power. Do we really believe in the power of Jesus? He is a healer, a miracle-worker, and One with the power to forever save souls! When it comes to His power, He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). 2. His Position Jesus asked His disciples, Who do you say that I am? (Mark 8:29) This was a question regarding His position. Are we aware that Jesus is positioned as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and every knee will bow and tongue will confess His Lordship. He is the One chosen to judge the living and the dead (2 Timothy 4:1). He is our great High Priest (Hebrews 4:14). 3. His Personality In the Bible, names often reveal a person s personality. Jacob was named Jacob because of his conniving personality. Nabal s name meant fool, and the Bible tells us that his name described him accurately (1 Samuel 25:25). Naomi changed her name from Naomi (which means Pleasant ) to Mara (which means Bitter ) because she now had a bitter personality. Even in the New Testament, we read how the early church changed someone s name to Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement, since

15 that described his personality. Do you know Jesus personally? It s one thing to know what Jesus can do. It s another thing to know who Jesus is. But, it s another subject to know what He is like. Jesus gave an invitation to learn from Him for He is humble and lowly in heart and those who get around Him feel restful (Matthew 11:29). This was not an invitation to know His power or position, but His personality. What s so impressive about Jesus is not just His anointing, but His personality and character. His anointing demands our respect and obedience. Yet, it s His character that causes people to fall deeply in love. He is anointed to work miracles, yet His personality is one which washes feet. He is anointed to command the wind and the waves, yet it is His nature to call the little children to Himself so He can bless them. He is anointed to multiply bread and the fish, but it s His personality that caused Him to weep over the lost souls of Jerusalem. He is anointed and therefore the multitudes keep following Him, yet it was His character that caused Him to tell a broken woman, Neither do I condemn you... (John 8:11). It was His power than raised Him from the dead. But, it was His personality that caused Him to go to the cross. His power conquered the grave! Yet it was His personality that confronted Peter after the resurrection and asked the one who denied him three times, Do you love Me? The most confusing people I have ever met are those who had a strong anointing, yet lack the character of Jesus. They operated in the gifts of the Spirit, but have no fruit of the Spirit. These people are impressive when they are on stage, but a turn-off when they are off stage. But it is only when we display both the anointing and character of Jesus, that people around us start falling in love with Jesus. We need it all. Let s pray that His anointing would rub off on us and His character would be formed in us. David looked for the Lord in the sanctuary to see His power and glory (Psalm 63:2). The power speaks of the anointing, while the glory speaks of the personality and nature. The best way to get to know someone s personality is to spend personal time with that person in their unguarded moments. Don t park at what He can do, dive into what He is like.

16 The groom is a shepherd-king in this story, of course pointing to the greatest King and Shepherd- Jesus Christ. He is the anointed King, but His character is that of a shepherd: caring, compassionate, patient, protective, and sacrificial.

17 Day 5: Draw Me Take me away with you let us hurry (Draw me and we will run after you)! Let the king bring me into his chambers. (Song of Songs 1:4a) The Bride-to-be understood something, unless the king invites her in, she cannot be close to Him. She is a peasant girl and he is a king, thus she could not just barge into his presence on her own strength or through her own works. Remember, although this is a love-story, we are dealing with a King here, not just some ordinary dude- who we claim equal rights too. We must also not forget that Jesus is a Great King, He is so much greater than we. Given that He is a holy King, and we so fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23). We are reminded that none of us will be able to have a close relationship with Jesus on the basis of our own efforts and righteous works. The only way we are going to have access to the holy King, is if He opens the way. The Bible teaches us that on the cross, Jesus s death for our sins, made a way for us to now draw near to Him and be in relationship with Him. When we come to the Lord, we are reminded, that it s not by own own works that we got ourselves into the presence the King. Rather, it was the work of the King, making the way, tearing the veil of separation, that made this possible (Hebrews 10:20). Hence, we are grateful for what the Lord did on the cross. Without the cross, we would not be welcomed in the chambers of the King. He must pursue us first. The King must make the first move. He must come after us and reveal Himself to us, for us to be able to go after Him. Us pursuing Him is only evidence that He has already pursued us. We can seek Him because He first sought us. The Bible teaches us that we can only love Him because He first loved us... (1 John 4:19) He initiates, we respond, He rewards. He is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:8), the beginning and the end. He will always have the first and last move. He chases us down and touches us and says, Tag, you are it!, that touch awakens an appetite for Him. To which we respond and seek Him, only to be rewarded by Him for seeking Him. That reward is a revelation of Himself, which only imparts another level of hunger. Everyone who ever gets saved, got saved- not because they were first chasing God, but God was first chasing them.

18 It was the Holy Spirit who drew them to Jesus. In the time of the patriarchs, it was Father Abraham sending out his servant Eliezar to woo a bride for his son. Abraham is a picture of God the Father. Eliezar is a picture of the Holy Spirit. Isaac, the son is a picture of the Son. Eliezer ends up finding Rebekah, who is a picture of the Church, the bride of Christ. Rebekah could not have found Isaac herself. We were not able to find Jesus on our own either. We didn t even know where to start. More accurately, He found us. After Eliezar pursued Rebekah, Rebekah had a choice. To accept or reject the son. Rebekah said, Yes. Not ever having seen Isaac, she was so persuaded, she left everything to meet this man- only to find the man of her dreams and enjoy a marriage supper. We may have never seen Jesus physically. Yet, the Holy Spirit was knocking on the door of our hearts. Wooing us to come to Jesus. It took the work of the Spirit to cause us to be willing to come to Jesus, despite the cost. The Holy Spirit imparted the faith that we needed to say Yes to Jesus. We too will be part of a great marriage supper (Revelation 19:9). How does it make you feel to know that you have been pursued? It wasn t you who first loved God, working to win Him over. It was God who first loved you, working to win you over. Even when you get an overwhelming desire to spend time with God and get to know Him more, we think that those desires started with us. Wrong. The desire to know God more and spend time with Him, is also the work of God! We need to ask God to continually give us a desire for Him, a hunger for Him, and to draw us by His Spirit. The Spirit is moving upon our hearts, since it is the Lord who wants to spend time with us and wants to reveal Himself to us more. He is pulling our own heart-strings. We are just feeling the pull. When you miss the Lord, it is because He is missing you. Not everyone is quick to respond to the tugging of the Lord. Some stay resistant. Stephen flat out told the religious Jews that they always resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51). The Holy Spirit will keep pulling, yet, the time may come where God decides, My Spirit will no longer strive with man. (Genesis 6:3)

19 This is why Jesus said, Many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14) He pulls on many. Few respond to the pull, in order to be among the chosen. The chosen are the ones who cooperated with the pull to come to Christ. This is true when it comes to salvation, and also with our day to day lives as the bride of Christ. He may start tugging on our hearts too, saying, Come spend time with Me... At those moments, there is a special grace to spend time with the Lord. It is a sacred invitation. A holy summing by the King. We don t want to say no and miss out on what God wanted to give us. Remember, our intimacy with Jesus is never sexual, as this verse may imply in its natural interpretation- between Solomon and the Shulamite Bride-to-be. In fact, there is no sex in heaven (Matthew 22:30). Exploring the chambers of Jesus heart is a greater intimacy. There are human ways to achieve unity: Ice-breakers, name-tags, social events. God s away is that we be shoulder to shoulder, running after Jesus. His presence comes like fire and melts our hearts together. We would run alone for He is worthy, yet it so fun running together towards Him. When a company of people are just hungry to know Jesus and love Him more, there will be no time for church politics and power struggles. But, it may very well be the winning combination that unlocks revival.

20 Day 6: Running after Jesus Picture someone running in the park. It s peaceful, sunny, and breeze day. No sweat. Perfect smile, white teeth, clean shoes, cute outfit, scenic, breezy, and you are running so gracefully. That is not how it looks like for most of us when we are running after Jesus. It looked like running in rain and shine. Tripping over our own clumsy feet. Sprinting than collapsing. Stepping on dog-poop. Running into a parked car, stepping in the mud and getting our shoes dirty, eating the cement, scrapping a knee, getting a rash, crashing into a biker, getting a spider web in my face, falling a thousand times, but getting up again to run after Jesus! That was Peter. He was a man running after Jesus with all his heart. He would get a revelation from the Father one minute, then get proud the next second and opens the door for the devil to get into his head. Peter would works miracles and casts out a bunch of demons one day, the next day, He s cutting off someone s ear for taking Jesus away. Next thing you know He s cussing and denying Jesus three times. Immediately afterwards, he makes eye contact with Jesus and weeps profusely. 3 days later, when he hears that Jesus is not in the tomb anymore, Peter runs to the tomb, because He has a passion for Jesus. But hours later, Peter decides to quit the ministry and go back to finishing. But then, Peter sees Jesus on shore, and he jumps into the water to swims to Jesus! Then Peter, preaches on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 get saved. Give it a few years, and he s playing the hypocrite so Paul has to rebuke him. Of course, he dies being crucified upside down for Jesus. What was most impressive about Peter is not his perfection, but his passion. Peter didn t have a brisk run in the park. He had one crazy, wild run. What touches Jesus the most is not our perfection (for none of us have it...), it s our passion (are we still running?). What makes you a real bride is not our perfection, but our passion. Peter had this passion. David too wasn t a perfect man. But, he had a passion for God, like no other. For those who truly love Jesus, falling and getting up is not hypocrisy, it s loyalty. This is not to say that we lower our standards. This imperfect Peter penned in his epistle, God says, Be holy, for I am holy... (1 Peter 1:16) Peter did not lower the bar! He pursued holiness, yet knew what it was like to miserably fail. The position of a

21 perfect leader is only reserved for One. Regardless, we continue to press on to know Him and towards the high calling of perfection (Philippians 3:14), yet what so blesses the heart of Jesus, is our passion for Him. The Bride in the Song of Songs is far from perfect, but she s passionate.

22 Day 7: The Chambers of His Heart While the Song of Songs speaks of a physical chamber. The chambers of the king can speak to us of the chambers of Jesus heart. The bedroom is where secrets are shared (2 Kings 6:2). There are things you will say in your bedroom to your spouse that you won t say to anyone else. You share the deepest secrets and concerns. When the Lord pulls you to pray, He wants to share something on His heart with you. If we want to be people who get to the chambers, it must be our greatest desire for Jesus to pull us to Himself and to run after Jesus. What are you really going after...it must primarily be Jesus. When it is Jesus, you get into the chambers of His heart (Jeremiah 29:13). Others will want to run after Him with us, when we are running after Him. I ve noticed that there are two different types of ministers. Those who just want to talk about Jesus, and those who want to talk about their ministries. I want to run away from those who brag about their ministries. I want to run with those who are hungry for Jesus. (The friends of the Bride-to-be says) We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine... (Song of Songs 1:4b) When He starts sharing His secrets with you and you start knowing the chambers of His heart- where you discover His passion and pleasure- others will be impacted by your deep relationship with the Lord. You don t have to even act super-spiritual...if you try to act spiritual, you aren t spiritual, it s just an act. But, when your friends and family get around you, they start finding joy in the Lord and delight in the Lord also- and they start seeing how the King s love is better than anything in this world. The Bride-to-be interacts with the daughters of Jerusalem, which it seems that she is mentoring throughout this song. They are young unmarried women, who want to hear the Bride-to-be. Your passion for Jesus will be contagious, after you have been into His very heart and presence. If we don t leave others delighting in God and wanting to praise Him, maybe we need to spend more time getting to know His heart. When you see your friends and family falling in love with Jesus too, they stir you up to praise Him all the more. How right they are to adore you (Song of Songs 1:4c) Those who are running after Him, will find themselves in the chambers of the King.

23 In Marvin Pope s commentary on the Song of Songs, he explains how the king had four chambers. Chamber 1: Even slaves could access, slave gear here. Chamber 2: Oil, wine, and medicine, you can get needs met. Chamber 3: Weapons, shields. Chamber 4: Gold and precious stones. In light of these interesting historical observations, could it be that there are four correlating levels of Bible reading: 1. Historical content: What s going on? 2. Application: How am I going to live? 3. Faith: What do I now believe? 4. Revelation: What in God s heart? To break it down further, can it be that there are four levels of spiritual growth? 1. Learning the Bible stories, which is not accessible to anyone- so it is equivalent of the slave gear. 2. Getting practical teaching and principles from God s Word, which will improve your life as oil and medicine. 3. Having your faith built up, which is equivalent to those weapons- since we take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit- when we receive faith-building words from God. 4. Encountering God s heart, is the highest honor, so it is the gold and precious stones. You don t need the Holy Spirit to hang out in chambers one and even two. Yet, without the Holy Spirit, you can never get into chambers 3 and 4. Hanging out in chamber 2 can change your life, especially if you apply what you learn. But it is in chambers 3 and 4 where your heart is changed. When you are in chamber 3, you may feel a supernatural peace, find unexplainable confidence that everything is going to be OK. This is your shield. You may also hear specific instruction of what you are to do, and faith will come with it. You get supernatural boldness to act on what you heard- that s the sword. When you are in chamber 4, you may weep, laugh, lose track of time. You will have a difficult time forgetting what He gave you there for He shared His diamonds with you.

24 When you experienced chambers 3 and 4, it s hard to go back to living out of chambers 1 and 2. I really do appreciate 1 and 2. I spend time reading the Bible, and looking for life-enhancing principles. But I need the Holy Spirit to impart the gift of faith to me, and be revealing God to me. I need more than information, I need an encounter, and I need intimacy.

25 Day 8: Damaged, yet Lovely Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon. Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I had to neglect. (Song of Solomon 1:5-6) The Bride-to-be sees herself as unattractive, undeserving. She doubts a man will ever desire her or want to marry her. Every culture has their definition of beauty. Somewhere during sometime, the 600-pound woman was seen as incredibly sexy, which may not be the case today. During the time of this book, in the Middle East, light skin was sees as beautiful. They weren t trying to get a tan like people in America. In fact, Queen Esther was kept out of the sun for an entire year. She was already light-skinned too, in order to be a candidate (Esther 2). So the darker you got, the chances of being married became slimmer and slimmer. She is dark because of two reasons: (1) Being under the sun and (2) being mistreated by her own brothers. Even at times, we may feel unworthy of Jesus love. We may see ourselves as less attractive, because we have been living in this fallen world, under the sun. It s almost impossible not to be slimmed when living in this world. Then, what makes us feel even more unworthy of God s love is that we have been hurt in our relationships. Her brothers being angry with her reveals how they are being nasty towards her. They thought, We have to work, who does she think she is? She better work too... The brothers who should have protected her, ended up burning her. Growing up in our respective families, we should have been protected by our families. Our families ought to be a place were we experience God s love, not rejection. Yet, for most of us, our souls have been damaged in our dysfunctional families. Our own family didn t know how to treat us right and protect you. Maybe even your church family did not know how to treat you right and protect you. As we are continually mistreated, our sense of self-worth is continually damaged. While that may be true, we have been slimmed by sin s culture and we have been injured by unhealthy relationships- we are still lovely to the Lord. We are lovable. Contradictory and Complimentary She mentions how she is dark as the tents of the bedouins (dried up and totally burnt) yet holy like the curtain that is in the temple.

26 The Bible is full of contradictory, yet complimentary truths. They seem paradoxical, yet they are parallel. They are merely two sides of the same coin. Our God is King, yet servant. He is just, yet merciful. He is kind, yet to be feared. We ought to bow down before Him in reverence, yet also call him Daddy! This just reminds me that there is no one like Him! Yet, He is not the only one who has contradictory, yet complimentary descriptions. This Bride-to-be says, I am dark, but lovely. She is damaged, but she is holy. As the Bride of Christ, we feel far from perfect. We know that we are loaded with weaknesses, proclivities, and propensities. Even at the end of Paul s life, he called himself the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15) although he was probably more Christ-like than before. Yet, Paul also knew He was a saint- a holy one. If you are in Jesus, a true follower, you are a holy saint. Yet, we are not free from struggles. Yet, in the midst of our weakness, God still sees us as lovely. Kedar were descendants of Ishmael- a picture of the flesh (Galatians 4:29). We are people of the unredeemed flesh, yet God sees us as wrapped in the very righteousness of Jesus. Commentators say Solomon s curtains was white and dazzling curtains. Jesus is our righteousness if we are in Him (1 Corinthians 1:30). The religious mind tends to think that only absolute perfection is lovely to the Lord. Yet, that would give the Lord no one to love. He definitely could not love the world as (John 3:16) famously heralds. As important as it is to understand our sin and to confess our sin, it is essential to understand our identity as the beloved of God. How can we be lovely and damaged- all at the same time? That s the mystery of God s grace. It s painful when we are confront with our own brokenness, guilt, and shame. It s humbling indeed. It grieves us to know that we have sinned, and missed God s will time and time again. We fall miserably short, continually. Yet, do you know what keeps us from being utterly hopeless and dejected? Knowing we are still deeply loved. That does not mean we are taking advantage of this? No. The true Bride wants to please the Lord. It grieves us to sin against Him. Our weaknesses pain us. We are continually asking the Lord to heal our broken-hearts and damaged-soul. The true Bride loves Jesus, yet our character is still loaded with imperfect.

27 We confess our sin and we say sorry, and we really are. King David was sorry and King Saul wasn t. David is a picture of the true Bride. The Lord dealt harshly with Saul, yet mercifully with David and remained faithful to Him. For David, his spirit was willing, but his flesh was weak (Matthew 26:41). Saul never had a willing spirit to obey God and follow God. The Bride will be convicted by their sin, but they will not be dejected. The reason they will not be overcome with despair is that we know we are still loved by God. While He performs heart surgery on us, but He will give you anastasia- His unquenchable love. Because we know His love, we don t run from Him in light of our sin, but to Him. We know His love doesn t quit, so we never quit! When we confess our sin (darkness) to the Lord, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9). He affirms us with His love. We are reminded that nothing will separate me from His love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:17)(Romans 8:38-39). We are imperfect, but perfectly loved. Some Bible translators and commentaries have translated this with the bride saying, I am dark, but the Bridegroom interjecting But lovely. The Bride insisting Like the tents of Kedar, but the Bridegroom interjecting Like the curtains of Solomon!

28 Day 9: The Pressures of Performance These brothers put the pressure on her to work out in the vineyard- but she failed to keep her own vineyard- probably speaking of her own skin- losing her passion and attractiveness. She was so busy trying to please the brothers, that she started losing her own soul. It can be that we are working so hard to please people and to meet their expectations, that our souls begin to burn-out. When we start doing things for the Lord and get into our ministries, if we focus so much on pleasing people and meeting their expectations- it will end up burning us out. Don t obsess over pleasing people and meeting their expectations. Obsess over Jesus. Keep longing for those kisses. Keep wanting to be drawn into His heart. Focus on being loved by Him and loving Him. Here is a necessary disclaimer: Ministry does not burn you out, it s ministering for the approval of people and losing sight of Jesus that burns you out, it s finding your identity in the success of your ministry that burns you out. It is so common for someone who just is in love with Jesus, enjoying Him, to lose their passion for Jesus, because they get into ministry. They get into ministry, unhealed of their rejection issues. Looking for affirmation from people. We then start letting people s praise make our day, and their criticism break our day. Next thing you know, they are burning out. The passion for Jesus is gone. The joy is gone. Remember, the Marthas will always pressure the Marys to get to work! Martha found her identity as a worker. Mary found her identity as a lover. Jesus said that Mary chose the better part. Martha thought, I m a success because I work for Jesus. Mary thought, I m a success because Jesus loves me and I love Him. Our motive for ministry must always be from a place of resting in God s love, not striving for the acceptance of people. Don t lose sight of how He feels about you. Even though we are damaged by sin and sinners by brothers, and our own approval addictions, we are still so precious to the Lord. He is still very interested in you. When we go through our episodes with our brothers and sisters in Christ too- A.K.A. Church people. You will be mistreated in church, yet this is only a test to see if you are a real bride. The real bride will keep seeking Jesus, realizing that He is not the problem! Our brothers will always be flawed, yet our Lord is flawless and altogether lovely! The Joy is Gone

29 Her own vineyard is dried up, no fruit, so no wine. This is a picture of no longer having joy in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18, Romans 14:17). There are a few reasons why our joy dries up. Wrong Definitions of Success She was doing humbling work, reserved for the poor of the land (Jeremiah 52:16), yet valuable and desirable to the King. She may have not been a success in the eyes of others, but she was not to adopt the world s definitions of success. God will purposefully allow you to be in humbling times circumstantially, so we would find our value and identity in His love for us, and His love alone. He s trying to redefine success to us so that we would not come under any performance-based stress, which kills our joy. Influence of False Teaching The mother s sons are those who are false brothers, same mothers (go to church), different father (not true Christians). In the Bible, false brethren commonly spread two deceptions: Legalism and Licentiousness. Legalism will kill your joy. Legalism says that God doesn t love you unless you jump through a thousand hoops. Yet, we know that even when we are dark, we are lovely! Legalism will tell you that you are saved by your works only, so you better get to work But, we know we are saved by grace and having faith in Jesus. Legalism will tell you that you are just a no good sinner and the best you can be is a slave of Jesus Christ. Yet we know that we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus and we more than a slave of Jesus- we are the bride of Christ. Do you have a slave mentality in your relationship with Jesus or a bride mentality? When we see ourselves as just slaves, we serve Him, read our Bibles and pray, because have to. If we see ourselves as lovers, we serve Him and seek Him because we want to. We serve Him with joy. Licentiousness will also kill your joy. Licentiousness says that you can continue in sin, for grace has you covered. Since you are covered in the righteousness of Jesus, you can do anything and God doesn t see. He already pushed the cosmic delete button, right? These false brothers got the bridge to act like a foreigner- one without a covenant with God and without standards. Check out this verse which tells us that it was not even God s will in the first place for her to be working in the vineyards, for she was a daughter