Well, good morning, everyone. Thank you, Fiona and Alistair, for really bringing that alive to us there.
That was great. So, let me just pray as we begin before we get stuck into what God's Word has to say to us this morning.
God and Father, we pray for this time this morning. We thank you for your Word.
We pray that you will speak to each one of us and that there'll be more of you and that there'll be less of me
and that each one of us will have open hearts ready to receive your Word. Amen.
So, in the Song of Songs, the Song of Songs. Now, this is our third installment. We've had two weeks already.
And whether or not you've been here, I'm going to do a bit of a recap because it's always good to remember
where we've been, what the book's all about before we get stuck into this passage this morning.
So, this is the Song of Songs, sometimes called the Song of Solomon. That might be what your book says.
And that takes it from chapter 1, verse 1, the Song of Songs, which is of Solomon.
So, this is part of the wisdom literature part of the Bible.
So, that includes Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, and the Song of Songs.
And the title, the Song of Songs, well, that's a sort of idiom, a phrase that would mean the best of songs.
The best of the best. This is the song of all songs, might be a way to put it.
And it is love poetry. That is how it is written.
Now, love poetry was very common back in these days.
And the words used and all the phrases used, these would have been common things there.
But this was the song of all songs.
And love poetry, well, it was poems that explored desire, explored love, explored relationships.
That was what they were all about.
And we'll see this morning, and we've seen already, that there's really three interpretations when it comes to this book.
You have the Jewish tradition of seeing it as the relationship between Jehovah
and then the people of Israel, that faithful people of Israel.
You have the Christian tradition of looking at it and seeing the Lord Jesus.
And we really do see him, while not mentioned explicitly,
and we'll see how we see him this morning in this passage.
And his relationship to believers, the church, who is described as his bride.
And then the third interpretation or application that we get from the song of songs
is about human relationships and about how God designed them.
So the last two weeks, in chapter 1, 2, and the start of 3, we've seen this man and woman.
We've seen her delight in her shepherd man.
They are engaged.
And vice versa, he delights in her.
They have that reciprocal love.
And then today is the day.
It's the wedding day.
You know, two of our church family got married on Friday,
and they would have been building up to that for weeks and years and months or whatever.
But today is the wedding day.
So let's get stuck in and look at it.
First, we're going to see the glory of the king.
The glory of the king.
Then we're going to see the beauty of the bride.
The beauty of the bride.
And then we're going to look at the perfection of the marriage.
So let's first of all look at the glory of the king.
Now, who, most people probably into a wedding.
You've at least seen a film that involves a wedding.
Now, who is the centerpiece of the wedding?
There's a big clue in that picture.
It's the bride, isn't it?
There's a big procession comes.
You know, the men, they're all at the front, the groom and the groomsmen,
sort of laughing and joking with each other,
trying to pretend they're not nervous.
And then you've got all the people come early and they're standing, waiting,
sitting, waiting for the procession to come.
And then suddenly it goes hush and it's quiet.
Then the bridesmaids, they come in and there's that kind of strange walk that they do
that's not too fast, not too slow.
And then eventually, the main event, the bride appears.
Everyone looks back.
Oh, doesn't she look beautiful?
Well, this, in a sense, is the opposite.
And this was the tradition back then.
We have this shepherd, this shepherd man, but he's returning here.
He's coming in the glory of the king.
And we have this mighty procession that we read about in chapter 3, verse 6 through to 11.
What is that coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke?
This procession, this would have been seen for miles.
The dust was beginning kicked up with all this people coming.
The king in all his glory.
And we have this king language.
Please do have the book in front of you.
Please do have your head in it as we go through.
That would be very helpful.
But we have this king language.
We see the litter, the carriage or his chariot.
We see the best of wood of Lebanon.
We have silver and gold and purple and the crown.
And we have king mentioned twice.
So we really do have this king language.
This is a royal procession.
It is rich.
There is no expense spared.
And you know, this would have actually been a culturally common thing.
That the groom would come in all his glory and splendor and all eyes would be on him.
And it tended to be that the bride was there too getting brought to the wedding.
She would potentially have been on that litter, that kind of bed that was carried as part of this procession.
But the groom has all the glory here.
The groom has the glory.
You know, we see in this initial section that there is real Israel language going on here.
So the initial readers of this book would have been the people of Israel.
And they would have quite easily seen this and thought of their God, Jehovah.
We have, it mentioned, we have the mighty men of Israel, the daughters of Jerusalem, the daughters of Zion.
And you know, this language used of silver, gold, purple, all these descriptions, these are in Isaiah 60,
which Al read for us already, or he read part of it.
And this is where the people of Israel, their minds would have gone to Isaiah 60,
where it talks about the faithful remnant of Israel being glorified in a day to come.
And they would have been thinking about that future time,
where the faithful remnant of Israel will be glorified.
Verse 19 of Isaiah 60 says,
But you know, when we read this, in this day and age, we really see the Lord Jesus.
Verse 6, it's mentioned myrrh and frankincense.
Now, myrrh is mentioned four times in this short passage that we have read.
Frankincense, well, it's mentioned three times.
Myrrh, the most obvious one we think of with myrrh,
was one of the gifts that the wise men brought.
Same with frankincense.
Myrrh was present at the Lord Jesus' birth.
It was also present at his death.
He was offered myrrh as a kind of sedative for his pain on the cross,
which he refused.
He did not dull his pain.
And myrrh is also mentioned at his burial.
It was used as an embalming agent for the smell of a dead body.
So when we think of myrrh, we think of the Lord Jesus.
Our minds go there.
And also frankincense.
Well, it was what the priests used to offer sacrifices,
which is what the Lord Jesus was.
You know, in more literal terms, this here is King Solomon.
He is the literal son of David.
Now, Jesus describes himself as such
and is described by others in Matthew's gospel
as the son of David.
So our minds go to the Lord Jesus when we read here
and his relationship to his church.
You might be sitting there thinking,
well, hold on.
This doesn't sound like the stories you read of the Lord Jesus.
This doesn't sound like what I've heard about him.
Wasn't he the meek one?
Wasn't he the one who didn't have a place to lay his head,
never mind all these possessions?
He suffered.
He died.
Well, this is the future that we see.
Christ will return in glory,
taking his bride, the church, to be with himself.
This afternoon, please go and read Revelation 21.
It's brilliant.
All about that relationship with Christ and his bride.
As we sit here today, we have the joy of this age
that we look back,
seeing that the Lord Jesus has come once.
We can read all about that in the gospels,
the stories of the Lord Jesus.
He completed that salvation work when he came.
But with the joy of this age is that we get to look forward
and we get to see that he will come again,
returning in the glory of the king,
bringing us to himself.
And then there will be eternal perfection.
So the object of the glory in this passage is the groom,
the Lord Jesus.
Jesus has done it all.
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.
It's all for his glory.
The bride here, the bride is brought along,
protected, kept safe with the groom.
That takes us to the beauty that we see of the bride.
The phrase goes,
beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
That's true to a degree, isn't it?
We all see things differently.
But we get to see here what he says about his love.
The bride is shown to be perfect,
to be perfect, to be completely captivating to the groom.
And just a note here that the language used here,
this wasn't for the time that it was written,
it wasn't inappropriate,
it wasn't immoral,
it wasn't unusual.
This would have been common language used in this love poetry,
in the culture that it was written.
For us, it's a bit strange,
but that's just the way that it is.
You know, we see a few things in here,
but first we see that the bride is absolutely flawless in his eyes.
And this is bookended.
So this is chapter 4, verse 1 through to verse 7.
And it's bookended with that phrase,
beautiful, my love.
And as it goes through,
it mentions seven parts of the body.
Eyes, hair, teeth, lips, cheeks, neck, breasts.
It works from top to bottom.
You know, the phrasings are strange,
the imagery used is a bit odd,
but basically what it is saying is that
each of these things is the best of the best.
The best of the best.
In the Bible, the number 7,
it's often used to represent perfection.
That is a common thing in the Bible,
the number 7.
And these seven things are basically saying
that she is perfect in his eyes.
And it's summed up at the end of verse 7
where it says,
there is no flaw in you.
And this is lovely on its own
if we just take it at face value.
Words of affirmation.
It's one of the love languages, isn't it?
It's great to tell people how we feel about them.
It's great to tell people
and encourage them in that way.
Not sure I would recommend quoting directly
from this passage.
I'm not sure how that would go.
But words of affirmation are good.
But the truth that we see from this passage
is that we are seen as perfect in God's eyes.
How wonderful is that?
Well, how is that possible?
And is it universal?
Where in verse 6, again,
we have these markers.
We have the myrrh
and frankincense mentioned.
We've already talked about what they mean,
but the myrrh,
well, it takes us to the cross.
That smell, the sweet bitterness,
the sweet bitterness of Christ's suffering
because it was so horrific
and yet it did so much for us.
And frankincense,
well, that speaks as well.
You know, that was actually a white substance
and it speaks of the moral glory of Christ.
His perfection.
Christ Jesus' work,
it allows us to be viewed in this way.
We read about that in the Gospels,
in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
And what the Lord Jesus did during his ministry,
it allowed us to be seen
that we have no flaw,
that there is no flaw to be found
if we are in him.
Well, what does that mean?
Well, we thought the Lord Jesus came
and he was born.
He lived his life.
Unlike us, he never sinned.
He was perfect.
There was no blemish found in him.
There was no flaw.
The devil even tried to tempt him,
but he refused.
He had his ministry on earth
where he did the miracles.
We were thinking about some of them
in the kids' talk.
These miracles, they showed
that who he said he was,
God, was true.
That's what his miracles proved.
And he went all the way to the cross.
Suffering and death,
the weight of sin,
the punishment that we deserve
put upon him at that moment.
Even though he did not deserve it,
he took that for us
in that moment on the cross.
And he died.
But that wasn't the end of the story, no.
Christ rose again.
And he witnessed to many different people,
these people who were terrified,
thinking that they had lost the one
that they were following for many years.
But you know,
these people were so convinced
by his resurrection
that they went on
to tell others,
to tell anyone who would listen.
And most of them were killed
doing so.
This is the gospel.
This is the good news of Jesus.
And if we accept these things,
if we accept his offer,
we accept the free gift of salvation,
then he has made us perfect.
When God looks upon us,
he sees the perfect sacrifice
of Christ.
There is no blemish anymore.
Let me read this from Ephesians 5.
It's Paul.
He's using the imagery
of the husband and wife
like we see here.
I think this is worth reading.
It's up on the screen.
It's quite small,
but I'll read it anyway.
Husbands, love your wives
just as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her
to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing
with water through the word.
And to present her to himself
as a radiant church,
without stain or wrinkle
or any other blemish,
but holy and blameless.
In the same way,
husbands ought to love their wives
as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife
loves himself.
After all,
no one ever hated their own body,
but they feed and care for their body,
just as Christ does the church,
for we are members of his body.
Christ presents the church,
his bride, to himself
made perfect without stain,
wrinkle or blemish.
It's beautiful that, isn't it?
But you know,
just as an aside,
there's a real challenge there
for any husbands out there.
Love your wives.
Love your wives
as Christ loved the church.
And we just think about
what Christ has done for us.
So what a challenger is
in there for husbands
to love their wives
as much as that.
And that takes us to
the perfection
of this marriage.
The perfection of this marriage.
So what's the main part
of a wedding day?
You've got a lot of stuff
going along,
you know,
before,
after,
during.
There's a lot of dancing,
there's a lot of food
when the bacon rolls
come out about
half nine,
ten o'clock.
That's always a highlight
for me.
But you know,
the main part
of the wedding day
is the marriage.
Because without it,
it's just a party
or it's just a feast
or it's just a gathering
of people.
It should be the main part
of the wedding day.
So here we have it.
The marriage.
And we see in here
that the bride
is cared for.
We're going to see
various things
about the bride
in this section.
Now,
my bride is
in 4 verse,
in chapter 4,
verse 9,
it is repeated,
sorry,
from verse 8.
From 4 verse 8
down to 5 verse 1,
my bride is repeated
six times.
We have that real sense
of belonging there.
You know,
the Shulamite,
this is the Shulamite woman
it's mentioned earlier.
You know,
that is actually
the female form
of the word Solomon.
She already
has his name.
And we have the tradition
nowadays of the bride
tends to take
the groom's second name.
That is common.
You know,
she already had
his name already.
But there's a real sense
of belonging here,
this my bride,
my bride,
my sister,
my heart.
There's the my language
going on there.
And this isn't a sort
of possessive thing,
but it is a sense
of belonging.
And with that belonging,
it brings protection.
In verse 8,
we have these desolate,
high up,
dangerous places.
We have the wild animals.
And what it is saying
is that there is safety
with the groom.
We also saw that
in the procession
in chapter 3,
verse 7,
where we had these
mighty men of Israel
protecting the bride.
If we are in Christ,
then we have that
protection in him.
Now,
it is not a physical
protection.
It doesn't mean
that life's going
to be rosy
and sunshine
and rainbows,
but it means
that our salvation
is secure.
If we have accepted
him,
then no one,
nothing can take us
from his hand.
We are cared for.
We will never be lost
because he is mighty.
Secondly,
in this perfection
of the marriage,
we see that the bride
is captivating.
The groom is
absolutely smitten
and he says,
how much better
is your love
than wine?
Now,
this is repeated
from chapter 1,
verse 2,
where she says
this about him.
So,
this is a reciprocal
love.
This is a shared
sentiment
and they are rejoicing
in the fact
that they love
one another.
And interestingly,
in this section here,
we are moving away
from the physical.
So,
in the previous section,
we had all these
physical body parts
that he just saw
no flaw in her.
but here we move
to who she is.
We have the
my heart language.
This speaks of
her inner being.
We have the lips
and tongue.
That talks about
her speech,
what comes out
of her mouth.
And we have
her garments
mentioned.
Now,
garments often
represent
someone's character,
who they are.
The bride is
captivating
to him.
And if we are
Christ's bride,
then we are
to have
seasoned speech,
good character,
so that we are
pleasing to him.
Christ in his work
has made us
perfect.
The church,
it is entirely
for his pleasure.
It's not for
our pleasure
that we have
been saved.
It is for his.
So,
the church
is to bring
Christ joy,
and it does.
this is only
possible because
of verse 15,
it talks about
living water
and streams
flowing.
Now,
that's having
hinting at
the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
in the church
allows us
to please him.
In the day-to-day
when we do things
for Christ,
he delights in us.
And we should
want to please him
because of all
that he has done
for us.
And you know,
we're still imperfect.
We mess up,
don't we?
We are not
how he would
like us to be.
But you know,
he will return
triumphantly
in that day-to-come,
and eternally
we will please him.
Revelation 19,
7-9
says this.
Once again,
it's pretty small,
but I will read it.
Let us rejoice
and be glad
and give him glory,
for the wedding
of the Lamb
has come,
and his bride
has made herself
ready.
Fine linen,
bright and clean,
was given her
to wear.
Fine linen
stands for the
righteous acts
of God's
holy people.
Then the angel
said to me,
write this,
blessed are those
who are invited
to the wedding
supper of the Lamb.
And he added,
these are the
true words
of God.
So the righteous
acts of God's
holy people
please him.
thirdly,
we see that
the bride
is celebrated.
Garden is
mentioned
from verse 12
to the end
five times.
Garden
often spoke
of sexuality
in the ancient
Near East.
And our thoughts
as we,
certainly my thoughts
when we see this
language and we see
garden mentioned
again and again,
we go to the
Garden of Eden,
don't we?
that famous
garden.
That garden
where it was
a perfect place.
You had man
and woman
living in
complete harmony
as well as
with the animals
and creation
itself.
You know,
what do we see
in this section?
Well,
the garden
is described
as being locked
twice
and it is said
it is sealed.
What this is
getting at
is that she
has kept
herself
for her
husband.
She has
been
locked.
The groom
here is
actually
celebrating
her virginity.
These locked
pleasures
which it
describes.
And this
is counter
cultural,
isn't it?
Graham,
helpfully,
over the last
couple of weeks
he's been
highlighting
some of the
lies that
culture might
try to tell
us.
And we have
one here.
You know,
in our world
today people
would say,
well,
you know,
before marriage
surely you
want to live
with them
first.
Just check
who does
the dishes
and does
it work
and all
that kind
of stuff.
Surely you
want to have
sex first
just to make
sure that
on that
level
everything's
okay.
We live
in a
sexualized
culture,
don't we?
I was
speaking to
Pete on
Thursday and
he was
saying that
he's in
marketing
and they
try,
you know,
even in
that world
that people
try to use
sex to
sell things.
And we
know that.
Look at the
adverts on
TV.
We live in
a sexualized
culture.
People try to
tell us,
well,
why would
you wait?
Surely you
try it out
before you
buy.
You know,
God's design
for relationships,
for sex,
and for marriage
is completely
different.
Graham,
he helpfully
phrased
wisdom
literature
right at
the start
a couple
weeks ago
as how
to live
in God's
way,
in God's
world,
for our
good.
We need
to remember
that this
is God's
world that
we're living
in.
I think
we sometimes,
I sometimes
forget that.
We think
this is our
world to
do what
we want
to do.
But,
you know,
this is God's
world,
and he
has designed
things a
certain way
because he
knows it
is for
our good.
Surely the
one who
made it
all knows
what is
best about
everything,
especially when
it comes to
things like
relationships,
marriage,
and sex.
God knows
best,
and I think
that's sometimes
a difficult
concept for
us to
accept.
I was
thinking about
this,
and everyone
loves Ikea,
right?
Ikea's
great,
isn't it?
Now,
if you've
never bought
something from
Ikea before,
or to be
honest,
even if you've
bought many
things from
Ikea,
they send you
that,
don't they,
and it's
flat-packed.
That's the way
that they go.
Okay?
Now,
I'm a
generalized man
who doesn't
really like
following
instructions.
You know,
I'm sure I
could do it
myself.
But,
you know,
you get
something fairly
complex from
Ikea,
or even
one of the
more simple
things,
and you
try and do
that yourself,
well,
good luck
to you.
Tell you
that for
free.
They send
you an
instruction
manual,
don't you?
Don't they?
The person
who designed
it,
the person
who built
it,
they send
you this
manual and
go,
look,
this is how
it works
best.
This is
how to
do it.
And thank
goodness,
well,
you know,
it is similar
but different
with God.
It's an
imperfect
picture,
but God
has designed
this world.
He's given
us the gift
of marriage,
and it is a
joy and a
privilege.
Sex,
relationships,
marriage,
it is a
gift,
and it is
good,
but it is
to be enjoyed
in his
way.
So the
bride is
celebrated
here.
Lastly,
we see that
the bride
is timely.
You know,
on a similar
note,
verse 16,
the bride,
she says,
awake,
O north wind,
there's some
interesting
imagery there.
And honestly,
if you go and
spend some
time looking
at the
Song of
Songs and
all the
different meanings
you can find
in it,
you'd be there
for hours,
but it's been
really enjoyable
studying it
these last
few weeks.
But he
invites the
groom to
consummate
their marriage,
and he,
in chapter 5,
verse 1,
he samples
all that she
has to offer.
There's that
my language,
he says,
my garden,
my sister,
he says,
my,
eight times
in that verse.
You know,
throughout this
book so far,
in chapter 2,
verse 7,
and chapter 3,
verse 5,
which is the
verse just
before we
started reading,
the bride,
she's been
warning these
others who
are in this
book,
not to stir
up love
until it
pleases.
Now,
what she's
basically saying
is be patient.
Don't be
hasty when
it comes to
these things.
The right
thing at the
right time.
this year,
this is a
celebration of
God's good
timing.
Sex is
worth waiting
for.
Now,
if you're in
that stage,
maybe you're
dating or
you're waiting
to be married
or something
like that,
let me
encourage you
that it is
God's good
plan that
these things
are within
the safety
of marriage.
There's no
shame between
the couple
here,
and then
we once
again see
that Eden
where there
was no
shame between
Adam and
Eve in
God's good
design.
Now,
as we close,
I'd just like
to address
because,
you know,
maybe this
dreamlike,
perfect,
Eden-type
relationship,
marriage and
sex,
well,
that's not
your experience.
You know
what?
It's not
anyone's
experience.
You know,
maybe you've
not waited
for marriage.
Maybe just
talking about
relationships,
marriage and
sex,
just brings
pain and
regret.
Maybe it's
something difficult
for you to
hear about.
You know,
I don't want
you to be
sitting there
feeling shame,
guilt,
embarrassment,
or whatever
it is that
this subject
brings up
for you.
Going back
to the previous
section,
the bride,
well,
she is seen
as flawless
in his eyes,
but let me
tell you something,
there is no way
that she was
flawless.
No way.
She was a
person just
like any
other,
so she
was flawed.
We are the
same in
Christ Jesus.
We are not
perfect,
are we?
We mess
up.
I mess
up.
But if we
have accepted
Christ,
then we are
made the
same as
she is here,
where she
is seen
as flawless.
We will
never be
good enough
in life,
but he
is.
all have
sinned
and fall
short of
the glory
of God.
Please
don't feel
alone in
these
things.
When Christ
looks on
us,
he sees
not what
we have
done,
but what
he has
done.
We are
seen as
perfect.
The hope
of the
gospel,
it sets
us free
from that
sin,
that guilt,
that shame
that we
feel.
we are
offered
forgiveness.
You know,
in the world
today,
people might
define
themselves
by their
sexual
identity or
even their
sexual
activity.
Our
identity
is in
Christ.
You know,
maybe you're
not on a
different note,
maybe you're
not married
at all.
Maybe that's
something you
desire,
but it
hasn't
happened
yet.
Maybe
it's not
happened
at all
for you.
Or maybe
your marriage
is broken
down,
or it's
ended
for whatever
reason.
Well,
marriage
isn't our
identity
either.
It's not
a requirement.
Paul,
in his
letters,
he actually
celebrates
those who
are single.
He celebrates
singleness
and the
opportunities
it allows
for the
work of
being able
to do
work for
the Lord.
You know,
nowhere is it
said that
there will
be marriage
in heaven.
And I'm
sure there
won't be.
There will
not be
marriage
in the
same way
that there
is here.
Now,
why?
Why will
there not
be marriage
in heaven?
Well,
marriage on
earth is
just an
imperfect
picture of
that marriage
in the day
to come
between the
Lord Jesus
and his
bride.
So there
will be no
need for
physical
marriage
because we
will be in
that perfect
marriage with
Christ as
his
believers.
Marriage,
relationships,
or you
know what,
anything else
in life.
They do
not complete
us.
Christ
completes us
and in
Christ we
lack nothing.
And this
isn't to say
that we don't
question things
and that we
find things
painful,
that we find
things difficult,
that things go
wrong.
That certainly
is true.
but our
hope is in
Christ.
I'm very
aware that
these things
are real,
these things
can be raw,
they can be
painful.
So please
come and chat
to me after.
I'd love to
pray with you
about these
things or grab
Al or grab
someone in
the church
that you know
and love
and trust.
It's great
to be able to
support and
love one
another in
these things,
in our
difficulties,
in our
innermost
turmoils,
whether it's
about this
subject or
anything else.
So please
do that.
Let me just
pray as the
band comes up
and we'll
end our
time.
God and
Father,
I just thank
you for
your word.
We thank
you that we
are in that
blessed position
of being able
to read and
know about
the Lord
Jesus and
that he
came.
The
suffering
servant
died for
us.
He took
our sin
upon
himself.
He took
what we
deserved.
We thank
you that
that wasn't
the end,
that he
died,
but that
he rose
again and
that we
can have
salvation
in him,
that we
can be
seen as
flawless in
your eyes
because of
the work
of the
Lord
Jesus.
Thank you
so much
for the
truth of
these
things.
God,
we pray
that you
will help
us in
our lives
to be
witnesses
of your
things.
Help us
as well
in the
pain and
when things
go wrong.
Pray that
you will
comfort us,
that we
will be
there for
one another
and you
will help
us in
this life.
Help us
to keep
that
mindset of
looking on
the life to
come where
we will
eternally
spend
salvation
with you
and we
will be in
that place
where there
will be no
more tears,
where there
will be no
more suffering
and things
will be
truly perfect.
So we
thank you for
your word
and ask your
blessing on
it.
In Jesus'
name we
pray.
Amen.