A strange lesson from Song of Songs

God speaks to each of His people individually in His Word.  What did God say to me in the Song of Songs?  

Marriage is not always as Song of Songs depicts it – the love, the electric, the magic.  However, the teaching is clear: enjoy your marriage partner.  He or she is to be a source of joy and contentment; a lifelong covenant of commitment to each other out of love  

Similarly, as part of the Bride of Christ, the message to me was very clear: Gerard, as part of the Bride of Christ, enjoy Jesus, the Bridegroom.  It is not something to wait for in eternity.  No, revel in the beauty of the Lord, here, today.  Be joyful as you read the Bible, pray and listen to the Holy Spirit’s teaching about the Bridegroom and His fantastic Father, God.  

My experience is that there are times when life with God becomes a bit much.  It happens when I put myself under pressure to be more godly, to obey the Lord in all things, to read more Bible, to fast, do this, do that, et cetera.  Yet it does not please God or the Bridegroom if the joy and experience of love is replaced by the drudgery of duty.   That is where I discovered the mercy, grace and many miracles that happen when I consult the Holy Spirit for His help when I am a bit down. 

Song of Songs emphasises the wonderful lesson that the Bridegroom, Jesus the Messiah, saved and saves out of love and He wants us to enjoy His love and care.

Does Song of Songs belong in the Bible?

Why is the book, ‘Song of Songs,’ in the Bible?  It does not mention God at all and, in general, there is seldom a sermon on it in churches because it is big on the forbidden word, ‘sex.’  

The theme of Song of Songs, love between a man and a woman, points to the love between Jesus and His eternal Bride.  The Word of God reports that a great throng of people will one day shout,

‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns.  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….’  Revelation 19:6b,7

Jesus also told the parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22:1-14.  He said, 

‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for His Son….’  Matthew 22:1

So, in a sense, we can summarise the end result of God’s creation, as an eternal Marriage.  The union will be between the chosen and His precious Son, Jesus, who will be the Bridegroom.  This, I understand, is the ‘spiritual’ aspect of Song of Songs.  It points to Jesus’ eternal marriage that will be one of joy, peace, harmony and enjoyment.

God gave Adam a wife.  That is God’s design: man/woman union.  It seems as if Song of Songs, like the book of Esther, fits into God’s design as a universal principle.  It is a message to the whole world that God created man and woman to fall in love and get married.  So God created human marriage as a parable of His eternal plan.  

Paul, inspired by the precious Holy Spirit, gave us the following message from God to explain it, 

‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother, and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.  This is a profound mystery — but I am talking about Christ and the church.’  Ephesians 5:31-32

Logically, since that is such a fantastic design from God, the devil loves to pervert the man/woman relationship (especially the sexual one).  Still, nothing changes the fact that Biblical marriage is God’s design. 

The Long Song of Solomon

Contrary to what we are made to believe, there are men and women who are happily married.  They remained married and they still love each other, even after many years.  

The Long Song of Solomon (or Song of Songs in the Bible) is relevant in our society today.  Long, because almost 3,000 years after it was written, its principles still remain.  And, a society which has as its ruler the devil, opposes it big time.  Today it is regarded as nonsense that a man should marry only a woman.  Nothing is fixed.  One’s romantic choices depend on one’s mind or preference.   We are told that a man can become a woman if he believes he is one, and vice versa.  There are so many gender variations that it needs serious studies to keep up with it.  

Things have changed so much because: 

• The Song of Songs not only points to man/woman relationships, but most importantly to the Bridegroom, Jesus and His future Bride, the Church.  
• Just as in God’s design for marriage, love and fidelity is of prime importance, so it is in the God Designed Marriage of Jesus and the Bride. 

It is interesting to think that the Song was written by king Solomon of Israel who had 700 wives and 300 concubines.  But even if he didn’t remain loyal to one woman, in writing the Song, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit, like all the writers of Scripture.  That explains why the principles are true, no matter what.  

The lesson? 

Even though written long ago, the war against God’s marriage principles flared up in our ‘modern, enlightened’ age.  Yet we know one thing: the Glorious King is the Victorious King.  We just have to cling to the King, and our future is secure.