Song of Songs - Chapter 8

This chapter is about mature Christian love, and having more and more of a view that looks forward to being in the literal presence of Jesus.  "Look up!  For your redemption draws near!"

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Hello everyone. Welcome back to Jeff's Bible Trek. Hey, I'd like to pause here and say a big thank you to my listeners. The number of downloads we've been getting has definitely increased over the past year, and we have listeners in various parts of the country, and even a few in other parts of the world, which astounds me. Um the response is definitely humbling, but we are in the home stretch of our study on Solomon's Song of Songs. In this episode, we are going through the eighth and final chapter of this book, or actually this song. The maiden continues to speak in chapter 8, verses 1 through 4. This chapter has been labeled by some mature love because of an apparent groaning for bodily satisfaction or release. This last section begins with the spouse's longing for deliverance from the bondage and groaning of the physical nature. And it's true today, as the believer grows into deeper union with Christ, as in the case of this beloved maiden, there is an increasing awareness that the presence of the outer man or shell of flesh puts limitations on the spirit within. The inner man is renewed daily, but the outer man decays day by day. It's frustrating, isn't it? This corruptible body of flesh is preserved for its allotted lifespan by the revivings and refreshings of the Holy Spirit, but it must die one day. Oh, the power of God is often displayed through its weakness, yet the body of flesh continues to become more of a thorn in the sight of the Spirit. Therefore, as the believer grows in spiritual affection and develops into maturity, he or she sees that final perfection is still hindered by the limitations of the flesh. Even though the believer has developed the fruits of resurrection life in his inner man, yet he or she is not exempt from the groan of all creation. Romans 8, 22 and 23 in the Passion says, To this day we are aware of the universal agony and groaning of creation, as if it were in the contractions of labor for childbirth. Hmm, that's interesting. And it's not just creation. We who have already experienced the first fruits of the Spirit also inwardly groan as we passionately long to experience our full status as God's sons and daughters, including our physical bodies being transformed, for this is the hope of our salvation. Now, as long as a believer lives in the strength of the flesh, he or she is not aware of any need for the redemption of the body. It is only as union with Christ becomes a fuller reality that believers begin to distinguish the difference between the outward body and the inner man. For older saints, the necessity of bodily redemption being loosed from this clay vessel becomes a very important phase of grace. And so she is still speaking to her lover or king as chapter eight begins in verse one. In ancient Israel, public kissing between men and women, even between husband and wife, was considered a breach of the standards of decency. The only exception allowed was between blood relatives, such as a brother and sister. Therefore, the maiden felt restrained and unable to display adequately to the world the reality of his loveliness and the depth of her love for him. So in effect, she's saying, If only you were to me like a brother, so I could fully display the complete oneness of our relationship together, so that when I publicly express my love to you, Lord Jesus, I won't be despised and ridiculed by others as flaunting my affections. While I remain in this body, I am very aware that I'm unable to be unto you all that I should, and that the despisings of others restrain my affections. In the beginning, my only desire was for you to kiss me so I could glory in your love as my possession. But now it is I who desires to kiss you. I would continually express my love to you and seek to satisfy your heart with my love. The main hindrance to this full expression of my affections is my earthboundness, if that's a word. While I remain in this body, the full oneness of nature, like that of brothers, cannot be achieved. I am always under the conviction, therefore, that I do not serve you as I should. So, in other words, I want to be free from this body so I can be totally one with you. And the older we get, the more we start thinking that way. I have to be careful about saying that around my wife these days, because she'll say to me, Enough of that. You're not going anywhere. We have some funny conversations. In verse 2A, she says, I would lead you and bring you to my mother's house, she who has taught me. So she continues then, saying, in effect, When that day of perfect liberty comes and I am free from this body, I will lead you to my mother's house. Hmm. Okay, this maiden represents us. So it's as though we are saying this to Jesus. I will lead you to my mother's house. Well, who is our mother and where is her house? Well, again, the Bible uh explains itself. And Galatians 4, 21 to 26, a passage that we've read before, uh helps us here. Verse 21, tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise. These things, Paul continues, may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves. This is Hagar. Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. Listen to this last sentence. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. So this is talking about two kinds of people Jews, who have the law of Moses as their mother, and Jerusalem is their mother's house, and Christians, who have the free grace of God as their mother, and the new Jerusalem is our mother's house. So the maiden is saying to the king, When I am free from this body I am going with you to the new Jerusalem to express the fullness of my love, and then I'll know that I owe nothing to the flesh, not a thing. In verse two B, she says, I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates. Hmm. Wine made from pomegranates? That sounds interesting. In other words, once they are there together, she is saying, Then all the spiritual fruit which you have borne in my life will be pressed into a fragrant wine to fill up your own cup of delight. This spiritual fruit will have no hint of fleshly glory, nor will there be anything for my own satisfaction. All of my pomegranates full of seed will be pressed into a sweet and fragrant wine for your heart's satisfaction. When I am set free from the flesh, I will then offer you my all, and it will be only for your delight for all eternity. Amen. In verse three, she says, His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. Now assuming she's still talking about when she's set free from her physical body, she's saying this On that blessed day of final deliverance from earthly limitations, I will be in your full embrace. Your left hand will be under my head, steadying me to look constantly into your face. Your right hand will hold me in such loving embrace that I will see you face to face as I stay near your heart. Such a day is the desire of my heart. Oh that that day would come soon. This is mature spiritual love. Looking forward to the day when we can literally hug Jesus and when he embraces us. But notice the language of this verse, whereas verses one and two are future, verse three is present. His left arm is under my head, and his right arm embraces me. So mature spiritual love looks square in the face of Jesus and is embraced by him. Mature spiritual love does not have divided affections. You see this in scripture. Jesus said you can't serve both God and money. James said, Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. Listen, you double minded. And in the book of Revelation, Jesus says he will spit out the lukewarm. Oh, but not this maiden. She's looking him square in the face and lying in his embrace. Well, she turns to the friends in verse four and says, Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you, do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. Well, this is the third time in the Song of Songs this phrase has occurred in chapter two, chapter three, and now here in chapter eight. Earlier it meant don't be flippant or irreverent with your love until you have the capacity to appreciate the Lord. Let your love grow as he deals with you and as you learn of him in the Word of God. And by using this phrase here in chapter eight, which is all about mature love, she's saying to these onlookers, When you get to this place of mature love, you will understand what I mean. So let your love for Jesus grow as you worship him, as you stay in the secret place with him, and as you read his word. Now some say the rest of the chapter describes the believer's final preparation for our home going or going to heaven. The friends or onlookers speak up in verse 5a and say, Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? In two other places in the Song of Songs, this question has appeared. Who is this coming from such and such a place? The first occurrence was in three six, which was at the beginning of her union with the Lord. She then began to renounce herself for the Lord. Then came the desire to live completely in the life of the Lord, and finally she went on to dwell in all the blessings of grace from the Lord. From that point on, she made constant spiritual progress. And as she went forward, she began to leave behind the kind of life represented by a wilderness or a desert. Oh, sure, there were times when she faltered and stumbled and she came out of the wilderness, which is forgivable, but her spirit or her life of spiritual wandering was over because of her union with the Lord. She had come out of the wilderness and into the promised land, which the scripture refers to as God's rest. All of this was taking place in chapters three through seven. Why then is she seen coming out of a wilderness again, as if she never matured in the Lord at all? This wilderness must represent something different. We know from personal experience that one of our wildernesses is a life of spiritual wandering, marked by such things as instability, constant frustration, extremes and attitudes and commitments, church hopping, etc. But another wilderness is the world with all of its trials and disciplines. The first wilderness is in the spiritual realm, the other in the physical world, which brings its pressures from many areas. And just as we can be set free from the wilderness of spiritual wandering, we can also be free from the outward power and pressures of the world around us. When we get the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and soon return of Jesus Christ down in our spirit, we'll come out of both wildernesses. Spiritual wandering and the pressures of the world. So in the first part of verse five, we see the maiden coming more and more out from the world and leaning more and more on her Lord. So she says in verse 5a again, just to repeat, who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? She recognizes that in herself she's without strength and needs his support for such a walk. The phrase leaning on her lover implies that she is a burden to be carried, but she finds restful support on the strong shoulders of her Lord. She's leaning on Jesus as though, like Jacob, the hollow of her thigh, representing natural strength, is out of joint and unable to provide any pillar to lean on. Leaning on her lover also suggests she is unable to find her own way out of this wilderness world, and therefore she must cleave to Jesus. And it's true, only the Lord Himself can lead a believer to the place where he or she loves the Lord's appearing. In verse five B, she says, Under the apple tree I roused you. There your mother conceived you. There she who was in labor gave you birth. The New King James says it's a relative speaking. The Passion says it's the king or the lover speaking, and many reliable authorities confirm this, and it makes the most sense. The apple tree here represents the Lord Jesus and the fullness of his love. And the mother that conceived the maiden is grace, as we read in Galatians 4 26. Do you remember the scene back in chapter two, verse three, where she said, Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men? So it's just another confirmation that the word of God interprets itself. And so now as they're walking together out of the wilderness, he turns and gently reminds her that she was sought out by grace, discovered by grace, saved by grace, is sanctified by grace, made holy by grace, and is under the overshadowing leaves of the Savior by grace. She is entirely indebted to him and to his grace. Now grace by definition is that which brings delight, joy, pleasure, and sweetness. It helps me to remember this when I envision from uh when I when I envision the Lord holding a pitcher of sparkling honey and pouring it out onto our head and into our lives. That's grace. The maiden speaks again in verse six A. Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal over your arm. Now if Jesus had spoken to you as he did to her in the previous verse, I dare say you'd be humbled. When God made an eternal covenant with David, he responded with humility, and I think this was the maiden's response. She was conscious of her own nothingness, the fruitlessness of her own efforts, her undependable ambitions, and the futility of seeking for anything of value in this world. Now all her hope is in the Lord Himself. The only way she's going to make it is not by her own persistence, but by the Lord's own keeping and sustaining power. You know, I've been a Christian for fifty years and I feel the reality of this more and more every single day. Not even the ministry of others in the body of Christ to her could sustain her, but only the Lord's constant grace and power. Having come to this realization, she now says in 6A, again just to repeat, place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal over your arm. The heart is the seat of love. The arm is where strength lies. Therefore, she's asking the Lord to give her a permanent place in his heart and to make her conscious of his firm security. It's as though she's saying in the form of a prayer, just as the Old Testament priests carried the names of the tribes of Israel in their breastplates and on their shoulders, so I ask you to hold me close to your heart and uphold me with the strength of your arms. I know how weak and proud and helpless I am. O Lord, for me to try to uphold myself until I see your face would only bring shame to your name and loss and failure to me. All my hope for going onward rests on your love and power. In the past I said I loved you, but now or how unreliable that love turned out to be. At one time I held firmly to your hand, but how weak my grip turned out to be, my own strength was utter weakness. So that today my trust no longer rests in my own strength. Your love and your power must forever hold me. I don't even dare to mention my love for you, but only yours for me. For love is as strong as death, it's jealousy unyielding as the grave. Who can shake off death's hold? The sigh of parents, the tears of wife, the heartache of friends. None of these things can overcome the strength of death. So she's saying his love for her will never be weakened by death, and that his love will never lose its hold on her. It's as sure and certain as death itself. And since his love is that strong for her, his holy jealousy will follow hard after her because love's jealousy is as unyielding as the grave. You know, God is a jealous God, Exodus twenty and verse five. Even Paul said to the Corinthians, I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy, second Corinthians eleven two. All three members of the Godhead, the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, are jealous over you, and will protect you as long as you stay in his care. Even if he chastises you, you'll know it's for your own good, so that nothing comes between you and him. We're talking here about Solomon's fervent love for this maiden, but also God's fervent love for you personally. Pause and calmly think of that. God is a consuming fire, Hebrews twelve twenty nine. His love for you, his jealousy for you are as a hot flame or flash of fire that burns up all that is of no value, that is corruptible, worldly, and temporal. In verse seven, many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned. He had just said that his love and jealousy burn like blazing fire and like a mighty flame. Now he says there is no fire hose, no river, no torrent that can ever, ever, ever extinguish them. The friends speak up again in verse eight. We have a young sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister for the day she is spoken for? Now looking on as this love story has unfolded, has been a group of friends, those who are less mature believers, as it were, and they mention the fact that they have a little sister. This little sister represents believers who have a measure of life, but very little maturity, faith, and love toward Jesus. But now, either the little sister has acquired a great desire for the Lord by watching the maiden's life, and she asks her big sisters to find out from the maiden how to become a bride, or the friends want the best for their little sister, even if they themselves decide to stay on the fringe of the kingdom. This little sister is undeveloped, is lacking in maturity and spiritual stature, and certainly has no ability to feed or nourish anyone else. On the contrary, she demands the love, concern, and attention of the mature ones around her. But in the life of every believer there comes a day when such a one is spoken for and appealed to by the Lord. To respond or not respond is up to us. But there's no exception to the rule that God wants a full growth of faith and love in each believer. So the question arises, how can we help our little sister and her undeveloped condition? It almost seems to be a rhetorical question because they answer it themselves in verse 9a. Quote, If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that what? Build up the church. And first Thessalonians five eleven, therefore encourage one another and that's right, build each other up just as in fact you are doing. As the friends said of the little sister, we're going to build her up into something beautiful. In verse nine B, the friends continue, if she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar. In other words, if she is a door through which others will come to know Christ, then we must build into her the image of Christ. Notice what the maiden said about the Lord in chapter five and verse fifteen. Choice as its cedars. So by enclosing her with panels of cedar, they're building the image of Christ into her. So when people look at her, they'll see Jesus. And that should be the reason we build each other up, so we'll all become like Jesus. The maiden speaks in verses eight to twelve. Beginning with verse ten, the maiden says, I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment. The Lord had built her up, her faith and her love, which the breasts represent, are no longer unformed, but grown to full maturity. So she is now in his sight one who has found favor and peace. She has begun to enjoy a true life of peace. In verse eleven, Solomon had a vineyard in Baalhaman. He let out his vineyard to tenants, each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver. Now some people see in this verse a truth that we need to see, and that is the handing out of rewards according to the degree of labor. Solomon had a vineyard, which he led out to tenants. The vineyard represents the whole work of God in the world. It's never our work, but still we have responsibility in the Lord's field as tenants and stewards. We are to keep watch over the Lord's interest. When he returns, all that is entrusted to us is still his. Baal Haman means the Lord of a multitude. That was Solomon. That is the Lord Jesus Christ. In Solomon's vineyard, the fruits of the vineyard went to the tenants and keepers, so that the harder they worked, the more fruit they got from it. We are to till, plant, keep, prune, and nurture the Lord's vineyard, and he will reward us with the increase of the fruits. However, a thousand pieces of silver were requested from each tenant, and that they were to bring to the king. This is what is due to the Lord Himself when the believer works in fullness of faith and love. The Lord allows us to eat from our labors, but he gets the glory. In a sense, you can see the judgment seat of Christ here, where rewards are passed out to believers. We work hard for Jesus, we do it with the right attitude, and we give him the glory, because we know we'll stand before him someday and receive such rewards. In verse twelve she said, But my own vineyard is mine to give. The thousand shekels are for you, O Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit. Well, this is the maiden talking, who had shared intimacy with Jesus. Her vineyard was hers to do with as she pleased, yet she still gives the thousand pieces of s of silver to Solomon, her own bridegroom, while others gave out of duty, she gave out of love. Not only that, but those whom she employed in her vineyard profited too. She gave them two hundred pieces of silver. In other words, she didn't rob them of the praise that they deserved from their labor. Let me emphasize though, our labor should not flow out of duty or obligation. It should flow out of love for our Savior. Our work in the vineyard should be a labor of love. The king speaks for the last time in verse thirteen. He says, You who dwell in the gardens with friends and attendants, let me hear your voice. Notice the gardens is plural. Earlier he had called her a garden. It was in four twelve, where he said to her, You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride, you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain. But now he addresses a multitude of people, a multitude of believers with less mature Christians looking on. And he says to them, All, let me hear your voice. He had said this to the maiden alone in 214, show me your face, let me hear your voice. But now he calls forth praise, worship, and prayer from all of those with his fruit growing in their lives, and with fountains of water flowing from within them. But while those are Christ's last words in this song, the maiden is the last to speak in verse fourteen. And I quote, Come away, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice laden mountains. In this we hear the cry of one longing for Jesus to come back for us. The spice laden mountains refer to Christ's millennial reign of fragrance and beauty. At this point there is little of her left on earth but her physical body. Her heart's affections are in another world. So it's no wonder she cries out with urgency, come away, my lover. And so the Song of Songs ends much like the Bible ends in Revelation twenty two twenty, where John says, Amen, even so come, Lord Jesus. And you can almost hear the maiden add these words. And they and may they be our words as well, and until that glorious day, she says, May my garden continually bear its fruit for the delight of your heart. God bless you all.