Song Of Songs BONUS - Introduction

Andrew Grey introduces the series on the book of Song of Songs. This set of talks was given at Immanuel Church Brentwood’s weekend away at Ashburnham on 19th, 20th and 21st Sept 2025.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

So let me read just the first two verses of the Song of Songs, and then I'm going to give us ten-fifteen minutes by way of an introduction. So the Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine. So, right in the middle of our Bibles, we have this book called The Song of Songs, and it is a love song. It is a poem which is intended to be sung and it claims to be the best of all songs. Song of Songs. In which we listen to a woman and a man singing about their desire for one another. And if you wanted the subject matter of the song in just one word, it would be that desire. But why is it in the Bible? Down the centuries, some Christians have tried to say the song is not about the love of a man and a woman at all, it is only a song about God's love for Christians and for the church. Some have probably been alarmed by the song's frankness. And so they treat the song as if it's a bit like a parable. So take the parable of the soils and the sower. Do you remember that? It is not there to teach us about farming practices. It is only there to teach us spiritual truth about preaching and receiving the gospel. And so some have said the song is a bit like that. It's like a massive parable which is to be decoded. And it's designed only to teach us about God's love for us and our love for God. And that's patently wrong when you read it. It clearly speaks about human love between a man and a woman, which is something very, very precious to God. On the other hand, more recently, some people have said the song is only about that. It's only about a human marriage. And it says nothing about God's love for us and our love for God. Possibly they've reacted to older interpretations of the song, which treated it sometimes a bit weirdly, as being like a parable or an allegory or a code to be cracked in slightly weird ways. But they have turned it almost into a marriage manual for husbands and wives, which is crazy because a marriage is never just about marriage. And that's something the whole Bible tells us. A marriage is never just about marriage. Human marriage is very precious to God, and its highest value is that it mirrors, it reflects, and it is connected to Christ's love for his people and our love for him. And the song speaks into that, it sings into it, and it shows most clearly that there are actually two marriages, two love relationships, two relationships of deep desire. Yes, that of a husband and wife, you could call it the human marriage, but of greater weight is the never-ending love relationship between Jesus and his people. So, Christian people, we are in a spiritual marriage, if you like. So there is a covenant of marriage, and there is a covenant of grace, and the one reflects the other and leads to it. So that's why in Ephesians chapter 5, when Paul is talking about husbands and wives and how they relate in the covenant of marriage, and he quotes words from the very beginning of the Bible, from Genesis 2, about how a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. And then he adds, chapter 5, verse 32, it's there on the handout, this mystery is profound, and I'm saying that it relates to Christ and the church. So he talks about marriage, human marriage, a husband and wife, and then he says, actually, I'm talking about Christ and the church. So the Bible says there are two marriages. There's the covenant of marriage, and there is the spiritual marriage, the covenant of grace into which Christians are drawn in union with Jesus. And as we hear about and as we learn about that first marriage, so we are instructed in and we are led to that second and greater marriage. And that, by the way, is why the Song of Songs is a wonderful gift from God to all Christians in all life situations, whatever they may be. And that's actually a point that the entire Bible would have us know. The Bible is actually a love story. Someone uh cheekily summed up the Bible story like this There is a prince, a hero, the Lord Jesus. There is a bride who is in trouble, the church. There is a dragon, a serpent, the devil. So the young prince comes, he kills the dragon, and he marries the girl. And that basically is the story of Scripture. It is about a marriage. And so when Jesus came, think about what Jesus says in the Gospels. He calls himself the bridegroom. He says that Christian people, we are to be like wise virgins who are waiting for the coming of our bridegroom. He says that the kingdom of heaven is a wedding feast, a joyous wedding feast. And he would say, Be there. Come, you are invited. And Jesus would also say, make sure you are wearing the right clothes. Make sure you're wearing the right wedding garments. Because if you go to that feast undressed, actually you will end up in hell. Or the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, we hear the Lord say that he rejoices over his people like a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. He says to his people, I am your husband. Very terribly. The Lord speaks to of adultery. So when Israel goes after other gods, the Lord says, They are cheating on me. They are whoring after other gods. It's not like an impersonal breach of contract, and you get a parking ticket. It is the terrible betrayal of a lover. And the fundamental problem that we all have, it is not what we do or say, it is who or what we love instead of God. Or take the Apostle Paul. He says that the Christian is betrothed to one husband, like a pure virgin is betrothed to Christ. He says that someone who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Paul teaches there is actually an analogy between a one-flesh sexual union and the Christian's union with Christ. So here's the point. Human marriage is connected to, mirrors, reflects, leads us to, teaches about our spiritual marriage. The covenant of marriage exists as a gift from God and it is precious. And its chief value comes because it instructs us about and leads us to the covenant of grace. And so when we come to the Song of Songs, we are hearing the word of God sing to us about that desire which the Lord intends to course through a covenant relationship. So that's why God created marriage. We actually see something else though in the Song of Psalms. It's not just why God created marriage, it's actually why God created everything to teach us about him. If you've read through the song, have you noticed how many, how many comparisons there are? It's kind of metaphor and simile overload, isn't it? It is just dripping with them. The human author of the song, and by the way, I don't know who it is, but I'm sort of 99% certain it's not Solomon. I'm going to say a little bit more about that as we go on. But the human author of the song, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, looked around God's creation and just explodes with poetic comparisons. Love is like this. You are like that. So the singers in the song, they notice and they sing about things like different animals. Deer, foxes, gardens, vineyards, lots of vineyards and fruits and spices and pastures and mountains. So in the song, we actually hear and we ought to feel the life and the beauty and the wonder of God's creation. It actually helps us to look at the world around us and enjoy it and thank Him for it. The song, though, is also full of things that humans make. Do you notice that? That become metaphors and similes and comparisons for the lovers and their desire. Stuff like armies and shields and swords and buildings and cities and towers and great doors, banquets and wine, finely crafted jewels and other things that master craftsmen make. So God has made us to be sub-creators of things that can be beautiful and powerful and intoxicating. So God has made a wonderful world, hasn't he? Sometimes we we get so caught up in other things, or we we kind of become manipulators of the world rather than just appreciators of it. He's made a wonderful world and he's filled with extraordinary things that teach us about him. Creation is wonderful and valuable in its own right, but it's carefully designed by his hand to teach us about him and knowing him. And most especially, that is true of us. Of these creatures made in his image. So why has he made us? Why has he made us the way that he has made us? He's made us male and female, he's made us like, opposite, complementary, and designed to come together in a covenant relationship. Why has he done that? Why has he made us with desires? It is not an accident. It is the Creator's good intention. But why, Lord? Why build us with passions and desires? And especially with passions and desires that leads towards union. They can bring such pain and trouble and inconvenience and sin. Have you ever thought to yourself, you know, Lord, why did you do it like that? Why did you make us, why did you make me like this? Well, the Lord knows best. So our bodies and our desires, you know, our coming together in a marriage relationship, the lower creation, the rest of the creation apart from human beings, plus the things that He enables us to do and create, all of those things, the whole shooting match, it's actually arranged by a good and a wise God, and it's all designed to help us to receive the love of God in Christ and to love Christ in turn, which is exactly what we were built for. And that is where all of our desires, and that's actually where all of our frustrations will find their rest and their peace. Now, that's all I wanted to say for this evening. Bit of homework. If you've not read the Song of Songs through, why don't you do that before you go to bed tonight or when you get up in the morning? It'll only take you about 25 minutes. That would be a really good thing to do.