Ecstasy in Eternity

Congratulations! You have almost survived this series on Song of Solomon. Maggie can tell you that I really enjoyed studying this book. My faith has grown through it and my understanding of God’s love for me. I can totally agree with Jonathan Edwards:

“The whole book of Canticles [i.e., Song of Solomon] used to be pleasant to me, and I used to be much in reading it, about that time; and found, from time to time, an inward sweetness, that would carry me away, in my contemplations.”

We have tracked this lovely couple through this greatest of poems from courtship to marriage to conflict to reconciliation and maturity.

We’ve also talked about God’s design for marriage, giving a defense, through the topics of sex, procreation, intimate companionship, godly family legacy, and the image of God’s covenantal love.

We are now going to discuss the last chapter of Song of Solomon, which many have called the 1 Corinthians 13 of the Old Testament.

Then, we will finish up our discussion of the defense of marriage with the second part of God’s covenantal love.

Before we dive in, will you pray with me?

Pray

1. Exposition: Biblical Love

1 Corinthians 13 is the love passage, describing Godly, Biblical love, and Song chapter 8 dives into the same subject with the same themes.

Let’s unpack it as we walk through the passage:

A. Song 8:1-4

As we begin to read Song 8, we are picking up from the end of Song 7. Their love has matured and they are consummating it again.

Song of Solomon 8:1–4 NIV

If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house— she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates. His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.

Now, this chapter might have started off a little weird. This is written in a culture where married couples weren’t really supposed to have public displays of affection, as opposed to today, where even dating couples are kissing in public.

But, while romantic partners were not to have public displays of affection, siblings could.

I graduated from Pensacola Christian College. Boys and girls couldn’t touch there, but siblings could. I would give my sister an arm escort from activities, just to cause others to be jealous.

I digress. This woman is so in love with her spouse that she wishes she could kiss him in public and then lead him home where they can have shameless sex. She basks in his embrace, remembering all that her mother taught her in how to love and respect her husband. That was a good mother-in-law. A mother that passed on a legacy of godliness to her daughter.

Then, she having experienced the joys of sex kept until marriage, urges the virgins in the city to wait until marriage to have sex, because it is so good when experienced in the context that God designed it to be experienced in.

Song 8:5-7

Song of Solomon 8:5–7 NIV

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth. Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

Okay, underline verse 5. This verse is so important to what we are going to discuss later today. At the beginning of the marriage ceremony we read:

Song of Solomon 3:6 NIV

Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?

That was just King Solomon. But now, coming from the wilderness is both of them, together, moving forward, she leaning on him. We are going to come back to that.

They described how they met, the beloved waking him up. Calling him away from the home of his mother. She bore him, but the beloved aroused him.

And then, she describes love.

Love is a seal. This speaks of the exclusivity of marriage. No one and nothing else can dominate the partner so much that their spouse is second place.

Love is as strong as death. Death has power. No one can escape it. So, love should be strong and enduring.

Love is as unyielding as the grave. It is tenacious. Nothing can overthrow or defeat it. True love will allow no rival.

True live is Burning like a fire. It has energy and vigor. Like a forest fire, you can try to dampen it, but you cannot. It can be fanned into flame again and burn wildly once more.

Love cannot be quenched. It is durable. Immoveable as a rock.

Cannot be bought for all the money in the world. It is beyond price.

This is the ideal of marital love. But, it is the love which Christ has inexplicably shown us.

D. Song 8:8-10

Transitioning from talking about godly love, the perspective goes back to waiting for love for its time.

Song of Solomon 8:8–9 NIV

We have a little sister, and her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for? If she is a wall, we will build towers of silver on her. If she is a door, we will enclose her with panels of cedar.

The friends of the beloved reflect on their sister who has not reached puberty yet. How are they to protect her until marriage and train her for marriage.

When they speak of someone being a wall, they are talking about taking a stand for purity. They are not allowing anyone in. They are remaining pure. However, the girl that is a wall, her family is building towers of silver on her. They are still training her to have godly sexuality, to be alluring as God has designed her to be. Not immodest, but beautifully alluring.

If the girl is a door, she is allowing people in. She doesn’t have the strength of will. So, The family encloses her with panels of cedar. They put up the boundaries that she is not able to. But, the panels are still made of cedar. They are sweet smelling, beautiful. While they encourage the girl to remain pure, they also encourage her in godly sexuality, Godly beauty.

The beloved responds:

Song of Solomon 8:10 NIV

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.

She is a wall. She has kept herself pure until marriage. But, her breasts are like towers. While she has kept herself pure, modest. She has also practiced godly sexuality. She knows God has given her a body for beauty, to be alluring. And in her modesty, she has done so.

Basically, these verses are saying: God is not glorified when we use our bodies for shame. But, also, God is not glorified when we are ashamed of our bodies.

By keeping herself pure, and training for godly sexuality, to be alluring, she brings contentment to her husband.

D. Song 8:11-14

Finally, the focus shifts to the godly marriage:

Song of Solomon 8:11–12 NIV

Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon; he let out his vineyard to tenants. Each was to bring for its fruit a thousand shekels of silver. But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

The Beloved makes a comparison between how Solomon rents vineyards to his tenants and gains a share of the yield and her own sexuality. At the beginning of the book, the beloved is bemoaning that she hasn’t been able to take care of herself, her vineyard, and so she does not believe that she is beautiful.

Now, she declares that all her beauty, her sexuality is her husbands, she is keeping nothing back.

This is not the normal response of wives.

In the face of that gift, he responds:

Song of Solomon 8:13 NIV

You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!

He says: I want to hear your voice. How many husbands actually say that: Dear, I’ve had a long day. The only thing I want to do right now is listen to you talk.

But, we have already covered that this man listens to his wife and responds to her emotionally. She gives him sexuality and he gives emotional connection. And those gifts breed off one another.

The final verse:

Song of Solomon 8:14 NIV

Come away, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains.

The poem ends with a bang. We’ve seen other verses like this. It speaks of the act of sex between a husband and a wife. They have given each other everything, and now they are rejoicing in the union which God has blessed.

A union which reflects our relationship with God.

2. Defense of Marriage: God’s Covenantal Love, pt 2

A. Relationship Now

Before we reflect on God’s love for us right now. Let’s talk about how Marriage is supposed to be.

a. Model of Marriage

Marriage is a beautiful thing: Two different people, drastically different not only in biology, but in emotions and desires and dreams. These two people coming together to support one another, encourage one another, mature one another, and be completely devoted to one another, even if no one else in the world is.

We see this in the ideal of love in this chapter:

Song of Solomon 8:6–7 NIV

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.

We see this in the give and take at the end of this chapter:

Song of Solomon 8:12–13 NIV

But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit. You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!

They want to know each other, value each other, respect each other, cherish each other, give each other what is best, no matter what their partner is doing. They are consistently working for the good.

b. Reflecting the Truth of God

And this is how Jesus treats us: he loves us with that ideal love.

This chapter said that Love is a seal. Jesus seals us as his own and no one can take us out of his hand. No one can remove his love from us.

Love is as strong as death. Jesus died because of his love for us, and through that death, we who are sinners, are brought close to God, through the power of the blood of Christ.

Love is as unyielding as the grave. God is a jealous God. His love demands a response from us, and he will not stop pursuing us, no matter how many times we turn away from him. He is continually at the door knocking.

True live is Burning like a fire. Love cannot be quenched. Jesus’ love is durable. Once he says that he loves us, he keeps that covenant unconditionally.

His love Cannot be bought for all the money in the world. It is beyond price. We cannot work to achieve. We cannot do anything. His love is a gift that we are to merely receive and bask in.

But, once we receive it, we are to give him our all, like the bride:

Song of Solomon 8:12 NIV

But my own vineyard is mine to give; the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon, and two hundred are for those who tend its fruit.

Jesus, you have loved with an awe-inspiring love, I don’t deserve you, so I give you everything, holding nothing back.

And Jesus tells us in the words of the King:

Song of Solomon 8:13 NIV

You who dwell in the gardens with friends in attendance, let me hear your voice!

He wants us to spend time with him and talk with him.

B. Relationship Then

But, not only does our marriage model Christ’s relationship with us now, but it also models the relationship that we are promised in eternity.

a. Model of Marriage

Let’s go back towards the beginning of this chapter:

Song of Solomon 8:5 NIV

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.

This verse explains godly marriage in a great way. Three things are evident.

First, the man and the woman are together. They are not separated. They are not taking time apart. They are not walking their own journeys. They are together. Number one reason for marital conflict? Lack of communication. Number one reason for lack of communication? Not spending time together. They are together.

Second, they are coming up from the wilderness to the promised land. They are heading the same direction. They know the brokenness, sin, bad things, in the past and they are walking together towards godliness. They are praying together. They are studying the Bible together. They are evaluating life through the lens of godliness, agreeing what needs to be changed in order to reflect him better.

Third, the beloved is leaning on her husband. They are living according to the roles that God has called his people to have. The man is leading his wife spiritually through life. He is a strong person whom she can trust and follow.

She is respecting him and supporting him, walking with him on this journey. Until Christ calls one of them home.

And he will. Eternity is coming. Our spouse is merely on loan to us from the creator of the universe. If we die in Christ, we will see them again, living forever in his presence. But until then, we remain on this earth and we wait.

b. Reflecting the Truth of God

Marriage reflects the truth of God, because eternity is coming.

The verse that we are talking about:

Song of Solomon 8:5 NIV

Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.

Reflects the wedding ceremony when King Solomon comes into the room:

Song of Solomon 3:6 NIV

Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?

Great imagery. Reminiscent of the people of Israel being led from Egypt through the wilderness.

Well, chapter 8 is not that image. Chapter 8 is the people of Israel coming back from exile in Babylon, going to the Promised Land, leaning on their God.

Someday, this will be us. The world will say: who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved.

And it will be the church of Jesus Christ, leaving this broken miserable world of sin, despair, and death, and being ushered into the wedding supper of the lamb.

Revelation 19:6–9 NIV

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “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. 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.”

And we will live forever on this earth, a place of perfection, without sin, despair, and death. Where Christ himself is our light.

And in this place, we will be together with Christ, our beloved. We will have gone from the wilderness to the promised land. With him. And we will lean on him forever, because he is our leader, he is our strength. We cannot survive without him and we get to be with him forever.

What a glorious day that will be.

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