Seek Love and Find It

Text: Song of Songs 3:1-4:16

Thesis: Know what you are seeking, and why you are seeking it.

Application: Examine your heart and live in pursuit of first the Kingdom, and second your neighbor

Intro

Review Chiastic Structure

We are looking at three scenes today:

The Dream

The Wedding

The Lover’s Delight

Reading of the Word

Song of Songs 3:1-4:16

The Dream

“Erotic Nightmare Fantasy”

Filled with Longing

“On my bed after night I sought him.”

The bride lays in bed filled with longing for her future groom. She wants him, and she cannot stop thinking about him. This is why she warned the young daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love until the time is right.

-Comment on the nature of desire and how our actions can encourage or discourage our feelings.-

Nightmare in the City

The bride falls asleep thinking about her groom. As she sleeps, she dreams. In her dream she is compelled to seek out her groom, so she wanders through the city in the middle of the night. Who does she encounter? The watchmen! A tense situation which could lead to help or disaster. But the watchmen give no response - yet. [Setup for second dream sequence in chapter 5]

Bringing Her Lover Home

Soon after encountering the watchmen, the bride finds the groom. In her dream she clings to the groom, refusing to let him go. She leads the groom back home into the bedroom where her desires and longings can be satiated…

And as the bedroom door closes, she awakes. And upon waking, what does she say? - The refrain. “Swear to me, you daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or by the does of the field, that you will not disturb or awaken love until it pleases.”

The Wedding

Solomon’s Introduction

As the Song shifts to the next scene, we find the Bride announcing the arrival of Solomon’s wedding procession. This is to be understood as…

The wedding procession of the Bride and the Groom (in which Solomon is playing the role of the Groom)

A royal wedding procession separate from the wedding of the Bride and the Groom occurring at a similar time as the wedding of the Bride and the Groom. If this is the case, the royal wedding is used in conjunction with the “plain wedding” of the Shulamite and the Shepherd to convey that their “plain love” is utterly extravagant.

Throughout Christian history, Christians have understood the Song to have positive and negative depictions of Solomon. Some Christians believe the the Groom is supposed to be Solomon himself. Other Christians believe the Song is depicting Solomon as an antagonist to the Bride and Groom.

So which view is right?

The Song is not clear, and that is by design. The Song is not a narrative with clearly defined characters. Aside from a few particular sections (the refrain and the Bride’s final remarks), the Song is not designed to give clear, straightforward teaching. The Song is a song designed to provoke our feelings and imaginations, causing us to wonder about the mysteries of love and God Himself.

In our approach to the Song, it is best for us to not be forced into picking a particular side. We must let the Bible speak for itself, and when we let the Bible speak for itself, we find both positive and negative depictions of Solomon (Ch. 3 containing positive depictions, while Ch. 8 containing a negative depiction)

Protective Love

The soldiers around Solomon’s litter depict a fierce protection of love. No one can intrude upon the King and his lover. No one can hurt them. No one can interrupt them.

Look to Jesus -> Jesus will protect His Bride.

Extravagant Love

The extravagant language used here depicts a wonderful celebration in which no expense is spared. One cannot buy love (see Song of Songs Ch. 8 and the Beatles), but true love is worth celebrating with all that we are and all that we have.

Look to Jesus -> Reminiscent of the extravagance found in the Bride in Rev. 21

The Lover’s Delight

The Groom’s Speech

This is the longest section spoken by the Groom, and it is spoken directly to the Bride. The marriage will be consummated in the “space” between chapters 4 and 5. It is before the Groom and the Bride come together that the Groom speaks directly to the Bride - the only moment where the Bride is silent in the whole song.

As previously stated, the Bride is the main character of the Song; she does most of the speaking. It is striking then that in this chiastic structure, the middle portion, which always is of great importance in a chiasm, contains very little speaking by the Bride. It is as if to say, as we enter into the heart of the Song, we find at the heart is a pure gushing of love from the Groom to the Bride. The heart of the Song is for the Bride to receive love. All of the Bride’s longings are fulfilled. All of her searching is completed. Her fantasies are now reality. She has not taken, she has not forced, she has patiently waited to receive love. and in return, she gives love.

The Groom Details the Beauty of His Bride

The Groom is in no rush to receive love. His heart is set on giving love to his Bride, which is first done through his words not his touch.

How could a Christian hear the Groom’s speech to his Bride and not be reminded of the depictions of the Bride of Christ in Revelation? The Bride made pure, without any fault. Beautiful in every way. Adorned with pure linen. Covered in majestic jewels.

Church, hear this now, as a husband utterly captivated with the perfect beauty of his bride, Jesus looks at you with an even greater love! Because of the work and sacrifice of Jesus, you who were enslaved by sin, covered it its mud, destitute in death, now are faultless. Perfectly clean. Perfectly pure. For the one who has been born again, washed clean of sin, Jesus looks to you and says, “You are altogether beautiful my love, there is no fault in you! You have enchanted my heart!”

The enemy will do everything he can to convince you that Jesus is not madly in love with His Bride. He will do anything he can to convince you that Jesus’ work on the cross was not enough to make you faultless, pure, and beautiful. Or he will try to convince you a false beauty, one not needing a Savior. A beauty built on our own accomplishment or achievement. But remember the words of the Bride, “I have not been able to care for my own vineyard,” and it is the Groom’s love which causes Him to say, “You are most beautiful among women.”

The Bride receives love, and in return she gives love to her Groom.

Landing Point

In the dream we saw the Bride compelled to seek her lover, and after the wedding we see that what she sought she has found. Her longing has been fulfilled. Her desire has been satisfied. She is no longer alone, but joined to her Groom.

Jesus speaks of seeking during His sermon on the mount. He says,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

Matthew 7:7-8

The question we must ask ourselves should not be, “will we find what we seek?”

The question must always be, “what are we looking for?”

Contrast our capability in the Tower of Babel to receiving good gifts from God in Jesus’ teaching.

Contrast Eve “taking the fruit” with Jesus’ call to ask and “receive” from God.

The lovers in the Song do not take from one another. They give of themselves and receive one another.

When we seek first the Kingdom and lay every desire before God, we develop a posture of receiving not taking. This forms us to be a people of patient love trusting that God has good gifts for us. And even if God does not give us what we ask for, we know that He has gifts for us which are better than what we asked for. And when our hearts are set on God, we do not compare our gifts to those of others, rather we recognize God’s unique and good plan for our lives. And that plan is to bring about a delight unlike any other.

For God loves us. He has good plans for us. And the delight, pleasure, joy, and peace we will experience in the Kingdom of God is unlike anything we can possibly imagine.