Song of Solomon Sermon

Introduction

Taylor Swift illustration of new song “Wood”

Scandalous, and yet it surprisingly gets closer to what God has ordained about love and sex than most other cultural songs, which are vulgar and distort sex into something it’s not

As controversial as this song is, the truth is the Bible contains it’s own love poem that also talks about sex and the intimaticy between lovers: Song of Solomon or Song of Songs.

What is Song of Songs?

This short song, or poem, was likely written by Solomon, hence its name. It is a back and forth adventure between a man and a woman (and their friends), exploring their love for one another.

We don’t know which of Solomon’s 1000 wives he wrote this for or about (I like to think he kept a copy on hand to give to every pretty woman he saw, with the words, ‘I wrote this for you.’ Who wouldn’t be wooed?)

It has beautiful lyrics that will make you say, “Awww that’s sweet.” Like the line in Chapter 3 which is recited as many weddings: “I have found him whom my soul loves.”

But it also has very intimate lyrics that I bet will make many of you blush:

Song of Solomon 4:3–5 “Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies.”

Song of Solomon 5:2–6 “I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.”

To say this book is controversial is an understatement.

It was one of five Old Testament books that were questioned on if they were truly inspired or not. And yet, in the end, it was viewed as inspired and included in the canon. And believe it or not, the Church has cherished this little book for thousands of years.

But why was and is this book so controversial?

Quite frankly, it talks about sex, and it talks about it very vividly.

For most people, sex is viewed as a bad thing, or at least not a good thing, and in the church it is still very much taboo.

Augustine talking about sex.

It’s not hard to see why that is: we are surrounded by a culture that is sex-crazed, and not in a good way. Sex has become an idol. You can sleep with whoever you want, whenever you want, for whatever reason you want, and as long as it is between two consenting adults it is “fine”. It has become our identity, and we can’t live without it. We have eliminated all consequences of this, from birth control, to abortion, to disease prevention and control. If we can’t have sex physically, we can find porn just about anywhere, and now you can have romantic relationships with a computer to replace any real intimacy.

Despite calling the sexual revolution a success, it has only led greater harm: higher rates of sexual abuse, failed marriages, absolute lack of trust between spouses, and so much more. How could we not start to have a negative view of sex?

We often then portray this negativity of sex onto God. It’s true, the Church has historically done a poor job teaching that sex is good and divinely created. The world certainly doesn’t think that God likes sex.

New Girl example

In turn, this perverted theology tends to justify the twisting of sex: “Christians and their God is so judgmental, why do they care about who I sleep with?”

Song of Songs teaches us that God cares about love because he is love.

Contrary to popular belief, sex did not come after the fall of man. It came before. Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” That’s a direct command to have children, which means have sex.

But there was an important guardrail put in place: sex must come within the covenantal boundaries of marriage. Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

It is precisely this covenant marriage that we see at the heart of Song of Solomon 3:11 “Go out, O daughters of Zion, and look upon King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart.”

It is from the covenant context that Solomon adores his bride with all of the compliments of chapter 4 with true and sincere love. And out of this outpouring of love comes consummation, with both the bride and the groom enjoying each other.

Song of Solomon 4:16–5:1 “Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits. I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!”

This kind of love isn’t just “sexy” for the sake of sex, it is a genuine love that can only have divine origins that is so earthshattering, it can’t help but be noticed by everyone around the couple.

Husbands, if you really want to wow your wife, try writing her your own “Song of Solomon” about your relationship. I bet it will go over better than those “50 ways to win back my wife” books.

It is from this covenant marriage, right at the center of the song, that the rest of the book radiates.

It speaks of flirtation and young love in the opening chapters.

It speaks of that painful longing for a beloved.

And ultimately it speaks of the power of love and sex

Song of Solomon 8:6–7 “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.”

Waiting for a greater love

Like any good song, the Song of Solomon does have a refrain. Three times it says, Song of Solomon 2:7 “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.”

Three times throughout the song, just as the romance and love are picking up, the woman says, “Wait, not yet.”

To do this, she orders and oath. And it’s a strange oath - it’s an oath “by the gazelles or the does of the field.” What strange animals to take an oath by!

Until you realize that in 2:9 she says, “My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.”

Swear to me young women, by the people around you, that you do not stir up or awaken love until is pleases.

This can have myriad applications: don’t rush love, just let it develop, make sure the setting and covenant are right, stick to the guardrails.

But I think it points to something greater. A greater love. We are the daughters of Jerusalem, and we are surrounded by the temptations of this world, beckoning us to fall in love with them, and the Song is begging us, “Please wait for Love to awaken when it pleases.”

I mentioned to you that this little book has long been adored by the Church. But not necessarily in the way you might expect.

For most of Church history, the church has viewed the Song of Solomon as a beautiful and prophetic description of the love between Christ and the Church.

It’s no surprise based on what Paul says in Ephesians 5:31–32 ““Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”

Marriage, and all the love that comes with it, including sexual love, was divinely created because it ultimately points us, the Church, to our relationship with Christ. God is love, therefore Christ is love.

Christ is the one that the Song pleaded with the people to wait for, not to fall for the counterfeit love of this world. And now that we have truly “found who my soul loves”, the song calls to wait a little while longer, and while we wait, to prepare ourselves for a wedding. In Revelation 19, John sees the ultimate fulfilment of the Song of Songs:

Revelation 19:6–9 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.””

And then a few verses later, Revelation 21:2 “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Marriage is good, love is good, sex is good - but wait, because what they all point to is even greater.