Love at first sight/ The weakness of God

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:25 KJV

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5 KJV

Someone once said that in order for a writer to be effective he or she must first write from their heart. After that they need to go back and rewrite it from their heads. In other words our heart tells us what we want to say and our head makes sense of it all.

As a writer as well as a preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ my life is about the message. It's not just a matter of what I say it is equally as important how I say it.

The Song of Solomon is not simply about a Bridegroom and His Bride preparing for a wedding. It is, in actuality, the story of redemption from beginning to end, through Jesus Christ.

Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation 19:6-8 NASB

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 KJV

The story of redemption is about the lostness of men and the incredibly amazing and well beyond reasonable love of God through Jesus Christ.

The Song of Solomon gives it to us as a picture; a "type" (which is an Old Testament picture of a New Testament truth).

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6 KJV

It isn't hard to understand God's simple plan of salvation. We see it everywhere throughout the Song of Solomon. It is simply this: Jesus wasn't lost, I was. The wonderful truth about this is that He was looking for me. Not long ago I heard a preacher explain that it was just a matter of position, as though Jesus was saying, "I'll leave My place"; "I'll come to your place"; "I'll take your place"; "So you can come to My place."

Like the Shunamite girl who is nameless throughout the story, "I am black ..." (Song of Solomon 1:5,6).

Isaiah describes it for us:

6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6 NASB

23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23 Jing James Version

And so it begins.

We are told that this is the greatest of all of the songs Solomon ever wrote, and there were many. It's beauty is beyond compare. The intimate secrets and the depth of the love expressed are enough to make even the most mature among us blush and say, "Wow!" It may even bring tears to the eyes.

This girl has something that caught Solomon's eye. What that something is he leaves to our imagination since the Song begins with a relationship that has already established.

We know Solomon. He is the son of David and Bathsheba, but who is this girl? From what we read in this story she is probably not nobility and for that reason she is not what would be called a courtier. Whoever she is, she is someone that Solomon, just like the Good Shepherd, Jesus, was willing to leave the ninety nine [sheep of his flock] to go after.

What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? Matthew 18:12 NASB

This is, however, far more than just a song of redemption. It's a love story about two souls entangled in the twists and turns of an ever growing love relationship.

It is also about the chains of hope that captivate those souls and unite them in bonds [in every sense off the word] to the God Who proves His love to us with every breath we take. He does that in ways well beyond what our hearts can receive or conceive.

Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; even today do I declare that I will render double unto thee. Zechariah 9:12 KJV

If you want to see a real love story rather than a "Dollar Store Novel," you will see it in the Song of Solomon.

If you want to know how a man ought to treat a woman you will find it in the Song of Solomon.

If you want to know how a woman ought to honor a man [can I say that in the 21 century?] you will discover it in the Song of Solomon.

BRIDE Verse 2 - Let your eyes be wide open to the passion expressed. This is only the second verse. Hofmann's Free Translation makes this passion clear.

Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth!

Everyone understands what a kiss is, but right here, at the outset you can tell that this isn't just any kiss. It's not just a peck on the cheek. This is passion to the point of obsession. It comes from a Hebrew word meaning, "to catch fire; to burn."

This is a really neat thought because it goes hand in hand with the Hebrew word for love and lover used throughout the Song of Solomon which literally means "to boil."

This isn't a "Hi! How are you? It's been a long time," kiss.

It's not a "Happy Birthday!" kiss.

This is not an "I fell and hurt myself. Please kiss it and make it better," kiss.

This is passion!

This is hot!

This is fire!

This is absolutely not a shared kiss. It is intended for only one person; for him and for no one else. In a very real way it's like the engagement ring.

This kiss says, "I'm yours and yours alone."

Unfortunately, people don't think like that anymore.

"Your love is better than the finest wine."

Some believers today will have difficulty with the thought expressed here. The word "wine" when it is used in the Greek New Testament can refer to anything from grape juice to grape jelly to fermented wine. In Hebrew the word wine has only one use and that is to the intoxicating effects of fermented wine. For example:

Give strong drink to him who is perishing, And wine to him whose life is bitter. Let him drink and forget his poverty And remember his trouble no more. Proverbs 31:6,7 NASB

Obviously this is not grape juice or jelly.

Wine is another one of those types that symbolizes joy. But it is symbolic only, and at best this joy is only temporary.

Let it also be permanently inscribed in the readers brain that no one ever became an alcoholic without taking the first drink.

Let the fire of his kisses be mine! For the flame of your love is better than the finest wine. Song of Solomon 1:2 HFT

Bride Verse 3 - There is so much of everything in the Song of Solomon that it almost seems, at least at times, as though it belongs in the New Testament.

In only the third verse of the book this young bride to be is saying much more than, "Hey Solomon, you smell good!" The theology here is rich:

1. "Oil" speaks of the Holy Ghost in a type.

2. Oil is purified by pouring it from one container into another and into another after it has been beaten from the olive (Jeremiah 48:11); speaking of the process of sanctification...