Song of Solomon

15 March 2015

Dear Phyllis,

To say this has been an uneventful week would be an understatement. Like I mean to say, nothing has happened. The worst of the winter is behind us and the mild season has come with the day time temperatures running over 100F everyday. With nothing to do I sit on my balcony in my chair writing on my computer. Compulsively, I feel led to write on Song of Solomon but this is stupid as I have no one to send these articles to. They are just sitting dead on my computer. In the absence of anything else to write, I will take the liberty of sending you a couple that I wrote this past week. These two articles are thoughts on S of S 1:9.

The Song of Solomon is clearly the narrative of Christ's relationship with His Bride. Or the Christian life. Basically there are two speakers – Jesus and the believer. Chapter 1 verses 8 to 11 are the first words of Christ in this narrative. His first words were an answer to a prayer as to how to find Him. His second expression in verse 9 is setting forth the purpose why He has saved us.

S of S 1:9

The word “like” is one of the most important and well used words in the Bible. By that I do not mean like is the sense of enjoy, but like in the sense of being similar to. We are incapable of properly comprehending spiritual truth, so the Lord must revert to comparison that we can take hold of. Jesus frequently said, “The Kingdom of heaven is like” … a pearl of great price, ten virgins, a man going to a far country to receive a kingdom, etc. This is the basis of all His parables. To tell us about heaven, He had to drop back and say, “The kingdom of God is LIKE...” This is essentially what the Lord is saying in verse 9. While He does not use the word “like”, He did say, “I have compared you to...”.

And the object that He compared us to was the horses of Pharaoh's chariot. Nothing could be more instructive. What were the horses of Pharaoh's chariot?They were the vehicle that Pharaoh rode around in. What is your body? It is the vehicle that you ride around in. It was said of Jesus, “A Body hast Thou prepared Me.” (Heb. 10:5). It was absolutely necessary for Jesus to have a body. Without that body He never could have accomplished what He did. Jesus was with the Father in the beginning. Jesus always was. But to accomplish redemption and salvation it was necessary for Him to have a body.

Having done that, He could just as easily saved us and take us straight to heaven. But He has more work to do on this planet. For that He needs a body. That's us folks. He needs a body to live in by His Spirit. That is why He says here in the beginning of the Song of Sol. “I have compared you to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariot”.

What a privilege! I have often thought the most blessed donkey that was ever born was that little colt that carried Jesus into Jerusalem for His Triumphal Entry (Mt.21:2,3). What a privilege to carry Jesus into Jerusalem. But the next after that little donkey is the vehicle that Jesus rides around in today. He could have accomplished the preaching of the Gospel by Angels (Rev. 14:6). But just as He chose a human body to be His vehicle when He lived here for 33 years, He has again chosen human bodies to be His vehicle to live in for the proclamation of the Gospel. We are so familiar with the truth that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit that it really doesn't make much of an impact on us. But if that reality ever really struck us, we should be reduced to silence, awe, and gratitude to hear Him say. “I have compared you, O My love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots”.

S of S 1:9b

Verse 9 has more instruction and teaching in it than I have time or space to discuss here. But just to mention a couple of the main points, it should humble us to the core to realize that Jesus has chosen us to be His vehicle in which He rides in at this time of history. When the Lord says, “I have compared thee to a company of horses of Pharaoh's chariot” He is referring to the fact that Pharaoh's horses were the finest horses in the world. Solomon had to get his horses out of Egypt (1Kn. 10:28), which gives you some indication of what the Lord thinks of you. You are in the most privileged stable there is.

But one more obvious teaching point here is the plurality. He said “a company”. We have discussed this before in talking about the “we” in the S of S. In His instruction on prayer, Jesus didn't tell us to pray, “My Father”, but “Our Father”. In sending out His servants, the Lord never sends them out one by one, but by twos. This is a basic spiritual principle. When we learn to walk with the Lord, one of the first lessons is that we are not Lone Rangers but members of a collective body. We are a company. We must learn to work together with others. If these lessons are not learned you are headed for the ditch. You can sit there alone, but if we are to be servants of Jesus we must learn that we are part of a company of horses.

The next obvious truth is discipline. There was one salient characteristic of the horses of Pharaoh's chariot; that was that they were well trained. He didn't have a bunch of wild ponies hooked to that chariot. The horses that wore Pharaoh's harness were well trained. This is one of the most painful parts about being a Christian. Chastisement is the mark of a true son (Heb. 12:5-8). The Bible tells us God chastises those whom He loves and scourges every son whom He receiveth. (Heb. 12:6). That is an awfully strong message. A young colt might think, “Yokatta (Japanese great deal) I've got it made now”, when he is brought into Pharaoh's stall. Man howdy, this is the best food there is. But then the training starts. There is no joy in the sting of the whip, but it will drive foolishness out (Pro. 22:15). Some people say they would like to live their life over. Not me. It was bad enough the first time. I don't want to repeat that. Every young horse and every new believer has one attitude – my way. But it doesn't take long to get the signal that the name-of-the-game is not what I want, but the will of God be done. Learning that lesson is a terrible experience. But a vital one. And until that wild spirit is broken and a submissive spirit prevails, it will be back to the barn for more discipline. But the bottom line is, the purpose God had in mind when He saved you was to make you His vehicle in whom He could live and move. Praise God!

Tonikaku (anyway) this is a small sample of what I have been doing everyday.

See you next week, Lord willing,

                                                                  bill