Song of Solomon

8 September 2019

Dear Phyllis,

There are three verses in Song of Solomon that appear to be identical, and yet there is a subtle progression that I feel is one of the most graphic indication of spiritual maturity in the Bible (S. of S. 2:16; 6:3; 7:10). I have written to you about this several times but I never get away from it. Last week the Lord reminded me of this so powerfully that I was right on the limit of what I could physically handle.

The first verse says “My Beloved is mine and I am His”. For someone just saved this is the most wonderful news possible. We all love to sing, “Blessed assurance Jesus is mine”. Man howdy, that is good news! I remember talking to a Catholic man one night in the states about Jesus. He was the husband of Rosemary's room mate in the hospital in Syracuse. I had just shared with him a few things that Jesus had done for me. He looked at me with the most longing eyes and said, “If I had a God like that I wouldn't have a worry in the world”. I had never realized what an unusual treasure I had in having Jesus as my savior. You talk about blessed assurance. It doesn't get much better than to know you have a personal relationship with Jesus as your savior, provider, protector, everything. For years that thrilled me.

And then I noticed that the Song goes one note higher when it says, “I am His and He is mine”. That just raised value of the transaction by 10 to the power of 10. It is wonderful to be able to say “Jesus is Mine”, but it is infinitely more wonderful to be able to say “I am His”. Here we have not only the ownership reversed but the responsibility changed. If I am the owner then the responsibility of holding on to my possession is on my side. But if the ownership is on the Lord's side then He is the One to keep His grip on me. If I am responsible for hanging on to Jesus, in my foolishness and frequent distractions I might loose my grip on Him. But if He is the One hanging onto me, I suspect His grip is more secure than mine.

How little do we realize that it is not that we love God, but that He first loved us and sent His Son to seek and save us (1 Jn. 4:10). Dear Nelly Pavlok, a wonderful sister from Russia, used to say, “I didn't find the Lord, He found me. I was the one who was lost”. We weren't the ones who sought Jesus, but Jesus was the One who was seeking us. You can measure my love for the Lord by teaspoons, but to measure the Lord's love for us would require the ocean. His seeking us was far more intense than our seeking Him, and His delight in His possession is infinitely more intense than ours. I used to preach 1 Cor. 6:19, 20 as an incentive to service: “Ye are not your own. For ye were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and spirit which are God's”, but now I see that as an assurance of His possession. It is a fact that Jesus has bought us. He paid a very dear price for us – His own Blood. If Jesus paid that dear price for us it is highly likely that He is going to keep a good grip on His possession. It was a happy day when I could say with firm assurance Christ was mine, but it is infinitely more joyous to say today “I am His”. If my salvation was dependent on my grip on Christ, I am in bad shape. I would lose my grip on Him in ten minutes, but if I realize my relationship with Jesus is resting on the fact that I am His - and He is highly responsible over His own possession - this gives great peace, joy, and assurance.

One illustration that Jesus gave us on this subject is the parable of the 99 and 1 (Lk. 15:4-7). If the Lord thinks that much about one lost lamb, that He will leave the 99 to go look for the lost one, that gives great assurance to the other 99. The knowledge that I am His brings me vastly more satisfaction and joy than knowing that I have Jesus.

When I first got saved I thought the Lord must be pleased that He had such an outstanding man as a follower. But then as the Lord began to open my eyes, I thought He had made a terrible mistake. For a couple of years I thought I had chosen Jesus but then I learned, that it was not that I had chosen Him but He chose me (Jn. 15;16). When I realized that I was bewildered why Jesus should go to the end of the line of unqualified candidates and lay His Hand on the most unlikely one of the lot. But oh what joy! What an honor! When I was a kid and we would choose up sides to play a game, we would always get the two best boys to be team captains and they would choose their team. I was always greatly honored when the best man would say, “I'll take Bill”. That He choose us; if that doesn't make the joy bells ring I don't know what would. Ruth was just a poor foreign widow until Boaz purchased her to be his wife (Ruth 4:10). Man howdy, did her fortune turn around after that. What a privilege to be the wife of Boaz!

The cap stone of this series in Song of Sol. is chapter 7 verse 10 – “I am my Beloved's and His desire is towards me”. There is no mention of what I have here. The believer is lost in the knowledge that she belongs to Jesus and His desire is towards her. Intellectually I can acknowledge this, but spiritually I have never come to that point. In his gospel of Christ, John is unique in that he never mentions his own name once. But from chapter 13 on John uses an unusual personal identification in referring to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn. 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20). To know that Jesus loved him was the most wonderful thing in John's life. We teach little children to sing, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”. Anyone who has been saved over six months should know that. But when the spiritual reality of that seeps into a darkened heart, that should blow our mind. Spiritually I haven't come that far yet. It is the joy of my life to know that I belong to Jesus, but, knowing a little of the depravity of my wicked heart (Jer. 17:9), throws a veil over my eyes making it difficult for me to see the inner nature of the heart of Christ. Zephaniah told us an amazing thing about the heart of God when he wrote, “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty, He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:17). I can acknowledge with my mind that this is true, but to let the depths of that truth to seep deeply in my frozen heart is difficult. But when it does, the heart melts and tears flow.

In the first two verses of this series discussing respective possession, this is followed by the remark that Jesus is “feeding among the lilies”. We know from S. of S. 2:1.2 that a Christian is a lily. We find Jesus' present activity is feeding in Christian fellowships. Jesus promised that when two or three of His followers were gathered in His Name He would grace that fellowship with His presence. Praise God this is true. I am not sure what the verb “feeding” means. In English and Hebrew it has two meanings. It could mean feeding a baby, or it could mean eating yourself. In Ezek. 34:2, we see the Lord rebuking the shepherds of Israel for feeding themselves and not feeding the flock. In S. of S. we see the believer pleading “Let my Beloved come into His garden and eat His pleasant fruit”. Where the real Body of Christ is gathered that must bring real satisfaction to Jesus.

But in 7:10 we see the emphasis is not so much over the cooperate Body of Christ as it is over the personal relationship. Here it says “His desire is towards ME”. If that doesn't sum up everything in life I don't know what does. It is one thing to know that I am saved, but it is far more wonderful to know that I belong to Jesus. But then to think His desire might be towards me. Gomen Phyllis, that one just goes out of sight. We see this dimly here but what will it be when the Wedding day comes and we see Him as He is. Imagination fails me, but I suspect I will be pretty good.

Oh Lord, open my dim eyes and let me see a little more of the reality of Your heart. For Jesus sake.

                 bill