8 December 2019
Dear Phyllis,
I'm sorry for the avalanche of email I sent you last
week. With this cancer in my left eye I am not sure how long I will be around
here. It has been eight months since the doctor told me I had a malignant tumor
in that eye. For nine months the eye has been closed. There really is very
little change. It might be a tad worse and recently there has been a slight
sensation that something may be wrong, but other wise I remain in excellent
health. My friend Sonny told me that without discharge papers from the Air
Force there is no way I can get in a VA hospital. Of course I lost all that
years ago and I don't know how to get a new copy. If I can't come up with
discharge papers, returning to the states for treatment is out of the question.
The reason for my blizzard of emails is that it has
been on my mind for many years that somebody should write something about this
wonderful passage in Song of Solomon. I can't recall ever hearing a message on
the Song of Solomon and I have never read anything about the Beauty of Jesus is
this passage. I feel a little bit like that man attending a funeral for a
stranger in a small town that nobody knew. The pastor asked the crowd, “Does
anyone have anything to say about our departed brother?”. When there was no
response from the attendees, the man in the back rose to his feet and said, “If
no one has anything to say about this man, I'd like to say something about
Texas”. If no one has anything to say about the Song of Solomon, I would like
to say something about the beauty of Jesus. So far we have discussed His duel
nature, the flag carrier, His head, hair, eyes, and cheeks. Now we come to His
LIPS. The Bible tells us, His lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh
(S of S 5:13).
Again, one of the basic rule of exegesis is to look
for the verb that goes with the noun. When the Bible says, “How beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” (Isa.
52:7); it isn't talking about the bone structure or the toes. Obviously this is
talking about the feet of the person who carries the Gospel to remote areas to
share the good news with those how haven't heard it yet. When we discuss the
lips of Jesus this can only mean His speech or words. It shouldn't surprise
us that the Word here is His lips are like lilies. I wouldn't have chosen that
word, but it is a good one.
Lilies are known for whiteness and beauty. If white
means clean, that certainly is a good word to describe Jesus' words. There
absolutely was nothing smutty about anything Jesus said, There was nothing
shady in anything He said. There was nothing destructive in His speech. That is
pretty hard to say about the things we say. James speaks much about the tongue
and says it is the proof of character. He says anyone who professes to be saved
and doesn't bridal his tongue, that man is on a trip (“he deceives himself” Jm.
1:26). Jesus alone has masterful control of His tongue. Small wonder the Word
describes Jesus' lips as lilies.
What can we say about His words? When the the chief
priests sent Temple soldiers out to arrest Jesus, and they came back empty
handed, the soldiers answered, “Never man spake like this Man”. That's for
sure. The Words of Jesus certainly are unique. There has never been a man in
history like Him. Greek philosophers wrote a great deal. We have much of their
works to this day. The works of many authors have been preserved and libraries
are full of books. But Jesus never wrote a book. He never wrote a Gospel tract.
He never spoke into a microphone. He never used a megaphone. He never spoke in
a voice louder than what the wind carried to the back of a crowd. We don't have
any tapes or CDs of His words. But His words have been more published, read,
studied, and discussed than any other man who ever lived on this planet. The
famous French philosopher, Voltaire boldly predicted that within 100 years the
Bible would disappear, but 100 years later his study was the headquarters for
the French Bible Society that was the largest Bible printing organization in
the world at that time. Mao's wife Jiang Qing boasted that within a generation
Christianity would be completely extinct in China, but today there are more
Christians in China than any other country in the world. The Temple soldiers
were right, “Never man spake like this Man”.
To some who heard Him they must have been the most
wonderful words ever spoken. How many times did He say, “Your sins be forgiven”
(Mk. 2:5), “Neither do I condemn you” (Jn. 8:11), “Be healed”, “Arise”, “Be
still”, “Come out”, etc. Oh my goodness, no man ever spoke like Jesus. The
Sermon on the Mount, the many parables, His teaching, His words about His
Father, etc; the list is almost endless. I am not foolish enough to attempt to
expound upon this subject.
But to some, His words certainly didn't sound like
lilies. PC certainly is an expression that never should be used in the same
sentence with Jesus. I have always been amazed how Jesus just ruined a good
meal when He was invited to have a meal with a Pharisee. The poor Pharisee
didn't even start the argument. He just marveled that Jesus didn't first was
His hands. The first thing Jesus said to him was, “You hypocrites, your inward
part is full of ravening and wickedness. You fools...”. Then He launched into
three woes. A lawyer was there and said, “Are You going to say that about us
too?” Jesus responded with two more woes and went on to say some of the
strongest words that ever came out of His mouth (Lk. 11:37-54). Nice meal. You
talk about a straight shooter; now there is one. That is not exactly political
correctness. The 23rd chapter of Matthew has some of the harshest
words in the Bible. There are eight more woes. He shouts, “You hypocrites!”;
eight more times and calls them blind fools, serpents and vipers. Then He said,
“How can you escaped the damnation of hell?” Pretty rough language. That
doesn't sound much like the sweet lovely Jesus to me. Maybe if Joel Olsteen
started preaching more like that, instead of that sweep syrupy putridity that
oozes from him each week, he might be more of a man of God, and possibly ease
himself out of the seat in hell he is making for himself. I'm not sure this is
why the Bible says, His lips are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh. How
can you explain that?
We have already talked about this in letter (1) that
said His eyes were like doves, and yet John said His eyes were like fire. It
all depends who He is talking to. The Song of Solomon is not what the
Pharisees thought of Jesus. Here the Bride of Christ is telling us what He
looks like to her.
I'm sorry, I just can't develop this subject. But I
would like to suggest that the Song of Solomon isn't talking about a historical
Jesus and a marriage relation that took place 2000 years ago. The Bride of Christ
is still very much here on this earth today, and we are not talking about a
Bridegroom who is absent in heaven. We still, very much, have a functioning
relationship with Him today. That is what I enjoy so much. Jesus has said
many things to me since I have been saved. What He has said to me is the most
merciful, gracious, long suffering, forgiving, tender, kind (and on and on).
Oh, what can I say? Oh, the lips of Jesus. I'm not sure we have the words to
describe them. We might say they are like lilies dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
I don't know. I wouldn't describe them that way, but the Bride of Christ does.
What I would like to say is that I am deeply grateful that He has revealed
Himself to me. Perhaps the biggest way He has revealed Himself to me is through
His Word. I know the Lord. The biggest shock of my life was when I discovered
what was in the Bible. I love the logos (written Word) of God. But oh the rehma
(spoken Word) when the Spirit of Christ speaks to me. He is truly wonderful,
wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. His lips are beautiful. Thank You,
Lord,
bill
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