The Beauty of Jesus-8

09 December, 2019

Dear Phyllis,

Continuing with our study of the Beauty of Jesus in The Song of Solomon, the next feature we come to is His hands. His hands are as gold rings set in beryl (S of S 5:14). We have already talked about gold. Wherever that appears in the Bible it usually signifies God. Or in other words these are the hands of God. That seems pretty safe.

If you want to talk about gold rings in the Bible, that is a pretty easy call. There are 44 times these words are written in scripture and 40 of them appear in Exodus (Ex. 25, 26, 28, 35, 36, 37, 39). They are one of the basic components of the OT Tabernacle. Their function was singular. In every case the gold rings were what held things together. Take all the rings out, the Tabernacle would collapse in pieces. As I said in another letter different types of metal have spiritual meaning. Gold is the most precious metal and usually stands for God. What we see here is His hands are as gold rings set in beryl. Don't ask me what beryl means. I haven't the faintest idea.

But getting back to His hands are like gold rings, what this clearly teaches us, is that Jesus is holding everything together. I heard a conference speaker saying that Jesus is holding the world together and, if there ever was a moment that Jesus let go, everything would come apart. Science tell us that there are four fundamental forces in nature – gravity, electromagnetism, the weak force and the strong force; the last two existing at the atomic level. The weak force is what allows for radiation, and the strong force is what binds the neutron and proton together in the nucleus of an atom. I would like to suggest that there may be one more force that is even more basic. That is the hands of Jesus. The hands of Jesus may be the strongest force in the universe today.

But there are many other illustrations of Jesus holding things together. In John 17 we see one of the central points of Jesus prayer is for the unity of His followers. This is the favorite portion of scripture that the World Counsel of Churches loves to pull out when they make an ecumenical plea for unity. But they are making one fundamental mistake. When we talk about the Church, we must keep in mind that the Church exists in two different realms. There is the covert Church and the overt Church. The covert Church is the hidden one that you don't see. This is the spiritual Body of Christ. May I suggest that this Church is perfectly united today. I have fellowshipped with believers of well over a fifteen nationalities and about that many minority groups. I have found wherever I have gone, or who ever I talk to, whenever I encounter another member of the Body of Christ, who is born-again of His Spirit, there is an immediate bond of fellowship. It doesn't matter what kind of a vessel wine might be in - if it is in a gold goblet or a tin can - wine is always wine.

But the overt Church is slam different. The visible church is just plain religion. And wherever you find religion you will find division. There are as many variation of Buddhism as Baskin-Robins has flavors of ice cream. There are Buddhist monks that are as ascetic as a hermit in a cave, and there are married Buddhist priests wearing loud Hawaiian shirts, driving around in sports cars. Christianity is splintered in a hundred different sects. But in that hodgepodge there are true believers. That might be the Church of Thyatira or the Church of Laodicea. Jesus called these churches and they contain the Body of Christ, but the Spirit of Christ is not officiating at idolatry, fornication, or materialism. The overt church is literally in the flesh, and to a large degree it is run by the devil. When you have sodomites and lesbians as pastors, that ain't the real Body of Christ. This is what the WCC is promoting in its agenda for one world religion and the head of that might be the false prophet. But in the real Body of Christ there is genuine spiritual unity. Jesus is holding that together.

But there is another way of Jesus holding on, that is important. When Peter jumped out of the boat and walked on the water to go to Jesus, he started to sink. Jesus reached out His hand and held him up. When I was at my lowest point - my wife had left me, I lost nearly all my friends, and every precious possession I had in this world - a friend said to me, “Bill, I admire you, that you are still on your feet following the Lord. There are many who would have turned back”. I replied, “Man, what are you talking about? That is like saying to a man bobbing in the ocean, 'I admire you that you still have a life jacket on'. Do you think I might be crazy? The only reason I am here is because Jesus has His hand under my chin keeping my nose above water.” Oh, thank God for the hand of Jesus keeping me still tied to Himself.

In the prayer that Jesus made the night of His arrest, He said, “Father, those that Thou hast given Me, I have kept, and none of them is lost” (Jn. 17:12). In that great day of the final gathering, after the rapture, I am sure Jesus is going to count noses, and again report to His Father, “Yes, they are all here. I didn't lose one”. I believe the hands of Jesus will keep all His flock together.

In the Bible the gold rings have a singular meaning. That is what held the Tabernacle together. The hands of Jesus is going to keep everyone tied to Himself and perfectly united. There will be one Bride of Christ – not fifteen or twenty splintered groups. And to a large degree the Spirit of Christ is active today, holding things together. The devil is doing his dead level best to shatter every Christian family left on earth. How many marriages are there who can honestly admit, “It sure has been a rough road. We have had our share of fights, but we have found the Spirit of Christ working in our hearts, forgiving one another, forgetting offenses, and loving each other”. If anyone makes it to the finish line, to a large degree, I believe they will have to admit, “It was only Jesus that held us together”.

I don't have any more to say. When the Bride of Christ responds to to the enquirer, “What is your beloved more than any other beloved” (S of S 5:9); she attempts to describe who Jesus is, and comes to His hands. Maybe she is right in saying they are like gold rings. That is what held the Tabernacle together, and that is what binds the Body of Christ together, and that is what holds many Christians together. It's not easy. There is tremendous pressure by the devil to divide. That is one of his basic tactics. He loves to divide and conquer. There isn't one believer on this planet that hasn't had to fight that battle. I believe, if we are honest, everyone will have to admit, “The only thing that has kept us together was Christ”. He might use various means to do so. In some cases the only thing that keeps marriages from divorce is for the sake of the children. In some cases it might be money. We have too much to loose if we pull out. In some cases it might simply be, because we have no other place to go. There are a legion of reasons for staying together. But when we come to the bottom line, and it is all over, I believe we will have no one else to thank but the Lord.

We see in Hebrews 8:9 that Jesus is the Mediator of the New Covenant. This is His primary office today. A mediator has one responsibility, he is the one that keeps the two parties together. He is the one who sees to it that the contract works. In the OT there was no mediator and the Old Covenant failed. That is why a New one was necessary. I don't want to get into a Calvinism/Armenian fight, but I would like to suggest there will be no chest thumping in heaven. I believe when we all stand before His Throne, the most avid Armenian among us will all have to admit, “had it not been for the grace of God I wouldn't have made it”. The bottom line is not that I held onto Jesus, but He held onto me. When we see the hands of Jesus, we might say, “They look just like gold rings. They held us together.”

Arigato gozaimasu (thank you), bill