Alright, Song of Solomon, chapter
6. The bride, let me just say before
I begin reading, referred to in the Scripture here is Shulamite,
the bride of Solomon. Shulamite, the bride of the bridegroom,
a picture of the church and the Lord Jesus Christ. She has not
known the actual open revelation and comfort of the Lord's voice
to her since back in chapter 5, verse 2 in chapter 5. It was at that time that the
bride gave this answer. to the Lord as He knocked. And she said, this being her
excuse, she said, I've put off my coat, how shall I put it on? I've washed my feet, how shall
I defile them? And then the Lord, the Scripture
says, put in His hand by the hole of the door and her bowels
or her heart was moved. for Him. The Lord knows how to
draw His people to Himself. The Shulamite, the bride, rose
and opened to her Beloved back in chapter 5. She said, but my
Beloved was not there. He had withdrawn Himself and
He was gone. I have said before, there are
times in a believer's life when the Lord in His infinite wisdom
and mercy withdraws the apparent presence from His people for
reasons known to Him. It seemed good in His sight.
There are times when God's people seem to just have an absence
of His presence. I know He's there. But there's
times that you just don't know where. Her soul failed when He
spoke. And she sought Him and she couldn't
find Him. She called to Him and He gave
her no answer. Scripture says she went about
in the city the watchman found her. Those that had been set
up in that position of authority to guide and direct. And the Scripture says that they
found her and smote her, wounded her. The keepers of the walls,
she said, took away my veil from me. And we looked and considered
this, that pastors When they speak the Word of life concerning
His faithfulness in our failings, they cut like a two-edged sword. And we're guilty and we know
it. And Paul says, seeing the sin that is in me, he says, that
is in my flesh. There dwells no good thing. An
old wretched man that I am. And she was sick with love, she
said, for Him. I'm sick, but I'm sick for love. for my beloved." And the bride
gives the daughters of Jerusalem her heart's knowledge. And she
says this of Him. He is altogether lovely. If I
don't know exactly what He is doing, if I do not perceive why
I am where I am, I don't understand, but I know He does all things
well. And I know that He does all things
well for His honor, and He does all things well for my good. And I know that. As David said,
I've quoted this Scripture before, David says, You've dealt well
with me. It's good that I've been afflicted,
that I might learn of Your precepts. I'm sick with love. And she said,
He is altogether lovely. Whether I understand or whether
I don't, And where is he to be found? She was asked by the daughters
confidently upon his word to her. She answered, Well, he's
gone down into his garden to the beds of spices to feed in
the gardens. That's what she said. He's not
forsaken me. I know he hasn't. Though I've
done what I hate, I answered him back in chapter 5 the way
I did. Sin dwelling in me is the reason
for what I do. But I know this, I know that
my Beloved in verse 2 chapter 6 has gone down into His gardens
to feed in the gardens and to gather the lilies. I know. This
I know. She said, I am my Beloved and
my Beloved is mine. And she knows that everything
else may be unsure. but she knows this. Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Now in verse 4, we hear these
words, and these are the first words that have been spoken to
her since chapter 5. He says, Thou art beautiful,
O my love, as Terza, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army
with banners. He breaks forth as Joseph did. When Joseph's brethren, you remember
when Joseph was sold into bondage, his brothers took him and killed
that animal, put that blood all over his coat, brought the coat
back to his dad and said, this animal got him, sold him to a
band of people going into Egypt Joseph in the good providence
of God was raised up second in command to Pharaoh that was there. And Pharaoh's brothers, the Lord
providentially brought them, and here they were. There was
a famine in the land, and here comes his brothers. And his brothers
are standing before him. He knows who they are. They don't
know who he is. And they are just explaining
to him why they need his help. why they are in trouble and why
the problems that they are having. And Joseph, the Scripture says
back in Genesis, it says, could not refrain himself before all
them that stood by him. And he made himself known unto
his brethren. And here we see the Lord Jesus
Christ and His love for His own is not governed by His people's
thoughts. She had spoken disrespectfully
to him, but he never speaks disrespectfully to her.
He chastens her. The bride is still his love.
After the resurrection, the Lord in mercy revealed Himself to
His disciples who forsook Him and fled to Peter who had denied
Him thrice. to Thomas who would not believe
except he see the scars of his crucifixion. And this is what
the Lord says to his bride. He said, ìYouíre beautiful.î
The last word from her was disrespect. Oh, how many times have we spoken
disrespectfully before Him. And He says to her, ìYouíre beautiful. Oh, my love.î As terza, that
is His pleasure. That's what terza means, pleasure.
Comely as Jerusalem, as peace. In her own opinion of herself
back in the first chapter, the bride said of herself, she said,
I'm black. But in the eyes of Him who beholds
her in His own righteousness, she's as beautiful as pleasure,
as comely as peace. She realizes this. Turn with
me while I'm looking at this to Ezekiel 16, 14. Ezekiel 16,
14. The bride knows when He tells
her that she is beautiful. She's not beautiful in her own
making. She knows that. She knows what
she is by nature. Ezekiel 16. And in verse 14,
the Scripture says, And thy renown went forth among the heathen
for thy beauty. for it was perfect through my
comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." Just
what is the bride's beauty? What we think when we see ourselves. Oh, how unfaithful I am. How black I am in myself. Could He look upon me and say
of Me that I am beautiful in His sight, only as His Son is
seen." The imputed righteousness of His Son. Psalm 29, verse 2
says, Give unto the Lord the glory that is due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. Bow before Him. How can't we? except in our blessed Savior
Christ who is the holy God. We are chosen and blessed with
all spiritual blessings that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. Christ, He said, you are beautiful.
How beautiful is the Lord's bride to Him! Beautiful! in Christ's
righteousness. And she's beautiful being the
city of the living God. Psalm 46. Psalm 46. He said, You're beautiful. She's
beautiful because of His imputed righteousness. In Psalm 46, verse
5, it says, There is a river, the streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles, of
the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her in that right
early." Beautiful, gorgeous. She is the temple. She is the
house. She is beautiful in His righteousness,
beautiful in His dwelling, beautiful and comely because of the One
who robes her and dwells in her. But she's also said back in Psalm
of Solomon chapter 6, she's also said to be as terrible as an
army with banners. Terrible. Now the terribleness
of the bride describes, number one, the frightfulness to the
world and the power of the bride in this world given to her from
on high. Now I want you to turn with me
to Hebrews 11. Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews 11.32. Hebrews 11.32. And what shall
I say more? What shall I more say? For the
time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak, of Samson,
of Jethro, David also, and Samuel of the prophets, who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the miles of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped
the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed
valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." You
see, the church is said and is described by the Lord Himself
as being soldiers made up 2 Timothy 2, verse 1 to 4, 2 Timothy 2, verse 1, Thou therefore,
my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the
things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses. The
same commit thou to faithful men. who shall be able to teach
others also. Thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him
who hath chosen him to be a soldier." You see, a soldier that is strong
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, rooted in Him, and is
persuaded of it. He's convinced of it. by God's
grace won't deviate from it. This is the stand. Here is the
banner. Here is the Ebenezer. The church,
the Scripture says, more than conquers through Him that loved
us. Christ is described as the captain
of our salvation, the captain of the Lord's host, led by Him
who has overcome the world, who has spoiled principalities and
powers, triumphing over them at Calvary. It's an army. Now, we may not look at it and
say, well, we're just a group of people that just met together.
The Scriptures set forth that this is an army. It's a battle.
It's a war. It's a fight. But He is our Captain. The battle is the Lord's. We
are in this battle in Him. It's an army of order where He
has given gifts as apostles and prophets evangelists, pastors,
and teachers. It's an army that is one body,
one spirit, called in one hope, has one Lord and one faith and
one baptism. The Scripture sets forth that
she is terrible, frightful as an army of banners. She's suited, the Scripture says,
with a helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, and girded
about with truth, The feet of God's people are shod with the
preparation of the gospel of peace, and their sword is the
Word of God. What sayeth the Scripture as
we look into the Word of God? Here is the authority, an army
under His command. And her weapons are not carnal,
the Scripture says, but mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds. The Scripture sets forth that
we are to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal
life. 1 Timothy 6.12. What this says
is that there is no peace in this world. We are not at peace
with everybody. It is a battle. There is no truce
with the enemy. It is a good fight and a good
cause. But you mind yourself that this
is a fight against unbelief. That is the sin that so easily
besets us. It is a battle. A fight. There
is the battle. unbelief of which I struggle
every day. He is our strength. Psalm 31-24
says, Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart,
all ye that hope in the Lord. This is a fight. It is a fight
that evidences a new heart. If Christ be in you, The body,
the Scripture says, is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. There is an irreconcilable enemy
between the flesh and the Spirit. It's a war. It's a battle. And
you that believe know exactly what I'm talking about. It's
a fight. Always a fight. But this battle,
though painful, to the soldier of Christ, he never leaves his
soul in a lazy state. He knows it's a fight. He sees
the struggle. But he doesn't stop. Why, Neil? Because he's kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation. It causes him to aspire to follow
after his Lord. He's never satisfied with the
pampering of His flesh. He despises it. And this battle
is evident to others who are false professors of empty religion. The Pharisees asked the Lord
when He spoke to them. They said, Are you saying that
we're not, you know, we're not sons of Abraham? He says, If
you were sons of Abraham, you'd have believed Me. And this army,
the Scripture says, is terrible with banners. Now, you can bet
this, the Scripture says the banner that is over God's people
is love. His banner. That's what we looked
at in Song of Solomon 2.4. His banner over us is love. In Numbers 2.2, it says every
man of the children of Israel was to pitch under a banner. There were four banners back
in the time children of Israel in the wilderness. These banners
said that the first one they grouped under the tribe of Judah. There was a banner. It was the
banner of Judah. And here we saw that that banner
which marched under the banner of Judah set forth Christ who
was the line of the tribe of Judah. That was the one that
led the group under that banner. That was the banner that took
the lead. There was a banner, secondly,
that we found in Numbers 2 that was on the south side. It was
the banner of Reuben. He was the firstborn of Israel. I looked that up in Genesis 49.
I looked these up. I saw where they were. He was
talking about he had one of Judah and had one of Reuben. I thought,
why? Why? Reuben was the firstborn
of Israel. Christ is set forth as the firstborn
from the dead. On the west side, there was a
standard under a banner of Ephraim. That was the third one. Ephraim
was the one preferred before his firstborn brother in Genesis
chapter 48. Christ is set forth as the one,
Paul says, who cometh after me, John says, but is preferred before
me. And then lastly, on the north
side, there was a standard or a banner of Dan. And that was
the strongest camp beside Judah. And that guarded the rear of
the whole nation. Christ, the keeper of His sheep. So they would form under these
banners. And those banners meant something. They set forth Christ and His
attributes. Christ in His office. And then
we behold the joyful sound of the bridegroom's voice to his
bride. Now this is the beautiful thing.
Now remember the last thing she said to him was disrespectful. And not one believer in this
room today would say, I've never said anything disrespectfully
to him. We know we have. In our attitude, we've not thought
as we ought. We've not voiced as we ought.
And she spoke to him disrespectfully and he withdrew himself. Now,
this is the first time he speaks to her. He says, Thou art beautiful,
O my love, as Tersa, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army
with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me,
for they have overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats
that appear from Gilead. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep
which go up from the washing. whereof every one that beareth
twins, and there is not one barren among thee, as a piece of pomegranate
are thy temples within thy locks. Turn away, he said, thine eyes
to me, for they have overcome me." Now, it kind of reminds
me of something that he had said to her recently. When he said
to her, Thou hast ravished my heart, My sister, my spouse,
thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes." And then
he began to tell her, he says, you've overcome me, thy hair
is as a flock of goats that appeared before. Now, I want you just
to turn back to chapter 4. Before she said anything to him
disrespectfully, he said to her in verse 1 of chapter 4, Behold
thou art fair, my love, Thou art fair, thou hast dove's eyes
within thy locks, thy hair is a flock of goats that appear
from Mount Gilead, thy teeth are as a flock of sheep that
are even shorn, which came up from the washing, whereof every
one bear twins, and none is barren among them. Thy lips are like
a thread of scarlet, thy speech is comely, thy temples are like
a piece of pomegranate within thy locks." Now I want you to
notice something. He said to her, in chapter 6, the same thing
he said to her in chapter 4 after she spoke disrespectfully to
him. This is how I'm going to sum
up those last verses. Nothing's changed. Everything's
the same. Nothing is the same. Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, but by the grace of God, I am what
I am. The Scripture says, Psalm of
Solomon back in 6, verse 8, there are threescore queens and fourscore
concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled,
is but one. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her
that bear her. The daughters saw her and blessed
her. Yea, the queens and the concubines,
and they praised her. We behold that these queens and
concubines are virgins. They never compare to her, to
the little flock, to the apple of His eye. She never changes
in her position before Him. 1 Corinthians 2.26 says, You
see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, Not many noble are called, but God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things that are mighty. And the base of the world and
the things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in His presence." Can you imagine? the marvelous
and wonderful sound of His voice to her when she knew and reflected
how disrespectfully she had treated Him, and to realize that nothing
has changed, that it is as He says it is. If He ever said to
her at one time, I love you, He always loves her. He said,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed.