If you turn in the scriptures
to Song of Solomon, as we've been journeying through
this most remarkable book, we are continually brought face
to face again and again. with the fact, as that song said,
we are prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to wander. And we wander. We wander and
wander. Prone to leave the God I love.
And then the Shulamite and all believers will say, here's my
heart, oh, take and seal it. seal it before thy courts above. In this section of Psalm and
Solomon we've come to see Solomon. We've looked at him on the bed
that he made. In verse 7 it says, Behold his
bed which is Solomon's. And last week we saw how that
bed is the place of Solomon's rest, a place where he has communion
with his bride, with his beloved. In verse 9 we come to another
picture of King Solomon and possibly another picture of his bed. The word there in verse 9, King
Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon, a word
that means more to us. is something like a panequin,
it's called, where, and we saw lots of them in the palaces of
India, where you had basically two sticks, and then, and they
were held aloft by four or six men, and then on top of it was
this magnificent magnificent carriage and they were often
made out of silver and gold and the most beautiful embroidery. Just so beautiful with the lattice,
often with a silver lattice so that you could sort of glimpse
inside. The person inside could see out
but you could glimpse in. They were magnificent things.
They were made for the Maharajas. were made for his wives and they
were made to hold this king aloft and to parade him through these
people, these crowds and crowds of people. They made big ones
in India that were on top of elephants. They would have been
extraordinarily uncomfortable, I think. But nevertheless, they
were huge and just extraordinarily ornate. But here, in Song of
Solomon, we have a picture of this panikram, this chariot. King Solomon made himself a chariot
of the wood of Lebanon. He made the pillars thereof silver,
the bottom thereof gold, the covering of it purple, in the
midst thereof being paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. And then in verse 11, there's
a call for the daughters of Jerusalem. Go out, go out and behold King
Solomon. Behold this great king with the
crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals,
in the day of the gladness of his heart. I wonder what it is, I wonder
who it is, I wonder what of God's characteristics you are caused
to turn to again and again. In moments of trouble, in moments
of wandering, what are the characteristics of God? What are the aspects
of redemption? that you find as a pillow of
rest for your soul. I trust you find them. I trust
all of them reflect something of God. But for many of us, it's
the fact that God, as we read in Ephesians, that God in His
absolute sovereignty, in the majesty with which heaven proclaims
Him, is a God of absolute, absolute, unchanging sovereignty. Our God reigns. He rules over everything. Is there an electron
in this universe that doesn't move exactly according to God's
eternal purposes and decrees? Therefore, is there an event
that has ever come into the lives of us about which we can say,
God wasn't there? It's just horrifying, isn't it?
I was at a shocking YWAM thing a few years ago and they have
a parade of false teachers and they parade themselves around
the world. So you can actually have a ministry
of going and speaking heresy here and heresy there and heresy
all around the world. And one of the guys came all
the way from America to talk about a disturbed fellow who
had been part of that organisation. He came back into the YOM base
having been on drugs or something and he actually came in with
a gun and he killed one or two people and this guy stood in
front of all these young people. And he said, God had nothing
to do with that. God had nothing to do with that.
God didn't control that. What happened was that God was
completely out of control and these events happened outside
of his control. And then afterwards when the
gunpowder and the dust had settled and all the chaos had finished,
God comes along and he manages out of this mess to put it all
back together again. I know a family who went to India,
supported by churches in Europe, They went there because the tsunami
that happened off Indonesia that affected the east coast of India
so badly, that tsunami was Satan's work and God had no control over
it. It's the job of Christians, it's
the job of enlightened Christians to go there and, in a sense,
undo and put back together Satan's work. Heaven doesn't know of a God
like that. Heaven does not know of a God like that. This book
does not know of a God like that. This book speaks of a God who
is absolutely sovereign. This book speaks of a God whose
love, whose particular love, through his people, as we read
in Ephesians chapter one, began before the foundation of the
world. Modern theology will have us
understand, along with Tozer and others, that God loves everyone
all over the world. He has this love for absolutely
everyone until they die. and then his love turns to hatred
as he sends them to hell. God's love, like Christ's redemption,
is universal. But here, in these verses, I
believe, and it's backed up throughout the Scriptures, we see God with
an absolute sovereignty. The wonder of these paniquins
is that you were inside it and you were picked up and you were
carried through this world. picked up his children before
the foundation of the world, and even though they fell grievously
in their father Adam, and they came forth from their mother's
womb speaking lies, and their hearts were taken captive by
Satan and the world to do his will, our God doesn't change. It doesn't change. His love doesn't
change. His love is immutable. It just doesn't change. Because His love for His people
is based on His love for His Son. How much does God love His
Son? How much does God care about
the Lord Jesus? John chapter 17 says that God
loves his bride in this world just as he loves his son. It's wonderful isn't it, to think.
that God in sovereign mercy has carried us in love through all
those years of rebellion. God in sovereign love and mercy
carries us now when our hearts wander from him all the time. God has made this chariot. It's wonderful in Song of Solomon,
isn't it? That He is the one, as the scriptures keep reminding
us, He is the one that institutes love and grows love. And her love in return, like
ours, is fickle and wandering. And yet, His purpose is to grow
that love, to grow that trust in Him. to grow ultimately as we read
the scriptures and we see more of Jesus, to grow our understanding
of His majesty as we see Him revealed. He becomes more and
more precious as we know more of Him as He's revealed in the
scriptures. King Solomon made this chariot. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Author and the Finisher. King Solomon, of course, is a
reference to our Lord Jesus. That one who is greater than
Solomon is here. He made this chariot, He made
this vehicle for carrying His bride through this world, this
eternal covenant, this gospel covenant. He devised it, He established
it. He made it for Himself and He
made it for His bride, the ones He's determined to save. and
he made it to carry his bride through this wilderness world,
but to carry her in glorious triumph, a triumph that Paul
spoke about in 2 Corinthians 2. Now thanks be to God who always
leads us in triumph in Christ. And you can imagine the Roman
triumph he was talking as the great victor, the great general
came back and behind him was the train of all of his troops
and all of his captives. This is our great King. This
is the Lord Jesus who leads us in triumph in Christ and through
us remarkably through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge
in every place. For we are to God the fragrance
of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who
are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of
death leading to death and to the other the aroma of life leading
to life. And who is sufficient for these
things? God alone can make us sufficient. Every part of God's eternal covenant
of grace, every part of it, reflects the glory of the Lord Jesus.
It reflects His beauty, His majesty. And as we look through these
couple of verses, we'll see that it begins with wood, and then
we hear of silver, and then we hear of gold, then this purple
covering which shields above her, and then finally, ultimately,
we have the lining of this carriage paved with love. Let's just look at them briefly.
the wood of Lebanon, the famous cedar wood that Solomon had brought
down from Hiram of Tyre to make the beams for the temple. The
trees are majestic and beautiful. It's a costly timber. Just think
about how these things reflect our Lord Jesus. It's a costly
timber. It's highly esteemed amongst
people who use it and people who own it. It was long-lasting
timber. It was durable timber. It was
timber that was sweetly perfumed. It was timber that was able to
withstand all weathers. It grew at high altitude, often
above 2,000 metres, and so it suffered the cold, and the heat
and all of the blustery winds of those altitudes. But there
it was, a durable, long-lasting, standing strong against the storms,
and also able to withstand the corruptions of insects and weather. See, the trees of the Lord, are
well watered, says Isaiah 2.13, the seeders of Lebanon that he
planted. When we look at the mountains,
we should say those magnificent trees are the plantings of God. Everything is God's. This wood of Lebanon made the
frame of this chariot. And then He made, don't forget,
He made, He made, He made. If I forget to say it, just remind
me. He made it, He made it, He made
the pillars of silver. Now we move on to something more
precious than wood. As I said earlier, as we grow
in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, We see Him in
His Word, we experience Him as He takes His Word and makes it
a living Word. It becomes a reality in our lives
as its promises are fulfilled in all sorts of remarkable ways. And we experience Him. as He
makes it alive and He makes it real. And He reveals His faithfulness. He reveals His sufficiency. He reveals His salvation. He reveals the depths of His
grace and love. And it grows and it grows. The words of God become like
silver, aren't they? The words of the Lord are pure,
as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. The words of the Lord are pure. Have you ever found them to let
you down? Have you ever found anything
in them which is anything other than glorious and true and revealing? And these pillars of silver are
there to hold up this purple screen, this purple shade. And
the word purple means red purple. They are precious because they
hold up something which is remarkably precious. See the covering of
the tabernacle is like this. A beautiful covering of that
magnificent place where God met with people. It all in every
aspect reflects the Lord Jesus. But inside that holy place, and
inside the holy of holies, if you looked up, you would see
that curtain of blue and purple and scarlet thread and fine linen
and goat's hair, and you would see ramskins dyed red. And he says to God, God says
to these people, let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell
among them. Why can He dwell among us? Why
can God live with us who are sinning? Because sheltering underneath
the blood of the Lord Jesus, we are covered. We are completely
covered from the wrath of God. And God does not see us, except
He sees His darling Son. That's why these pillars are
of silver, silver precious and pure, divine holiness and infinite
purity. The silver pillars, as we spoke
of earlier, those pillars that sustain us, that God is sovereign,
that God is omnipotent, that God is just and He cannot and
will not slay any soul that's sheltered beneath the blood of
Christ. His justice won't allow it. the
pillars of His everlasting love, the pillars of His unchangeableness. We change so much and He changes
not. Divine holiness and infinite
purity hold up this remarkable covering for us. It comes between us and the wrath
of God, and it finds God's wrath perfectly satisfied. It's unbending
these pillars, they're made of pure silver. is substitutionary death. The great doctrine of the Bible
is that of substitution. The Lord Jesus took my place
in eternity and from that moment on God looked to Him and not
to me for perfect holiness, for perfect righteousness. from the inside of this paniquin,
you look up and you see those pillars, strong and unmovable,
and they hold aloft, just like this banner that we've looked
at. The banner of the death of the
Lord Jesus, a holy atonement. Every time we look up from this
place of rest and this place where we're carried through this
world, you look up and you see that crimson covering of you. When we have anxious thoughts,
we look up and we see that crimson covering between us and the Holy
God. And under that covering, he meets
with his own. And he meets with his own, because
blood has been shed. Without the reshedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. Abel brought a bleeding lamb
to God. Noah carried those animals through
that flood to sacrifice them to God. to be free of that horrible
judgment of God upon all of Egypt when he devastated Egypt, typifying
his devastation of this world. The only families that escaped
were those who sheltered under the blood. And the tabernacle
reminded people again and again that they shelter with God and
they meet with God under the red covering of the cross. And now, each Sunday as we meet,
we take that red wine that represents His blood and it becomes one
with us, becomes a sign of the Lord Jesus
covering our sin, and it leaves us secure and safe. It's powerful blood. It's precious
blood. It's blood that works permanently. The pillars are of silver. The bottom of it is gold. The foundation of it is gold. Now we come to the most precious
metal of all. It's imperishable. It's unchangingly
precious. What a foundation to build our
lives upon. God's foundation. God's foundation
of His eternal covenant, ordered in all things and secure. As Moses died like David, they
looked to those everlasting arms that were under them, the eternal
covenant ordered and secure in every detail. is tested and purified by fire. Has there anything ever in all
of the Lord's dealings with his people and with you which has
shown any defect? Has he ever let us down? Is there
ever any weakness in him? Has he ever failed? The scriptures say He is the
same yesterday, today and forever. And then he says in Hebrews 13,
I will never leave you nor forsake you. What a husband, what a glorious
husband. I will never leave you. So we
may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. I stand on a foundation of pure,
solid, tested gold. The Lord is my helper, I will
not fear. What can man do to me? I am the Lord, He says, and I
change not. This foundation of God is this
everlasting covenant, everlasting gospel, the unchangeable love
of God towards His dear Son, the unchanging, unchangeable
love of God to those who are in Him. And then we come to this beautiful
path. We have it made of precious,
fragrant wood, with pillars of silver built on a foundation
of gold, covered with purple, and in the midst On the inside,
the internal linings are paved with love. Paved with love for
the daughters of Jerusalem. You see, from the inside, what
you see is love. You see love and the pillars. People argue and squabble about
election and predestination. It's God's love language. People want to talk about the
atonement. It's God's love language. Song of Solomon talks about love
so much, doesn't it? Verse 2, chapter 1, thy love
is better than wine. 4. We will remember thy love
more than wine, the upright love thee. She calls him, O my love,
and he says, Behold thou art fair, my love. His banner over me, He took me
into His banqueting house. This house of this eternal covenant
is a feast for God's people. We feed and are satisfied, and
then we feed and are satisfied again, and God's children never
go away hungry. It's a banquet. And the banner
over me is love. And He says, rise up, my love,
my fair one. Arise, my love, my fair one. 3. Him whom my soul loveth, and
we know where love for the Lord Jesus comes. We love Him because
He first loved us. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Thou art fair, thou art beautiful,
my love. There is no spot in you. The blood atonement has worked
preciously and perfectly. And this love over in chapter
8 is described beautifully. Jesus says to him in chapter
8 verse 6, Set me as the seal, as a seal upon thine heart, as
a seal upon thine arm. Hold me with love and hold me
with power. For love is strong as death. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. And then she talks in the next
verse about this love. Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can floods drown it. It can't be quenched. It cannot
be quenched. And it cannot be bought. and
it cannot be measured against the things of this world. If
a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would
be utterly contend. It would seem like Simon Magnus'
offer to the apostles. I want to buy it. You can't buy
it. It comes as a gift. And the interior of this carriage
that carries us through this world is lined with love. Love for the daughters of Jerusalem. You see, this love is a love
that's seen on the inside of the carriage. and the people
of this world, even our brothers and sisters in this world who
haven't been brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus,
they know nothing of this love. They are still in darkness. It's
a special and it's a secret love. It's a love that's revealed by
the Lord Jesus in the Gospel. It's a love that's confirmed
by the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures. It's revealed, it's nurtured,
as we've seen in Song of Solomon. It's grown, it's created by Him
who is the author and the perfecter of it. Jesus, just before He
died, talked about this love, didn't he? And it says, knowing
that he was about to leave this world and go back to his father,
knowing that he was going to be successful in what was going
to happen on Calvary. And it says, having loved his
own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. He loves him to the finish of
it all. He loves him completely. He makes this Paniquin. He makes this carriage to carry
his people through this world, and he decorates it with emblems
of his love, his covenantal love, his promised love. He brings
his bride into it to behold the beauties, And there, once she's
brought inside, she discovers that she has always been the
particular object of his special love. What a remarkable time
our brother Paul must have had. If you'd ask Paul as a proud
Pharisee marching down to Damascus, do you love God? Does God love
you? Paul would have said, absolutely. He was blind as a bat. He was
blind as a bat to who he was. He was blind as a bat to who
God was. He was in absolute, utter darkness. He was blind. And then God shone
that light. But he shone a light on the Lord
Jesus. And Paul saw, and then he said
these remarkable things. How often he must have been amazed. How often are you amazed? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us. With how many
spiritual blessings do you need? How many? hundreds, thousands,
millions. I'll tell you how many you need.
You need an infinite number of spiritual blessings, and you
need them to be distributed infinitely and infinitely perfectly with
great and precise care. You need God to sovereignly work
absolutely everything for your good. Otherwise, you're lost. Blessed be the God and Father
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly
places in Christ, just as he chose us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. What was Paul? He was a murderer, a violent
man, a blasphemer. Paul, sheltering in this carriage,
under that blood, now can say that he is a holy man and without
blame, in love. before Him in love, having predestinated
us to be adopted as sons to Himself according to the good pleasure
of His will. He chose us, He wills it, and
it is done. This stupid nonsense that man's
will can outperform the will of the Almighty God would be
laughable if people weren't religious. It is just laughable. He makes
the chariot. He decorates it with emblems
of love. He brings us into it and he carries
us. This chariot, these pannaquins
were places of of rest, places to recline, places to be away
from the world, places of special love, a lifting love, a place
where she was brought as undeserved. It's an everlasting love. It's an everlasting covenant.
It's unique. No one ever loves, and no one
ever loved like our jewel Lord Jesus does. And this love motivates
our activities. You see, she talks about the
chariot. Chariot is spoken about and then
in verse 11 says, Go forth, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and you
behold them. You don't behold the chariot.
Who do you behold? You behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his
mother crowned him in the day of his espouses. Who is Jesus' mother? In Mark chapter 3 there is a
group of people sitting in a circle around him. And the others, his
family, his earthly family come to rescue him. And he said, here
is my mother. Here are my brothers. This is my family. He's crowned when we come to
Christ, when He comes to us in saving grace, He's crowned in
our lives as Lord and Saviour, and it's a great privilege. But
also, He is honoured in it, isn't He? He's honoured for what He
has done, and a true, living, real faith. Resting in the Lord
Jesus is honoring to Him, the Son of God. There is a coronation
day for God's people. A day when He's crowned in our
hearts as King. It's in the day of His espousals,
in the day of His betrothing, in the day of His marriage, He
joins us to Him in faith and love. And He gives all of Himself
to us in faith and in love. I often read to you that wonderful
verse in Zephaniah because it is just so beautiful and so true. The Lord your God is in your
midst. The Mighty One will save. He will rejoice over you with
gladness. He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with
singing. You see, they behold Him. And
as they behold Him, crowned, as they behold Him, covenant-making
and covenant-keeping, we find that this is a day of gladness
of His heart for the joy set before Him. There is joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents. Behold His person. Behold the
safety of all who trust in Him. Behold the security, brothers
and sisters, of being carried by this God. Behold the splendor of the gospel
of His grace. But ultimately, behold Him. Look. Look unto Jesus. Is He precious to you? Is He
glorious to you? He is precious and He is glorious. May He cause us to see Him as
such. May we just see Him, just glimpse
Him. Just glimpse Him occasionally
as He really is. in his word by faith God's children
not just glimpse him that we behold him and like the Shulamite
we hold him to behold him is to hold him to behold him is
to love him to be allowed to behold him is to be loved by
him let's pray