Now, this is the third lesson
under the same title that I've called Mutual Admiration Society. And I don't know if all of you
are familiar with that particular phrase. Bonnie and I are aware
of a song. What would you say, Bonnie, back
in the 50s or something? We belong to a mutual admiration
society. And of course, it's a couple
in love talking about that. And so that fits very well here
in the Song of Solomon for both Solomon and the Shulamite admire
one another. Now, As we apply this to Christ and
His church, we can well see why the church would admire Christ. The surprising thing is that
the church, or excuse me, that Christ admires the church. But
we understand this only in the sense that He sees us as we are
through grace. He does not perceive us. as we
are according to our natural birth, or as we are according
to our nature, our inborn nature, or according to our conduct. If he did, he would have nothing
good to say about us. But as we shall see later on,
he says very plainly, I see no fault in you. Now that's a remarkable
thing, for I see thousands of faults in me, serious ones, yet
he sees none. Also, he sees us not only as
grace makes us at this time, but as grace will actually cause
us to be in time to come. There will come a day when there
is no fault in us. Not simply that our heavenly
husband refuses to see the faults in us or covers them by their
blood, they will be gone. You know, a person can cover up a lot of
faults with clothes, and I think that's one of the main reasons
we wear them, aside from the modesty issue. And we choose
our clothes, you know, according to what best presents us, and
generally speaking, that involves covering up an awful lot of ourselves. Well, by grace, much has been
covered, but the time will come when no covering is needed. Now, last week, we got started
on the section here, and this is in Song of Solomon chapter beginning of verse 12, we actually
spent two weeks on what Solomon has to say about the Shulamite
in verses 9 through 11. Let's see if we can get what
the Shulamite says of Solomon finished in this one lesson. We touched on some of this toward
the end of the lesson last week, but I'm just kind of going to
pretend we didn't and start right here. While the king was at his
table, my perfume spread its fragrance. My lover is to me
a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. My lover is to me
a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi." Now, the Shulamite speaks of
Solomon in three ways. Number one, her provider. who draws the purest devotion
from her. Solomon is described as sitting
at his table. That is in some of your translations. I believe King James says the
king's sitting at his table. Ours gets it right. It just says
he's at his table. And the reason I make this distinction,
in those days, people didn't sit at tables. They reclined
at tables. Tables were very low affairs.
and people reclined to eat. My understanding is, kind of
like as a kid, I used to watch TV. I'd lay on the floor with
my head on my hand. And when we read in the Song
of, not the Song of Solomon, in the Gospels, that John leaned
upon the Savior's breast, I think that that misleads us
as to what is meant. It's just rather as the Twelve
apostles, plus our Lord Jesus, were reclined around the Passover
table. John was the one that was, shall
we say, in front of the Lord. And he was reclining at the breast
of the Lord, that is, in front of the Lord. And he turned to
say something to him, so probably as he turned his head back over
to look at the Lord. You know, you have that reclined
upon his breast, but it's not as though he lay there on the
table with his head laying on our Lord's chest. But that's
the way they ate. So here it says, the king at
his table. The king was at his table. So
she recognizes him as his provider, because everything there on that table
came from him. And this provision drew from her the purest devotion. She perceives him as a king. And her love for him draws from
her a pure devotion expressed in the fragrance given off by
the costly perfume, spikenard, which she is wearing." Now, in
this, we see the perception that the church has of the Lord Jesus
as her provider, who draws forth from her the sweetest and purest
devotion. Now, I'm a romantic at heart,
and that's one reason I write this book. I mean, right, like
this book. And I didn't write it, though
I would have liked to, but to express such love and devotion
for the object of one's love, that's a good thing. We can be hesitant to express
our love and affection. There was a time, actually, I
believe it was in the 40s, They were coming up with this new
way to raise children, and they explicitly said, you shouldn't
hug them, you shouldn't be affectionate towards them. And fortunately,
I was born in the 50s, and I was born of parents who would have
ignored that advice anyway. Now, love can be shown in many
ways, but love should not only be shown, but expressed. And these two express their love
and admiration for one another, and in the most effusive forms,
the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. She saw him as king, and we see
the Lord Jesus Christ as king. Paul said, if you will confess
with your mouth, Jesus to be Lord. That's how we perceive him. And
we not only perceive him that way, We are pleased that that
is the truth. There will be many in that day
who shall bow the knee and confess that Jesus is Lord, but they
won't like the fact. It says every knee will bow and
every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. But just because they
confess it doesn't mean they like it. The church loves that
truth. The very truth which the world
is most opposed to is the truth in which the church most delights. For what good is a savior who's
not in charge? If someone is going to rescue
you, they have to be able to come into the situation in which
you are in danger, and they've got to be able to take command
of that situation. If they can't, they may be well-intentioned,
but they're no good as a savior. There are many in this world
who think they are in control. None of them are. Every one of them is on a leash,
and the Lord's hand is upon it, and he allows them to go here
and there and do things which bring about his predetermined
purpose. but not one of them can go one
millimeter beyond what He has said they can do. Now, we may not understand why
the Lord allows some people to do what they do, but the fact
that we don't understand it doesn't mean that we do not realize it
is He that allowed it for His purpose, and that good will come
out of it for the people of God, no matter how unpleasant it is.
He's the king. He's the king on several accounts.
He's the king because he's God in human flesh. And God cannot
help but be the king. He will not take any other position. He is also the king or the Lord.
We will be using those words interchangeably here. But he
is the king because he earned that right as a man. He is the only man. born into
this world who never once thought, desired, or worked evil. He said, I do always those things
which please my father. And not only that, he went beyond
that. He went beyond what was required of a man and did What
was not required, and what is not required? That you bear the
sins of others. Now, law would require that we
bear our own sins, but love does not require us to take responsibility
for the deeds of others. Our Lord did that. He went above
and beyond what is required of a man, of a human being, and
it's for that reason says Philippians that God has highly exalted him
and given him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord. Now, if a person is opposed to
the absolute lordship of Jesus Christ, they are opposed to Christ. And such a person, you would
have to conclude, doesn't know Christ. Such a person has not
had that sovereign work of the Spirit of God by which new spiritual
life has been generated in that person, because living spiritual
eyes perceive Christ in His sovereign glory, and they love what they
see. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes
back, he shall not be coming back in the form in which he
left. That is, he shall not be coming
back as he came the first time, as a babe and then a young man
and all this, as suffering. He shall come back as God's anointed
king over all the universe. And that's how the church sees
him now. She was at his table and everything she had was provided
by him and the same is true with us. What do we have that our
Lord Jesus did not give us? Everything. Our forgiveness of sins. Our
spiritual life. Our love for him. clothing, our covering of righteousness
by which we are justified. All of this, it's given to us.
We didn't earn any of it. We didn't qualify for any of
it. We did not, as many say, accept
these things. That's one way that some people
try to get around the idea that this whole business of salvation
is in the hands of the Lord. They say, well, God gives it,
but you've got to accept it. Well, I have no doubt that God's
people do accept it. But it was theirs before they
accepted it. When does a thing become yours? The moment it's
given to you. Isn't it? And you may not at first want
it. You may set it aside. Doesn't
change the fact it's yours. Through Christ Jesus, all of
God's favor, all of God's spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
are given to the people of God and it belongs to them. And this
was done in some sense before the world was created. It was
certainly done when Christ died for them. Paul says, we have
been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. according as he chose us before
the foundation of the world. That means they were ours. They
were ours before we knew they existed. They were ours before
we saw the value of them and rejoiced to have them. But our Lord never offered anything
to us. He gave it to us. And then it said the result of
this, he goes, my perfume spread its fragrance. Ours says perfume,
it's a specific one. Nard, sometimes called spike
nard. It is this very same ointment. And here is one of those Old
Testament pictures that finds such plain fulfillment in the
New Testament. As Mary of Bethany anointed our
Lord. with this very same costly perfume. Why? She was utterly devoted
to him. We find two occasions of our
Lord being anointed. One speaks of a woman who anointed
his feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And then another one
speaks of that this anointing oil was at his head. But both of them are identified
as Mary of Bethany. And on both occasions, and whether
these are two occasions or just simply different tellings of
the same thing, I don't know. Because I believe it's in Luke.
It's fairly early in the book. In all the other occasions, it's
rather late in the book. But we know that the gospel writers
did not necessarily tell their individual stories in chronological
order. But it does say of Mary of Bethany,
says this is the one who anointed the Lord and wiped his feet with
her hair. So we know that one's Mary of
Bethany and another one says it's Mary of Bethany. But here's one thing we know
about Mary. Do you remember the story of
her and her sister Martha when the Lord was there at the house? This is the home of Lazarus.
Martha and Mary were his sisters. And Martha is busy doing things
that need to be done. And you know the Lord never did
rebuke her for doing that. But she got upset that Mary was
not helping her with all the stuff that needed done because
there's a guest in the house and he kind of has an entourage
with him and there's food to be prepared and all of this stuff
needed to be going on. Where was Mary? She's sitting
at his feet listening to what he had to say. Why? She is utterly
and completely devoted to him. When he's around, nothing else
matters. And our Lord said to that woman,
who washed his feet with her hair, she said she loves much
because she has been forgiven much. And so we, spiritually
speaking, sitting at the table of the King in which everything
we need is supplied for us, our devotion goes forth as that lovely
and expensive perfume such as Mary lavished our Lord with. Then she goes, my lover is to
me as a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. The King
James Version says something like that, my lover is as a sachet of myrrh,
he shall rest between my breasts all night. Now, I did study on
it and most everyone rejects that particular interpretation
and I looked it up the best I know how to do in Hebrew, and that's
not the way it is. What she's saying is, my lover
is a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. Now, again, in our over-sexualized
age, you mention a woman's breasts, people might immediately go to
matters of sex. And certainly, there is that
connection. But that's not the only connection.
Actually, the reason she put it this way, the way they would
wear those things, it's on a necklace. They'd wear it on a necklace.
Well, where's it going to end up? Where she said. She could have just said, if
all she wanted to do was communicate that it was a sachet of myrrh,
she could have just said, my lover is a sachet of myrrh. But then she did say, resting
between my breasts and what we take from this and we're
going to learn what this mer means and just how significant
it is. But breasts, a woman's breasts are
much more than an object of sexual desire. I was talking to my wife
about this. I run some of this stuff from
Song of Solomon past her, you know, and I want to make sure
I'm getting it right and understanding it because here I am trying to
explain what a woman said and, you know, men get into trouble
doing that. So I want to make sure maybe
it makes sense to a woman. But a woman's breast is considered
in a sense the seat of all her affections. Her child is born. Where do they put it first? To
her breast, to be fed. A child is hurt. Now, you know,
if you get hurt, when you were a kid, when you got hurt, did
you want to go to mom or did you want to go to dad? Dad said,
that's not much. Now, my dad was a little nicer.
I mean, he was playing. He'd say, well, come here, you
know, and he'd go to the medicine cabinet and get out some Pfizer
hex, which you could buy back then. you know, or whatever,
and he'd patch it up, he was nice, but there weren't any hugs
or anything like that. The first thing a woman does
is pick him up, maybe sit down, pick him up, sit him down, and
hold him close to the breast. Why? That's just the natural order
of things among humans. And so here, She's saying, it's
between my breasts and what she's saying, this, my lover is to
me like this sachet of myrrh, close to my heart, continually
at the place of my affections. And all my love pours out from
there. Now the interesting thing is,
and this is probably why the King James went that way, it's
the word resting is quite often used for spending the night at
a motel. Stay the night. But I read that these sachets
that were worn, they'd worn them and wear them at the day, at
night they took them off. Set them by the bed stand or
wherever they had for putting things. What is she saying? I
never take this off. It would be considered normal
that she's wearing it during the day. But that she wears it
throughout the night, 24-7. Now what is this sachet of myrrh?
The word myrrh is considered by many to be the foundation
of the name Mary. And you see how many Marys there
are in the Bible. I believe it's related to the
word that when Naomi came back to Bethlehem having lost her
husband and her two sons and one of her daughters-in-law.
They said, oh, it's Naomi, whose name means pleasant. She says,
don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara or something
like that. But it's this word, which means
bitter. And here's why. Myrrh is bitter to the taste. but sweet to the smell. Now imagine
that. Something that's bitter to taste,
but sweet to smell. Now, I want to find this description
of myrrh that I found and I know I wrote it down okay now this was in a book on
botany this was not from a Bible commentary so the man who wrote
this was not trying to teach any spiritual thing but I want
you to see how he describes myrrh It says, let me see, myrrh mixed with posca
or wine was common across ancient cultures for general pleasure
and as an analgesic, a pain reliever. When a wound on a tree penetrates
through the bark and into the sapwood, the tree secretes a
resin, myrrh gum, Like frankincense is such a resin. Myrrh is harvested
by repeatedly wounding the trees to bleed the gum, which is waxy
and coagulates quickly. After the harvest, the gum becomes
hard and glossy. The gum is yellowish and may
be either clear or opaque. It darkens deeply as it ages
and white streaks emerge. Here's what I want you to take
note of. It says, when the tree is repeatedly
wounded, it bleeds. And here's another interesting
thing about the myrrh plant. It's a very thorny plant. You could not create a plant
more well designed to show forth Christ and him crucified than
myrrh. The taste is bitter. Our Lord
wore a crown of thorns. And nobody put the thorns in
the sachet. Nobody wore the thorns but one. And he wore the thorns representing
the curse. It is written that in bringing
many sons to glory, he tasted death for every one of them.
The taste of myrrh is bitter. And our Lord tasted all the bitterness
associated with our redemption and atonement. And this was done
as his body was repeatedly pierced and he bled. And so she's saying that her remembrance of him,
her devotion to him, which was continual, day and
night. Lying at the point of closest
affection was this, he loved me and gave himself for me. And while it was a sweet smelling
fragrance, it reminded her of all the pain
and bitterness. It reminds the church of the
pain and bitterness associated with our redemption. You know,
that's one reason every time we come here, somehow or another,
we're going to get Christ and Him crucified in the message.
Why? That's the myrrh. And to speak
of it, we speak of bitterness, we speak of pain, and yet it's
a sweet-smelling savor unto God. And it is sweet to us to think
on it. And then verse 14, my lover is
to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of Engedi. Once again, another remarkable
picture of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. It says a cluster
of henna, the word henna. And I don't know why this is,
but the word translated hinnah, and they say it's undoubtedly
the hinnah plant being referred to, but hinnah is the word kafir,
which means the price or ransom for a life. It's the word translated
atonement. A word very closely associated
to it is the word that was used to describe the kind of wood
from which the ark was made, gopher wood. But you see, my lover is to me
as a cluster of atonement, of ransom. And then it says, from the vineyards
of Engedi. The name of Engedi means fountain of the kid, a
young goat. Do you know that on the Day of
Atonement, two kid goats were offered? Well, one was offered
and the other was the scapegoat. And our Lord Jesus Christ, all
of all the things for which we love Him and admire Him, is there
anything more than this? That He loved us. and poured
out His soul, His life, His blood unto death as a sacrificial animal
that provided atonement for us. Now, as I prepared or got in
my mind what I was going to preach on this morning, I had not yet
got this far in my study on this. I'm going to be preaching on
blood atonement. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul, says the Scriptures. And this is our Lord, and this
is what He is to us. There are many who have admiration
for Christ, saying He was a great moral teacher. Well, fine. Though I don't think they have
any idea what morals He was teaching. But He did not come to moralize
a people. He did not come to moralize the
world. He was not just another of the moral philosophers such
as you might find in people like Aristotle and Confucius and Buddha. And that was actually the minor
aspect. And even as he taught what real
morality or righteousness is, it was only in this, that those
who were self-righteous might realize they didn't have what
was required, and that those who believed, who trusted in
Him, would realize that all that has been required has been given
to them. We are devoted. We hold Him close to us. in our
deepest affections, in the remembrance of his, the bitterness he tasted in our
behalf. And yet that remembrance is sweet
to us. And he is that kid, that young
goat sacrificed on the day of atonement. to satisfy God's wrath for our
sins and restore the relationship between God and us. Is there
any wonder that she was completely enamored of Him? All right, we'll
pick up from there next week.