Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus favors, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world
victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise Him, praise Him, excellent
greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Thank you. You may be seated. Alright, go with me to the Song
of Solomon. Song of Songs. The greatest song
ever written. Song of Solomon, chapter 3. Song of Solomon, chapter 3. Let's
read verses 6 through 11. Who is this that cometh out of
the wilderness, like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense, with all the powders of the merchant. Behold
his bed, which is Solomon's. Three score valiant men are about
it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, being experts
in war. Every man hath his sword upon
his thigh. because of fear in the night.
King Solomon made himself a chariot, or a bed, of the wood of Lebanon. He made the pillars thereof of
silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple,
the midst thereof being paved with love for the daughters of
Jerusalem. Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion,
And behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother
crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the
gladness of his heart." Did you read this beforehand?
Did you understand it? This is not only hard to understand,
it's impossible to understand unless the Lord gives us an understanding. Solomon wrote in Proverbs 7,
it's all plain to him that understandeth. It's all plain, if the Lord makes
it plain to us. Solomon's bed, greater than Solomon
is who this speaks of. And you may be surprised what
this bed is. At first he describes, or she
describes him in verse 6. It says, who is this that cometh
out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfume with myrrh
and frankincense, with all the powders of the merchant. Some
of the writers, John Gill, Matthew Henry, two of my favorite commentators,
apply this to her. Right after verse 5, it says,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and they seem to think that this
is these daughters who are coming out of the wilderness. Well,
that would apply, but I prefer to think of this as speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not wrong either way, and
I'll show you why. I believe she is speaking of
Him. She says, Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness?
Out of the wilderness. The Lord who was in heaven, and
Brother Ron just read in Ephesians 4 that He descended, but what
is it that He first ascended? And he came down into this wilderness
of sin. He came into this world, but
he went out of it, didn't he? Like pillars of smoke, that's
what he's like, perfumed with frankincense and myrrh. Pillars
of truth. I'll give you two things that
this represents. Pillars of smoke. This represents
Christ crucified. Christ the burnt offering. And
pillars of smoke represent Christ our intercessor, like that smoke
that rose from the altar of incense. Alright? When the high priest
of old made a burnt offering, the lamb's body was consumed,
smoke went up. And then also when he put that
frankincense and myrrh, that perfume in the incense on the
laver of brass, it went up the smoke. You have these pillars,
both of which represent the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our burnt offering, Christ crucified, our intercessor. Both are a sweet-smelling savor
to God, like myrrh and frankincense. Where's Vicki? Vicki gave me
some actual myrrh and frankincense. She has several little packets
of all of these herbs, these biblical spices, and she gave
me some of those. I took them straight home and
put them on a little candle and burned them. I had to smell what
frankincense and myrrh smelled like. Have you ever smelled it?
It's nothing like it. And it's no wonder we haven't
smelled it, us Gentiles. The Jews were very well acquainted
with it. They buried their dead in it.
This is what they anointed our Lord's body or wanted to. They
never got to. Didn't need to. He didn't suffer
corruption. But who is this, she said, that
comes smelling like smoke? Do you remember the story of
the three Hebrew children, Hananiah, Mashiach, and Azariah? Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. Do you remember when they were
in the fiery furnace? Remember what it says about them?
There was no smell of smoke on them. When they came out of that
furnace, there was no smell of smoke. But wait a minute. There
was somebody in there with them. Somebody was in there. And the
reason they came out was because he was in there with them. The
reason there was no smell of smoke on them was because the
fire burnt on him. And when he came out, he had
the smell of smoke on him. And I believe he's going to smell
like smoke for the rest of his days. Are you with me? A lamb as it had been slain,
the Scripture said. A sweet-smelling savor of that
sacrifice of Christ. Who is this that comes out of
the wilderness of sin like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh
and frankincense? Read this, with all the powders
of the merchant. Powders of merchant. That's Christ's
character. Powders His works like costly
powders of merchants. He's the merchant who purchased
our redemption. Purchased our redemption. You
women like powders, don't you? Don't you? It was unanimous, Teresa. Well,
you women like powder, don't you? And you will like them after
this. My wife does. She often powders
our bed with it. She said, you smell that? Does
our bed smell good? I powdered it. And you know what? I'm starting to like it. I like powder. Powder's a good
thing. And what is this? This is nothing but the character
and the works and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ who
purchased our redemption. He's that merchant. And everything
about him is lovely and fragrant and soothing. Soothing and comfortable. Like powder. Well, speaking of
the bed, here it is, verse 7. Behold his bed, which is Solomon's. Three score valiant men are about
it. The valiant men of Israel. His bed, the king's bed, is a
thing to behold, he said, she said. Behold his bed, a thing
of beauty, a thing of glory, a thing that he made. He designed
it. And he built it, he built it
out of silver, you read it with me, out of gold, verse 10, with
a covering of purple. It's a sight to behold. Was this
a literal bed that Solomon made? Probably. He had 700 wives. Probably a literal bed, but it's
most certainly spiritual. Now what is a bed? A bed is a
place of rest, isn't it? That's what you think of first.
It's a place of rest. A bed is a place of repose. A
bed is a place where you sleep. A bed is a place of peace. That's
where you go after a hard day's work to lie down and rest in
peace. It's a place of safety. You're not going to lie in that
bed unless you feel perfectly safe. It's a place of love. It's
a place of love. It's a place where life is conceived. It's a place of communion where
husband and wife intimately commune with one another, express their
love to one another. What is this speaking of? Don't
answer. You said Christ did. This is
His bed. This is His bed. Solomon's bed. This is the church. Go with me
to Psalm 132. If you said Christ, you weren't
wrong. You weren't wrong. That's the answer I've told you
to give me to every question I ask. You're not wrong. He is our rest. But do you know
that the church is His resting place? Look at it, wouldn't you? I learned
something here. Brother Gil and Brother Henry
both said this. Psalm 132. Did you know that the church
is where he rests? Look at Psalm 132 with me, verses
3 through 8. David wrote this, and I wanted
to read this before the Scripture reading, but he
only had one passage. Verse 3. Surely, David says,
I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up unto my
bed. I will not give sleep to mine
eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for
the Lord, and habitation for the mighty God of Jacob." We've
heard of it at Ephratath. He's speaking of the tabernacle.
All right? We found it in the field. It
was out there in the field. This is the tabernacle of the
ark. We'll go into his tabernacle.
We will worship at his footstool. Arise, O Lord, into thy rest,
thou and the ark of thy safety." In other words, come into your
tabernacle, prepared for you a place to repose and rest. Read on. Let your priests be
clothed with righteousness. Let your saints shout for joy.
Down in verse 13, "'For the Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired
it for his habitation. This is my rest forever, he said. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it." His church. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. The church is a place
where he comes and finds people that love him, many brides, and
he rests with them in his love. Look at Zephaniah, a little book
of Zephaniah. Haggai, Zephaniah, Haggai, Malachi,
Zephaniah. There's only three chapters. Zephaniah chapter 3. Sister Jeanette
and I love this. The church, you see, is the place
where Christ dwells with His people. It was prepared by Him. It was built by Him. He's the
architect of it. He's the builder of it. And as
in a bed, A husband and wife rest in each other's arms, rest
in each other's love. We rest in Christ, don't we?
Underneath the everlasting arm. Well, you know what? He rests
where He is. He takes repose where His bride
is. Look at Zephaniah 3, verse 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout,
O Israel. Be glad and rejoice. With all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem, the Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy. The King of Israel, even
the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not see evil
any more. In that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, and to Zion let not thy hands
be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing."
And as I said, if you said that place, that bed, is Christ's,
that's okay. Because as He is, so are we in
this world. Look at our text. So a bed is
a place of rest, repose, sleep, peace, safety, love, communion. I said it's a place where life
is conceived. That's certainly Christ, without
a doubt. But where were you conceived? where the gospel is preached,
where Christ is found in the midst of his church, where the
gospel is preached. That's where you were conceived.
That's, as it were, the bed where Christ is found. A bed is a place
of peace and safety, a refuge. As I said, you don't lie down
unless you feel safe. If you felt like your home was
under attack, you wouldn't go lie in your bed, would you? No, no, no. You'll only go lie
in the bed when you feel safe, when you don't feel any danger.
Well, look at this. We need not fear. Verse 7, Behold
His bed, the bed of Solomon's, threescore valiant men surround
it. The valiant men of Israel. They
all hold swords. Be an expert in war. Every man
has his sword on his thigh because of fear in the night. She's afraid,
but she need not fear. She's surrounded. Go lie down. Lie down in peace and safety.
Now, I'm not making the church or the house of God or the organization
a place of rest. Not at all. Not a place of salvation
or security. But I am saying that the church
is where you'll find pride. That where the gospel is, where
His people are, is where you'll find rest, peace, salvation,
safety, because that's where Christ is. You cannot separate
Christ and His church. While He was on this earth, you
never found Him without two or three of His disciples. Never. He went to Calvary's tree. He
had to do that alone, didn't he? Like Abraham and those two
young men, and Isaac going up the mountain. They said, you've
got to stay here. They were always with Him. And
Christ was always with His people, and always will be throughout
eternity. But wherever you find Christ, you'll find His church,
His people. You can't separate them. Like
a husband and wife. When you think of somebody in
here, you think of John, who else do you think of? You almost
can't say John's name without saying Earlene. It's like it's
one name, John Earlene. Christ and His church, they are
one. They're one. Inseparable. Inseparable
companion. Now let me ask you, I ask you
again, where do you find more peace? Where and when? Do you
find more peace and rest and safety and feel more of the Lord's
love than amongst His people? That's where Christ is. That's
where He promised to be. I told you that Solomon had 700
wives, 300 concubines. Well, I doubt that any one of
them got much one-on-one time with Him. You reckon a thousand
women? So most of their time spent together,
this is a pure illustration of our Lord Jesus Christ. The next
chapter 4 is very intimate and very graphic. And I'm going to
tell you something about how man has utterly perverted that
which the Lord made beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful
pictures of Christ Himself. The bed and the lovemaking that
goes on there. And this vile world has polluted
it. The whole earth is corrupted
His way. It's a shame. But as I said,
Solomon had these thousand women, and most of the time they were
all together. And that's a good illustration,
because we have some one-on-one time with the Lord, and we should.
And nothing should take the place of that. But when you will find
the most peace and rest and safety and love is amongst his people.
That's the way the Lord has ordained it. It's where David longed to
be more than any place else. When he was away, he longed for
it. And I hope you do. I know you
do. It says that 60 valiant men with swords on their thigh were
surrounding this this place of rest because of fear. Fear in
the night, in the midst of darkness. In other words, she could lie
down and he could lie down in this place of rest and repose
and safety and together in love with no fear, though it's in
the midst of the night, like the Lord has prepared a table
in the midst of the enemies, He prepared a bed. And these
60 valiant men, you reckon, this is the Shulamite maiden, this
is the daughter of Pharaoh who wrote this. You reckon she can
rest easy? Should she? Shouldn't she just
lie down and go to sleep? Sixty. Have you ever read the
account of David's mighty men? If you haven't, you need to read
it. One of those men, Wesley, one of those men, He could slay
three or four or five hundred men with His bare hands. Read
it. This is a picture of the angels
of God surrounding His people and other angels. You reckon
she's safe? You reckon she can rest? You
reckon she ought to? You reckon anyone can hurt her? Can anyone get to her and harm
her? You'd have to get to Him, wouldn't
you? And her only fears are in her
mind. She has nothing to worry about. Her only fears are in
her mind, her unbelief. And so my prayer is like Elisha's
prayer. Lord, open our eyes that we may
see that they that are for us are more than they that be with
them. That if God be for us, Who can be against Him? And that
He giveth His angels charge over thee. He giveth His angels charge
over thee. Turn with me to Isaiah 30. And
He's not only speaking of His heavenly angels, people, but
you know the Lord had the earthly angels, messengers of the covenant. Earthly angels, God's men who
all hold swords. I've got one right now. in front
of you so you can see it. This is the sword of the Lord.
Sword of the Lord. And every one of God's men had
this strapped to their thigh. This is what they used. They're
men. They're valiant for the truth. They're expert in war. They've been through it. This battle, this warfare with
sin and this world. They're valiant for the truth.
Oh, how many valiant men has the Lord sent to his people and
thought for the truth and watched over his church." How many? I love those men. I read them.
I esteem them so highly for their work sake. I love them. Thank the Lord for them. They're
angels. Angels. Isaiah 30. One more time. Isaiah 30. We
read this often. Verse 7 and 8, the Egyptians
shall help in vain to no purpose. Therefore have I cried concerning
this, their strength is to sit still, to come and sit still. Now go write it before them in
a table. Note it in a book that it may be forever. The time to
come forever and ever. Tell them their strength is to
sit still. Come and sit. Look at verse 15,
"...thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning
and rest..." Returning where? To His place of rest, to His
church where His people are, to Christ Himself. "...you shall
be saved, and quietness and confidence shall be your strength." Oh,
my. But you would not. You would not. Oh, my. Once again, I ask you,
when do you ever feel more peace and more rest and more safety,
surrounded by more love? If you weren't here tonight,
you wouldn't be hearing this, would you? Some are not for whatever
reason. Whatever reason. I hope it's
not beholding lying vanity because they're forsaking their own mercy.
But wherever Christ is, you're going to find peace. You're going
to find rest. You're going to find comfort.
You're going to find love. You know how you often find love
from Christ? It's through His people. That's
what you read in Ephesians 4 too. Love one another as Christ loved
the church. You don't find that out in the world. You don't find
that among the people of the world. God is love. And that love dwelleth as shed
abroad in the hearts of his people, and that's where you'll find
them. So come rest and repose. Go back to the song again. The
song. That's what we call it. The song. Chapter 3, verse 9. King Solomon
made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. The margin says
bed. Which is it? A bed or a chariot?
Well, it's both. It's both. If this is speaking
of his bed, it says it's of wood and gold and silver covered with
purple. Well, that's Christ's church.
They're flesh like His. He's like them. Christ, you know,
like that ark was made of wood, shittum wood, covered with gold. as He is, so are His people,
made of flesh, like this wood, and pillars. Verse 10, He hath
made pillars. You know, the church is called
the pillar and ground of the truth. The pillar. What is the church as a pillar
built upon? Two pillars, silver and gold. It's your precious metals. where all of the posts or pillars
of the fence set in. Sockets of silver. It was redemption's
price. The price brought, it's amazing,
the people brought it. But it was given to them. But anyway, they made these sockets
of silver so the bottom of these pillars or posts would not rot
when put in the ground. And what is the price of our
redemption? Not literal silver or gold, you know that. But with
the precious blood. That silver represents His blood.
That's the pillar on which the church stands in. What does the
church stand for? What do we say every time we
stand to pray? What is it that we're redeemed
with? The precious blood of Christ.
What's gold? You read with me in Psalm 45,
it says, "...the king's daughter shall be brought to the king
in raiment of needlework." You've got to read it exactly like it's
written. It says, "...she'll be brought
to the king. Her clothing is of wrought gold."
That's the righteousness of Christ. What are the two pillars of truth?
What are the two pillars? of the church that she holds
forth, the blood of Christ and the righteousness of Christ.
Pillars. What about this purple covering?
Look at verse 10. It says, "...the covering of
it like a bedspread." It's a purple. "...amidst thereof being paved
with love for the daughters of Jerusalem." This covering of
purple, this bed covering, Purple. Purple has always represented
one thing. Always. When the king, if they ever crown
Bonnie Prince Charlie, he's going to wear a purple robe. It's majesty. It's royalty. And what does the
Scripture say of his people? You're a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood. He's made us kings and priests. Christ is the King. Yeah, but
He said, you're going to reign with me. In other words, whoever's
in His bed, that's His bride. That's His bride. And He's covered
her with purple. Are you with me? He's covered
her with His own robe. Just like when they took off
that seamless robe of Christ on the cross, somebody got it. Somebody got it. The prodigal
son, the first thing the father did when he came home was, he
said, bring the best robe and put it on. Don't offer it to
him. Put it on him. Look who it's for. It says, it's for the
daughters of Jerusalem. Daughters of Jerusalem. It's
not for strangers. I've got an article going in
Sunday's Bulletin by Brother Jack Shanks on, this is not for
strangers. Not for strangers. But this is
where the king's daughter is arrayed in royal robes, and she's
lying on a bed of silver and gold, and a place of safety. That's Christ, that's His people,
that's His dwelling place, His tabernacle. And it says, verse
10, and this would make a good message all by itself, verse
10, three words, paved with love. It's the bedspread for love.
It's where the King shows his love, and can I say it? Makes
love. To who? Not everybody, but to
the daughters of Jerusalem. This is particular love. This
is special love. This is sovereign, electing love.
This is redeeming love. And they all know it. If you're
in His bed, you know who brought you there. That's what we started
with in chapter 1, verse 4, it says, "...the king brought me
into his chamber." That's why I'm here. It said that in Psalm
45, it says, "...she shall be brought to him in raiment of
needlework and wrought gold." Every one of Christ's brides
knows who brought her there, who brought her to Christ, and
who loved who, and who set whose love on who, and we love Him. Yes. Why? Because He first loved
us. Black though we be, He first
loved us. They all know it. They all know
how they got there. They all know who it was that
brought them there. And they all know why. To the praise of the glory of
His love and His grace. I've got to show you this. As
a faithful watchman, there's another bed spoken of in Scripture.
Solomon wrote about it. Proverbs 7. Proverbs chapter
7. Proverbs 7. A faithful watchman
is one who warns you. Someone may think that we speak
too much of false religion and false prophets. We have them
throw away half the Bible. Because the Scriptures are full
of promises and warnings. And Paul said to the Ephesians,
I cease not to warn you day and night with tears. Because this
other bed is so subtle, so deceptive, and the simple are all deceived
by it. It's the bed of false religion.
It's the bed of the great whore. Look at it with me. Proverbs
7, verses 1 and 2. Son, the Lord, speaking to his
children, keep my word, keep my word, lay up my commandments
with thee, keep my commandment, my word, and live, listen to
me, and live. My law is the apple of thine
eye. Verse 5, that they may keep thee from the strange woman.
This is the first way he identifies her. She flattereth. She flattereth with her words. You know what our husband does
to his bride first? He doesn't flatter her at all.
He convicts her. He convicts her of her sin like
Hosea with Gomer. Look what you've done. And then
he says, but I've loved you. Conviction of sin, isn't it?
But this strange woman, this harlot, flattereth with her words. That's religion. False religion,
always. That's how you get them to come
in. Verse 10, There met him a woman with the
attire of an harlot. This simple fellow was walking
along, and this woman met him. Subtle of heart. She's loud.
She's heard everywhere. Stubborn. Loud and proud. Her feet abide not in her house.
She's everywhere except in the house. Now she's without, now
in the streets, lying in wait at the corner. She'll be at your
door tomorrow, knocking on your door. The false church. Read
on. She caught him. She kissed him.
She kissed him with an impudent face set unto him, a subtle deceiving
face. I have peace offerings with me. We don't offer anybody peace,
do we? We tell them who has peace, who made the offering, Christ.
But we don't say, we can offer you peace. That's what the false
church, that's what Methodism says, offer them Christ. That's
what Methodist slogan is, offer them Christ. And so is Southern
Baptist. People, anybody that says that
is false. It's not ours to offer. We saw that, didn't we, on the
way, John, to Beckley, the funeral. A big old Southern Baptist. They
all believed this. They all believed it. The offer
still stands. Christ didn't make that offer
to man. He made that offer to God. And He doesn't ask us if we'll
accept this offer. He tells us we're accepted in
the blood. There's nothing I hate more than
that, to reduce the great, particular, effectual, saving work of Jesus
Christ for His people, shedding His precious blood for His people
that He loved, to reduce it to an offering to be accepted or
rejected by man. There's nothing worse. This is
not splitting doctrine. This is the very foundation of
salvation. If Christ died for everybody
and nobody is saved, Christ died in vain. But if Christ died for
His people, and He did, He put away their sins by the sacrifice
of Himself by one offering, He hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. And I've got to frown when I
say that because religion is perverting and alluring and deceiving
and damning thousands like those swine Read on, verse 15, she says,
keep saying to him, therefore came I forth to meet thee diligently
to seek thy faith. Oh, doesn't she do that? Compass
sea and land. I found thee. I decked my bed
with coverings of tapestry. Do you hear anything of gold
or silver here? Carved works with fine linen
of Egypt. Egypt. The best things the world
has to offer. That's what we have for you in
our big church here. Come thou with us. Don't do it. It says down in verse 26, she's
cast down many wounded. And many strong men have been
slain by her. That's another bed. I had to
say that. Maybe somebody will hear this
in Sermon Audio. And be warned. Well, if it's
a bed, or if this is a chariot, go back to the text. Now, let
me close with this. His bed is paved with love. His bed. If it's a chariot, or
if it's a bed, it doesn't matter. It's paved with love. Everything
our Lord does concerning His people has love behind it, has
love in it. It was love that sent Christ
to the cross. And everything He does concerning
you, all things work together for good. You're good because
He loves you. Because He loves you, that's
why. If this is a bed like A deathbed? What about a deathbed, where
you lie down, and the Scripture, we read that, didn't we, in the
Psalms, said, you'll make your bed in sickness. The deathbed,
oh, it's paved with love. Precious in the sight of the
Lord is the death of his saints. Paid with love. We said last
week, I think it was, that when the Lord takes one of His own
home, it's as if He was saying, you've had them long enough.
Now I get them forever. Paid with love. If it's a chariot,
I don't know where that old saying comes from, that old song, swing
low, sweet chariot. I don't know, it's not in the
Bible, but coming for to carry thee home. There is a story of
a chariot coming to get somebody. Elijah. You read it with me,
didn't you? A chariot came to get him and
it shall come to get us too. A chariot. A chariot is coming
to get us, take us home to our beloved. Made of silver and gold, paved
with love. Verse 11, I quote, So go forth,
O ye daughters of Zion. Go forth. Christ say, Come unto
me. O ye that labor and heavy laden,
the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, or go. Go to Him. Go to Him. Look unto Me and be
ye saved. And we say, Go forth, O ye daughters
of Zion, and behold King Solomon. Behold Him, look unto Him, and
be ye saved. Behold Him, God's Servant, God's
Son, God's King. He's crowned with the crown wherewith
His Mother crowned Him in the day of His espousals, that's
His marriage, and in the day of the gladness of His heart.
His Mother crowned Him. Well, first of all, a crown,
It's not worn by kings always. In fact, they seldom wear these
crowns. They generally wear them at the coronation day, most definitely. When they're crowned as king,
they will wear that crown. And then another day, especially
when they wear this crown, is at their wedding day. Their wedding
day. Again, if Charles is crowned
king, He'll just be a figurehead. He won't be king over anybody.
But if he is, they'll put that big royal crown on him at his
coronation day. When a king or prince is wedded,
they put that crown on his head. Now this is good because Christ,
when He finished that work on Calvary's tree, when He finished
the work of redemption, God crowned him King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. And in the day when he's married
to his bride, when they're all together at the wedding supper
of the Lamb, he says, we're going to crown him. We'll put that
crown on his head. Well, who's his mother? Who is
his mother? Somebody tell me who his mother
was. Anybody, male or female, who was Solomon's mother? Bathsheba. You see where I'm coming from? She's
a sinner. She's the one crowning Him. Who
better to crown Him? She's not wearing a crown. She's
crowning Him. Oh my. These are the only ones
who crowned Solomon king of kings and Lord of lords sinners. Sinners. What an honor for her. Don't
you think Bathsheba was just honored to give birth to Solomon,
David's son? She counted it the highest privilege.
She didn't ever think she was something. Bathsheba never thought
she was something. She knew where she came from.
She knew what she was. She was just glad to be in the
family. Just honored to be David's bride
and Solomon's mother. And there's so much in Scripture
that speaks about Jerusalem, the mother, and Revelation 12. You can read the whole chapter
for yourself. Speaking of the church, not speaking of Mary.
Oh, no, no. That's what false religion says. But she is so
pleased. honored to crown him, oh my. Christ said, who is my mother?
And he looked at those sinners out there he was preaching to
and said, behold my mother. Behold my mother. In the day of his espousals,
when Christ is wedded and the day of the gladness of His heart.
Two days that give Christ more pleasure and His people more
pleasure than any other. The day Christ came and was crucified. The day of redemption. The day
of salvation. The day when you first heard
the gospel. But there's coming a day that's going to exceed
all others for joy and gladness. The day when He takes us home,
when He sends His chariot. And the way is paved with love. All right. Stand with me. Our Lord, this is indeed Your
Word. We are amazed by it. We stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus of Nazarene and wonder how He could love us sinners
condemned unclean, Bathshebas, black Shulamite maidens, Oh,
how we thank You that Thou hast loved us and washed us from our
sins in Your own precious blood and made that one offering for
sin forever to Your Father on our behalf, and He accepted it.
And we are accepted in the Beloved. Oh, Lord, keep this church as
the apple of Your eye. Keep it surrounded. Keep it hedged
about, Lord. Let no one get in, no enemy,
let no one leave according to your purpose and power. Oh Lord,
thank You for this place of rest and repose where You meet with
us and give us safety and salvation and love. We thank You for it. Bless this church, Lord. Keep
it. We pray. Keep faithful watchmen watching
over it. Forgive us of our sins in Christ's
name. Amen. That did, that did me bad.