Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. The Song of Solomon contains
a love story of the kingdom of God. In this beautiful book he
has used the love of a king for his fair bride and subsequently
her love for him to illustrate the relationship of Christ to
his bride and vice versa. This is not a book for the faint
of heart who might blush to read the vivid descriptions of the
passionate love which is depicted in its pages. Nor is it one whose
debts can be fathomed by any but those who are personally
and intimately acquainted with a yearning after the Savior and
a taste of the sweetness of His presence, when He is pleased
to bring them into His chambers. Most of those who were kings
of nations in Old Testament times were quite autocratic in their
rule. They had the power to receive or reject their subjects, to
include them in the benefits of the kingdom, or to banish
them from it according to their own desire. They had the power
of life and death over their subjects. No man had the right
even to approach the king, let alone to enter into his private
chambers. Kings generally sat in royal state upon ornate thrones
surrounded by the opulence of their kingdom. Servants came
and went at the behest of the king, and he ruled and judged
the people according to the nature of his heart. Good kings ruled
with righteous judgment, and wicked kings were a plague upon
a nation, as they often ruled unrighteously and sought out
their own benefit. When a man made an appeal to
enter the throne room where the king sat in his regal surroundings,
that request was relayed to the king by those who were his trusted
confidants, and then he either held out his scepter to allow
the subject to approach, or he withheld it, in which case the
subject had no audience with the king. To be heard by the
king was a privilege bestowed upon relatively few. Those in
whom the king took the greatest delight would be invited into
his private chambers to dine with him, or, in the case of
his seeking a bride, be brought into his bedroom where he might
privately commune with her. None but those in whom he had
the greatest delight might enter there. This is exactly what Peter
describes as he wrote to the sons of God. But ye are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people,
that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness and into his marvelous light, which in
time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
These objects of mercy are looked upon by the king with great delight,
and he beholds them as a bride of great beauty. Christ also
loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he
might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. She did not seek him out, but
he had sought her and brought her into his chambers because
of his great love for her. It is a great wonder why he should
have any regard to her at all, since from the moment of her
natural birth she has spurned his wooing, and loathed even
the thought of entering into his presence. She has had her
fill of many lovers, and sought out solace in the arms of any
but the good man of the house. But oh, let us view the kindness
of this king, whose love transcends the wickedness of this one whom
he loves with an everlasting love. He is faithful, though
she is not. He has clothed her in spotless
and glorious royal robes, though she has been content and accustomed
to wearing her own tattered garments, and has even imagined herself
as a thing of beauty, when in reality she was but a pitiful
blind beggar covered in infected sores, unfit to enter the outer
courts of the king's palace, let alone find a place of admittance
into his chambers. He brought me into his banqueting
house, and his banner over me was love. Such is the love and
affection of the king for his chosen bride, that he has taken
her into his courts, washed away her filth, healed her festering
sores, and bathed her in the perfume of his Holy Spirit. He
has taken one which was fit for nothing but destruction, and
by the operation of his grace transformed her into a true thing
of beauty. When she was first awakened and
called by the king, and seeing him in his beauty, she was quickly
overcome by the revelation of the glory of the king, which
revealed her utter unfitness to approach the king, let alone
be brought into his chambers. Sometimes in the wee hours of
the morning, when she is weak and weary from lack of rest,
she has great difficulty in actually grasping the great mercy which
has been visited upon her. She finds it almost impossible
to believe her good fortune, as he says, Thou art fair, my
beloved, there is no spot in thee. Yet as she looks upon her
beloved, her rest comes upon her, and she finds great comfort
in laying her head upon his bosom. His left hand is under my head,
and his right hand doth embrace me. She is satisfied to lie here
forever, and to enjoy his kind embrace. If you would like a free transcript
of this broadcast, email us at forthepoor at windstream.net.