Let's look at Song of Solomon
chapter six, beginning here at verse eight. It's really just
a continuation of what we've seen before. But it starts out
here in verse eight, it says, there are three score queens,
four score concubines, and virgins without number. Now that sounds
strange, doesn't it? But you know what he's talking
about there. He's talking about earthly kings at that time. Because it wasn't uncommon. An earthly king would have many
wives and many concubines. And they looked at it, the world
looked at it, that was something impressive. That was their glory.
But it was really, in God's word, it's to their shame. And it was
a shame that even the kings of Israel followed them. Even David,
even Solomon. Somebody said, well, it's okay
to be a polygamist, because David was. No, David was wrong. You
know what David was? He's like you and me. He was
sinner saved by the grace of God. He didn't always do right.
And no king who had that many wives and concubines could set
his awesome love upon one. His loyalties would always be
divided. There would always be turmoil.
But here's what the point of this love letter in Song of Solomon
is. Look at verse nine. He says,
my dove, now this is the bridegroom talking to the bride. This is
Christ talking to his church. My dove, my undefiled is but
one. He has one bride, not many brides. There's not one God and many
ways to God. There's one God and one way to
God. There's one church, true church,
one bride, and she's undefiled. She's not defiled with spiritual
adultery and fornication. Remember, Paul spoke of that
in 2 Corinthians 11, when he spoke of the church, and he said,
I'm jealous for you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused
you to one husband." And that's the case, see? This is a holy
union. Marriage, one bridegroom, Christ,
not many, and one bride, his church, not many, which he redeemed
with his own blood, washed her in his blood, clothed her in
his righteousness, and she's undefiled in that sense. Now the undefilement here, as
you know, doesn't mean that we're still not sinners. We're sinners,
but in God's sight, We're clean. He does not charge us with our
sins. He charges us with Christ's righteousness. And he has graced us with the
power of his grace within our hearts. And that's a beautiful
thing. And we believe the gospel. We
love Christ. Now, we have a warfare within,
but that warfare doesn't, it contaminates our best efforts,
but it doesn't condemn us because we have Christ. And the victory's
already won even in that warfare. So he says, my dove, and she's
called a dove, you know, that's the peaceful bird, that's the
white bird, that's the one that signifies the right relationship
between God and his people. She's not like the raven who
feeds upon the dead. It's the dove. Remember when
Noah sent out the, what was it, a raven, didn't come back, but
the dove came back with a, the leaf or the branch in her mouth. And so my dove, my undefiled
is but one. There's one God, one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. There's one true
church. I know you go around town, there's
many that call themselves. How do you know it's a true church?
What do they preach? Well, somebody says, well, I
know that's a true church because they're sincere. Or they've started
a soup kitchen. Or they've started a charitable
phone drive. No, that's, what do they preach? What's preached from that pulpit?
What's believed in the pew? Is it the true gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace through Christ based upon his blood and
righteousness alone? And I always like to put it this
way because I think it just, you know, sometimes the Lord
will give you a statement that sort of, as they say in the South,
kills the whole cubby with one shot. And that's it. If they preach salvation conditioned
on sinners, that's a false church. If they preach salvation conditioned
on Christ alone who met those conditions to save all for whom
he died, that's a true church. That's how we should look at
it. And then it says in verse nine, she is the only one of
her mother. She is the choice one of her
that bear her. I know this is metaphorical language
now, but what's he saying? Like that song back in the 70s,
you're the one. Man telling his girlfriend, you're
the one. Well, that's what he's saying,
you're the one. There's not many brides here. There's not many
concubines. You're the one, the one and only. And it says, the
daughters saw her and blessed her. In other words, they acknowledged
the blessing of her. And it says, yea, the queens
and the concubines, and they praised her. And that's what's
going to happen in the end. All those who who denied and
rejected the truth of that one bridegroom and one bride. Eventually,
every knee's gonna bow, and every tongue is gonna praise Christ.
So here we have, this is a picture of God's chosen people who had
been given to Him by the Father before the foundation betrothed
to Him. And his eyes, now this is amazing
to me, the eyes of the Lord of Glory are focused singly upon
her. And when he came to this world,
you see how much he loved his own, his bride, his people, his
elect, his sheep. Because he said his eyes were,
in this life when he was on earth, his eyes were singly focused
on the cross because that's what it took to redeem his bride.
That's what it took to work out a righteousness for his bride.
And so it shows his love for his bride. John 13 one, he loved
his own unto the end, the finishing of the work. So think about that. If you're in Christ, if you're
a believer, a sinner, we look at ourselves and it's hard for
us to find anything that would be lovable. There is nothing
about us by nature that would be lovable. And yet the Lord
of glory, the perfect God man, the righteousness of God, his
eyes of love and power and grace are focused singly on you, collectively
on the church. And then look at verse 10. Who
is she that looketh forth as the morning? Here's the bride
walking by faith in Christ, looking towards the light of the morning,
living by his word, anticipating his return. And it says fair
as the moon. Why the moon? Because the moon
exists in the reflective light of the sun. And what do we live
in? We live in the reflective light
of the sun of righteousness, as Malachi calls him. What glory
we have, it's not our own, it's his. The light that we have is
his, he's our light. And it says clear as the sun,
clean and clear as the sun. And again, the sun of righteousness.
And then he says, and terrible as an army with banners. In other
words, this fairness and clearness is not weakness. There's a power
here too, and it's the power of Christ. He is our banner. We're like
an army under the banner of Christ, and that's an invincible army.
You know when the Bible talks about the Lord being the Lord
of Sabaoth, not the Lord of the Sabbath, but Lord of Sabaoth,
you heard that term? That means an invincible army
that cannot be defeated. And it's because of his power
and his strength and his goodness, not ours, we're just his army,
we're his instruments, but he defeats sin, he defeats Satan,
and he defeats the flesh. He's the mighty conqueror. That's
what revelation is about. Christ, the Lamb of God, the
Lamb slain to save his people, is the mighty conqueror, and
nothing can defeat him or his army. So we are fair, we are
clear, because we stand washed in his blood, clothed in his
righteousness, but we're not weak, not at all. He's omnipotent,
all-powerful. And whatever Satan does, and
whatever the world does, and even whatever our flesh inspires
us to do in a bad way, cannot defeat him. Who shall deliver
us from these bodies of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord. He's our victory. Conquered the grave, all right?
And then it says in verse 11, I went down into the garden of
nuts, and most commentators say that's referring to a walnut
grove. And he says, to see the fruits of the valley. Now this
is the bridegroom coming down to see the fruits. It's not that
he doesn't know of the fruitfulness and the flourishing of his people,
but his coming down is the guarantee of our flourishing and our fruitfulness. And that's, you know, we can
talk about the fruits of salvation, the garments of salvation, the
fruit of the spirit, all of that. They come from him who is the
vine. He says to see whether the vine flourished. He knows
the vine is flourishing because he is the vine. And it is flourishing. Read John 15. He says, I'm the
vine, you're the branches, every branch in me, he says. We'll
bear fruit if we're in him. And he says, and the pomegranates
budded. Now we've seen that pomegranate
crop up a lot of times and there's some specific things that can
be said about the pomegranate. I won't go into all of them this
morning, but what he's talking about again is the fruitfulness
and the flourishing of his church. It's fruitful and flourishing
outwardly and inwardly. Now how is it fruitful and flourishing
outwardly? Because God's going to bring
all of his chosen people, whom Christ redeemed, into the fold. He's gonna bring the lost sheep
into the sheepfold. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. So we are commissioned
to go out and preach the gospel. God is going to call his sheep
into the fold. Christ is going to bring them
in. But they're fruitful inwardly in that we grow in grace and
in knowledge and in the fruit of the Spirit. Now that doesn't
make us any more righteous than we already are. You see, that's
not the progressive sanctification that many talk about that turns
into legalism. But we do flourish and we do
grow in grace and in knowledge. That's why we're here. We're
here, number one, to worship God. Now what we're here for?
To glorify Him, to honor Him. And in doing so, it helps us. because we do grow. We go through
the scriptures. We feed upon his word and we
learn his word. And so he says, he went down
into the Valley, that Walnut Grove to see the fruits of the
Valley and to see whether the vine flourish and the pomegranates
budded. And then look at verse 12. He
says, or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots
of a minute out. Now, Again, this is not to say
that Christ didn't know the state of his bride. He knows our frame. Not only is he omnipotent, he's
omniscient. He knows what we do and what
we don't do. He knows our thoughts. The word
of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. He knows our motives.
He knows our frame. He knows our weaknesses. But
here, he's not saying he didn't know about it. But he sees that,
he knows that her state has not changed. Wherever I was aware,
my soul made, if you look in your concordance, and sometimes,
now when you have, I'm gonna make a point this morning in
the message, beginning on the manner of true prayer, how sometimes
we can agree with the notes that are in the concordance, sometimes
we can't. You know the Bible wasn't originally
written with those notes and scripture references. I know
you know that. But it says, to set me on the
chariots of my willing people. And I like that. That makes sense
with what he's saying here. In other words, he's actively
involved in our lives. to work all things after the
counsel of his own will for his glory and our eternal good, like
the chariots of Amminadab. Now that word Amminadab, that
name Amminadab, it's a Hebrew word that combines two words.
Ammi, A-M-M-I, which means my people. And then Nadib, which
we'll see later on comes up again, just that one word, which means
willing and princely. a willing people. And I think
the main thought here is not only does he save us, not only
does he cleanse us, not only does he make us flourish and
be fruitful, but he preserves us. He keeps us. He continually makes us willing
in the day of his power. And he says, to those whose name
is In some places, Israel. Princes who have prevailed with
God. How do we prevail with God? By
pleading Christ. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. And what is faith? It's looking
to Christ. And then, verse 13. Now here's
where we come to the Shulamite. Return, return, O Shulamite. Return, return, that we may look
upon thee. What will you see in the Shulamite?
There's the question. As it were, the company of two
armies. Now let me camp here for a minute
and then I'll close with this, but it seems like the daughters
of Jerusalem, after witnessing this glorious sight that Christ
has revealed to her, they call on the Shulamite to return. And as I said in the beginning,
this name Shulamite, It's the feminine form of the name Solomon. And what does Solomon mean? It
means peace. Solomon means peace. And what you see here is this.
And you know Solomon is a picture of Christ. The Shulamite is a
picture of the church who has the same name virtually as her
husband. And Christ and his church are
one in the eyes of God's law and justice. He sees us in Christ. Paul prayed for that in Philippians
chapter three, that I might know him and be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ. Could you imagine standing
before God at the judgment without Christ? In your own, on your
own merits. Think about that. What would
you hear him say? Depart from me. I never knew
you, you that work iniquity. That's what he would say. That's
the judgment. The standard of judgment is Christ.
God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men that he hath raised him from the dead. I must have
Christ. So we're one, and under divine
inspiration, the prophet Jeremiah identified Christ In Jeremiah
23, look over there, turn over there, Jeremiah 23. I love these
passages here because they tell us so much, not only about the
Lord himself, but about his bride, his church. And it says in Jeremiah
23, look at verse five. He says, behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch.
Now, automatically, we know this is a prophecy of the coming of
Christ. And it says, and a king shall
reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. That's what he come to do. Now,
I always make this point to people who pretty much have never heard
the gospel. And all they've heard about is
what preachers tell them about the love of God. And you know,
that's common. They talk about John 3 16 and
other passages. God is a God of love. And then
they make God a sentimental old grandpappy. You know, God is
just, he couldn't, he wants to save you. He wants, but you won't
let him, you know, that kind of thing. That's a false God.
But the Bible teaches us, yes, God is a God of love, and I don't
wanna diminish that. I don't wanna joke about that.
God is a God of, we see his love, don't we? Toward his people. But his love is not the empty
love that's being preached in most churches today, which is
just some kind of a sentimental draw toward sinners, but really
doesn't save anybody. unless you love him back. And
that's the kind of love that it is. It's an empty love. But the Bible tells us that God
is first and foremost a God of justice. And so whatever he does in displaying
or executing or showing any attribute, whatever it is, he must be just. If he loves me, he's gotta be
able to do it justly. If he has mercy on me, he's gotta
be able to do it justly. If he shows grace towards me,
a sinner, who doesn't deserve any of those things, who hasn't
earned any of those things, he must be able to do it justly.
And that's why Christ came into the world, to execute, to work
out, Judgment and justice, righteousness in the earth. And so what we
find in the gospel, that God's love, his unconditional love
toward his people, sent his son to accomplish what his justice
demanded. And you can't have one without
the other. And so in verse six, it says, in his days, Judas shall
be saved. Israel shall dwell safely. And
this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness,
Jehovah Sid Canu. You heard that. We'll turn over
to Jeremiah 33. Jeremiah 33. And look at verse 15. Jeremiah 33, 15, in those days
and at that time will I cause the branch of righteousness,
and that's the same thing as justice, to grow up under David. Now who's he talking about? Talking
about Christ, the son of David. And he shall execute judgment
and righteousness in the land. It's virtually the same thing
that he said back in Jeremiah 23 five and then look at verse
16. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall
dwell safely. And this is the name wherewith
she shall be called. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about the church, the redeemed, the Lord our righteousness. Well, what sense does that make?
Well, when you ladies married your husbands, you took his name.
You became one in love. And that's what his church does.
He gives us his name. We're righteous in him. He's
our Lord and our savior and our husband. So the daughters of
Jerusalem cry out for the Shulamite to return back here in Song of
Songs. And that's the bride of Christ. And it says here in verse
13 of Song of Solomon 6, it says, what will you see in the Shulamite?
As it were, the company of two armies. Now that's a difficult
metaphor to understand, but I'm gonna give you what the gospel
commentators that I read, what they've said, because they'll
differ on that. Some say that this is an expression
of what was known as a common practice in kings and armies
and kingdoms at that time, that when the army wanted to express
their obedience and their honor to the king, they would sometimes,
and I look this up, and it is true, they would sometimes divide
into two armies, two companies, And that was the way of them
showing that the king was in control. Now why that in their
mind showed that, I don't know. And if you have any questions
after this, keep it to yourself. I'm just telling you what it
said. Some say, well, it's like the
Old Testament and the New Testament. And they would say something
like this. They'd say, believers in the Old Testament, that's
like one army. Believers in the New Testament, that's another
army. But we're all under the king. We're all following the
king. We all glorify and honor the
king. So that could be a reference here. Other Bible scholars say
that the company of two armies refers to believers in our current
state here on earth. Having within ourselves both
the spirit and the flesh. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
and our spirits with His being an army, and the flesh being
an army that fight against each other, and it's like in this
battle that we're continually fighting within ourselves, but
the victory is assured because of our bridegroom. You know,
that may be what it's talking about. And we know we have that
in scripture. The flesh lusteth against the
spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that
you would. Paul wrote in Romans 7, for I know that in me that
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present
with me. But how to reform that which is good, I find not. For
the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would do,
that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. You
know, he's describing metaphorically that battle within. And we all
know that. We all have that every day. We've
talked about that. That never lets up. You're not
gonna have a day in which this battle is not waging within us. But how do we, what's the remedy
then? Well, Paul said it in Romans 7, 24 and 25, who shall deliver
me from this body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ,
my Lord and my Savior. And he went on in Romans 8, one
said, there's therefore now no condemnation in Christ. And he
said, as I referenced here in the last part, we are made more
than conquerors through him that love us so that nothing can separate
us from the love of God in Christ. We're safe. We've got a battle
within, but we're safe and secure in Christ. Because all the sins
that we still do, they cannot be charged to us. We have a righteousness
that answers the demands of God's law and justice. And we have
the name of our Savior, the Lord our righteousness. All right.