Song of Solomon, chapter 1, verse
12, feasting at the king's table. What a, what a, you know, I think
that some people would criticize our approach to a book like this
because, first of all, they claim that, well, what I'm doing is
spiritualizing. And I've heard that a lot, you
know, especially in the Old Testament scriptures. You're spiritualizing
it. Well, I don't believe I'm spiritualizing. I believe God
beat me to that. I believe that the books of the
Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, are books concerning Christ.
And I'm not jamming Christ in here where he is absent. It takes
the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to us and to open our eyes to
understanding His Word. And I think about when the Lord
came before the Pharisees in John chapter five, and He made
this statement in verse 39. He says, you do search the Scriptures. Now there He's talking about
the Scriptures of the Old Testament. I don't know how many they had.
You know, there were probably some of them weren't written
out yet, but had most of it. They certainly had the first
five books, they had some of the history, they had some of
the wisdom literature, which Song of Solomon would be included. And he says, you do search the
scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. And he
says, they are they which testify of me. So my point is this, if
you go to the word of God and you don't get any spiritual value
out of it, what good is it going to do you? If it's just, people
say, well, it's just a practical manual. And as I said in the
introduction to the Song of Solomon, this is not a manual for erotic
love between a husband and wife. This right here is a picture
of Christ, the bridegroom, the husband, and his church, the
bride, the wife. And so here's what she's saying
here. This shows Christ's bride feasting
at his table, verse 12, while the king sitteth at his table. Now, the word sitteth you might
see in your Bible is in italics. Which means that it wasn't in
the original, but it certainly is implied, and I agree with
the King James translators that that's what it's talking about.
The king's not standing at his table. He's not standing on the
table. Why do you go to the table? You go there to sit down and
eat. And so the first thing that just hits you right between the
eyes here is there's a finished work here accomplished by the
king. And also it's amazing how many
ways the Bible, God's word, describes Christ in his glory and his relationship
to his people, the elect of God, the church. Well, he's the bridegroom,
we're the bride. He's the husband, we're the wife. He's the king, we're his subjects. He's the shepherd, we're the
sheep. You know, all of these things. And so while the king
sitteth at his table, a finished work, a table that's already
full, already provided, this is not what they call potluck,
you bring your own dish and we'll see who's got the best, no. No,
that would be like bringing your works to the furnished table. He furnished it with all that
we need. And I love those passages, Ephesians
1, 3, which talks about, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who have blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, what do
you leave out of that? Nothing. And then second Peter,
what is it, one in verse three I believe it is, he says, by
his power he has given us all things that pertain to life and
godliness. In Christ we're complete, the
scripture says. And so while I sit at the king's
table, so here's the king and his subjects. And she says, my
spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof. Spikenard, what in the
world is spikenard? Sometimes it's referred to as
nard. But it was a plant. And when you look this up, you'll
see this, but it says, when processed, it produces an ointment that's
both expensive, and greatly desired for its aroma and therapeutic
qualities. And look over at the book of
Mark, chapter 14. We have an instance here in the
New Testament where our Lord, I believe he was eating here,
or he was in the home of a leper named Simon. And in Mark 14,
look at verse three. It said in Mark 14, three, it
says, and being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
as he sat at meat, he's eating dinner with a leper. And boy,
isn't that a perfect picture of our relationship? He's the
worthy bridegroom, we're the unworthy bride. We're like spiritual
lepers. And that's why we need to be
cleansed from our sins by the blood of Christ. That's why we
need to be wrapped up in the robe of his righteousness. And
it says, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment
of spikenard, very precious. And she broke the box and poured
it on his head. And there were some that had
indignation within themselves and said, why was this waste
of the ointment made? See, this was expensive stuff.
This wasn't no homemade remedy. He says, for it might have been
sold for more than 300 pence and have been given to the poor.
And they murmured against her. And of course, you know his response
to that was, let her alone. She knows what she's doing, and
it's fine. But that spikenard is indicative, it's a picture, of the relationship, the acceptance,
the sweet-smelling savor of Christ to his people and his people
to him. You know, the Bible often speaks in that way about God
and how he stands in relation to sinful people and people bringing
their works, for example. And you know what he says by
the prophets, that's a stench in my nostrils, that's a stink.
You know, when Cain brought his works, God represents that in
symbolic language. He said, that stinks. It's dead
works. And that's what death does. It
stinks. But when Christ presented himself
as an offering and presents his people as washed in his blood
and clothed in his righteousness, raised again by his spirit. What
does he say? We're a sweet-smelling savor
unto God. And that's what this spikenard
represents. Over in, I think it's 2 Corinthians
chapter 2 and verse 14 through 17, Paul speaks about the ministry
of the gospel, preaching the gospel, and he talks about and
how people react to it. And he says, when we preach the
gospel, it's a sweet-smelling savor unto the Lord. It glorifies
Him. It honors Him. It tells the truth
about Him. It magnifies Him. And that's
His glory. And then unto the people we preach
to, to some, it's a savor of life unto life. Others, it's
the savor of death unto death. And I can remember in my own
life, when I first began to hear the gospel, it stunk in my nostril. That's the way I looked at it.
Not literally, you know, but I didn't like it. It was something
that turned me away, you see, like a bad smell. And then, in
God's own time, at some point in time, he turned that stench
into a sweet-smelling savor like spikenard. an ointment that which
I saw was, I thought was empty into a healing ointment. And
that's what's being represented here, this spikenard. I put down
here, having been washed thoroughly clean from her sins by the blood
of Christ, her husband, her bridegroom, having been clothed in the white
garment of his righteousness imputed, having been born again
and her spiritual senses created in her by him, And having been
called to him out of the world, not only does she enjoy his sweet
aroma, she herself emits a sweet-smelling savor unto God. Why is it? Nothing more precious in the
sight of God than a sinner saved by grace, than a sinner washed
clean in the blood of his son. Well, look at verse 13. She says,
a bundle of myrrh, is my well-beloved unto me. He shall lie all night
betwixt my breast. Now you know, you've heard of
Myrrh, you remember the wise men. One of the wise men brought
Myrrh to the infant Christ. And Myrrh is intended in the
Bible as a picture to convey the message in our minds of the
infinite riches and the glorious person and finished work of Christ
for his people. And the fact that everything
necessary for our salvation is provided abundantly in him. In
the scriptures, in the Bible, myrrh was known as a rich spice. And it was the main ingredient
of the holy ointment that was spread over the tabernacle. And
you know, you remember when Christ was on the cross, they gave him
wine mixed with myrrh. and had a bad taste, but some
say, and I believe this is true, that indicates his suffering.
It was bittersweet, in other words, because this myrrh was
a good thing, but you didn't drink it. It didn't taste good,
but he drank the cup of damnation dry as the surety, the substitute,
and the redeemer of his people. And so this myrrh pictures, the
sufferings of Christ for his people. Now, when you think about
all of this, you know, it's a matter of God's perfect love and grace
to his people. Because the suffering that Christ
went through, and I'm gonna be talking about that in the main
message. We're gonna sort of bite off
a little more than we can chew in the message today, because
I'm preaching on The word of substitution, where Christ hanging
on the cross, he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? And what an awesome thought that
is. This is the sufferings of our
Savior based on one thing, our sins charged to his account.
And it was a legal matter, but it wasn't just a legal matter.
He had to suffer. He had to drink the cup of God's
wrath. And that's what this mirth symbolizes.
And as a result, look at verse 13, he shall lie all night betwixt
my breast. As a result of that, there's
a closeness. There's an intimate union. His bride is on his heart. And he keeps us close to himself,
even when we don't realize it. Aren't there times in your life
when you think that you've been abandoned? Lord, where are you? He's right there, and he keeps
us close to his heart. We're the children of his love,
we're the bride of his love, and he'll never leave us and
never forsake us, and we may be going through some hard times,
personally or whatever, and we've done that. But that's no reason
for us to think that he's abandoned us. He keeps us close, and we
keep Him close in our hearts. And that's why we have, that's
why it's good to meet together like this, you know. Sometimes
we get out there in the world and we're working and we're going
through troubles and trials and we just don't, but here we're
feasting at His table. And we're realizing that not
only does He keep us close to His heart, but by His power and
grace, we need to keep Him close to our hearts. Look at verse
four or verse 14. He says, my beloved is unto me
as a cluster of camphor. Now you might see in their concordance
over there, Cyprus. Others translate this camphor
as henna, but he says the cluster of camphor in the vineyards of
in, in G'dai. And that is how you pronounce
that. Not in Getty, but it's in, in G'dai. And so, This word
camphor, in the original Hebrew, it's the word we would transliterate
as kopher, K-O-P-H-E-R. And as I said, some translated
cypress, some translated henna, I'm not sure where they get that
at, I've read on it and I can't find out, but it's not that important. It's the same word, you remember
back in Noah, Noah's day when he was building the ark? The
Lord told him to pitch it within and without, Well, this word
kamphor here is the same Hebrew word translated pitch over in
Genesis chapter six and verse 14. And what he was describing
there was how Noah's ark was to be covered outside and inside
with this pitch that made the ark waterproof, that the water
couldn't get in. And of course, you know, the
ark is a type of Christ. And that pitch, if we're in the
ark, if we're in Christ, the waters of God's wrath cannot
touch us. Because there is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ. No sin can be
charged us. We're righteous in his sight. And figuratively, this camphor,
I believe, is a type of the redemption price, which is the blood of
Christ. And here's something very interesting. The same Hebrew
word, is translated in Job 33, 24 another way. And let me read Job 33, 24. Job
says, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found
a ransom. That's the same Hebrew word that's
translated camphor here, ransom. Well, who is our ransom? Who
paid the ransom price? Well, Christ did. And so what
a wonderful type, what a wonderful picture of his beauty. In Jedi,
it was a place where there were lush gardens and vineyards. It
was located close to overlooking the Dead Sea. And people on their
journeys in that day, when they came to that in Jedi, it was
really a relief for them. It was like coming out of the
desert into an oasis. And so this psalm, this camphor
from in Jedi, It comes from the glory of God in Christ. Our redemption,
our ransom, our protection, our blessedness is all from the lush
garden of God's glory, which is found only in the person and
finished work of Christ. And look at verse 15, he says,
behold, thou art fair, my love. Now this is the bridegroom speaking
to the bride now. And that's important. It's kind
of a little bit difficult when you go through the Song of Solomon.
It's a little bit difficult to say, well, who's talking here?
Well, this is Christ speaking to his bride. And listen to what
he says. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Fair? You remember what she said
over in verse five of chapter one? She said, I'm black. That's
a picture of our sinfulness, our unworthiness. When we see
ourselves and we look at our works, we're just so sinful,
aren't we? Don't you kind of live in Romans
7, 14 through 25? That's where we live, isn't it? But here's what the word of God
says. This is the word of our husband, our bridegroom. You're
fair. She said over in verse five,
I'm black, but I'm comely. Well, how could I say, what does
that comely mean? It means I'm beautiful. His bride is beautiful. But wait a minute. The bride
that he took to himself is a sinful bride who prostituted herself
to other husbands, other gods, like Hosea and Gomer. What a
great picture. But what he's saying is this
is how he sees her. He says, thou art fair. Now,
let me make this clear. How in the world can he see a
sinner like me and like you as fair, as beautiful? Well, you
know how it is. It's by his grace. His mercy,
He sees us as washed clean from all our sins in the blood that
He shed. He sees us as robed in the white
robe, the perfection of His righteousness. And He's not pretending here.
You know, a lot of people, when you talk about imputed righteousness,
they say, well, that's not real, that's fake. No, it's not. He says, you're fair. You're
a sinner saved by grace. You're a bride who in yourself
were unworthy, but you've been brought out of that unworthiness
by the blood of the Lamb. And he's not faking it here.
He's not speaking of things that aren't true. I heard a man preach
a message one time. He says that most people think
about being justified is that God calling you righteous when
you're not. Well, that's not true. I'm a
sinner, you're a sinner, but if we're in Christ, we are truly
righteous in a legal sense, and that's a real sense, that's not
fake, that's not legal fiction. In a real sense, we're beautiful,
we're righteous in Christ. And the proof of that is that
he gives us life. He says my love, that word means
his companion, it means his friend, it means his intimate. Christ is our companion in that
He's our surety. You realize that? It's kind of
like, you know, there's another analogy of Christ and His people.
He is the Father, not in the sense of God the Father. He's
God the Son, and they're the same equal in nature. But in
Isaiah 9, it talks about him being the father. In other words,
he's the one who took responsibility for the children of God and said,
I'll do for them what they cannot do for themselves. So he's our
companion in that he's our surety, he's our substitute, he's our
redeemer. He's our friend in that he'll never leave us nor
forsake us. He's our intimate in that he
loves us as his bride and he'll do everything necessary to save
us to the uttermost and he'll never leave us and never forsake
us. Just think about that. He said here in verse 15, thou
hast dove's eyes. Well you know in the Bible the
dove is a symbol of what? Peace. Rest. And of course that refers to
the work of the Holy Spirit in us who comes out from Christ,
brings us in new birth to see what we didn't see before. By
nature, we didn't have dove's eyes. We had raven's eyes, you
might say. See, the dove is not a predatory
bird. And by nature, we're like predatory
birds. We're trying to feed off, we're like those who feed off
the dead, really. Actually, not just predatory,
but what do they call that? The birds of prey, but like the
buzzard. We like to feed off the dead. But he in the power of his goodness
and grace in Christ gave us new eyes, eyes to see, dove's eyes. And that represents peace. God
is at peace with his people based on the cross. He made peace by
the blood of his cross. The ground of that peace is the
righteousness that Christ established, and now the call and command
of the gospel is be ye reconciled with God. Now by nature, we're
not gonna be reconciled to God in our ways. By nature, we're
enemies of God in our minds by wicked works, feeding off the
dead, dead works, trying to work our way into God's favor. But
in the new birth, what is it? He gives us new eyes, he gives
us dove's eyes. And we see that our only way
to have peace with God is through Christ. For God made him to be
seen. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So now we're reconciled
to God. We have Dove's eyes. We see him
as the Prince of Peace. And then look at verse 16. Behold, thou art fair, and that
this, This, I think, he speaks of her beauty and his love for
her. He speaks of her as pleasant and delightful, and she is because
the Lord delights to show mercy. Behold thou art fair, my beloved,
yea, pleasant. Also, our bed is green. Now what
does green symbolize in the scripture? Life. Life from the dead. Our union with Christ before
the foundation of the world in electing grace, God chose us
in Him before the foundation of the world, our union with
Christ on the cross as with redeeming grace when He paid for our sins
and established righteousness, that union with Christ having
been justified before God in him will always result in life,
spiritual life, eternal life. He says, if I be lifted up, I'll
draw all unto me. And that's what this is. And
you remember in John 15, he talks about himself as the true vine.
I am the vine, you're the branches. And the branches bear fruit out
of the life of the vine. Sin demands death. Righteousness
demands life. Our bed is green, he says. It's
living. And then the last verse, verse
17, the beams of our house are cedar and our rafters of fir. That's talking about the establishment,
the strength of his house. The marriage between Christ,
the bridegroom, and his bride is secure. There is no possibility
of divorce here. No possibility. He will never
write his bride a bill of divorce. Now you know what? Compare this
to the conditional covenant, legal covenant back in the old
covenant with Israel. It was always, see that relationship,
that temporal ceremonial relationship between God and the people of
Israel was always conditioned on their obedience, but their
whole history was a history of disobedience. And so Jeremiah
said, God's gonna write you a bill of divorcement. He said that
to Israel, the northern kingdom, and he told Judah, he said, it's
coming to you too. God's gonna divorce himself.
He's gonna do away with that and establish the new. And in
this new covenant, there is absolutely no bill of divorce, no possibility
of it. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. And this house of cedar and rafters
of fir, it's the house that Christ built. That's what he told Peter
and the apostles. He said, upon this rock himself,
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. And all who build upon that rock,
Christ Jesus, when the rains come and the winds descend, the
winds come and the rains descend, it'll stand. Why? Because it's
built on the rock. It's because of the rock, you
see. And that's what these beams of
cedar and rafters of fir indicate. Okay.