The Song of Solomon, Chapter
6. The Song of Solomon, Chapter 6. We'll continue our study in
this wonderful book. A book which is all about Christ
and His Bride and their mutual love for one another. Tonight we will see how the Bridegroom
is enamored in pictures with the Bride. Song of Solomon chapter
6, we're starting verse 4 and we read to verse 10. Thou art
beautiful, my love, is Terzah, calmly is Jerusalem, terrible
is an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me,
for they have overcome me. Thy hair is a flock of goats
that appear from Gilead. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep
which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins,
and there is not one barren among them. As a piece of pomegranate
are thy temples within thy locks. There are threescore queens and
fourscore concubines and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled,
is but one. She is the only one of her mother.
She is the choice of her that bare her. The daughters saw her
and blessed her. yea, the queens and the concubines,
and they praised her. Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners? Now, three weeks ago, we were
in chapter six, the beginning, and we looked at verses one to
three, and we saw Christ in his garden. Christ in his garden. We know from our studies in this
book that Christ's garden is his church. His church. His chosen
plants. And they are in a garden that's
enclosed and fenced in and kept safe and he watches over them
and he eats of the fruit that comes from them. And Christ's
garden again is his church and this This is all the bride, all
the elect of all the ages. And we considered how in verse
one, the daughters of Jerusalem are inquiring where the bridegroom
is. Now they want to seek him. Remember
in chapter five, the bride professed who he was. And now the daughters
of Jerusalem, they they just don't want to follow the bride.
They want to know who he is. They want to know who the bridegroom
is, who is the one the bride speaks of. because she's proclaimed
the heavenly bridegroom and his beauty. And we looked at how
this is one being drawn by the Holy Spirit to Christ. Then we
consider how the heavenly bridegroom comes in the midst of the bride
and how he is with his people where they worship. And he is
the center of our worship. He's the object of our worship.
The reason we come and gather together and the reason a preacher
gets up to preach is to proclaim Christ. And that's what you want
to hear. God's people want to hear about
Christ. Tell me what he's done. Tell me about my heavenly bridegroom. Tell me about the one who loves
me with an everlasting love. Tell me about the one who purchased
my soul at Calvary's Cross. Tell me about him. Don't tell
me what I have to do, just tell me what he's done. Tell me what
he's done. That's what's most important.
What he's done. What he's done. And then we looked
at all In awe at how our beloved, how he's ours. He's ours. Look at verse three. I am my
beloved's and my beloved is mine. That just leaves me in awe. Leaves
the believer in awe. Christ is mine. But more importantly,
I'm his. I'm his. My. What a savior, wonder of wonder. The Lord Jesus Christ delights
in sinners. He delights in sinners such as
I, because we have been redeemed with his precious blood, purchased
by his precious blood, and are now clothed in his perfect spotless
righteousness. And here in the verses tonight
before us, we have the bridegroom describing the bride in his eyes. And again, we will see that the
bridegroom is absolutely enamored with his bride. Enamored with
her. He loves her. And when we think
of how this pictures Christ with his bride, it's very humbling.
Because we know what we are. We know what we are by birth.
We know what we are by nature, in our natural state. And we
know what we are by choice. And then we know what we are
still after the Lord saves us. We're saved sinners. And so it's
humbling to look at how the Lord considers us, how he considers
us, how he's enamored with us, his blood-bought people. Because
we see no beauty in ourselves, do we? Do you see any beauty
in yourselves? We don't, do we? Not in a spiritual
sense, say. We don't see any beauty in ourselves
at all, we just see ourselves as sinners. But Christ sees us as beautiful. Beautiful. That's what the word
calmly means in verse four, it means beautiful. It means beautiful. Thou art beautiful, he says it
once, and then, oh my love is terza, calmly is Jerusalem, beautiful
is Jerusalem. Beautiful, beautiful. God's people
are to Christ. Beautiful or suitable, it means
in the Hebrew. And we know that he only sees
us in this state clothed in his righteousness, clothed in his
righteousness. So the text we're looking at
tonight encompasses the whole church, beloved. The blood bought
church of God, all the elect of all the ages. The Bride of
Christ. All those who were chosen in
Christ from before the foundation of the world. The whole company
of God's elect in heaven and in earth. All who have been saved
are saved and shall yet be saved by the grace of God. All the
elect. This is the Bride of Christ. So let's consider our text tonight.
Look at verse four. Thou are beautiful. Oh, my love
is Tersa. Calmly is Jerusalem. Terrible
is an army with banners here. The bridegroom proclaims that
his blood brought bride. Remember, sinners. Is beautiful in his eyes. Beautiful
in his eyes. And he says it twice. Because
again, calmly means beautiful. He calls her beautiful. Then
he calls her my love. Now that is a term of personal
endearment. Personal endearment. You're beautiful,
my love. What a love is here proclaimed.
What a love is here proclaimed. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the second person of the Trinity, the Word of God, declares and
proclaims of his bride, his blood-bought people, which he purchased with
his own blood, thou art beautiful, O my love. We don't feel beautiful, do we? But this is what the scripture
says. This is how Christ sees his bride. Beautiful. Think of this. He has loved his
bride. With an everlasting love. That's far before we were ever
born. He's loved his people, all of his bride, all that the
father gave him with an everlasting love. It stretches all the way
back to eternity past the love. Before the foundation of the
world, his bride was given to him and he's loved her from eternity. And it goes forth all the way
into eternity future. This is an everlasting love.
And she will always be His love. And nothing will ever change
that. Not our sinfulness. Isn't that
wonderful? She will always be his love. May we cry out with the hymn
writer. What wondrous love is this? Oh,
my soul. Oh, my soul. What wondrous love
is this? Oh, my soul. What wondrous love
is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful
curse for my soul? For my soul. He bore the penalty for our sins,
for the sins of all his people. Why? Because he's loved us from
eternity. And He loves us now. And He will love us forever. Truly, this is wondrous love,
isn't it? This is a love that finds no match anywhere. Nowhere. Nowhere on this earth. Thou art beautiful, all my love
is Terza, calmly is Jerusalem, terrible is an army with banners. Our Lord brings forth several
pictures of his love to explain the bride's beauty. Terza is said to be a beautiful
city, which was in the tribe of Manasseh, and it means pleasant
and acceptable. Pleasant and acceptable. Note
again, he uses the word calmly. And from our former studies in
this book, we, again, have seen how that means beautiful, suitable.
So now consider this, that Jerusalem is the city of God. It's symbolically
a type of the church. And it's said to be beautiful.
Beautiful. Hebrews 12, verses 22 to 24.
If you wanna turn there, you can, I'll read it. But ye are
coming to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God. the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
to the general assembly in the church of the firstborn, which
are written in heaven, and to the God and the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect. How are we just? How are we made perfect? In Christ
and only in Christ, only clothed in His righteousness. Now again,
we're still sinners, but there'll be a day, beloved, when we will
sin no more. Oh, it'll be a wondrous day.
It'll be a glorious day. For we who believe into Jesus,
the mediator of the new covenant, into the blood of the sprinkling
that speak of better things than that available. Again, we who are the bride of
Christ are only beautiful because we're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. That's the only reason we're beautiful in his eyes. We reflect his glory. We're clothed
in his righteousness. Oh, my. And how delightful for
the child of God to consider however poor, low and despised
we are in our own eyes and in the eyes of the world. Yet Jesus
declares his people beautiful. And he does it twice in our text
here because of his righteousness. Then another picture is bought
for terrible as an army with banners. The church's end sign
is Christ beloved. We march under his banner. Turn,
if you would, to Isaiah chapter 11. We march under his banner.
His banner over us is love. We saw that earlier in this book.
And in this world, we are soldiers enlisted in an army, beloved.
We are in the territory of a hostile enemy right now. But our banner
is the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ crucified,
and Christ himself. Christ himself. Look at Isaiah
chapter 11, verses 10 to 12. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, now we looked at earlier this morning that
we're rooted in Christ, aren't we? Which shall stand for an
ensign of the people. We rally around Christ, beloved. We flee to our general, our commander,
our Lord. He's the captain of the Lord's
host. To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. And it is glorious. The rest
that we have in Christ is glorious. And we seek him, don't we? We
flee to him. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people, verse 11, which shall
be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from
Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and
from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an end sign
for the nations. Christ's people come from every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, beloved. And she'll assemble
the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth. Oh my. So she's terrible to her enemies.
She's terrible to the ungodly, but beautiful to Christ. Let's
go back to verse five. Turn away thine eyes from me. Looking at the next verse, verse
5. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Here, the bridegroom is ravished
with love by his bride. When she looks to him, he's sick
of love, which means he's ravished with her. He's ravished with
her. He's ravished with his bride
just as she's ravished with him. Is that not so for us? Oh my,
is it not so for we? I ask you men, are you not ravished
with your brides? We're ravished with our brides.
She's the one for us. Christ is ravished with his bride,
with his bride. Turn, if you would, to Song of
Solomon, chapter 5, verse 8. One chapter over. Look at this. I charge you, O daughters of
Jerusalem. Now here, turn away thine eyes from me. He's ravished
with her love. It doesn't mean he's not telling
her that he's just so ravished by a look from her. That's what
several commentators said. He's ravished just from a look
from his bride. Turn away thine eyes from me,
for they have overcome me. He's overcome. with love, the
love that he has for her. The hare is a flock of goats
that appear from Gilead. Then look at Psalm 5, verse 8. The bride says, I charge you,
O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved that she
tell him that I'm sick of love, that means she's ravished. She's
ravished. It doesn't mean I'm sick of being
around. No, it doesn't mean that at all. She's sick of love. She's
just ravished with her bridegroom. And he is with her, as we see
here in verse five. He is with her. What peace and what joy we can
glean from verse five here. Turn away thine eyes from me,
for they have overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats
that appear from Gilead. We are a tried and troubled people
here on this earth, aren't we? We who believe. We go through
things every day, all the time. But let us always remember that
in the midst of these trials and tribulations, we are the
objects of Christ's love. that His eyes are ever upon us,
and His eyes are upon us with love. Even though we're going through
stuff and we're thinking, oh my, His eyes are set upon us. His eyes are fixed upon us. Oh
my. We are objects of His love, objects
of His eternal love, of His eternal love. And again, his love for
his people stretches all the way back from eternity past to
now and all the way up to eternity future, and it will never change. I like that. It'll never change. Christ's love for me will never
change. Despite my sinfulness, it'll never change. That's wondrous. Do you see how
it's the opposite of religion that tells you that, oh, if you
go and you do this and that, You're gone. Now, we're sinners,
let's just be honest. We are, we all struggle with
sin. Every one of us. But to know that his love will
never change towards me, that his love is an everlasting love,
that's overwhelming. And now do you see why the love
of Christ constrains us from sin? You see, when we contemplate
this wondrous love, Oh, do we not want to live for him? It's
wonderful. It constrains us. Oh, it's absolutely
wonderful. Though at times he does withdraw
his manifest presence from us, and we saw that earlier in this
book too, he never ceases to love us. Never, never. The love of God for His people,
for His blood-bought people, for those who were given to Him
before the foundation of the world, is without cause in us. Without change and without end. He loves His people with an everlasting
love and He is ravished with them. Look at verse 6, he continues
the picture of his love for the bride. We'll read verses 6 to
8 together. Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep,
which go up from the washing, whereof every one that bear twins,
and there is not one barren among them. As a piece of pomegranate
are thy temples within thy locks. There are threescore queens and
fourscore concubines and virgins without number. So let us first
consider verses 6 and 7, then we'll look at verse 8. Thy teeth
are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof
every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among
them. As a piece of pomegranate are
thy temples within thy locks." Note he sees her beauty. He sees
no flaw in her. No flaw in her. She sees her
own blackness. Remember over in Psalm 1, the
bride professes, I am black, but calmly. So I'm black with
sin, but yet beautiful in his eyes. That's what the bride's
confessing over there in Psalm 1-5. I'm black, but calmly, O
ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kadar is the curtains
of Solomon. I'm black with sin, but yet I'm
beautiful in his eyes, clothed in his perfect spotless righteousness. The bridegroom again is ravished
by her beauty. Contrast this with what he said
over in chapter 4. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
4. We're looking at verses 1 to 3. Behold, thou art fair, my love,
behold, thou art fair. Thou hast dove's eyes within
thy locks. Thy hair is as the flock of goats
that appear from Mount Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of
sheep that are even shorn, which come up from the washing, whereof
everyone bear twins, and there is none is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of
scarlet, and thy speech is calmly beautiful. Thy temples are like
a piece of pomegranate within thy locks. He sees no fault in
her. He just sees beauty. He just sees beauty. What wonders
grace is set here before us. Remember the again the bridegroom
had withdrawn himself and from the bride and we looked at that
how this was a picture of how when we're cold and indifferent
sometimes to the things of Christ that he'll withdraw himself from
us a little ways, but he'll never leave us here, never leave us.
He just hide his presence from us. And what grace we see here, he
had withdrawn himself from her in a previous chapter, but his
love for her never changed, even during that time. It never changed. What grace, beloved. We are accepted
in Christ. Accepted by God in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Despite our shameful sin, our
ingratitude, and the coldness of our heart, Sometimes our unfaithfulness
and our unbelief, His love for us will never cause us to be
any less accepted than what we are now. Isn't that wonderful? All our beauty, all our perfection
in His eyes, He sees us again without spot and unblemished
and undefiled. We'll look at that in verse nine.
All our holiness comes from Him, comes from Him. It all comes
from Him. And nothing can change the love
that Christ has for His bride. Nothing can change the fact that
we are accepted in the Beloved. In Christ, we are redeemed forever. Forever. In Christ, we are righteous. In Christ, we are accepted. Always
accepted, unconditionally accepted, and accepted forever. Forever. In Christ, we are forgiven. And
this forgiveness of sin that the believer has is in Christ
and it's full and it's free and it's sovereign and it's final. It's forever. He doesn't unforgive his people.
Because of our sinfulness, no. The reason we're forgiven is
because we're forgiven in Christ. And that which Christ done is
the only thing God will accept. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
32, the Lord will not never impute sin to his people. Why? Because
our sins were imputed to Christ. They were imputed to Christ. He paid all that God demanded
for our sins and the believer says for my sin He paid everything
that God demand my sin is paid for in full That's wonderful
news. That's good news for sinners
That's good news for sinners. Look at Psalm 32 verses 1 to
2 blessed If you're a believer, look at this blessed you're blessed
Who's blessed is he who's what transgression is forgiven? How
many of them all And look at this whose sin is covered. Oh, it's covered by the precious
blood of Christ. It's covered God passes over
the sin because of the blood of Christ covered paid for Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not in equity and in
his spirit. There's no God You're forgiven you're a blood-bought
saying of God you're blessed blessed We are forever forgiven in Christ
Forever forgiven in Christ and it's all by his grace And He,
God, will remember our sins no more. Now this is wonderful news. It's wonderful news. It's wonderful
news to sinners. If you don't know Christ, I pray
that He would show you that you're a sinner in desperate need of
Him. Oh my. Let's consider verses
8 and 9 together. There are three score queens
and four score concubines and virgins without number. My dove,
my undefiled, is but one. She is the only one of her mother.
She is the choice, one of her that bear her. The daughter saw
her and blessed her, yea, the queens and concubines, and they
praised her. Now note again, he brings forth
the particular distinguishing love. Now remember too, this
morning we looked at God's sovereign distinguishing grace, right?
Well this love that Christ has for his people is sovereign and
distinguishing too. This love that he has for his
bride, she is his one and only. She's his one and only. She's
the one with whom he's ravished. She's the one who is the object
of his everlasting love. Note there are threescore queens
and fourscore concubines and virgins without number. What
he's bringing forth here is that other kings have queens and they
have wives and concubines and mistresses and virgins and maidens,
but our Lord Jesus Christ is ravished and enamored only with
his bride. Only with his bride. She's the
only one who his eyes are fixed upon. She's enamored. He's enamored
with his bride. Note in verse 9, my dove, my
undefiled, is but one. One. She is the only one of her
mother. She is the choice of her that
bear her. The daughters saw her and blessed
her. Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised
her. She is one. All of God's elect
comprise one bride. All of God's blood-bought saints
comprise one bride. And we are one in Christ. Remember,
he's the head and we're the body. And that's what they're bringing
forth here. That's what the text is bringing forth here. and have
put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all." We're one in Christ, beloved.
We're one in Him. There's no rank or class or position
in the body of Christ. We all have the same Father,
the same Spirit, the same Redeemer, the same eternal inheritance,
And it's all in Him who is our heavenly bridegroom, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians,
chapter 12. 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. Again, I'll read their text.
My dove, my undefiled, is but one. She is the only one of her
mother. She is the choice of one of her that bear her. The
daughters saw her and blessed her. Yea, the queens and the
concubines concubines and they praised her. Look at 1 Corinthians
chapter 12. We'll start in verse 12. For as the body is one and hath
many members, and all the members of that one body being many,
our one body so also is Christ. For by one spirit we are all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free, and all be made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member,
but many. If the foot shall say, because
I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? No, it's still part of the body. And if the ear shall
say, because I'm not the eye, am I not of the body? Is it therefore
not of the body? If the whole body were an eye,
were the hearing, Where were the hearing? If the
whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God
set the members, every one of them, in the body, as it hath
pleased him. And if they were all one member,
where were the body? But now are they many members,
yet one body. And the eye cannot say unto the
hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet,
I have no need of thee. We need each other, beloved. Nay, much more these members
of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And
those members of the body which we think to be less honorable,
upon those we bestow more abundant honor, and our uncommonly parts
have more abundant commonness. For our commonly parts have no
need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honor to that part which lacked. That there should be
no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same
care one for another. We're to love one another, beloved.
We're to care for one another. We're one body. And whether one member suffer,
all members suffer with it. Or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ
and members in particular. So the bride composes the body
of Christ. Christ is the head, and we're
the body. And all the elect of all the
ages are the body. She's one. And note here, also
in verse nine, it says, my dove, my undefiled, is but one. She
is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her
that bear her. The daughter saw her and blessed
her, yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised
her. Now note, he sees no fault in her. He sees no fault in her. Undefiled there in our text.
It means complete. How is she complete? Well, she's
clothed in his perfect righteousness. She's complete. We are complete
in Christ, aren't we? That's where we're complete.
His salvation is what? A perfect salvation. A perfect
salvation. A completed salvation. And we
are complete in Him. And we are undefiled in His eyes,
being clothed in His perfect righteousness. He looks at us and sees us as
undefiled. We struggle with sin all the
time, don't we? But the scripture gloriously
declares here that His bride is undefiled. She's complete. That's wonderful news. That's
wonderful news. Good news for sinners. So in these verses, we have still
further proof that Christ's love to his church is a distinguishing
love. And again, we saw that this morning in the ground which
is prepared. The ground is prepared to receive
the word of God. It's prepared ground by God himself
to receive his precious word. And the Lord is ravished with
his people. She's the object of his love.
And in His eyes, she is so fair and so lovely and so beautiful. And I think of that and I think,
I'm so undeserving of this mercy. Is it so with you? This is truly
amazing grace. This is amazing grace. Bride is fair, lovely and undefiled,
all because of him. All because of him. Now let's
consider verse 10. Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners? Robert Hawker brings forth that
the contrast of moon and the sun here is the Lord bringing
forth how the church shines as the light of the sun in this
world to those who sit around in darkness. Churches like the
moon at night, reflecting the light of the Son of Righteousness.
And we have been brought forth from the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of Christ, to the kingdom of light. And when
we get the glory, turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 13,
43. When we get the glory, we're shined forth like the sun, beloved.
This is what the scripture declares. Matthew chapter 13, verse 43. And the only way this could be
said is because, again, we are clothed in His perfect righteousness.
The wedding garment that we wear is His righteousness. It's wonderful. Look at Matthew 13, verse 43.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom
of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as a son in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears
to hear, let him hear or shine forth again as the sun, because
we're clothed in his righteousness, perfect righteousness, the only
righteousness that God will accept. And think of this, but. We shall
be trophies of his grace. Monuments of his mercy. Forever. Forever. And we will give glory to Him
forever. Forever. These pictures which
we've looked at tonight bring before us the matchless love
that Christ has for His people. And this comforts the heart of
the believer. This comforts our heart. The
fact that He sees us as beautiful. We see ourselves as black. Black
with sin. He sees us. It's beautiful. Beautiful. Turn, if you would, to Zephaniah
chapter 3. Zephaniah chapter 3. What great
rest we can find in these pictures which we've looked at tonight.
To know that the Lord has forgiven all our sins. To know that we
are blameless in his eyes. Undefiled. Undefiled. What wondrous love is this? Oh,
my soul. Oh, my soul. Let's close with
this portion over in Zephaniah chapter 3, verses 14 to 17. Now,
in light of what we've saw tonight, in light of how the Lord sees
us as beautiful, undefiled, sing, O daughter of Zion. Sing. Sing with joy, beloved. Sing with gladness. 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. That's our king. Thou shalt not see evil anymore.
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 is
in the midst of thee. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. Mighty. Look at this. He will
save. And he saves his people from
their sins. He's done it at Calvary's cross. And then he lovingly draws
those he saves. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. We saw that. He's ravished with
his bride. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing. Rejoice, beloved. Rejoice, beloved
of God, and rest in our heavenly bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank thee for these wonderful scriptures which we've looked
at tonight. Oh, to see that we who are redeemed are loved with
an everlasting love, that that love is set upon us from eternity.
and that love will never change. It never changes now while we're
here upon this earth, and it'll never change in eternity future. It's everlasting, just as they
are. Oh Lord, may we who are redeemed
leave here rejoicing in this wondrous love. In Jesus' name,
amen.