Along with Solomon chapter four,
you remember throughout chapter three, the bride, she's describing
the bridegroom, how beautiful he is to her and everything he
means to her emotionally and spiritually. Now in chapter four,
the bridegroom describes the bride, how beautiful she is to
him and what she means to him. I remember our wedding day. I remember standing down there
in the front of the church, my best man standing there, Brother
Henry. I'm telling you, I was as nervous
as I could be. My stomach was just turning flips. And it wasn't that I was unsure.
I wanted to marry Jana. I wasn't unsure. It was just,
I guess, you know, this is a big day. And they opened those doors
in the back. There she stood. I mean, a vision
in white. I could see her smile. Number one, she's here. She hasn't
run off. Number two, she's smiling. She's not sad. She's coming down
to marry me. She hasn't wised up yet. And
I'm telling you, her beauty just struck me. And those nerves were
gone, instantly gone. And I could still tell you what
it felt like, what the things were going through my mind. I
watched her walk down that aisle. She's coming to be my wife. I
mean, I just thought, my goodness. That's what our Lord's describing
here. What he sees, how he describes his bride as she comes to him.
So I've entitled the lesson this morning, Here Comes the Bride.
And I want you to look how our Lord, our beloved, well-beloved,
describes his bride. He says in verse one, behold,
thou art fair. Now, this is how the Lord sees
his people. Thou art fair. He says in verse seven, thou
art all fair, my love. There's no spot in thee. Now,
I know that's not the way we see ourselves. When we look at
ourselves, all we see is sin. We are like the bride back in
chapter one. Remember, she said, I'm black,
so don't look at me. I'm full of sin. Don't look at
me. But our Savior, Our husband says
his bride's all fair. He sees no spot of sin in her. We don't see any spot of righteousness
in ourselves. He sees no spot of sin in his
people at all. And to most women, what really
matters to her is how her husband sees her. If he says she's beautiful,
that's really all that matters to her. Well, all that matters
to a believer is not how I see myself, not how others see me,
But how does Christ see me? And He sees us as we are. He sees us in reality. However
it is He sees us, that's the way we really are. Now look over
in Ephesians chapter 5. I can tell you how this happened.
How the bride of Christ became fair without any spot of sin. In Ephesians 5. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as 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. That's how we became without
spot and blemish. We've been washed. washed in
the blood of Christ, washed in that blood and the water, the
double cure that flowed from his side. No matter what I am
by nature, the blood of Christ has cleansed me from every spot,
every stain and every wrinkle. Christ gave me his righteousness
in the new birth. So I stand before God's throne
spotless. Now that's the way a believer
is in Christ. That's the way we are. It's through
union with him by what he's made us. And that's the way he sees
us. And he says here, behold, thou art fair, my love. Now that's
not just a pet name. That's the state of grace in
which we live. That's the way our Lord's always
seen his people and his eternal love for them. And then the bridegroom
here is going to give us a sevenfold beauty of his bride. Seven is
the number of perfection. This is her perfect beauty. First
of all, he says she has beautiful eyes. Behold, thou art fair,
my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast
dove's eyes within thy locks. Now this is the eye of faith.
Relying on Christ is beautiful. Faith in Christ, depending upon
Him, relying upon Him, he sees that as beautiful. And these
are eyes that see, they see Christ. They're eyes that have understanding,
so they keep looking to Christ. Now, eyes are the windows of
the soul. And our Lord says, his bride's eyes are like dove's
eyes. They're eyes that mourn over
sin, they're eyes that are tender and compassionate, and they're
eyes that are clear. They see Christ. But their eyes
behind her locks. Now that word locks, it doesn't
mean her hair's down in her eyes. That word locks means veil. The
bride's wearing a veil. A believer has eyes that see.
We have eyes that understand. But it's through a glass darkly,
and it's through that veil. And our bridegroom's describing
the time. He lifts that veil up, and she
looks straight into his face with nothing between. And he
looks straight into her face. Now that's a joy to a believer.
Every believer in this room would chill just from up your spine.
To think of the moment that you're going to see the Lord face to
face. We look forward to that such
a joy? Do you know the bridegroom does
too? Our Savior looks forward to that
moment. He sees his people face to face. She's got beautiful
eyes. Then he says she has beautiful
hair. He said, thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear
from Mount Gilead. Now, I don't think it would go
over too well if I told Janet, you know, your hair looks like
a bunch of goats. I don't think that's going to go over too well.
And that's not what the bridegroom's saying here either. This is all
in picture. Remember, this is in picture.
And I think there's a few things that he's referring to here.
First of all, he's referring to God's elect are like the hairs
of our head. We can't count them, can we?
But God says, I got the hairs of your head numbered. Well,
that's his elect. We can't count them. They're
more than we can count. but God's got everyone up numbered and
not one of them will fall to the ground. Not one. We're secure
in Christ. And second, the bridegroom, what
he's talking about here is the beauty of the bride. Well, a
woman's hair is her beauty. Look over first Peter chapter
three. A woman's long hair is a sign of submission to her husband.
And our savior says, that's beautiful. First Peter chapter three, Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection
to your own husbands, that if any obey not the word, they also
may without the word be won by the conversation, the conduct
of the wives, while they behold your chaste conversation coupled
with fear. who's adorning, let it not be
that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold
or of putting on of apparel, but let it be that hidden man
of the heart, and that which is not corruptible, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight
of God of great price. For after this manner in the
old time, the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves,
being in subjection unto their own husbands. Even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord, whose daughters you are, as long as
you do well and are not afraid with any amazement. Our bridegroom,
our savior, is talking about our submission to him, being
beautiful to him. Then third, this pair refers
to Christ our covering. When is a believer beautiful?
only when we're hidden in Christ, when we're covered with His blood,
when we're covered with His righteousness, covered in His person. That's
when we're beautiful. And he mentions specifically
goats that are fed from Mount Gilead. Now these goats were
known for having the most beautiful coats. And the reason for that
is how rich the grass was there on Mount Gilead. It was very
good grass, it made them more pretty. That's what it is with
the believer when we feed on Christ and we feed on his word.
That's what makes a believer beautiful. He says, she's got
beautiful hair. Then verse two, he says, she's
got beautiful teeth. Thy teeth are like a flock of
sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing, whereof
every one bear twins and none is barren among them. Now teeth
are what we use to eat. And the bride's teeth, he says,
are all even. What he means there is there's
no big, long fangs, like you see on a lion or a tiger. God's
sheep don't need those big, long fangs. We don't bite and devour
one another. We're not out there hunting meat.
Sheep eat grass. We eat the green grass of God's
Word, so we need even teeth. That's the teeth of God's bright
ass. And there's no gaps in the teeth.
There are no missing teeth, just like none of God's elect. None
of them will be lost. None of them will be missing.
And he says specifically, they're white teeth. They've been washed.
The bride of Christ has been washed in his blood, both outside
and inside, every whit clean and white. And these sheep, they're
fruitful. These teeth he's talking about
here, like a flock of sheep, they're fruitful. They have life. They're not barren because Christ
has given them life. They're so fruitful. They all
bear twins. Now that's talking about how
fruitful, how full of life God's people are, but they bear twins. They all look alike. Every believer
looks exactly the same. They've all been made just like
our Lord Jesus Christ. We've been made, we who believe,
have been made just like Christ. Now try to let that sink in for
a minute. I mean, that's too glorious to even be able to comprehend
with our pea brains. We have been made just like Christ. She's got beautiful teeth. Then
verse three, he says, she's got beautiful lips. Thy lips are
like a thread of scarlet and thy speech is comely. Now, red
lips are considered to be pretty. That's why lipstick's so popular.
Lipstick's big business. I mean, men probably don't really
notice this, but sometimes I just walk through a store. I mean,
there's a million kinds of lipsticks, shades and colors, and my soul. Why is that? Because red, bright-colored
lips are considered to be pretty. Janet says sometimes, oh, wait
before we're getting ready to go somewhere. She says, wait, I've got to put
on my lips. I don't know, they come off. She says, I've got
to put on my lipstick. Red lips are considered to be
pretty. And they're considered to be healthy, more healthy than
dry, pale lips. Well, the lips of the bride of
Christ, they're red lips. They're beautiful in Christ.
And when he's talking about her lips here, he's talking about
her speech. Her speech is beautiful because of what she talks about.
She talks about Christ. She's talking about her husband.
She talks of his blood. I mean, it talks up here about
a scarlet thread. The first thing I thought of
is that scarlet thread that hung from Rahab's window there in
Jericho. She speaks of the blood, just like that red scarlet thread
hung from Rahab's window spoke of the blood of Christ. She's
not talking about ugly things that are contrary to her husband.
She's not speaking of things that are contrary to his glory.
Her speech is beautiful. And her prayers. are beautiful. Christ considers the prayers
of his people beautiful. Now our prayers may sound weak
to us, but you know, they're sweet to our Savior and that
encourages us to pray. You know, parents, we have little
children and they don't, they're too little to understand all
the right words or good grammar or something. Does that ever
offend you? Does it ever make you not want
to listen to them? Even though our prayers are weak and full
of sin, our Lord says her speech is beautiful. Her prayers are
beautiful. That encourages us to go to our
Lord in prayer. He says those prayers are beautiful.
And the praise of the bride, when she praises her husband,
Christ says they're beautiful. That's weak to us. We know our
praise is mixed with sin, but it's sweet to Him. So let's praise
Him. He says that is sweet sound to
Him. And her lips are healthy. They're
beautiful and they're healthy because she has health that Christ
gave her. And she has a healthy marriage.
And that's why she talks about her husband always in good terms.
She never tears him down publicly, never tears him down. Her speech
is comely. She's got nothing bad to say
about him. And she guards his glory carefully. Her speech is
comely. She got beautiful lips. Then
fifth in verse three, she's got beautiful temples. Thy temples
are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. Now pomegranates
always refer in scripture to the sacrifice of Christ. When
you cut a ripe pomegranate in half, it's got seeds in there,
they're floating in a sweet red juice, picture of the blood of
Christ. When we were in Mexico, when
we have breakfast, there's a variety of juices, The girls always ask
what I think. They say, would you like some
juice? And I think, what do you got that I can't get at home?
Well, pomegranate juice is one of them. I drank pomegranate
juice there, not necessarily because I was so spiritual. It
tasted good. But I did. I drank that pomegranate
juice thinking about these pomegranates that are a picture of the sacrifice
of Christ. You remember when the Lord gave
Moses the instruction to build those or put together those beautiful
garments for the high priest, for Aaron. On the hymn of Aaron's
ephod, Moses made pomegranates. Remember, he alternated a pomegranate
and a bell, pomegranate and a bell. So that when Aaron was in the
Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, the people would listen
for those bells ringing. If they heard those bells ringing,
it was the pomegranate knocking against the bell. They knew Aaron
was still moving around. So Aaron was alive. And Aaron,
if he's alive, the Lord must be accepting the sacrifice he
was making for their sin. This pomegranate speaks to the
sacrifice of Christ, how we're accepted in him. And these pomegranates
are at the bride's temple, right next to her brain. Now, I imagine
the softest spot on our head is our temples. But what protects
the believer's temples? It's the sacrifice of Christ.
What protects a believer's mind from error? The sacrifice of
Christ. That's the helmet of salvation
that protects the believer's head right next to her temples.
But pomegranates at this time are also considered to be a fruit
of passion. Our Lord says it's beautiful.
He sees his bride's passionate love for him and he finds that
beautiful. She's got beautiful temples.
Then six and verse four, she's got a beautiful neck. Thy neck
is like the Tower of David, builded for an armory, whereon they hang
a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men." Now the neck
connects the head to the body. That's about the extent of anatomy
lesson I can give you. The neck connects the head to
the body. What our Lord's speaking of here
in picture is the believer's union with Christ and is by His
grace. And the bridegroom describes
the neck of his bride as a strong tower that David built, a well
defended, strong tower. It's so well defended, this tower
is an armory. All the shields and the bucklers
of the mighty men hang there. But what are those shields and
bucklers and swords, all these weapons of war that hang there?
It's the word of God. It's the gospel. These are our
weapons of spiritual warfare. Her neck is strong, well defended. with the word of God and the
gospel. The bride's neck is standing straight like a tower. It's not
bowed down under the great burden of sin because Christ has removed
that burden from his bride. So she holds her neck up straight.
The burden's been lifted. And her neck's not bowed down
in shame because Christ has removed the shame of his people. He took
our shame when he took our sins and his body on the tree and
he bore it away. That's why scripture says over
and over and over again, no one who believes will ever be ashamed. You'll never be confounded, never
be ashamed because of who is your representative, who's your
head? It's Christ. And he kept the law perfectly
as the representative of his people. And he gave that perfect
obedience that he earned as a man to his people. That obedience
is perfect. So his people will never be found
guilty. They'll never be ashamed. She's
got a beautiful, strong neck. Then seventh in verse five, she's
got beautiful breasts. He says, thy two breasts are
like two young rows that are twins, which feed among the lilies. Now our Lord here, he's speaking
of the beauty of his bride. She's a mature grown woman. She's
not a child. She's a woman. And her breasts
are not just for beauty. They serve a useful purpose.
They feed her babies. Now that can only refer to one
thing, the sincere milk of God's word. That's why Peter said his
newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby. And the two breasts probably
refer to the scriptures, the Old Testament and the New Testament.
They're perfectly matched. They have the exact same message. Christ, Salvation by grace. And that's the nourishment that
a believer has in the word, both the Old Testament and the New
Testament. And the bridegroom talks here about young rose feeding
among the lilies. Does that sound familiar? We
looked at that in chapter two, verse 16. This is where the bridegroom
feeds. She says in chapter two, verse
16, my beloved is mine and I'm his. He feedeth among the lilies. Here he says the bride's feeding
among the lilies. Well, you know why that is? The
bride feeds the same place the bridegroom feeds, among the lilies,
among the people of God. That's where she comes and feeds
on the word of God. She's beautiful, sevenfold beauty,
perfectly beauty, beautiful in the Christ beauty that he put
on her. Now look at verse six. Until the day break and the shadows
flee away, I will get me to the mountain of Myrrh and to the
hill of frankincense. Now every believer will say this.
I'm well pleased with Christ. I'm well pleased with my beloved.
I long to be with him. I long to see him. And until
that time, I long to praise him here. I long to praise his name
right now. And I certainly long to one day
be able to praise his name perfectly. I long to be with him. Well, do you know Christ is well-pleased
with His bride? Just like we're well-pleased
with Him, He says, I'm well-pleased with my bride. He says that in
verse 9. He says, Thou hast ravished my
heart, my sister, my spouse. You have ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. I'm ravished with
you. I'm well-pleased with my bride. And He's so well-pleased with
her, He's chosen to stay with her forever. And one day he's
going to bring her to be with him forever. He's so pleased
with her. Christ is so pleased with his
people. He loves his people so much.
He went to Calvary for those people. He went to Calvary to
suffer and to die for her, to put her sin away so that she
can be with him forever, forever beholding his glory. That's what
the mountain of Myrrh and frankincense refers to. Myrrh and frankincense
were mixed with the sacrifice that they offered. And the mount
he's referring to here is the mount where they built the temple,
where the sacrifice was offered. They'd mixed myrrh and frankincense
with the sacrifice to make a sweet smell. Well, that's the sacrifice
of Christ. And the myrrh, that's what they
actually gave our Lord. He's cried on a calvary's tree,
I thirst. That's what they gave him to
drink. It's myrrh. This is speaking of the sacrifice of Christ. He's
so well pleased with his people that he went to Calvary for her.
And he's so well pleased with his people because he went to
Calvary for her and put away all her sin and made her beautiful.
He's well pleased with her for the beauty that he put on her.
Now verse seven, thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot
in thee. Now when the bridegroom describes
the beauty of his bride, It sounds like he's describing his own
beauty, isn't he? I mean, he's the one who's perfectly
beautiful in every way. Well, in a sense, he is describing
his own beauty. Believers are married to Christ.
And what does scripture say about a husband and a wife? They're
no longer two. They're one flesh. A believer
has become one flesh with Christ so that we are what he is. Look
at Psalm 90. Psalm 90. In verse 16. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants and thy glory unto their children and let the beauty of
the Lord our God be upon us and establish thou the work of our
hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands establish
thou it. What's our beauty? Let the beauty
of the Lord our God be upon us. A believer is joined to Christ
so that we are what he is. Now that's the only way that
God can say in truth that you're fair. That's the only way he
can say it is that we've been made just like Christ. The only
way God can say I love you is because we're in Christ. God
can't love us as we are by nature. He can only love us as we are
in Christ. The only way the all-seeing eye
of God can say, I find no spot in you, is that we've been made
just like Christ. And God finds no spot, not even
a spot of sin in His people, because He charged all of that
sin to Christ at Calvary. And Christ bore that sin and
put it away under His blood. He gave us his beauty, his perfect
beauty, his perfect righteousness, so that there's no spot of sin
in our husband and no spot of sin in the bride. And Christ,
our bridegroom, tells his bride, you're fair because you're justified
in my blood. There's no spot of sin in you
because you've been sanctified in my blood. So the bride's comfort. What is the believer's comfort?
It's not how we see ourselves. It's how Christ our husband sees
us. If he sees us as beautiful, that's all right. That's what
I care about. How does he see me? But you know, the more we
learn of Christ, the more we see, these eyes that see, the
dove's eyes, the more we learn of Christ, the more we see how
unclean and how defiled with sin we are by nature. The more
we see that, the more we go back and depend on all that matters
is how Christ sees me. And thankfully, he sees us as
we really are. Now, whatever God says, that's
so. It doesn't matter what we see
or what we think, whatever God says is so. And he says, he sees
his people without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. So when I
sin, that's really me. That's me doing it. When I sin,
that's me. But you know, when I pray, And
when I worship, when I serve the Lord by serving others, that's
really me too. It's the new man who's been born
from above. And that's the only man our husband
sees. So our comfort and our assurance,
it's not what we are by nature. It's not that we've improved
upon our nature. It's what we are in Christ. It's
how our husband sees us. And that's what gives comfort
and assurance to the heart of the bride. It's how my husband
sees me. He says I'm beautiful, then I
am. I don't care what anybody else
says. He says I'm beautiful. All right, I hope the Lord will
bless that too.