Solomon chapter 7, I'm taking
the title for the message from what he said in verse 6. How fair This is the Lord Jesus
Christ describing his people. How fair, how beautiful, as it
says in verse 1. How beautiful, how fair, how
pleasant art thou, O love. We are the love of his life. He loved the church and gave
himself for it, O love, for delights. How fair and how pleasant thou
art. The Lord Jesus Christ celebrates
the beauty, the beauty of his bride. the beauty of his bride,
the way the Lord Jesus Christ sees his bride, called the Lamb's
wife, the church of the firstborn, is the way every believer truly
and really is in the sight of God. Now you just think about
that for a minute. In the sight of God and before
the throne of God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him we stand
complete, complete in Him. You remember from our study in
the Revelation where one of the messengers from heaven said to
John, come here and I'll show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. Every believer is vitally joined
and married to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is true of him
is true of all of us as believers because we are one with Him.
We read in 1 John 4, 17, herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is,
so are we in this world. As He is, so are we in this world,
now and forever. Whatsoever God doeth shall be
forever. Nothing can be put to it, nothing
can be taken from it. God does it that man should fear
before Him. Now in this chapter, Solomon
7, is a continuation of an intimate love story between Christ, the
royal bridegroom, who described the beauties of his spouse, the
church, in many illustrations, to express his love to her and
the delight he has in her, in verses 1 down through verse 9. And then in verses 10 down through
verse 13, we'll look at this next week, the spouse, the church,
expresses her great delight in him. They delight in each other.
The church delights in her husband. We're married to him. We are
in love with him. and the desire she has is to
be in communion and fellowship with him. For as it says there
in chapter 5, verse 16, his mouth is most sweet. Yea, he's altogether
lovely, this is my beloved, this is my friend, O daughters of
Jerusalem. He is All together, lovely unto
us. In Isaiah 54, talking about our
husband, For thy maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts, the
Redeemer, the Holy One. That's his name. We are married
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew Henry had this comment
in his commentary on Song of Solomon. Such mutual esteem and
endurement are there between Christ and believers, and what
is heaven but an everlasting interchange of love between the
holy God and his holy people. We enjoy that now, but it will
be for eternity. Eternity, interchanging love
between God and his people. In Isaiah chapter one, the Lord
describes us from head to foot in our sinful character by our
birth and by our nature. Turn just one page to Isaiah
chapter 1. He says in verse 4, a sinful
nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children
that are corruptors. They have forsaken the Lord.
They have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They are
gone away backward. Why should you be stricken anymore?
You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, the whole
heart is faint." Notice he starts here, "...from the sole of thy
foot even to the head." There's no soundness in it. but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores that have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. From the head to our
foot, from the sole of our foot even to their head, no soundness
in us. But if you look over here in
chapter 7 of Psalm Solomon, the Lord describes us as beautiful
in his sight. The Lord describes us from our
feet to our head and says we're all together lovely and beautiful
in his sight. How can you account for such
an extreme difference? We see what we are in Adam, in
ourselves, in our sinful nature, and then we see what he has made
us in Christ. It is only by his sovereign will,
purpose, and grace that he has made us beautiful in his sight. You remember, we've seen this
statement several times. Look at chapter 4, verse 7. Chapter four, verse seven, thou
art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee, not
even a speck of sin. His blood cleanses us from all
our sin. And then in chapter six, you
remember verse four, thou art beautiful, oh my love. Beautiful in his sight, beautiful
in his sight. Who makes you to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't receive? It's only
His grace that has made us to differ. Remember in the book
of Jude, and this is such a beautiful description, what the Lord says
of us, Now to Him that is able to keep you from falling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with
exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Savior be glory, majesty,
dominion, and power both now and forever, to present you faultless
in His sight, in the presence of His glory, and He does it
with exceeding joy. He's not ashamed. You remember
we studied in the book of Hebrews where it says He's not ashamed
to call us brethren. He's not ashamed of us because
we're beautiful in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ calls His
church here a new name in verse 1. The prince's daughter. Oh, prince's daughter. The Lord
Jesus Christ is called the prince of glory, right? He's called
the prince of the kings of the earth. He's called the prince
of peace, who has made peace for us with his own blood. And
he calls his daughter, his wife, his bride, his church, his children,
the prince's daughter. The prince's daughter, as we
read in Psalm 45, the king's daughter, don't turn, let me
just read it to you again. Notice the reference there, Psalm
45 verse 13, the king's daughter is all glorious within, her clothing
is wrought of wrought gold. He's made us special garments
of salvation and he has clothed us in his righteousness. Us,
his daughter, his people, his son, behold what manner of love
the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons
of God. Born from above by his Spirit,
born not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but born
of God. We are sovereignly adopted into his family. Paul writes
in Romans 8, for you have not received the spirit of adoption
again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption whereby
we cry, He's our Father, Abba Father. He redeemed us from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us. The fullness of time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem them, to redeem them that were under the law that
we might receive the adoption of sons. He's adopted us into
His family. We're His workmanship. We're
His workmanship. Notice, the work of the hands
of a cunning, expert workman. We're His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. God who has begun a good work
in you, He will finish it. And by a living union of faith,
we are one with Him. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And by this
marriage covenant, This marriage covenant of grace that we have
in our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I in them, thou
in me, that we may be made perfect in one. Remember John 17. Husbands,
love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with a 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 God sees us as we
are one with the Lord Jesus Christ. When he said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased, He says that of every son in
Christ. In this blessed, blessed covenant
of grace, though He found us dead in our sin, corrupted and
defiled with a sinful and wicked nature, guilty before God, He's
made us new creatures in Christ. He's made us lovely in His own
sight. And He marries us in that eternal
covenant. Now, in the following verses,
he gives a tenfold description in poetic, symbolic language,
intimate language of his church, as we are in his sight, precious
in his sight and honorable. Look at verse one. How beautiful
are thy feet. How lovely. How beautiful are
thy feet with shoes. This is true of every believer. We have feet set in Christ to
stand in liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. You remember
the description of the believer in Ephesians chapter 6, having
our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We have,
how beautiful are thy feet with shoes. He's covered our feet
with His shoe of love and grace. And this is true of every gospel
preacher. Remember how beautiful are the
feet of those that preach the gospel of peace, that bring good
tidings and good things. Turn over here to Isaiah 52 it
is. Turn. You can find that quickly,
Isaiah 52. How beautiful are thy feet with
shoes. The beautiful feet of the preacher.
Remember his message, Isaiah 52 verse 7. How beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings,
that publish peace, that bring good tidings of good, that publish
salvation, that saith unto Zion, what do they say? Isaiah 52 verse
7, thy God reigns. God reigns and reigns and reigns. Glad tidings of good things.
How beautiful. He made us beautiful. He clothed
us with gospel shoes and sent us with the message that our
God does reign. The second thing he talks about
here, and also in verse 1, he said, the joints of thy thighs
are like jewels. The joints of thy thighs are
like jewels in his sight because of the cunning work of his mighty
hands. The body of Christ is held together
by the joint and bands of his love, mercy, and grace. Like
our body is held together with different ligaments and joints,
isn't it? His body, he's the head, we're
the body. But his body is held together
by the ligaments of his love, grace, will, and purpose. I found this scripture in Colossians
2. Let me read it to you. The head,
talking about Christ, capital H-E-A-D. H-E-A-D, head, from
which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment
ministered, knit together, increased with the increase of God. Bands
and joints in His body. Thy joints, the joints of thy
thighs are like jewels. We are His jewels. Look at verse
2, chapter 7, verse 2, thy navel, is like a round goblet which
wanteth not for liquor or mixture. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat
set about with lilies. The navel is a round goblet,
and it can be literally translated, thy waist is a basin of roundness. It lacketh not for mixture. Some suggest that this is referring
to the waistband that is worn at the wedding feast adorned
with jewels to cover the navel. And certainly this would be true
of the believer robed in the righteousness of Christ he is
given unto us. He clothed us with the garments
of salvation and with a robe of righteousness. Some also have
suggested that this is referring to the navel or the umbilical
cord not cut and bleeding and lonesome. but rather vitally
connected to Christ by which we receive all nourishment from
him. Believers are nourished with
the word of life, the milk of the word. We're not cut off.
We're vitally, that umbilical cord, how important is that umbilical
cord to the baby? I mean, all the nourishment goes
right from the mama to that baby, and we have that union with the
Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Proverbs, the
greater Solomon said this, Being connected with Christ and being
found in Him, we lack for nothing. Do we? He supplies all our need
according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus Christ. We're complete in Him. The fourth thing he says there
in verse 2, thy belly is like a heap of wheat, a pile of wheat. Now how useful is wheat? I mean
talking about wheat in the field, in the wheat field. All the body
is nourished from our belly, right? It denotes the spiritual
prosperity of a believer and the helpful makeup of the soul
in all difficulties. Even so, in Christ, we are nourished
up in him who is called the bread of life, the wheat of life, the
wheat upon which we live and move and have our being. Remember,
he said, I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. Wheat
is most useful, isn't it? Fruitful, how many things that
we probably don't even think about it, that we consume daily
that come from the wheat. And Christ is our nourishment. He is our bread. And then the
lilies, wheat is most useful, most fruitful, and the lilies
most beautiful. Notice, the belly is like a heap
of wheat set about with lilies. Beautiful. His wheat fields are
not full of weeds like my garden. His wheat fields are full of
beautiful flowers. Beautiful flowers. Christ is the head of the body
of the church. Christ is the head over all things.
To the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth
all in all. Here's the fifth thing, look
at verse 3. Thy breasts are like two young deer that are twins. We've seen this before back in
chapter 4 verse 5. The testimonies of heaven and
the earth, they coincide and they agree together. And that's
what that's a symbol of. They are twins. The message of
the Lord of heaven and the church is one and the same message.
What He says, we say. What He declares, we declare. What is that message? Christ
is the only way of salvation. Repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The twins of faith in Christ,
the twins are faith in Christ and love to Christ. Repentance
toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. They're like
twins, young rose, active and alive, jumping, leaping, overcoming. Look at verse 4. Thy neck, he
talks about here. He describes the whole anatomy
of the church, doesn't he? Thy neck is like a tower of ivory. Thy eyes like fish pools at Hetchbone. Thy neck is as a tower of pure
white ivory. The neck, which was before compared
to a tower of David in the Chapter 4, verse 4, but here it's compared
to tower of ivory, so white, so precious, such is the faith
of the saints by which they are vitally joined to our head. What does our neck do? Pretty
important, isn't it? Connects our head to the body.
And we are vitally joined to the Lord Jesus Christ by the
precious faith. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. This vital union is a union of
faith. looking to Christ, the faith
of God's elect, always acknowledging the salvation of the Lord. Precious
faith, Peter calls it. And then he mentions the eyes
in verse four, the seventh thing. Thine eyes are like fish pools
in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-Rabbin. I suppose the fish pools of Heshbon
by the gate were well known for their purity, the clearness,
the purity, the freshness. The freshness in refreshing a
weary traveler couldn't wait to get to that pool of water,
so clear and so refreshing. Even so, the eyes of faith are
fixed upon Christ, refreshing the weary sinner daily as we
always look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, He said, look unto
Me, and be ye saved. I am God, there is no other.
And He is called the water of life, is He not? Our eyes look
to that pool of water, life-giving water we have in our blessed
Savior, well of water springing up into everlasting life. He
said, if any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He
that believeth on Me, as the Scripture had said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. Lord, give me that water. The fish pools, our eyes are
fixed upon the water of life, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then
he talks about the nose, the nose like the Tower of Lebanon,
which look at toward Damascus, the north, the north country.
The believer has a keen sense of smell. able to discern the
sweetness of a true gospel, and able to detect the sourness,
the obnoxiousness of that which is false. We smell of that sweet
savor of his sacrifice and we say most satisfying. It's a sweet
smelling savor of life, is it not? The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is not a stumbling block to a believer. It's not an offensive
odor to the believer. We smell of his sacrifice and
it's, oh, it's lovely. It's lovely. Now unto him, now
thanks be unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ
and make it manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every
place. This also speaks of the boldness
of the believer to stand in opposition to the enemies of the gospel
and to contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints.
We smell that his sacrifice is satisfying and lovely. We won't
have any other sacrifice, will we? We stand fast for the gospel. And then look at verse five.
Thy head upon thee is like caramel. And notice the marginal reference
is crimson. Crimson. Thy head upon thee is
like crimson. And the hair of thy head like
purple. Purple's a color of royalty, isn't it? You remember they put
a purple robe on the Lord Jesus Christ when they mocked Him and
said, Hail, King of the Jews. Thy head is like a high mountain
of caramel. The head of the believer is lifted
up above the enemies by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hold
your place there. Remember, turn back here to Psalm
27. Our head's been lifted up above our enemies because our
head is Christ. And the Father says of him, set
at my right hand till I make all your enemies to bow at your
footstool. Look at Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, to inquire in his temple, for in a time of trouble he shall
hide me in the secret of his tabernacle. He shall hide me,
he shall set me up upon the rock, and now shall my head be lifted
up above my enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing praises unto
his name. Our head has been lifted up above
our enemies because the Lord Jesus Christ has been exalted. We're going to see in our lesson
from Hebrews chapter 6, Christ our forerunner, Hebrews 6 verse
20, the last verse in that sixth chapter, Christ our forerunner
has entered in for us and is seated, and we are seated in
Him, right? He is our forerunner. And because
he's exalted, what's true of the head, as I've often said,
what's true of the head is true of the body, where he is, we
are in him. And then he mentions in verse 5, and here's the tenth
thing that he talks about, the hair of thy head like purple. The king is bound in the galleries. The hair of
thy head like purple. Purple is the color of royalty.
The color of the king. As the hair of a woman is said
to be her beauty and glory, even in Christ is all our beauty and
all our glory. We're sons of the king. The king. Now look at verse 6. How fair, how pleasant art thou
Oh, love, having loved his own, he loved them to the end. Here
in his love, not that we love God, but he loved us, sent his
son to be the sacrifice for our sin. He loved us and washed us
from our sin in his own blood. How fair, how pleasant art thou.
It's only by his grace that he can say that of us. Because as
we read just a moment ago in Isaiah chapter one, what we are
by nature is terrible. Terrible. From the sole of our
foot, even to the head, there's no soundness but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores that have not been bound up due to the
mollified appointment. But here he says, how fair, how
pleasant art thou, O love. He delights in his people. That's love, amazing love, isn't
it? That's amazing grace, is it not?
Amazing love and amazing grace. The Lord delights in the beauty
He has given unto us. Not born that way by nature,
but made so by His righteousness put upon us. Remember that cast
out infant that the Lord passed by in Ezekiel 16? It was a time
of love, and the Lord passed by and clothed that infant. And it says in Ezekiel 16, 14,
Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, but was
perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee. He's
made us lovely in his sight. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputes righteousness without works. It's only as we're made
fair and pleasant with His justifying righteousness given unto us that
the Lord delights in us." Hold your place there and turn right
over here to Isaiah 62. Isaiah 62. We've seen this before
in our study in the book of Isaiah. Look at verse 3, Isaiah 62 verse
3. Thou shalt also be a crown of
glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand
of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed
forsaken, neither shalt thy land any more be termed desolate,
but thou shalt be called Hebseba. Hebseba, that is, my delight
is in her. And thy land, Beulah, married. and thy land shall be married.
Hephzibah, my delight and my beauty." That's the way the Lord
sees us and that's the way we truly are. Now, let me just read
verse 7, 8, and 9 and make just a couple comments. This thy stature
is like to a palm tree and thy breast to clusters of grape. I said, I'll go up to the palm
tree, I'll take hold of the boughs thereof. Now also thy breast
shall be a cluster of the vine, and smell thy nose like apples,
and the roof of thy mouth like the best wine for my beloved
that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep
to speak." Let me make just a few comments on that. The Lord delights in the fellowship
and communion with his people. Two things he mentions here are
the palm tree and the cluster of grapes. What Christ said he
will do, be sure that he will do it. He says, I will take hold
of the boughs of the palm tree. Believers are often compared
to trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. The Lord
has taken hold on us and will never let us go. We become the
fruitful tree through Him. Now, I read something today that
I've never considered before about this palm tree. And what
I read is the palm tree is a very unusual tree. Most trees are
nourished by their roots, right? But what I read today, and I
don't ever remember reading this, the palm tree is unusual in that
it's not nourished by the roots, it's nourished by its head. Christ
is our head. Christ is our head. We read in
Psalm 92, turn over there to Psalm 92, and here's the scripture
that Psalm 92 verse 12. Because the head flourishes,
the boughs of the palm tree, they flourish. Psalm 92, 12,
the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Why does the righteous flourish
like the palm tree? Because of Christ our righteousness.
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish
in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing
to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock. There is no unrighteousness
in Him. They shall be fat and flourishing."
Fat and flourishing. Second thing, the church to Christ
is like a cluster of grapes on the vine. Fruitful, pleasant,
sweet, Pleasant like the smell of apples. We know that Christ
is called the true vine. And we are branches in Him that
are fruitful. And then verse 9, the Lord delights
in the praise of His people. Verse 9, He delights in the praise
of His people. The rip of thy mouth like the
best wine for my beloved that goeth down sweetly, causing the
lips of those that are asleep to speak When He pours in the
wine of His grace, the wine of His love, and we swallow that
down and partake of that, don't we speak forth sweetly of His
person, of His work? What a refreshing and stimulating
effect the word of truth has upon His elect. It's like the
best wine that goes down sweetly, causing us to sing praises unto
His name. Remember Psalm 119 talked about
the sweetness of His Word? How sweet are Thy words unto
my taste, yea, sweeter than honey, sweeter than honey to my mouth. The Gospel of Christ, when preached
and blessed of God, will cause the dead to arise and the drowsy
to wake up and to praise the Lord. As David said, Bless the
Lord, O my soul. Who alone is worthy, is He not?
He's worthy of all honor and praise and blessing and glory,
both now and forever. I want you to turn to another
scripture and I'll close with this, but look at Isaiah 41,
Isaiah 41 verse 10. Isaiah 41, verse 10, and let
me read this verse to you. I found this verse today in Zephaniah
3, 17. The Lord God in the midst of
thee is mighty. He will save us. He will rejoice
over us. He will rest in His love over
thee with singing. He sings of us. And then look
at this verse here. This is one of my This is one
of my go-to verses. When I was in the hospital last
week waiting to be operated on, I took this verse with me. Fear
thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, I am thy God. Notice, I will strengthen thee,
yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. Now, you can take that with you
wherever you go. And oftentimes, when I'm sitting
up here and thinking about preaching and the awesome responsibility
that goes with declaring the Gospel of the Lord, I often go
to this verse right here. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. The Lord said that to His disciples
who were so scattered and so weak and frail. He said, you go and preach the
gospel knowing that I have all power, and then remember this,
oh, I'm with you always. Always I'm with you. He'll never
leave us. He'll never, never fail.