New Life Worship Ministries

Meditations on Solomon's Song of Songs by Char Scott

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The Song of All Songs

by Char Scott

We are all here tonight because we long to experience more of God’s love for us and to express that love back to Him. We want to grow in passion--to go deeper in love, to have our hearts ignited with the fire of His love. There is one book in the Bible that is the clearest expression of the Lord’s heart for us. It is the book “The Song of Solomon,” or as I prefer to call it, “The Song of Songs.” Tonight we are going to begin a study of this book with the confidence that as we study this love song written for us, our hearts will respond in greater love for the Lord.

King Solomon wrote about 1005 songs. This was his best song--the Song of Songs, just as Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is the superlative, the highest expression that cannot be improved upon. No song is higher. It is the greatest prophetic song in all history. The purpose of prophecy is to reveal the heart of God, therefore, this prophetic song reveals the beauty, splendor, and majesty of His personality in a way no other song does. In Revelations 15:2 & 3, the saints are pictured standing around the throne of God on the sea of glass singing two songs--the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. The song of Moses is recorded in Ex. 15. It is the song of the deliverance of God’s people from Egypt. The other song is Jesus’ song, called the Lamb’s song. Jesus is called the Word of God, so it is logical that His song is also written in the scriptures as well. Is there any song greater than the Lamb’s song sung over His Bride? The Song of Songs, being the greatest song, may well be the Lamb’s song, sung over the Bride in heaven.

There are many interpretations of this book, the Song of Songs. The two main ones are the natural interpretation and the allegorical interpretation. The natural interpretation focuses on the book as a literal human love story involving King Solomon and his bride, the Shulamite. It views the book as a natural love story based on biblical principles written to honor and inspire deeper love within marriage, expressing the emotions of an actual romance. The allegorical interpretation views the book as a symbolic story, like the Narnia Tales or the Wizard of Oz. Allegorical interpretations are important and helpful as long as they illustrate truths that are established in other places in the scriptures, especially in the New Testament. The meanings we give to the symbols are only safe if they agree with truths that are central to the gospel story.

There are three common approaches to this allegory. All can be true. This is one wonderful characteristic of God’s Word--it can express various aspects and layers of truth in the same verses. Historically, the Jewish people have seen this book as an expression of the relationship between God as the Bridegroom and natural Israel as the Bride. It reveals the Lord’s heart to restore the Jewish people to Himself. A second valid point of view sees this book as demonstrating the relationship between Jesus and the corporate Church in much the same way. Finally, the third allegorical interpretation focuses on the relationship between Jesus and the individual believer. This perspective will be our focus. This book is an allegorical love song between Jesus and each believer, describing the progression of spiritual development from immaturity to maturity. It offers great insight into our personal growth in holy passion before the Lord. Without this revelation, believers easily live carnal lives, focused on themselves. Each of us, as the Bride, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is called to make ourselves ready, to grow into maturity to take our place at the side of our Bridegroom King, Jesus. This song touches all the necessary principles of growing in mature love.

It is the focus of this book that makes it unique. The concept that God’s heart is ravished over us, His people, is found from Genesis to Revelations, but the way it is expressed in the Song is unique. This song gives a condensed revelation of the passionate affections in Jesus’ personality, including His enjoyment of and His affection for weak yet sincere believers. It gives exceptional insight into the beauty of Jesus as a Bridegroom King. It offers essential revelation of the unique beauty and loveliness of each individual believer, what you truly look like to God through His eyes. It reveals the honor and beauty of the Church throughout history. And it relates the principles of growing into mature love and bridal partnership with Jesus.

In this Song, the Holy Spirit sets forth a divine pattern of growing in holy passion. It is a perfect pattern and cannot be improved upon, although our understanding of it can be improved upon. It sets forth divine principles of spiritual maturity and helps us to understand our spiritual progress with greater clarity. As we meditate on this book, we will see ourselves over and over in it. God uses the same principles in all of our lives to train us although He applies them differently in each life. When we realize this, we don’t feel so isolated in times of pressure and trial. Understanding the different seasons of our lives helps us reach maturity. However, it is not a simple matter of step by step to an end. These principles are applied over and over, or even several ways at the same time. We learn the principles for understanding, not for measuring. So be careful not to try and measure your level of maturity--this is a trap. Just stay focused on Jesus and His love for you. Get up each morning and give your heart to Him and He will accomplish His purposes in your life.

Jesus said the first and greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matt. 22:37) The order here is important--our hearts are the key to unlock our love for the Lord. Our soul, which includes our will and our emotions, and our mind will follow. Our own attempts to stir our hearts to love God will fall short. It is only as we allow the Lord’s love for us to touch our hearts that love is released in return to Him. The purpose of the Song of Songs is to increase our passion for Jesus as we see and understand more fully His love for us. As we study this love song written for us, our hearts will respond in greater love for Him. The Holy Spirit is exalting Jesus in the Song of Songs. This is the anointing God is releasing in the Church today--the fire of love calling us to love God with all our hearts, to see the beauty of God, and to be empowered to walk in the first commandment and, therefore, in the second commandment.

God wants to touch our whole heart. Part of our heart was created to respond best to a poetic expression of love. The words used in this Song touch our hearts in a unique way. God is not just saying, “ I love you”, He is saying, “How do I love you? Let Me count the ways.” The images of poetic language evoke a response in our hearts that simple statements cannot. As we take the language in this Song and allow images to be produced in our minds, truth is released into our hearts on a deeper level. The secret to unlocking the truths in this book is to take the verses and make them into simple prayers. For example, Song 4:10 says, “ Your love is better than wine.” Take that verse and pray, “Thank you, Lord, that your love is better than the wine of this world’s pleasures. Reveal this truth to me. Give me a spirit of revelation about this truth.” Let the verses become prayers and then wait on the Lord. Write down the things the Lord puts on your heart as you listen to Him. Then the Song becomes a dialogue with Jesus.

However, if you have ever tried to read this book, you may have found that some of the images and symbols used are not easy for us to understand today. What does it mean to have “teeth like newly shorn ewes” ? Or to have “cheeks like a bed of balsam”? I have no idea, and you probably don’t either! So we will study the book together over the next few weeks so the language can become more meaningful and useful to us. Also, the idea of bridal romance is not what we may think it is. It is about coming into a position of intimacy and partnership with God Himself. The language can throw us off. “Dance with Me. Come and romance with Me.” What does this mean? Being romanced does not mean kissing Jesus as we might picture it. It means your spirit is tenderized by the revelation of the beauty and the majesty of Jesus. It means we are fascinated in our spirits with God Himself, with the mystery of His beauty, His power, and His majesty. The dance is about embracing the risks, facing our fears, going to the high places of difficulty and adventure in the very heart of God, moving in harmony with Him, following His lead in our lives. So this is for everyone, not just those who picture themselves as romantics.

The bridal paradigm, seeing ourselves as the beautiful and beloved Bride of Jesus, allows us to discover truths previously hidden to us in the Word of God. As we begin to see ourselves more and more as He sees us, we are changed. We will be transformed when we discover how God thinks and feels about us, especially in our weakness. It will cause us to run to Him, not away from Him in our weakness, and to open our spirits before Him. It will produce love that is not quenched in spite of our circumstances. This bridal paradigm makes sense because it is a reality that we, as believers, are already promised in marriage to Christ. Jesus is already fully in love with us. Our destiny in eternity is to be His Bride. The Song talks about the touch of God upon the human spirit in the language of marital love.

The Song of Songs is an eight chapter love song. Chapter 1, verses 1-4 contain the theme of the love song. Her first request is to be kissed. Her journey starts with her longing for a kiss and ends with her receiving a seal of supernatural love on her heart. She cries for His kiss because she wants more--she is no longer satisfied with what she has already experienced. This hunger and dissatisfaction is essential and valuable. It is a gift from the Holy Spirit. Her journey to maturity begins in verse 5 of chapter 1 and ends in chapter 8, verses 6& 7, when God seals her heart with fire. Many believers love God in an introductory way, but He desires maturity.

Let’s begin tonight with the first two verses, “ The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s. May He kiss me with the kisses of His mouth!” We have already talked about the fact that this Song is the superlative of all songs. It is the Song that Jesus, the Bridegroom King, uses to romance and to cherish us, His Bride. There are three main characters in this book: Solomon, the king, a picture of Jesus; the Shulamite, a young maiden who eventually becomes mature, a picture of each believer, the Bride; and the daughters of Jerusalem, those who are curious about why the bride is so fervent, a picture of an attitude of heart that loves Jesus, but does not press on into intimacy.

Song 1:2 speaks of the ‘kisses of His mouth.” The mouth of God speaks of God’s Word. His words proceed out of His mouth. The release of the Word of God into our hearts produces life and love. When God created Adam, He breathed life into Adam through His kiss. Each time the Lord kisses us through His Word, greater spiritual life is produced in us. Man lives by the Word of God--it is the source of our life and of our love for Him and others.

The divine kiss is a metaphor of intimacy with Jesus. It is not a literal kiss--we must understand this book in light of all of scripture. We can best understand the kiss of God scripturally in this sense--it is like God putting His hand on our heart with fire, expanding our capacity to receive His love and to give Him our love in return. We receive the kiss of God’s Word when the Holy Spirit anoints the Word, it hits our heart, our heart expands, and our ability to feel and receive it increases, resulting in a greater ability to live in the reality of that truth. That is the kiss of His Word.

How does God communicate His kiss to us? There are several ways. The first is through personal meditation on the Word of God. The most effective way to do this is to turn the Word into personal conversation with God. As we do this, we are giving our hearts to Him and receiving His heart through the Word of God. A second way is through the sharing of other people in song, in teachings, or in testimonies. When we feel our hearts moving, we are experiencing the kiss of God’s Word. Another way is through the prophetic revelation of the Holy Spirit, in words, dreams, or visions. And finally, we can receive the kiss of God’s Word through the ministry of other people as they pray for us, show kindness, or simply in expressions of genuine friendship.

Let’s allow her request for His kisses, her hunger for more, to be our heart cry tonight. Let’s pray, “Father, we are awestruck by this reality of the burning desire in your heart for broken people like us, that You long for us, that You pursue us, that your thoughts are focused on us, that You yearn for intimacy with us. That thought touches our hearts, Father. We love the way You love us, and we love You in return. We ask You, Holy Spirit, to come and take the things that belong to Jesus and awaken them in our spirits. Awaken our hearts in love, Lord, set our hearts on fire with love for You tonight. Kiss us with the kisses of your Word. Breath life into our hearts through your kisses, Lord. Amen.

Summary | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | Index

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