New Life Worship Ministries

Meditations on Solomon's Song of Songs by Char Scott

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

Jesus is Captivated by His Bride

by Char Scott

Jesus is the most majestic, indescribably beautiful Person in all the universe. At the end of her testing, the Bride speaks of her Beloved with great passion, urgency and feeling. As she remembers all His attributes, she is strengthened. She is not offended in Him because of the trials she faces or because she does not feel His presence. She responds in complete obedience because she is lovesick for Him.

Now the daughters of Jerusalem ask another question. Let’s begin in Song of Songs 6:1, “Where has your Beloved gone, O fairest among women? Where has your Beloved turned aside, that we may seek Him with you?” Jesus has been silent through this time. She has endured her “dark night of the soul.” He continues to be quiet. The Body of Christ is watching her closely though. They now want to seek Him with her. They want to see Him as she sees Him and to be like her. They want to have what she has, and to know Him as she does. She is discovering that as she brings the knowledge of Jesus to others, she is also strengthened and refreshed.

The daughters call Him “your Beloved.” He is still her Beloved and not yet their own.

“O fairest among women” expresses their opinion of the Bride. They see her as a godly person filled with the Lord’s presence.

“Where has your Beloved turned aside?” They repeat their question to show their earnest, sincere desire to know the answer.

“That we may seek Him with you” indicates their desire to seek Him together. At first they were just curious about her passion. Now they are stirred to have the same in their own lives.

The Bride now answers in Song of Songs 6:2 & 3, “My Beloved has gone to His garden, to the beds of spices, to feed His flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine. He feeds His flock among the lilies.”

She answers that they will find Him in His garden. There is the garden, singular, and the gardens, plural. His garden refers to the worldwide universal church. There He is feeding His people in His gardens, all of the local churches filled with individual lilies. He is found in the midst of His people.

“My Beloved has gone to His garden.” He has not left her in the sense that He is still working in her life to bring about maturity. At the same time, He is working in the whole church.

“Spices” speaks of the different manifestations of grace on various people and ministries in the Body of Christ. There is one church in the earth, but many diverse beds of spices, many different reflections of Jesus’ personality in the church. It takes the whole Body to reflect all that God has to give.

“To the beds” refers to specific plots of ground within a garden. Some of the “beds” have an exceptionally rich fragrance of Christ that is distinct from other beds of spices. Jesus loves the whole church, but He manifests Himself differently to different parts of His church at differing levels of intensity.

“To feed His flock in the gardens and to gather lilies…He feeds His flock among the lilies.” His purpose is always in feeding, whether He is withholding His presence or releasing it. He is always feeding the Bride in order to cause her to become stronger. There are several ways in which He feeds us. He pours the sweetness of affirmation and intimacy on our hearts. He feeds us by discipline. He feeds us by withholding His presence.

“To feed His flock in the gardens” means He feeds His flock in the same place He feeds His own soul, in the midst of the community of His people.

“And to gather lilies” speaks of the purity with which He feeds us. It also refers to the individual believers that live in innocence, purity, and trust. The Bride is often called the “lily” in scripture. (Matt. 6:29, Hosea 14:5, Song of Songs 2:1-2, 16; 5:3, 13; 6:2-3.)

“To gather” refers to the gathering together of the Body of Christ. Jesus gather believers to Himself in passion, and He gathers unbelievers to Himself in evangelism.

“He feeds His flock among the lilies.” She is communicating her confidence that He does feed His flock, even in times of apparent barrenness.

“I am my Beloved’s, and my Beloved is mine.” This is a transition statement for the Bride. In the Song 2:16, the Bride said, “ My Beloved is mine, and I am His.” Up to this time, she has been focused on her inheritance in Him. Now she is aware that she is also His inheritance, and this has become her new priority. She is now more concerned about Him and how she can be a blessing to Him than she is with how He can be a blessing to her. She realizes that the source of her great love for Him is the revelation of His passionate desire and enjoyment of her. She is committed to whatever He desires and He most desires her! Therefore she can love and value herself for His sake, instead for her own sake.

Now the Lord breaks His silence and declares His view of her. Let’s read Song of Songs 6:4-7, “ O My love, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. Turn your eyes away from Me, for they have overcome Me. Your hair is like a flock of goats going down from Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of sheep which have come up from the washing; every one bears twins, and none is barren among them. Like a piece of pomegranate are your temples behind your veil.”

Jesus suddenly breaks His silence to reassure her of His great love for her after the season of testing. He gives her praise using three different metaphors declaring the beauty that was imparted to her through her trials and tribulations. All through the difficult season He was perfecting and adorning her heart with beauty. The knowledge of how Jesus loved her made her beautiful. She is also made radiant and beautiful by her love for Jesus. The Father has adorned her as a Bride for her Bridegroom.

He then affirms three aspects of her character, which He had formerly spoken over her prophetically, namely her mature dedication, her maturity in the Word, and her mature emotions.

“O My love” expresses how He feels about her. His is communicating His strong love for her. Every time in the Song He speaks to her, He prefaces it with “O My love” or “My beautiful one.” When the Lord speaks to us, He may not always use these phrases but that feeling, that paradigm of love is always in His heart for us. “You are as beautiful as Tirzah.” This word “Tirzah” literally means beautiful, delightful, or pleasant. Tirzah was a city that became the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It was the most attractive city ruled by Gentiles. This beautiful city speaks of the Bride being beautiful in the midst of unbelievers. Her beauty would not only be seen by God, but also by those who did not know God. She would stand out among them.

“As lovely as Jerusalem” Jerusalem was the spiritual capital of Israel. It was the national center of worship. It was the holy city, the place where His glory and His presence stayed. It was the most important city on the earth because it was the only place the Shekinah glory of God dwelt. Jerusalem here speaks of worship or inner beauty that result from worshipping God. She is also beautiful to believers. Her beauty reaches both groups, the believers and the unbelievers.

This passage satisfies her longing to feel beautiful. This is a longing the Lord has put in each heart--to be beautiful and to feel the beauty we possess. This is how God feels about Himself. There are many types of beauty, but this beauty is the ultimate beauty. The absolutely beautiful God declares that we are beautiful in His sight. He wants us to delight in feeling beautiful before Him. This beauty is eternal--it will not fade or decrease, unlike natural beauty.

She is beautiful because she is now able to walk in the First Commandment, to love Him with all her heart and soul and strength. This is a stunning reality that touches our emotions powerfully. Her beauty is the result of feeling God’s love for her which awakens love in her heart for Him. She is reflecting His love back to Him, and this makes her beautiful.

When we come into this reality, no one can take this from us. It is ours forever. It does not depend on any earthly circumstance. To live in this reality makes us powerful right now.

“Awesome as an army with banners” refers to her victory in this test. “Awesome” usually refers to the manifestation of God’s power. This power of victory has been released into her spirit. The Holy Spirit has poured a supernatural impartation of His love into her heart, and it has made her victorious. An army with banners indicates she has been at war, and she is returning victorious. A victorious army would return from war with banners waving for all to see. His banner over her is love, and now she is marching in victory with the banner of the love of God. The central issue of spiritual warfare is always the First Commandment. Will we be offended at God or will we love Him? (II Cor.11:3)

The mind that is not renewed leaves us open to attack. The truth brought into our spirit, our heart, and our mind makes us strong. She is believing without seeing, and there is great reward for this type of faith. God’s heart is greatly moved by this faith. She feels nothing, yet she loves.

“Turn your eyes from Me, for they have overcome Me.” This may be the most dramatic statement in all of scripture. Jesus is overcome with irresistible love for His Bride as she offers Him her love and worship in the midst of this difficult test. Her love could not be denied. This is the ravished heart of God fully manifested.

First, He describes her beauty, and then He describes His passion. “Turn your eyes from Me” tells us the beauty of her gaze captivates Him. He was not asking her to literally look away, rather He was speaking in the extravagant language of romantic poetry. He is stating the impact she has on His heart.

“They have overcome Me.” He is describing His passion for her. The love of fallen broken people overcomes Him. No one can conquer or overcome Him, yet this one thing has subdued Him, the gaze of His Bride when she obeys Him. He is the ultimate warrior, yet He is easily conquered by the devotion of His wife. God has created us to become the partner that will capture the essence of Jesus’ heart. She could never have imagined this response. In this age we will never understand the powerful impact that we have on the heart of Jesus. We do not easily understand the heart of Jesus being ravished. We have never seen such devotion from any other being in creation.

Now Jesus describes her maturity and highlights three aspects of her maturity. These things were real to Him even before she matured, now they are evident to others as well.

“Your hair is like a flock of goats going down from Gilead.” Hair speaks of dedication and consecration. Hair is also a part of a woman’s beauty. Her dedication is beautiful to Him.

“Your teeth are like a flock of sheep.” Teeth are used as a channel of nourishment to receive the meat of the Word of God. He is speaking of her life in the Word.

“Which have come up from the washing” refers to being white and pure without mixture. Her pure motives and wisdom are due to her life in God’s word. (James 1:21)

“Every one bears twins” means she is also fruitful due to her life in the Word. (James 15:7-8)

“Like a piece of pomegranate are your temples” refers to the sweetness of her emotions to God. The pomegranate is red, which means her countenance is sensitive to shameful things, thus red from blushing. Her emotions now reflect His own emotions.

Her dedication, her life in the Word, and her transformed emotions are emphasized here. They enhance her ability to have intimacy with God. Knowing how He feels about us and feeling love back to Him is the reward we carry within us. This reality meets our longing for intimacy. When we walk in this reality, it does not matter how successful we appear, we are successful in His sight.

“Behind your veil” speaks of her hidden life before God and how she lives when no one is watching.

Now the Lord describes the pre-eminence of His Bride in the royal court. “There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.” His Bride has more honor and excellence than all the heavenly hosts. From the least to the greatest, all heaven are joyfully serving and esteeming the Bride that the Father has chosen for His Son’s eternal inheritance. They are all aware that this Bride has captured the heart of the King. Throughout the book of Revelations the angels are seen as servants of Jesus and the Bride.

The numbers “60 and 80” and then the group “without number” represent different degrees of glory in the royal court of God, among the angels and other types of heavenly beings. Ancient kings had large harems, but the queen was distinguished among them all. The queen is the most dignified woman in a King’s court. She has an exceptionally high position of honor and prestige. Jesus would only die for His Bride, not for the angels or other heavenly beings.

Here He is touching her longing for greatness. This is a longing He has also put in every human heart. Fairy tales are expressions of this desire for the poor little maiden to find her true greatness through the love of the Prince. He made everything for us. We are worthy beyond description. No matter our circumstances on earth, we are wealthy, we are royalty. When He gives us His heart, He gives us His kingdom to share with Him. All He has is ours.

Jesus now describes the Bride’s unique honor in Song 6:9, “My dove, My perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her. The daughters saw her and called her blessed, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.” Of all the glorious hosts in heaven, the Bride has no equal and no rival. His Bride is the only magnificent obsession outside the Trinity. He is totally satisfied with her alone. He wants no other. She is unique and completely set apart. He is saying, “You are the only one in my heart.”

We may say to ourselves, “How can this be true?” but it is true. God created only mankind in His image, in His likeness, to His liking. This is a huge revelation. We cannot define ourselves by any other reality. This is what defines us--we are His favorite!

This is the essential definition of what holiness means. Holiness means set apart and unique to God. To possess the knowledge that we are set apart unto God in a unique position makes us hate to live in agreement with the devil, which is the essence of sin.

“My dove, my perfect one, is unique.” The Church will eventually become perfected in love. His Church will be radiant without any spot or wrinkle. (Eph. 5:26-27)

“The only one of her mother, the favorite of the one who bore her” refers to the universal church that has given birth to the Bride. The church is the mother who brings forth all new believers. The church is also the Bride that is brought forth from the new birth. We are used to bring people into salvation who will later become the mature Bride in heaven. It is the delight of the Bride to partner with her Beloved in this way. It is her favorite privilege to awaken others to the romance of the gospel. Of all the works the church does, this is the favorite, to bring others into a saving relationship with Jesus.

“The daughters saw her and called her blessed, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.” The glory of the Bride in eternity will far eclipse even the greatest angel. The highest archangel is neither a co-heir nor a part of the Bride of Christ. Only when the Bride comes forth is the heart of the King fully glad. Therefore, all of the kingdom in heaven will be filled with great joy when she is revealed. The host of heaven will rejoice with eternal gladness as the Bride comes into her position.

The Holy Spirit comes forth to affirm the Bride’s position in Song 6:10, “Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” This question is repeated three times in the Song, in chapter 3:6, 6:10, and 8:5, each time when the Bride comes forth into maturity. He is saying, “Look at this fantastic work of God that I have worked into her heart.”

The Spirit uses four metaphors to describe her uncommon beauty. Jesus has compared her to two earthly cities, which refers to her beauty while still here on earth. Now she is compared to heavenly objects. “Who is she who looks forth as the morning” can also be translated “grows like the dawn” or “ shines forth as the morning.” The light of dawn appears on the horizon gradually increases into the full sunlight of noon. This speaks of her gradual spiritual growth, maturity, and personal victory. Here He is describing her in her full glory in eternity. “The morning” also refers to a new start in God’s forgiving mercy as the foundation of everything she accomplishes. God’s mercies are new every morning. (Lam. 3:22-23)

“Fair as the moon,” speaks of evangelism and warfare. The moon was ordained by God to reflect light in the night season and the sun to give light by day. The moon only receives and reflects the light of the sun. Thus, the mature church is like a source of light in a dark and fallen world. She is filled with light to bring deliverance to the captives held in the darkness.

“Clear as the sun” speaks of her full glory with brilliant shining light. Jesus is the source of light in the eternal city, according to Rev. 21:23. The Bride will be shining at His side as the sun in the eternal age, reflecting the light of God throughout the entire eternal city. All of our beauty comes from the light of Jesus which He freely imparts to us. The light has increased in the Bride because of the Lord’s affirmation of the Bride. Now the dark night of the soul is over, and she will shine like the radiance of the sun.

“Awesome as an army with banners” portrays her as the triumphant, militant church. She has had victory over her own heart, and now Jesus speaks of victory in the heavens over principalities. Through all eternity, we will rule with Him over everything, reigning with Him in His divine government over all the works of His hands.

She is now a weapon in God’s hand over the powers of darkness. The word “awesome” is the same Hebrew word as “terrifying.” The greatest glory she possesses is terrifying to the powers of darkness as she triumphs over her own sin.

She first experiences a little of God’s light as the dawn, the light of gradual spiritual growth and maturity, then more light as a beautiful moon, reflecting the light of Jesus in a fallen world, and finally, as the sun, the light of His eternal glory, the army terrifying the powers of darkness.

It is truly an amazing experience to get a glimpse of the way Jesus feels about each of us. When we open our heart fully in love to Him, He is overcome in love for us. One glance of our eye makes His heart beat faster. What an incredible thought that we, in all of our struggle and weakness have such an effect on the Creator of the universe. He sees us as we will be, and He knows His love is able to bring us fully to that place of maturity as His Bride.

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

Home
Our Vision
Our Testimony
Faith Statement
Introducing...
Covenant Marriage
Kingdom Connections
Individually Fashioned
Isaiah 54 Company
Song of Songs
About Women
Ordination
Events
Contact
Links