SPIRITUAL DAIRY FOR 6/17/2013
11:05 AM
Continue looking at
the Introduction to the Song of Solomon
We will continue to look at the introduction to the
Song of Solomon in today’s Spiritual Diary, but first I want to write about
something that I saw this morning that moved my heart in thankfulness to
God. It was a beautiful morning this
morning and so I decided to take my prayer list outside and sit on our little
swing we have set up on the patio, along with a cup of tea that I have been
drinking each morning. The sun was warm
and the birds were singing as I began praying.
I looked up at a bird house that is on a pole in our backyard and
watched as a sparrow went back and forth feeding the young that are in the bird
house. I could hear the chirping of the
little baby birds as they came to the opening of the bird house and accepted
the food that the parent sparrow brought to them. This happened many times as I set there
watching them and it reminded me of how our heavenly Father feeds us from His
Word. As a little bird I am to be ready
to receive the food that my Father has for me in His Word.
Interpretation: I
know that we spoke a little bit about this in yesterday’s SD, but we will look
again at what the interpretation of this wonderful book is about. The Jewish people looked at this as a book of
instruction of the proper use of sex and of marriage, but they also looked at
it as a book of how God loved them as His people. Israel is portrayed as being married to God
in different places in the OT, and so the love that God has for them is also
seen in this book. When we get to the NT
we know that the Father has sent His Son to the earth so that He would purchase
a bride for Himself, and the Church is the bride of Christ. Dr. Wiersbe writes “The Holy Spirit wants to
bring to us a deeper fellowship with the Father and the Son as we commune with
the Lord in His Word and obey His will (John 14:19-27). Worship and fellowship are to be much more
than religious rituals and doctrines we agree with intellectually. There can be a deeper work of the Spirit in
our lives that reveals the heavenly Bridegroom in a fuller way, and we should
not be satisfied with a mere surface acquaintance with the Lord.”
We have to be careful about bringing too much allegory
into the Song of Solomon, thinking that we can see pictures in the book that
are just not there. Dr. Wiersbe cautions
“All things are possible to those who allegorize—and what they come up with is
usually heretical.”
Greater than Solomon:
Let us look at Matthew 12:42 to see where this term came from: “The Queen of the South will rise up with
this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the
ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater
than Solomon is here.” We know from the
book of 1 Kings that Solomon was known for his great wisdom that He received
from the Lord, but Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God as seen in the following
two passages, “1Co 1:24 but to those who
are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God.” “Col 2:3 (Christ) in whom are
hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Next we see that Solomon was known for His
wealth from 1 Kings 10, but Christ has unsearchable wealth as seen in Ephesians
3:8 “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the
Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.”
In Philippians 4:19 “And my God will supply all your needs according to
His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” We
know that Solomon disobeyed the Lord by marrying 700 wives and having 300
concubines, but Jesus Christ obeyed His Father and died on the cross that He
might have a spotless bride for all of eternity as seen in Ephesians 5:25-27 “25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ
also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having
cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church
in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she
would be holy and blameless.” Rev. 21:2 “And
I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made
ready as a bride adorned for her husband.”
9 ¶Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the
seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show
you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’”
(Rev. 21:9)
Next we see that Solomon built a temple for the Lord that
was destroyed, but our Lord Jesus Christ is building His temple, the Church, as
all true believers are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Yes Jesus Christ is greater than Solomon.
I think that it was good to see the picture of Jesus
Christ being greater than Solomon, as this will help us better understand the
greatness of our Lord, compared to the sinfulness of man, even a man who was
the wisest of all men.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “Paul” (Acts 9:4-5)
Today’s Bible
Question: “Who was not an apostle of
Christ: James, John, Matthew, Luke?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
6/17/2013 11:39 AM
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