This is the third book

Song of Solomon

(S of S c1 v1-6)

The Song of Solomon is a book of romance, writings about the divine love of the 'Bridegroom' for His 'Bride'.The 'Bridegroom' being our dear Lord Jesus and His 'Bride' the 'Mystical Body of Christ', the 'Church of the Redeemed', only those who have their names indelibly written in 'The Lamb's Book of Life'.Saintly men and women have found the Song of Solomon a source of exquisite delight, in this book of Scripture our Lord's love for His peopleis symbolized by Solomon's love for the Shulamite Woman

In support ofthis teaching in Scriptural of the bridegroom and bride we have the actual love story betweenBoaz and Ruth.Because of the love Boaz had for Ruth he bought out the estate of Elimelech in Bethlehem, in doing so became her 'Kinsman-redeemer', this pointing to our Lord Jesus.The Son of God became as man, our kinsman so that He could redeem us, He's our Kinsman-Redeemer.Ruth was able to live in security with her mom Naomi and on the appointed day Boaz and Ruth were married.This story shows Boaz as a type of Christ and Ruth typical of everyone who is a Christ-one.It is interesting to note that Boaz the man took the initiative in this romance, this is the pattern for a husband, a manin Scripture.Yes the man, as a man, should take the responsibility in a marriage, but with the wife in partnership, NO ONE PARTY SHOULD DOMIONATE.Please read Ephesians c5 v22 right to v33, I will dwell a little more on this matter in the next paragraph.We will now travel through just the first few verses ofThe Song of Solomon, may our hearts, minds, spirits and emotions be enrichedin a deeper understand of our Father God and His love for us His people.All this expressed so wonderfully in and through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ

Immediately in this writing we noteits Solomon's love for the young Shulamite Maiden, she was attracted to Solomon, then it was her desire that King Solomon would 'draw her after him'.This teaching that its our Father God who takes the initiative in drawing us to Himself, we cannot become Christians ourselves.As we are born, there's no spiritual life in us, full stop.Ephesians c2 v1, teaches we are 'dead' spiritually, dead in trespasses and sins, in death there is no energy to create life in any way, so we need help from outside ourselves

I am now going to travel along the avenue of debate regarding the different sexes within the family, church and society.Generally speaking its the man who should take the lead as its his responsibility, but I follow on in stating quite clearly that the dear ladies have a work to do which none of us men can touch.With men folk it should be that in our loving care, ones desire to protect the one we love and are bonded together in marriage, that is legally, socially and in the mind of our Godwe should be the protagonists inmarriage.The husband, the father should take the lead with the wife, the mother in support, may the man be the man.The influence of single ladies in society is considerable and I fully recognise this.A Godly single lady, a wife, mother and God fearing nan have so much to contribute to family life, the church and society - no man can fill their ministry, but please read on

It grieves me deeply when there are sad circumstances in the life of a husband orwife, demanding that the other partner has to carry the full responsibility for which they were not made.In examining the Divine Records its observed that women folk were made by The LORD God Almighty in a different way to the men and for a special purpose, this is so obvious but needs to be stated

Yes we were made differently, we have different functions in the home, church and society and one has to be very careful that we do not try to fit square pegs into round holes on whatever basis

'Now back to The Song of Solomon Trevor'.In verse 3 its observed the daughters of Jerusalem spoke offragrance of the character of Solomon and how it affected them, lets spiritualise this matter.There is the fragrance of our Lord Jesus Christ, this we should experience as we believe; in His daily forgiveness for our sins, in Him being with us continually by His Spirit in our daily living.The joy of remembering The Master in the way He desiresthrough The Lord's Supper. Our real Christian friendship, communion with each other and finally that a 'mansion' is now being prepared for us in glory - what fragrance!Whatever our age at this moment, we are all getting older every day and should daily understand more of these 'fragrances' of The Master

You see in our salvation it can only be that our Father God who draws us unto Himself, we cannot become Christians by our own merits.As sin, that of disobedience was first expressed in Eden, it was the LORD God Almighty who sought, who asked where Adam & Eve were, saying, 'Where art thou?'.In Psalm c65 we have the words, 'Blessed in the man whom Thou choosest'.The rich words of our Jesus as recorded in John's Gospel c6, it reads, 'No man can come to Me, except The Father who has sent Me draw him,.Also more special words ofThe Master, 'Therefore I said to you that no man can come to Me, except it were given to him of The Father'.As we understand that the great eternal, creator LORD God Almighty is holy, holy, holy and that we are men and women of sin, so its a technical impossibility for us to approach the holy God ourselves, for me no other words are necessary

We must clearly understand that in the strategy of the great LORD God Almighty there are only two ways in life that we can take.Just consider John's Gospel c3 v16, now these words are almost too well know that we miss out on the reality of the two truths being taught.Thesetwo ways are thatwe either 'perish' or have 'eternal life', lets not question this teaching as they are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, is the truth asHe spoke it.If we do not seekforgiveness from our FATHER God for our sins, the major 'crime' being that of the rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ and His work on The Cross for us, then we will eternally perish, that is Hell.But as we humbly seek the forgiveness of our sins from The LORD God Almighty, this through our dear Lord Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, then we will have everlasting life, that is Heaven.May none of try to duck out of these truths

In the chapter we are considering, in v4 we have the words, 'We will make haste', what can we gain from these words?.Before we became Christians we were by our nature blind to the things of God, we understood this ourselves fully.In the Bible it states folks, 'had eyes but they could not see' and 'ears but could not hear'.So its necessary that with our spiritual eyes, we take advise to,'anoint thine eyes with eye salve,that thou mayest see', to use further New Testament language we need to be born again of the Spirit of our God.As this happens our spiritual understanding starts to change immediately, we grasp the forgiveness of our sins, fellowship with our Father God with our eternal destiny being secure.As we understand these things we hurry, we 'make haste' to worship, to serve our dear Lord, BUTour first mission must should be the worship of our redeemed hearts as just stated, our LORD God desires us to worship Him above all else

In the verse we are considering we read, 'The king hath brought me into his chambers' and one of the Biblical understandings of the words 'chambers' is, 'A secret place inthe house'.Our dear heavenly Father is the great eternal, creator God, He desires fellowship, communion with those He has brought into being.As we become Christians we are children of our FATHER God, we are in His household, if this is not so He would not be our Father God, yes and in life we need a power beyond ourselves, that of our Loving Heavenly Father.As Christians we should be very diligent about our daily Personal Devotional Life, the 'Secret place in the house', if this is not so then there are problems, I understand this point more than ever in my life today.If ones vertical fellowship with The LORD God Almighty, our Father God is not right, then we cannot be of any use to Him horizontally, this for me is the only way we can be employed in the work of His Kingdom.Please just turn to 1 John c1 v7, meditate upon its teaching.In our own work for our Lord, 'We cannot lead anyone any further along the Christian pathway than what we have gone ourselves'

The words at the end of v4 in the chapter of S of S we are considering read, 'We will be glad and rejoice in Thee, we will remember Thy love more than wine.The upright love Thee', what is the meaning of 'wine' in this Scriptural sense?

Wine is a stimulant for earthly joy, the effect of it only lasting a short time, its not the stimulation we need in our faith, our life in our Father God.As we gather for worship in a building, the structure is only a convenience for gathering together in.Good music is in order but not an end in itself, those who play the instruments should be in full harmony with the people at worship, musicians help so much in setting the tone of a service.Yes and every single person in a congregation makes a contribution to the atmosphere, either to dishearten everybody else by their very presence or simply encourage the folks who gather to worship in spirit and in truth

We must go even beyond these things for stimulation to worship our living God in spirit and in truth, we need as we gather for worship, the presence of the resurrected Christ who stands the midst of His people

For a few moments lets now consider Samson, he was a Nazarite.

ThecharacterofaNazaritecanbeunderstoodbythefollowing

three points.Nazarites were a special type of persons, being almost unique

Firstofallhe drank no wine which is a symbol of earthly joy

Secondly he surrendedhis natural dignity, this was observed

byhavinglong,uncut,unkept hair. Helayaside

his personal rights to devote himself to God

Finally he would not defile himself by touching a dead body

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For a few moments lets consider our Lord Jesus, He was a Nazarene.

PartofthecharacterofourLordcanbeunderstoodbecauseHewas

The Son of Man & The Son of God, He was a special type of person, being unique

Jesus drank some wine, this was not for stimulation,

He was motivated by His obedience toHisFatherGod

Jesus was a man of character, dignity, at one

point its recorded He had a garmentwithoutseam.

Our Lord Jesus was the only begottenSon of The Father

Finally He raised Lazaruas from the dead but

Jesuswentthroughdeathforevery one of us.

This was so we could have eternal life through Him

In the record we are considering about Solomon and the Shulamite Maiden, the words ofv6 are interesting, the following four points are referred toskin colour, anger, hard work and forsaking oneself, what is mean by these words?

This maiden was not Indian, West Indian or Ethiopian, she was 'black' because of sun burn, she had been weathered by lifes experiences yet she wascomely and mature.Then we note she had family relationship problems, they were 'angry' with her, made to work hard as the vineyard keeper and was not given enough 'space' in her life to look after her own vineyard

How oftenhave we felt like this?Tired and weary of life, tasted its 'wine' with no lasting effect so have returned to our Loving Heavenly Father God, this through our dear Lord Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, to the only One who has the keys to lifes problems

As we become Christians we belong to ourFather God, we are in His family, we are no more lost, there will be problems and difficulties but our dear Lord will draw us through.In the three stories in Luke c15 the 'sheep', 'coin' and the 'son', at one time belonged to their owners and they got lost, but they were all returned.This teaches a very important truth, once we truly become Christians, although we will wonder away from our heavenly Father God BUT He will bring us back to Himself in His good time.In this matter let us not doubt the eternal security we have in the life giving, the shed blood of our dear Lord Jesus Christ.As our Lord God brings us back to Himself, then we should find a place of worship locally if possible.Somewhere we can really worship aright, have good teaching and this being worked out in evangelism both in ones personal and community life, this is something everyone can be involved with

I am now going to quote the attitude of the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, but please remember both sons were out of touch.This includes the one who was working hard on his dad's estate, who lived in the same home, he also was out of touch

As the young brother returned he was

given new clothes to wear,

owned by the father through the ring,

had new shoes for a new pathway he was to walk

and there was great rejoicing

As we become Christians

we are equipped for the journey of life,

are sons and daughters of the living God,

should follow in the footsteps of right-ness

'For His Names sake'

The elder son was told, 'All that I have is thine'

This is the third book