King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Friday, June 02, 2023
Chapters: SONG OF SOLOMON 5-8
Study: Turn To Jesus For Your Desire
Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,
I was thinking about this passage as I was reading the chapters for today, [James 4:1-4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.]
I have been there, gotten caught up in the lusts of the world as it looks so good to have the perfect mate, the perfect job, and the perfect life. Then when you start getting those things it is not so perfect, in fact, it is down right messy and in fact pretty ugly. You see, we who are saved and born again Christians are not of the world, and therefore, they will not only reject us, they will down right despise us. There is a very good reason why Jesus said this to our Father when He was praying for us, [John 17:14-18 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.]
We are not of this world so stop working so hard for the things that they have, trust God and let Him guide you on the things You have need of, and then He will give you the desires of your heart, [James 4:9-10,13-15 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.]
I am preaching to the choir when I say this because I have been lagging behind myself. It does not matter if we leave here taking our last breath in our flesh or Jesus returns, we must always be prepared and ready for Him to come and get us. As we come to the end of the reading of Song of Solomon, we find the groom preparing for His bride. He is searching for her, when he does not find her, he withdraws himself.
[Song of Solomon 5:1-3 I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. 2 I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. 3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?]
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;] He went into his garden, gathered the anointing spices to give to his bride. Jesus, loves us so much that He gave His life for us so that our soul can live forever when He anoints us with it, [John 10:9-10 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.]
[I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;] The groom filled himself with the spiritual foods for healing the spirit represented by the honeycomb and honey, and the body, represented by the wine with milk. Jesus, our beloved Physician, first, anoints us with His blood the second that we accept Him as our Saviour, He then gives life to our dead soul, and heals us from the inside out by becoming food for our spirit, as we get into the Word of God, which is honey to our mouths, [Luke 5:31-32 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.]
[I have put off my coat;] The bride stayed inside when her groom was awaiting for her in the garden, he knocks on the door to get her, but she is not dressed, nor prepared to receive him and the result is not good. That is when he withdraws himself and when she finally does answer the door, he is gone.
[Song of Solomon 5:5-9 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. 6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. 7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. 8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. 9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?]
[the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.] The veil was the symbol that let it be known that the woman was married or betrothed. The watchmen, we can call them the police, see this woman in the night searching for her husband, they take her for a prostitute and not only beat her, they took her veil away. When we do not open our hearts to Christ beyond our salvation, and continue to live as though we are not His, He will remove those protections until we repent, [Hebrews 6:9-11 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. 10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:]
[What is thy beloved more than another beloved,] Why do we choose Christ over these false gods and religions? Why is Christ more desirable than any of these spiritual figures at the center of these false gods and religions? We choose Christ because He loved us so much that He gave His own life for us. Can Mohammad say that? Can Confucius say that? Can Satan say that? Yes, he too has his own religion and people are flocking to it like you would not believe. While Satan is the culprit behind all false gods and religions that mimic Christ in the first place, we are in the times where evil will look better than Christianity, [2 Timothy 3:1-5 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.]
Our heart nudges us little by little before we get saved, that sickness recovered, that car that missed us, that money that showed up, that little baby born, that mercy received. There is only one way to eternal life, and that is Jesus Christ, sadly, very few come to Him, but when they do, it is an amazing discovery. The bride continues to search for her groom, and when she finds him she discovers something amazing, even though he has he has hundreds of wives, he loves her as though she were his only.
[Song of Solomon 6:1-3,8-9,12-13 Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee. 2 My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies. 8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. 9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. 12 Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib. 13 Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.]
[My dove, my undefiled is but one;] There may be millions that come to Christ, but each and every one of us is unique and serves a special purpose for Him. We are undefiled by the cleansing of His blood, chosen by Jesus Christ Himself, [1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:]
[Return, return, O Shulamite;] This is referring to the Church, and quite a few have neglected Jesus. Once we receive Christ as our Saviour our souls are one with Him for eternity. Each one of us, while all individual members, are one with Christ. Those whom have been saved before us rejoice and gladly accept us as His bride, we are His beloved, and His desire toward us is only that love Him as He loves us.
[Song of Solomon 7:1,10-13 How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. 10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. 11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. 12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee my loves. 13 The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.]
[let us see if the vine flourish,] Jesus, only wants the best for us, He gave His life for us, He shed His blood, that we may be able to live eternally with Him. Of course, He wants us to trust solely upon Him for our salvation, but He wants even more than that. Jesus, did not save us so that we can live a sinful life, He saved us so that we can live an abundant life. If we choose to love something else more than Him He will get jealous. We see the bride getting jealous when she sees other women around her beloved.
[Song of Solomon 8:5-7 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. 6 Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. 7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.]
[for love is strong as death;] Nothing compares to the love of Christ, God is a jealous God, if we love something else more than Him then He will feel neglected and afflict us until He becomes our first love again. Amazingly, Christ’s love for His bride never diminishes, He loves us just as much when we are unfaithful to Him, which is why His love constrains us as our love for Him grows, [2 Corinthians 5:13-15 For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. 14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.]
When we see one of our own getting blessed who has sin in their lives, while we suffer, it can make us jealous. God, deals with each of us as He sees fit for our sin, and no sin goes without consequence. Christians, we are in no way sinless, in fact, we are all just sinners saved by the grace of God through our faith in the Gospel of Christ. However, our obedience to Christ makes us more than just a name in a book, it makes us testimonies of Christ who turned our lives around, even though we are sinners we are still His. In this odd illustration, those who are obedient teach the new Christians how they are to present themselves to their groom.
[Song of Solomon 8:8-10,13-14 We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? 9 If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. 10 I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: then was I in his eyes as one that found favour. 13 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. 14 Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.]
[We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts:] This is actually referring to what I call babes in Christ, they have just received Christ or have been saved a while, but never fully embraced a live with Christ. Newborn Christians need to be nurtured by mature Christians, but more often than we realize so do childlike Christians. While we all grow in our faith at different levels, some who should have been more mature need to be fed the milk of God’s Word rather than given the meat, which only stunts their growth as they are not ready for the more mature lessons that come as we get older in Christ, [Hebrews 5:12-14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.]
[Make haste, my beloved,] We do not know if we have tomorrow to do the things that we should be doing today so stop procrastinating, make that effort and do what you need to do in order to get the things are waiting for you. If what you are desiring lines up with the will of God, and if you give honor and glory to Him for it, then you will receive much more than anything you ever desired, [Ephesians 3:14-17,20-21 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, You showed us that we are beloved by You by sacrificing Your life on the cross for us, and offering eternal life to all who believe in and receive You. No matter how much we resist, no matter how many times we back away from You, You are right there, patiently waiting for us to come to You with all that we are going through. You want to comfort us, guide us, and give us hope through all the circumstances we face that we can receive all that is in Your will for us. Lord, open our ears and hearts, help us to get past our circumstances and turn to You for all things, I know it is only by coming to You that I can truly know I am beloved and that You are beloved by me. I ask this in Your name Jesus, Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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