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Unlocking the Old Testament Part 36 - Song of Songs — Transcript

by David Pawson - Official · 6,352 words · 891 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:02it's the story of how God was seeking a
0:06bride for his son each book is different
0:09from every other book I'm trying to give
0:11you the keys for you to unlock it for
0:15[Music]
0:26yourself when you read a book like the
0:28song of songs you first re action is
0:30what is this book doing in the Bible
0:33they certainly never taught it to me in
0:35Sunday school and uh there's no mention
0:39of anything spiritual in it from
0:41beginning to end there's nothing about
0:43salvation there's nothing about prayer
0:45or Heaven God isn't even mentioned once
0:48in fact there are two books in the Old
0:50Testament in which God is never
0:52mentioned once and both happen to be
0:55romancers the other is Esther which
0:58we'll be looking at later but here is a
1:00book with nothing spiritual in it and no
1:02mention of God and uh at first for many
1:06years I never preached from it I didn't
1:08know what to make of it I really didn't
1:11and I I think I'm not alone in that well
1:14now let's begin with the title song of
1:18songs that's because Hebrew as a
1:21language doesn't include any adjectives
1:24you can't say this is the most fantastic
1:26song or this is Brill or whatever is the
1:29latest
1:30adjective you can only use nouns so
1:33instead of saying the greatest song you
1:35say the song of songs said of saying the
1:38highest King you say the King of Kings
1:41or the greatest Lord the Lord of lords
1:44so Song of Songs means this is the best
1:48this is the
1:49greatest and maybe it is a great song
1:52but why on Earth is it in the Bible it's
1:55not only not spiritual but it's terribly
1:58sensual H it it touches all your five
2:01senses you smell you can smell the
2:03apples and the raisins and the flowers
2:05and taste you can taste those fruits and
2:09what are the others hearing sight have
2:13Miss R out touch it's all there it's a
2:17sensual song full of
2:20senses and uh when it gets to an exact
2:24description of each other's bodies the
2:26young man and the young lady in this
2:27song really get quite uh intimate even
2:32excited and as I told you they never
2:34taught me this in Sunday school but I
2:36began to get interested in this book
2:38just about the time my voice
2:40broke and it's probably very appropriate
2:43that we're studying it two days before
2:45St Valentine's Day February the
2:4814th so for years I never preached on it
2:51I couldn't handle it I thought uh well
2:54it gave me a guilt complex at one stage
2:57I bought so many commentaries devotion
3:00expositions of this book to try and find
3:03out some understanding of it and this
3:06just increased my guil complex because
3:09apparently it was all written in a
3:10hidden
3:11code and none of the words meant what I
3:14thought they meant according to these
3:16commentaries and devotional expositions
3:19and I think I touched Rock Bottom when I
3:22read one commentary commenting on a
3:24verse in chapter one where she says my
3:27lover is resting between my breasts
3:30and the commentator said this means
3:32between the old and the New
3:35Testament and I I I remember thinking
3:39help I am a most carnal
3:43Christian because when I read that
3:46phrase the last thing I think about is
3:48the old and the New Testament you see
3:52and I thought God must have put this
3:54book in the Bible as a kind of Catch 22
3:56book to find out whether you were
3:58spiritual or k
4:01and so I left the thing strictly alone I
4:04heard that the rabbis treated it as a
4:07very holy book they called it the holy
4:09of holies and some rabbis even took
4:12their shoes off when they read it that
4:14seemed to me quite
4:17extraordinary so what do we do with such
4:20a book first thing I want to tell you is
4:22this it is not an
4:25allegory now an allegory is in code
4:30an allegory is a fictional story that
4:33someone's made up with a hidden message
4:35in it and things are not what they seem
4:39on the surface there's a hidden meaning
4:41behind it I suppose one of the classic
4:44allegories would be Bun's Pilgrims
4:46Progress in which everything means
4:48something else the house called
4:50beautiful and the hill called
4:52difficulty and of course it's quite
4:54unreal Nothing Is What It Seems gul's
4:58travels is another Al
5:00and there's a church of England Vicor
5:02who was convinced that Winnie the Pooh
5:04was an
5:05allegory an ecumenical allegory and that
5:09Winnie the Pooh was Anglican a bear of
5:11little brain but the center of
5:12everything that happened and and rabbit
5:15no piglet was Methodist always hanging
5:17around with Min the Winnie the Pooh and
5:19tiger was Pentecostal always jumping up
5:22and sort of frightening people with
5:25sounds that nobody understood and they
5:28all belonged to Christ ofher Robin and
5:31finished up in the finished up in the
5:33enchanted place with him together it was
5:35well worked out in the Church of England
5:37newspaper but this is what an allegory
5:39is it's a fictional story with a hidden
5:43meaning and I'm afraid that's how most
5:46people have treated the song of songs
5:48the trouble is when they try and decode
5:50it they all have a different code they
5:53all come up with different meanings and
5:55everybody sees what they want to see in
5:57it and that didn't satisfy me at all
6:00why can't we take it in its simplest
6:03plainest meaning well because we think
6:05that's not very
6:07nice the trouble is that we've been far
6:09more influenced by Greek thinking than
6:12Hebrew and the Greeks never got it
6:15together life was always divided up for
6:18them between the physical and the
6:19spiritual the sacred and the secular
6:22always divided up like this and they
6:24could never quite get the physical and
6:26the spiritual into one picture and so
6:29the Greeks either became very spiritual
6:31people or very physical people either
6:33very self-indulgent or really aesthetic
6:36now for Hebrews there is one God who
6:40made the physical and the spiritual and
6:42to the Hebrew mind physical is good
6:46whereas to the Greek mind physical
6:48tended to be evil in itself but if God
6:51if a good God made this material world
6:53then material things are good and it was
6:56God who made us male and female and made
6:58it possible for us to fall in
7:01love and to be man and wife together so
7:05we're talking not about an allegory but
7:08about an affirmation an affirmation
7:12write that down here in the middle of
7:14the Bible God is affirming love between
7:18a man and a woman he's saying I did that
7:21I thought it up I made it one of the
7:24biggest lies that the devil has spread
7:26around the world is that God is against
7:28sex and Satan is for it actually the
7:31truth is the exact
7:33opposite and the devil has convinced so
7:36many of this lie it was God who made sex
7:39and it's Satan who's destroying it that
7:41is the truth so this is an affirmation
7:45in the middle of the Bible of human love
7:48and the Bible says don't call anything
7:51unclean that God has made clean and it
7:54applies particularly here whenever I
7:57conducted a marriage I always read part
7:59of the song of songs and told them to
8:02read the rest of it on the
8:05honeymoon and uh recently a Vicor told
8:08me he did the same thing told a couple
8:10he'd like to read that at their wedding
8:12they said oh you can't read that in
8:14church and there it is in the middle of
8:16the
8:17Bible Well now is that all the song of
8:20songs is is it simply an affirmation of
8:23human sexuality no it's something more
8:27it is also an analogy
8:30not an allegory but an analogy now I've
8:33got to explain the difference an
8:35allegory is a work of fiction with a
8:38hidden meaning but an analogy is a fact
8:42which is like another fact now this book
8:44as I've told you is a remance from
8:47beginning to end it's a love
8:49story it's written to you by someone who
8:52loves you more than anyone else it is a
8:55love letter when my wife and I moved
8:58house we found tied up in bundles are
9:01love letters to each other before we
9:04married and I opened a packet of mine to
9:07her and read one and I was
9:11appalled that a man of average
9:14intelligence could write such
9:17driil it you know did you ever write
9:20swalk on the back of envelope s w k
9:24those who don't know and need to be
9:26initiated into that it means sealed with
9:28a loving kiss
9:30and one young man told his girl he said
9:32whenever I get a love letter from you I
9:33kiss the back of the envelope cuz I know
9:35it's had your lips on it and she blushed
9:39crimson and she said well actually I
9:41moisten the flap on the dog's
9:44nose so all romance
9:48fled but when we found our love letters
9:51to each other they were falling to
9:54pieces now that's not because we were
9:57married 300 years ago it's because when
10:00you get a love letter you read it and
10:02you read it and you read it and I
10:04carried hers to me around in my RF
10:06uniform in this pocket and any spare
10:08minute pull it out and read it again now
10:11when I get a brown envelope with a
10:12little window on the front I don't do
10:14that with it especially if it says hm
10:18Revenue at the top you know but uh I
10:21love let you read and read again if you
10:23ever sort of looking at the edge of your
10:24Bible just look at the edge of your
10:26Bible closed and see where it's dirty
10:30you ever tried that it's a sobering
10:32thing but see it's a love letter and
10:34it's to be read as a love
10:36letter and it's a story of a romance of
10:39how
10:40God went looking for a bride for his
10:44son that's what it's all about and it
10:47finishes with a wedding the whole thing
10:49is a love story but here is a book right
10:52in the middle that is a love story and
10:54Rance is a key to
10:57reality that's what this book is saying
10:59now an analogy is when you say this
11:02which is a fact is like this which is
11:04another fact and Jesus was always using
11:08analogies the Kingdom of Heaven is like
11:11that's an analogy Kingdom of Heaven's
11:13like this or like that he is starting
11:15with something that the people know and
11:17understand and saying what you don't
11:19know or yet understand is like this that
11:22you
11:24do and the analogy in this book is very
11:27simple the love between a man and a
11:30woman is like the love between God and
11:34human
11:35beings the two are like each other and
11:38of course the experience of human love
11:41is universal 75% of pop songs are about
11:46love between a boy and a girl it's the
11:48most common thing that we sing about
11:51common experience to the whole wide
11:52world and the Bible says your
11:55relationship to the Lord can be like
11:58that
11:59you could be able to say of him my
12:02beloved's mine and I am
12:04his that's what it's meant to be like
12:08it's an analogy so we're going to use it
12:10as an analogy it is a fact which
12:13illustrates another fact now it was a
12:17real fact and it's written by Solomon
12:21who inherited from his father his mother
12:24was B Sheba he inherited from his father
12:27a throne a palace a guitar and an
12:31ability to write
12:32lyrics and the Book of Kings tells us
12:36that he wrote
12:381,05
12:39songs of which we have about half a
12:42dozen in the Bible so what happened to
12:45the other
12:47999 well I've Got a Theory it's only a
12:50theory but see if it commends itself to
12:53you I was taught in Sunday school that
12:56Solomon was the wisest man in the Old
12:58Testament did you ever hear that and
13:01only much much later did I find out he
13:03had 700
13:05wives and 300
13:08concubines 700 mothers-in-law
13:11would you call that
13:15wise and in fact I discovered that
13:18Solomon was typical of many men he had a
13:20lot of wisdom for everybody else but not
13:22much for
13:24himself unfortunately he didn't listen
13:26to himself he preached but he didn't
13:28practice practice now here's my theory
13:31of all those thousand women only one was
13:35God's choice for
13:37him now he wrote 999 songs that are not
13:41published in the
13:42Bible one that is here's my theory he
13:46wrote a song for each woman and God said
13:49I'm only going to publish the one about
13:50the woman I chose for you that makes
13:53sense to you anyway we've lost all the
13:56others whatever they were like they
13:57might have been not fit for publication
13:59but this one was published by God now it
14:03says in the song of songs that he was
14:05already well he already had 60 Queens he
14:08says and concubines without number when
14:11he wrote this song he was well on into
14:13his career but this was the right one
14:17this country girl from up North was the
14:20one that God wanted him to have and that
14:22he should have waited for so God has not
14:25published any of the other songs at all
14:27now before we get into the song of songs
14:30itself I must tell you that Scholars are
14:33very divided about the
14:36plot there is a plot here but uh some
14:39Scholars say it is a plot of three
14:42people a
14:44triangular tug of war or tug of Love
14:48we've got a Shepherd boy a king and the
14:52girl and she is torn between the love of
14:55the poor Shepherd boy and the wealthy
14:58King which shall she choose and the
15:01whole song of songs is seen as this
15:03triangle and the girl in the middle
15:05wondering which way to go now it makes a
15:08an interesting plot and a jolly good
15:11sermon because you can finish the sermon
15:13with a moving appeal you are that girl
15:16will you choose the prince of this world
15:19or the Good Shepherd see good sermon and
15:23I'm afraid to me absolute rubbish
15:25because if if that if that was the plot
15:28then why on Earth did Solomon write this
15:31song cuz he would be the baddy in that
15:34case and there are many other reasons
15:36the atmosphere in it is one of Innocence
15:39not of guilt not of an evil King
15:41seducing this simple girl that that's a
15:44distortion it it's a a pure simple love
15:48song all the way through therefore we
15:50must come back to a plot of two
15:54people but then we have to explain why
15:57the boy talks like a shepherd and a king
16:00well apart from anything else many of
16:02the Kings of Israel were shepherds first
16:05it was a unique combination the shepherd
16:07Kings of Israel that's combining the top
16:09and the bottom of the social ladder the
16:11shepherd was the bottom I mean Jesse
16:14said to Samuel when Samuel said if he
16:16any more Sons well only the shepherd
16:18boy that's the bottom of the ladder but
16:21uniquely Moses was a Shepherd before he
16:23became a leader of God's people and
16:26David was a Shepherd before he became
16:28king so it's not an unusual combination
16:31but there's more to it than that this
16:33whole story again reads like a fairy
16:37tale of remance that you'd read in a
16:39magazine it's the old Cinderella
16:42syndrome it's the Jane air syndrome it's
16:45the daddy longle syndrome not many of
16:48your faces are lighting up do do you
16:50only read your
16:51Bible or Sound of Music Sound of Music
16:54you've all seen
16:56that well it's a real as I've said
16:58Catherine cooks and Barbara Cartland
17:00plot of the poor girl and the prince
17:03falls in love with her and the slipper
17:05fits and she's whisked off to the Palace
17:07that's the essential drama but let's
17:10spell it out in detail when you first
17:12read the song of songs it's like taking
17:14the lid off a jigsaw box and seeing all
17:17the different colored pieces mixed up
17:20inside now I cheat when I do a jigaw I
17:23like doing them but I like cheating and
17:26what I do is I prop the picture up in
17:28front of to me and then take a piece and
17:31move it around the picture until I find
17:34where it fits and put it down now that's
17:36cheating real jigsaw puzzle experts
17:39don't do that in fact they're often sent
17:42a box with no picture on the lid and
17:45when you first read the song of songs
17:47it's like opening a jigsaw box when
17:49there is no picture on the lid and you
17:51see pieces a whole lot of pieces of
17:54different colors well I'm going to cheat
17:57tonight and I'm going to give you the
17:58picture on the lid and then when you
18:01read it for yourself the little bits
18:03will all fit into the
18:06picture want to begin by saying
18:08something that is said in the last
18:10chapter 8 in your Bible which is that
18:13Solomon had a country estate on the
18:16slopes of Mount Hermon in the north and
18:20when he was tired of kinging he used to
18:23go and do some shepherding and our royal
18:26family is somewhat similar it's a good
18:28read relaxation to get country clothes
18:30on and green Wellies and go off into the
18:33country and pretend you're a Country
18:34Gentleman well Solomon used to do this
18:38and he would take his crown off and put
18:40his jeans on and head north and there on
18:43his country estate he would take a few
18:45sheep out and of course in that country
18:47you've got to lead the Sheep to the
18:48grass there aren't Green Fields like
18:50here just a rocky mountain landscape
18:54with patches of green here and there and
18:56you have to find still water for sheep
18:59CU a sheep's nostrils are next to its
19:02nose and if it's moving or rough water
19:05it'll drown because it sucks up water
19:07into its nostrils so you got to find
19:09still water so a Good Shepherd knows
19:11where there's green pasture and still
19:13water and he takes the Sheep maybe 15
19:16miles during a day when the Sun is up at
19:18midday he has to make them lie down and
19:21he does that by tying rope around their
19:23four feet I've got a picture at home of
19:26the sheep lying down with their feet
19:28tied
19:29and uh he makes them lie down in Green
19:32Pastures rather than exhausts Them In
19:35the Heat of the day you know the Good
19:36Shepherd does this with his flock too
19:38has he ever made you lie down well now
19:42on Solomon's country estate at the
19:44slopes of Mount Hermon there was a
19:47tenant
19:48farmer and he died and the farm passed
19:52to his sons we don't know exactly how
19:55many there were three or four sons and
19:57two daughters one of whom was quite
20:00small but the other was grown up and
20:02that's the one in this
20:05song and her life became one long
20:09drudgery you see the parents divided the
20:12estate and said to the sons those are
20:14your Vineyards and to the daughter
20:15that's yours but her the sons made her
20:19do all the work in the house and a lot
20:21of the work on the farm and she
20:23complained that she had to look after
20:25their Vineyards so much that she
20:28neglected her
20:29own furthermore something else happened
20:32to her which meant that she was likely
20:35to stay a slave to her brothers for the
20:37rest of her life her skin went darker
20:40and darker in the sun now here that
20:44would be an attraction we all head off
20:47for Spain to get a bit of sunshine by
20:50the way this is powder for the cameras
20:52but um we we like a tan here we like to
20:55darken our skin and come back thinking
20:57that's an asset but but in the Middle
20:59East no they keep a bride out of the Sun
21:02for 12 months before the wedding to get
21:04a nice and pale it's what they did to uh
21:07Esther Queen
21:09Esther if you've got a very pale skin
21:12don't get on the back of a camel in the
21:13Middle East or we'll see you disappear
21:16over the nearest sandune singing The
21:18Desert Song and that's the the end of
21:20you so here was this poor girl getting
21:23darker and darker in the Sun and
21:25therefore her prospects of marriage
21:27receding day by day and she thought I'll
21:30never be free of my brothers I the rest
21:33of my life I'll be slaving for them one
21:36day she's out in the fields and she
21:37meets a young man and they chat each
21:40other up they like each other arrange to
21:42meet the next day and the next and the
21:44next and after a fortnight they're
21:47deeply in love and they start saying all
21:50the silly things you you do say when
21:52you're in love
21:54like they talk to each other all the bed
21:58we need is the green
22:00grass all the roof over the heads we
22:02need are the Cedars and The Furs that's
22:05how she talks before the
22:08wedding afterwards it's a fitted bedroom
22:11and I don't know what else but before
22:13the wedding why anywhere will do the
22:15green grass will do for a bed and the
22:17trees will do for a roof you do say odd
22:20things don't you and it's all there in
22:22the
22:23songs and finally the well the one thing
22:26that troubles her is she doesn't know
22:28who who he is and she keeps pestering
22:31him saying which Farm do you come from
22:34where did you rest your sheep at midday
22:36where and he says well you follow the
22:38tracks of the goats sometime follow the
22:40tracks of the sheep he evades the
22:43question and he will not tell her who he
22:46is anyway she's deeply in love with him
22:48and he with her and finally he says will
22:51you marry me and she has waited years
22:54for this gladly yes yes yes well he says
22:58I've got some bad news I've got to leave
23:00tomorrow cuz he said I live and work in
23:02the big city in the
23:04South he said but I'll come back and
23:06marry you you get ready for the wedding
23:09but I'll leave you tomorrow and I'll
23:11come back for the wedding for the next
23:13few months in a very excited way she's
23:15getting her bottom drawer ready and she
23:18never thought it would happen but now
23:19it's terribly exciting but she began to
23:21have
23:23nightmares and it doesn't take a very
23:26deep knowledge of psychology to inter
23:28interpret her
23:30dreams all the dreams are centered on
23:32the seam of I've lost him and I'm
23:34looking for him she's lying on her bed
23:37one night she dreams that she's running
23:39through the streets looking for him and
23:41she meets The Watchman and she says have
23:43you seen the one I love and and they
23:45haven't and she runs around the streets
23:47where is he where's he gone and she
23:49finds him and she gets hold of him and
23:51she drags him back she says to her
23:53mother's bedroom and says I'm never
23:56going to let you go and she wakes up
23:57holding the pillow
23:59another time she dreamt that he was at
24:01the door and he was putting his hands
24:03through the door the hole in the door to
24:05lift the latch on the inside but he
24:07couldn't get it open because it was
24:09bolted further down and have you ever
24:11had a dream where you're paralyzed and
24:13you can't move she has it in this dream
24:15and she can't get off the bed and he's
24:17trying to open the door and she's
24:19getting all frustrated because she can't
24:21move and his hand disappears and then
24:23she finds she can move and she runs to
24:26the door and she opens it and
24:29gone now what's the explanation for
24:32these nightmares that she has lying on
24:34her bed the answer is very simple she's
24:36afraid he won't come back to
24:39Maria she's beginning to think it was
24:41only a holiday
24:42flirtation that he won't keep his
24:44promise and then one day one day she's
24:48out in the fields and there's a great
24:50cloud of dust down the road and horses
24:53and chariots are coming up the road and
24:55she says to her brothers who's that and
24:56the brothers say it's the king it's the
24:58land lord it's the King King Solomon
25:00from Jerusalem he's coming visit his
25:02Estates and they get ready to bow down
25:04low before the king and she's never seen
25:06him and she risks an eye and lo and
25:08behold the young man in the big Chariot
25:11his her young
25:13man with a shock she realizes because I
25:17mean everybody knows he's got 60 Queens
25:19already with a shock she realizes she's
25:21number
25:2361 and she's now got to go and leave the
25:25country farm and go and live in the
25:27palace
25:29and when she does when they're married
25:31and she appears at the first banquet a
25:33banquet held to honor her she's sitting
25:35at the top table next to the king and
25:39all these 60 beautiful fair skinned
25:41Queens in their robes all around her and
25:44she says stop staring at me she said I
25:46got my skin this dark so having to look
25:48after my brother's Vineyards I can't
25:50help it and she she has a real
25:52inferiority complex furthermore here's a
25:56very interesting little sidelight she's
25:58constantly comparing herself with the
26:00other queens see if only Solomon had
26:04waited waited for Miss Wright when a man
26:07has more than one woman those women
26:08begin to feel
26:10insecure and begin to compare themselves
26:13you love her more than you love me sort
26:15of thing the whole thing is just not
26:17God's will if only he'd waited for the
26:20right girl and had one queen that was
26:22God's will for him but I'm afraid he had
26:24a bad example from his dad and from
26:27other Royal
26:28households in that time and
26:31era now she says Solomon can't we go
26:36back North can't we just lie on the
26:38grass under the trees couldn't we go and
26:40live on your estate up there he says no
26:43I'm king and you have to be Queen you
26:45got to reign with me
26:48here and so finally she says but look at
26:53these beautiful women all around me and
26:55he says listen in fact she says with a
26:57tone of real inferiority I'm just a rose
27:00of Sheron I'm a lily of the valley now
27:03we think those are beautiful flowers
27:05then go to Israel and have a look at
27:06them they are tiny little flowers you
27:09would never pick them you would walk on
27:11them like daisies in a lawn Lily of the
27:14valleys grow in the shadows the tiny
27:16things and the rose of Sharon is a tiny
27:18little crocus that grows on the flat
27:21Plaine next to Mediterranean she says
27:23I'm just a rose of Sher and just a lily
27:25of the valley but the most beautiful
27:27flower in is is the Lily and that soars
27:31up it's white and it's it's got such a
27:33graceful form it stands about this high
27:36and he says when she says I'm just a
27:38lily of the valley a Rose of Sharon
27:40she's putting herself down but he says
27:43like a lily among
27:45Thorns is my darling among the
27:48maidens and that so Comforts her that
27:51she sings a little song to cheer herself
27:54up and the song is he brought me into
27:58his banqueting Hall and His Banner Over
28:01Me Is Love he brought me into his
28:04banqueting Hall and His Banner Over Me
28:06Is love you know it right well that's
28:09what she's saying to herself not quite
28:10that tune probably but nevertheless
28:13that's what she's
28:14saying and she has to come to terms with
28:18the fact that she's fallen in love with
28:19the
28:20King well that's the outline of the
28:22story that's the picture on the
28:25lid why then it is is it in the
28:28Bible well there are two answers to that
28:32and these are the reasons why we should
28:34read it and study it number one at the
28:37heart of our religion is a very P
28:42personal
28:45relationship and if you don't have that
28:47personal relationship you've missed it
28:50being a Christian is not going to church
28:52reading a Bible or supporting
28:55missionaries being a Christian is being
28:57in love with the Lord
28:58Lord the only point of singing hymns is
29:01that you're singing Love Songs see if
29:04you miss this you've missed the whole
29:08thing and here right at the heart of the
29:10Bible is this very intimate loving
29:13relationship between Solomon and this
29:15country girl and it's saying something
29:18very profound at the heart of the Bible
29:20is a very intimate personal relationship
29:24my lover is mine and I'm his it is no
29:27accident that this is in the middle of
29:29your Bible because in the whole of the
29:32Bible the relationship between God and
29:35people is presented in sexual
29:38terms God and Israel God is the husband
29:41Israel is his wife and he cours her and
29:45marries her at SII and enters into a
29:48covenant with her and when she goes
29:50after other gods she becomes an
29:53adulteress it's all in there you see one
29:55day a prophet said to the Lord what do
29:57you want me to do do today and the Lord
29:59said I want you to go and find a
30:00prostitute in the street but I'm a
30:03preacher go and find a prostitute what
30:05you want me to do with her marry
30:09her what then lord well then you'll have
30:12three children she will love the first
30:14one but she won't love the second one
30:17and the third one Mr preacher won't even
30:19be yours so call it not
30:21mine what do I do then lord well then
30:24I'm afraid she's going to go back on the
30:25street to her old profession and leave
30:28me with the three kids yes so what do I
30:31do about that you go and find her and
30:34you buy her back from the pimp that's
30:37controlling her and you bring her back
30:38home and you love her
30:41again and then what
30:44Lord then go and tell My People Israel
30:47that's how I feel about
30:49them that's
30:51Hosea there's HOSA in a nutshell see
30:55that's the whole relationship in the Old
30:58Testament between God and Israel he Woos
31:00her wins her loses her still loves her
31:04wants to get her back home
31:07again very personal relationship when we
31:10move to the New Testament exactly the
31:14same Christ says I am the
31:17bridegroom he's looking for a bride and
31:20you are that
31:22Bride on the last page of the Bible the
31:24bride is so eager for the wedding she
31:26says come
31:28the bride says come she has made herself
31:32ready with white
31:35linen which is
31:37righteousness it's all there you see
31:39it's a love story beginning to end and
31:41the song of songs expresses this
31:43relationship and what the young man says
31:45to the young girl in The Song of Songs
31:47the Lord says to you and what she says
31:51to him you can say to him and that's why
31:55many hymns and songs in hym books have
31:58come out of this song it's not an
32:02allegory it's not full of hidden
32:04meanings pomegranates means pomegranates
32:06and breasts mean breasts God means what
32:09he says but it's an
32:11analogy of the vertical relationship we
32:14can have and the other thing is this of
32:17course our relationship with the Lord is
32:19not
32:20erotic it is emotional it's not erotic
32:23and there is a restraint in this song It
32:26Doesn't enter into the
32:28physical details that uh modern Minds
32:32would there is a line of delicacy drawn
32:36nevertheless it is an emotional
32:39relationship I think of um Jesus with
32:44Peter after Peter denied the
32:47Lord at a charcoal fire in a courtyard
32:51the only other charcoal fire mentioned
32:53in the New Testament is a few weeks
32:55later in
32:56Galilee and Peter saw that fire and he
32:59remembered and Jesus said to
33:02him Peter I hoped you were going to be
33:04the first pastor but I'm afraid you'll
33:06have to give out the HM books
33:08now that what Jesus said to Peter no he
33:12said actually you'll have to do 25 years
33:14in purgatory before you can get to
33:16heaven no no he said I'll put you on
33:19probation for a year and see how you
33:21make out and if if you make good I'll
33:24reconsider you no he said Peter
33:28I can cope with you provided I'm sure of
33:31one thing do you love
33:35me the Lord doesn't ask you how many
33:37times you've been to church or how many
33:38chapters of the Bible you read this week
33:40he says do you love
33:42me it's a love story that's the most
33:45important thing what's the summary even
33:47of the law love the Lord your God with
33:49all your heart mind strength love your
33:52neighbor as yourself love really is as
33:55important as this now the other lesson
33:57not only is your relationship with the
33:59Lord a very personal one it's a very
34:01public
34:02one most people fall in love with the
34:05Lord because they see him as their
34:08Shepherd the one who will be with them
34:10in the Valley of the shadow of death the
34:11one who will lead them by The Still
34:13Waters and the Green Pastures and then
34:16at some stage after you fall in love
34:18with Jesus as a Shepherd who look after
34:20you as a sheep you wake up and discover
34:23he's a king and he's the king of kings
34:26and you're his bride and you're going to
34:27reign with him and be
34:29Queen and you're in very public
34:32View and that puts an extra
34:34responsibility on you that at times is
34:36pretty strong you are his bride your
34:40royal family you're the royal family of
34:42England the Future King of England is
34:44going to marry you see that alters the
34:47whole relationship somehow and wouldn't
34:50it be nice if we could keep it private
34:52and just go back to the forests of
34:55Hermon you know just keep secret your
34:58relationship with the Lord save a lot of
35:01unpleasantness wouldn't it a lot of
35:02criticism and a lot of
35:04exposure because as soon as you tell the
35:07people who work with I'm a Christian boy
35:08they watch you like a
35:10hawk they really do and they expect you
35:13to be
35:14different so isn't it much better to
35:16have a private relationship with Jesus
35:18you can't he's the king of kings and the
35:20Lord of lords you fell in love with a
35:23king you know our Queen Mother never
35:26thought she'd be Queen
35:28she was a commoner she wasn't Royal and
35:31she fell in love and married the
35:34stammering second son of King George V
35:38and then because of king Edward
35:40abdicating and I remember that I
35:42remember hearing the broadcast I was 8
35:43years old uh when he resigned from his
35:46crown for the sake of a twice divorced
35:49woman it was a shattering blow but
35:52nobody must have been shaken
35:54more than the Queen Mother
35:57I think she's been the best Queen we've
35:59had remarkable lady she Rose to it she's
36:03got a royalty about her though she was
36:05not born Royal but she became a queen
36:08for the sake of King George I
36:116 and she's still Queen my it's going to
36:14be a day when she dies you know the
36:16whole country will be in
36:18mour she Rose to it I had higher hopes
36:21for Charles and Dan cuz you know she
36:24said something when they got engaged
36:26that was so like the Song of Solomon she
36:28was asked by the reporters how do you
36:30think you'll cope with all the exposure
36:32and the publicity and she said as long
36:34as he loves me I will
36:36cope he brought me into his banqueting
36:39Hall and His Banner Over Me his love and
36:42I'm afraid at their wedding there were
36:44lip readers with
36:46telescopes watching them the whole day
36:49of their wedding and when they stood on
36:52the balcony and he said shall we kiss
36:54and she said why ever not and he did
36:57first time royalty had kissed in public
36:59in Britain so I'm told how did anyone
37:03know what they said there were people
37:05were telescopes on the Victoria Monument
37:07lip reading everything they said to each
37:10other you see once you're Royal
37:13everybody's going to watch
37:15you and you have now a responsibility to
37:18live up to that whatever your background
37:21or birth and this poor country girl
37:24found herself in a Royal Court with all
37:27the eyes eyes on her but uh that was a
37:31calling and that is your calling in
37:33Christ not just to have an intimate
37:35personal relationship with Jesus but a
37:38very public one that you live up to as
37:41royal family in
37:43England what a message the psalm of
37:45ssongs read Psalm 45 along with it and
37:49that's a very good Psalm to go with it
37:51it's a Psalm from which our national
37:53anthem was taken and it's all about
37:55being a royal princess because that is
37:58our calling well I hope that'll make the
38:00song of songs a little more interesting
38:03to you
38:09[Music]
38:15[Music]

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