For the LORD takes delight in His people; He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.
“You, my love, are beautiful. So
beautiful!...My heart is captive, my sister, my bride; you have
stolen it with one glance, caught it with a single strand of your
necklace... You are a locked garden, my sister, my bride, open only
to me; a spring closed up tight, a sealed fountain. Your sprouts are
an orchard of pomegranates and exotic fruits -with henna and nard,
With nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon – With rows of
frankincense trees and myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. My
bride, you are a fountain in a garden, a well of life-giving water
flowing down from Lebanon.” (Song 4)
Song 4 is this beautiful declaration of
how He (the BrideGroom) sees His beloved. She has captivated His
heart. As commentary notes, it is a journey in the marriage
procession and the image of a paradise garden is “carried from the
beginning of Scripture to the end.” [1]
In the very beginning of Genesis, the
garden of Eden is also the image of a perfect, garden where God and
man walked hand-in-hand in complete nakedness (intimacy). When
man sinned, they were banished and the garden was shut-up but not
with out hope. At the very end of Revelation, it ends with a vision
of this garden again. This time it includes a vision of “the
bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
Bible Commentary on Revelation 22 notes, "Fed by a crystal clear river is the tree of life. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were prevented from eating from the tree once they were expelled from the garden of Eden. Divine creatures and a flaming sword then stood guard at the entrance to the garden (Genesis 3:24). Now the tree of life returns to the story, a single tree situation on both sides of the river. No one is denied access to its luscious fruit and healing leaves." [2]
Commentary notes about the locked garden in Song of Song, “The figure of the closed or shut-up garden
represents the bridegroom's delight in the sense of absolute and sole
possession - for himself and no other. The language is very natural
at such a time, when the bride is being taken from her home.” [3]
Bible Commentary on Revelation 22 notes, "Fed by a crystal clear river is the tree of life. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were prevented from eating from the tree once they were expelled from the garden of Eden. Divine creatures and a flaming sword then stood guard at the entrance to the garden (Genesis 3:24). Now the tree of life returns to the story, a single tree situation on both sides of the river. No one is denied access to its luscious fruit and healing leaves." [2]
Revelation ends with the Bridegroom
once again hand-in-hand with His bride in the restored garden. It ends with an invitation to celebrate in this love – like a wedding
feast. Rev. 22:17 declares, “The Spirit and
the bride say, 'Come!' And let the one who hears say, “Come!' Let
the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes to take the
free gift of the water of life.”
Song 5:1 begins with the bridegroom, “I have come into my garden,
my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with its natural
spices. I have tasted the honeycomb dripping with my honey and have
drunk my wine and milk together. (to his young friends of
Jerusalem) Eat, friends, drink your fill! Be intoxicated with love.”
To open to Him is used again
in Song 5:2 when the lover appears at her door drenched in dew. He
knocks and asks His beloved to open to Him. To open, the Hebrew word
“pathach” (Strongs #6605) means to be vulnerable, unguarded, set
free, and undone. [4]
However, she is distracted, hesitates
and misses her opportunity (proven not ready at the time). She awakens from sleeping and when she
looks up from her distractions that are focused on herself and
remembers her lover, her heart throbs again and she awakens and
yearns for him. He yearning draws her out to seek for Him again.
In all our distractions with things
that are around us and about us, God is knocking at our door. Our
lives can become so filled with clutter of lesser things that we
think are important. But, if we are willing to just look in His
direction, (while we may have many missed opportunities), He will
awaken our hearts to yearn for Him once again.
In all the bride's frailty and failings
in her love for Him, He is able to draw her back into this romance.
He sees the beauty in her and calls it out. He proclaims, “my
dove, my perfect love is the only one for me...”
His delight in her and proclamation of
devoted love for her changes her. He loves her in her darkness, sees
the beauty in her and calls her into this place of shining with a
beauty that others notice.
She starts out as this dark but lovely
young women that is self-conscious and does not want others to look
upon her. She proclaims to the young women of Jerusalem in Song 1:6,
“Don't stare at my dark skin, for the sun looked down on me. My
brothers' anger scorched me; they made me work all day long in the
vineyards, so I did not have time to care for my own vineyard, to
cultivate my own body.”
He sees the beauty in her. In Song 6:4
He tells her, “You are beautiful, my dear, as beautiful as Tirzah,
as lovely as Jerusalem, as regal as an army beneath their banners.”
In the devoted love of her Bridegroom, she grew radiant.
He is not pointing out her darkness and
sin as He evaluates all the things she does wrong. In Song 7:6, He
proclaims, “How beautiful you are, my love, and how pleasing. In
all your delightful and satisfying ways.” In Song 8:10 she
proclaims, “I found completeness and satisfaction in his eyes.”
The first time I read the Song of Songs
was on December 28th, 2000. I still remember how
powerful it was to encounter God in it. At the time I had a terrible
self-image and could not even see why He would bother with me. I
went to a retreat partly to repent of my sin (which I had a very long list).
Through the Song of Songs, He gave me a glimpse of how He saw me. I saw
darkness and He saw the beauty in me. I was dumbfounded and sobbed
for hours. It took me over 8 hours to read the little book of Songs
because I was sobbing so much. But through it, my heart was
awakening to a different picture of who I was in God's eyes.
Song of Songs (on one level) is a poem
of the Bridegroom's absolute delight in His bride as His heart
overflows with joy in anticipation of their marriage. The bride,
fully mature, knows her value and worth in the eyes of Christ, stands
in it and is radiant.
In Revelation 21:10, John writes, "As I waited for what I thought was a bride, he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It gleamed and shined with the glory of God; its radiance was like the most precious of jewels..." This is not only a city, but the bride herself.
In this place of receiving the devoted love of her Bridegroom, she is also “a fountain in a garden, a well of life-giving water flowing down from Lebanon.” (Song 4:15)
In Revelation 21:10, John writes, "As I waited for what I thought was a bride, he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It gleamed and shined with the glory of God; its radiance was like the most precious of jewels..." This is not only a city, but the bride herself.
In this place of receiving the devoted love of her Bridegroom, she is also “a fountain in a garden, a well of life-giving water flowing down from Lebanon.” (Song 4:15)
Jean Vanier writes, “If people are
not loved, they can feel that they are in fact not loveable, that
they are somehow bad or evil... Someone with a negative self-image
will only want to do negative things to themselves or others.”[5]
The heart of Jean Vanier and as he
notes, the vision of l'Arche, is to help people rediscover their
beauty, value and importance. Mother Teresa shared this same heart
, that the most broken of people would know their incredible worth
and value.
Lord, forgive me for so often being
distracted with so many lesser things. Awaken my heart to be alive
with Your love again. Let us be a life-giving fountain to others
around us. Help us to see Your beauty in all those around us and
love them well.
1, 3. Pulpit Commentary. Located
at: http://biblehub.com/songs/4-12.htm.
Last accessed 9/4/15.
2. The Voice. Reader's Bible.
Thomas Nelson.
5. Vanier, Jean. Drawn into the
Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John. Paulist Press, Mahwah,
NJ. 2004
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