Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread":
This week around the world millions of Christians are studying together a most unusual topic—it may shock you: The Song of Solomon, a book in the Old Testament that not many have given attention to.
Some people wonder why it’s in the Bible for it’s so sexually explicit. One test of why an Old Testament book is there is if Jesus quoted it, or one of the apostles. Well, Jesus did quote it! Several times, in fact. That alone tells us that it’s a good book to study! The fact that it’s about love and sex does not discount it, for it was God Himself who created us humans to be male and female (Gen. 1:27), and built into us the sexual attraction for each other (vs. 28). Sexual love is not per se something evil; its distortion and its being trivialized with the expulsion of God—that is the problem behind a huge proportion of the suffering there is in the world, including the horror of AIDS.
Two examples of how Jesus quoted the Song of Solomon are: (1) John 7:37-39: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out [He didn’t need a PA system; His voice could be heard by everyone!], saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” The only “Scripture” He could be quoting is S.S. 4: “My sweetheart, my bride [the church!] is.... a private spring,.... fountains [that] water the garden, streams of flowing water” (vss. 12, 15, TEV). It’s a divinely inspired love poem that speaks to the deepest recesses of a human heart, almost beyond mere words.
(2) S. S. 4:7: “Thou art all fair, my love [again, the church!]; there is no spot in thee” (KJV). Perhaps the time hasn’t quite come yet for Jesus to say that of His church, but the time is coming when He will! Paul quotes this verse in his Ephesians 5:25-27: “as Christ also loved the church,.... cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,.... not having spot.” This will be completely fulfilled in the glorious “cleansing of the sanctuary” that is now going on according to the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. Time’s up; more tomorrow, the Lord willing.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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