Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
We know that Jesus calls us to study the book of Daniel (Matt. 24:15), and He gives a special blessing to those who read the book of Revelation (1:1-3); but why does He call His last-days' church to study the Song of Solomon? Or does He?
Yes, He does; it's in His last words to the seventh church, "the Lukewarm Church," Laodicea (there is no eighth): "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone [a certain one, tis, original] hears My voice ..." It's a Voice that has something arresting to say--quoted from this strange book.
For centuries, reverent scholars have seen that this is a quote from the Song of Solomon (5:2-8). It's the sad story of a man deeply in love who gets his heart broken. In the beginning, the Lord God said it's "not good that man should be alone," and that's true especially after he falls in love (Gen. 2:18). Jesus is a "man." Why does He put Himself in the middle of that painful story?
Shocking as it may seem, the Man who gets stranded is the Lord Jesus. The story is not about the cross--that happened long ago; it's about the end of time, just before the second coming. Jesus is ready to be "married," and the one "woman" whom He loves truly has rebuffed Him. "Women" figuratively (plural) don't appeal to Him; there's a "one and only" (Rev. 12:17).
There is something vastly heart-arresting in this story. It comes together in these two books--Song of Solomon and Revelation; they fit like a glove. The church is to be the Bride of Christ, and lukewarmness has led her to rebuff the only One who loves "her" truly.
His disappointment is beyond description. Can we understand it?
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 14, 2006.
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