Song of Solomon 6:1-13
1 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.
4 Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.
5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcomea me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.
6 Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.
7 As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.
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.
10 Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.
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.
Now the daughters of Jerusalem respond to her, the chorus sings back.
Where has your beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither or where is your beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with you (Song of Solomon 6:1).
And she answers,
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: and he feeds among the lilies (Song of Solomon 6:2-3).
Now the bridegroom responds to her and he says,
Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, as comely as Jerusalem, terrible or awesome as an army with banners. Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me: your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep which go up from the washings, where every one bears twins, and not there is not a barren one among them (Song of Solomon 6:4-6).
He says the same thing to her so he isn't that...you know, after a while you got to repeat, you know. I mean, you can only say so much.
As a piece of pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks. There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled, is but one (Song of Solomon 6:7-9);
She is one among them all.
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; yes, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her (Song of Solomon 6:9).
So he's declaring all of this praise for his beloved and the daughters of Jerusalem, the chorus now responds. As he is declaring again of her beauty and her glory, and they say,
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, as awesome as an army with banners? (Song of Solomon 6:10)
And as you see this in the spiritual allegory as representing the church, "Who is she who looketh forth as the morning?" The history of man has been dark and bleak. We are still living--the world in darkness. It's been a long night, sorrow, pain, suffering, anguish, tragedy that man has brought upon himself by his wars, by his greed, by the atrocities, by the inhumane treatment of fellow man, by the oppression and the exploitation of the weak and of the poor. It's been a long, dark night of history. But the church looketh forth as the morning. And the church declares to the world that is wrapped in its darkness, there's a new day about to dawn. And that is always the consistent message of the church. New opportunity that God gives to man. Not only to the world is a new day going to dawn very soon, but a new day can dawn in your life. And that darkness in which your life has been held can turn into a new day. God's work is always that of a new beginning. Letting you start all over again. "For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things are passed away, all things become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Looking forth as the morning. Always the anticipation. Living in the anticipation of the new day that is going to dawn for man.
"Fair as the moon." The moon's light is reflected light, the light of the sun reflected in the moon. And so the church's light is a reflected light. It is the light of Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the light of the world. And if any man walk in Me, he will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). John, testifying of Jesus Christ said He is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. But man put the light out. They hanged him on a cross. They put him in a tomb and rolled the stone over the door of the sepulcher. And as far as the world is concerned, they had extinguished the light. But the third day He rose again. And He lives today. And even as the light of the moon declares to you that the sun is still shining, though you cannot see the sun, but as you look at the moon and see the reflected light of the sun, you know that the sun still shines. So the world who cannot see Jesus Christ knows that He lives as they see the reflected glory of Christ from our lives. The light of Jesus Christ shining forth from us. "Ye," He said, "are the light of the world. And man doesn't light a candle to put it on a under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it might give light to the whole house" (Matthew 5:14-15). The moon was the lesser light to rule the night, to rule in the darkness. And thus, in the darkness of man's history, God has a light. "Fair as the moon." His light, His witness as we reflect the light and the glory of Jesus Christ to the dark world around us.
In order to properly reflect that light of Jesus Christ, we must live above the world. For if we live in the world, if we partake of the worldly things, if we are living as the world, then we do not reflect the light to the world. You've got to live above the world. By a higher standard than the low standards of man around us. There is always the peer pressure. There is always the mores of a society that would seek to draw you down to a lower level of living. There is always the rationale, "But everybody's doing it." To encourage you and to draw you into a lower level of experience and life. But living on a low plane, you'll never reflect the glory of the Son. It's only as we live above it that the world can see the light reflecting from us.
"Clear as the sun." Again, there needs to be a slight change in the word sun. Instead of spelling it s-u-n, capitalize and spell it S-o-n. Clear as the Son. The church. We are to be pure as He is pure. We are to be holy as He is holy. God said, "Be ye therefore holy, for I am holy, saith the Lord" (1 Peter 1:16). Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). "And he who has this hope purifies himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3:3). Christ is our standard for righteousness, which immediately eliminates all of us. Because none of us are as pure as Christ. None of us are as holy as Christ. None of us are as perfect as God. Christ, our standard for righteousness. But it is a righteousness that I cannot attain by works, by rules, by regulations, by laws. "For if righteousness could come by the law, then Christ died in vain" (Galatians 2:21).
But God has established a new basis of righteousness which is not a new basis of righteousness. It is the same basis by which Abraham was accounted righteousness. For Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness four hundred years before the law ever came by Moses. The law was never intended to make a man righteous, but only to show man his sin and his guilt in order that we might be driven to a righteousness that is apart from us, the righteousness which is of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. So we read in Galatians, "The law was a schoolmaster to force us to Christ" (Galatians 3:24). To drive us to Christ. To make us realize that we can't do it ourselves. We need help. And God has provided that help. And thus, we become clear as the sun, because it's His righteousness that has been imputed to us by our believing and trusting in God.
And so that's why the bridegroom could say, "Hey, she's without spot." That's why God looks at you and says, "Hey, you're without spot. You're without blemish. You're pure. You're righteous." Because He sees you in His Son and the righteousness of Christ having been imputed or accounted to your account.
And finally, the church is seen as awesome as an army with banners. And this is what God intends the church to be to the enemies of Jesus Christ. That we might be a terror to the enemies of God, even as an army with banners was a very terrifying thing to behold. To stand in front of or to try to withstand. So the church should be a terror to the enemies of God.
The bridegroom continues his song.
I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib. Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee (Song of Solomon 6:11-13).
The chorus responds.
What will you see in the Shulamite? (Song of Solomon 6:13)
And he answers.
As it were the company of two armies (Song of Solomon 6:13). "