In this video, Pastor Chuck Smith continues his study through the Song of Solomon, focusing on chapter 4, verse 1. He encourages viewers to secure a copy of the message and explore additional biblical resources on thewordfortoday.org. Pastor Chuck also highlights the availability of the Word For Today podcast and email subscription. He emphasizes the importance of studying and learning God's Word, and the joy and rewards that come from following Jesus Christ faithfully.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that mold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life and make you whole And now, with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck. And as we have noted, there are three possible interpretations, or general interpretations, probably more than that, but there are those who see the Song of Solomon in a purely material way as a Eastern love song. There are those who see it as ethical instructions. In the beauty and joy of a monogamous marital relationship, a love song that has ethical teaching involved to it. And then there are those who see the spiritual interpretation of the love between the bride and the groom as an allegory of the love of Christ for His church. And they see the bride representing the church, the groom representing Jesus Christ, and they see this as a beautiful spiritual allegory. And it is that particular interpretation that we are taking as we go through the Song of Solomon this time. We are taking it as a spiritual allegory that speaks to us of that beautiful relationship, loving relationship of the bride of Christ, the church, with Jesus, the groom. And as in the New Testament, there are allegories that deal with Jesus, the bridegroom coming for His bride, many allegories in the New Testament of Christ and His relationship to the church as being the relationship between the bridegroom and the bride. So we look at the Song of Solomon in that light and we begin to understand a little bit more the rich love, that full love that Jesus has for us, for you and for me, as His bride. Now, at the end of chapter 3, we read of the bridegroom coming for the bride. They had a lot of interesting kind of traditions involving the wedding. One of them is that the bride never knew exactly when the bridegroom was coming. There would be a week of festivities. There would be the groomsmen with the groom and they would be celebrating sort of the last week of freedom with the groom. And there would be those gals, the virgins, that were with the bride and they were all excited and getting ready and getting all fixed up. But the thing was, during this week of festivities, they never knew exactly when the bridegroom was coming. They wouldn't know when the bridegroom was coming until they heard the sounds of laughter and rejoicing and all coming up the street. And the groom would be born in this little chamber by his friends and they would come to the house of the bride and, of course, she would come on out to meet him and go into the chamber and they would carry them through the streets. Today, of course, they get in a car and they have just married on the back and everybody goes honking their horns, you know, and the tin cans and the whole bit. But they had their own traditions in those days. But the fact that the bride did not know exactly when the bridegroom was coming, it was sort of incumbent on her to sort of be ready all the time. You don't know when the bridegroom is coming, so the idea was be prepared, be ready, have your makeup on, have everything ready to go, you know, because you know he's coming, you know he's coming imminently, but you don't know just exactly when he's coming, so the idea was be ready. And that's basically what Jesus says to the church. You really don't know the day or the hour, but be ready. And I always remember with fondness dear Mother Mitchell, who is one of those unusual, outstanding people that you meet once in a lifetime. I've met two of them, so I must have lived two lives. But Mother Mitchell was just one of those beautiful saints of the Lord who had been walking with Jesus for over 80 years. She was in her 90s when she was around here, heading off for Africa to do mission work, and she said, now if I die in Africa, just bury me there. Don't bother bringing my body back here, you know. She said, I've been around this body long enough, and don't bother bringing it, just bury me there. And she did die in Africa and was buried there. But the thing that I loved about her is that she always wore a corsage. This beautiful little 90-plus-year-old woman always had this beautiful corsage. And if you would ask her about the corsage, what's the special occasion? She said, I'm waiting for the bridegroom to come, and I want to be ready when he comes for me. And so she always wore the corsage in anticipation that her bridegroom was coming to receive her, and so she wanted to be prepared. Well, that's pretty much the attitude that Jesus said we, the church, should have. Being prepared, being ready, knowing not the day or the hour, and thus that being ready for the bridegroom to come. So in chapter 3, it describes Solomon coming in this glorious chamber that he had. It was made from the gold and all that she describes, the beauty of it, and the chariot from the wood of Lebanon, and the cedars, the pillars of it were silver, the bottom of it was gold, it was covered with purple, and the middle of it being paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. So, came and picked up the bride, and now she is being born in this nuptial chariot, more or less, with the bridegroom, and he speaks to her as they are being born from her area, up near the areas of Lebanon. She's being carried back to Jerusalem as the bride of Solomon. And so he speaks to her, and he describes how he sees her in her beauty. He said, Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. You have dove's eyes within thy locks, or within thy veil. And so, there through the veil, the beautiful eyes, like a dove's eyes. Your hair is like a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead. Now that may not sound very romantic to you, but the goats were black. And interesting, they grazed them on the hillsides there in Israel, even to the present day. And as you are driving through the countryside, you will see a mountain that is just covered with these black goats. And oftentimes it looks just like flowing hair down the mountainside. And so as he is describing just the beautiful flowing black hair that she has, and he uses a figure of speech that would be very familiar to them as they were accustomed to seeing the hillsides, going up the valleys and so forth, covered with these black goats, and thus the flowing, looking as though the flowing coming down the mountainside. Again using things that are familiar to them, he said, Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing, that is, they're white and glistening, and each one bearing twins, that is, there is a symmetry to your teeth, that you don't have a snaggle tooth or whatever, but each one bearing twins, and you're not missing any teeth, beautiful teeth. Your lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your speech is lovely. Your temples or cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate within thy veil. So the beauty with which he sees his bride as he is coming with her to Jerusalem in the nuptial chariot. Thy neck is like the Tower of David that is built for the armory, whereon there hangs a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of mighty men. And your two breasts are like two young rows that are twins, which feed among the lilies. And so his description of his bride, he is totally enraptured by her and by the beauty with which he sees her. Now, in verse 6, most commentators see this as a short response, almost an embarrassed response of the bride. To all of this lavish flattery that he is pouring upon her, she sort of responds, almost in embarrassment, Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of Myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away. Looking at that from a spiritual standpoint, it is the church really waiting for that marriage that is to take place between Christ and the church at the coming of Christ for His church. In Revelation chapter 19, we read the invitation to the bride to come to the marriage. Preparation has been made and come to the marriage feast for the bride. There's going to be a glorious uniting of Christ with His church. We, the bride, are waiting for His coming. We don't know exactly when it will be, but we wait with anticipation in preparedness. Until the day breaks, that glorious new day to which we look, and the shadows flee away. We, in the meantime, rest in Him. And so he then picks it up again and he said, Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. You're perfect. You're without blemish. It is possible that Paul, when he was writing to the Ephesians, had this in mind. As in chapter 5 and verse 27, he said, Husbands, verse 25, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. So this is taking that allegory of Christ, the groom, and the church, the bride, and it's carrying it into the personal, Husbands, you husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of the water of the Word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should be holy and without blemish. And so Christ preparing His church. Paul speaks of it, and so here we have much the same thing. As He beholds His bride, Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. And that's just how Christ sees you, without spot, without blemish. He sees you in that perfected state that God is bringing you to. We ourselves, in looking at ourselves, see us in our imperfected state. We see us in this present state of development, but we don't see the finished work. As the Lord looks at you, He sees the finished product. He doesn't see the flaws of the imperfections that we have as we are being prepared, but He sees on ahead. The interesting thing about the Lord, and Paul points this out in the book of Romans, being omniscient, knowing all things, being eternal, and knowing what is going to be, God can speak of those things that have not yet happened as though they already existed because in this realm that He is in, the eternal, omniscient realm, He knows they're going to exist. And Paul uses the fact that God speaks of Isaac, the son of Abraham, as existing, though he wasn't yet born. For God can speak of those things that are not because He knows that they are going to be. And oftentimes we find God speaking of the future state as though it already was because He knows it's going to be. Now, this is the way God looks at you and sees you, in that future state that He knows is going to exist as He completes His work in your life. When Jesus presents you and says, Father, here's my bride, He's going to present you without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, no blemishes. Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. And when He presents you to the Father, it'll be in that perfected state, and He sees you though now in that perfected state. He doesn't see you with your failures and your weaknesses and your faults, but He sees you perfected in Him because He knows that He who has begun a good work in you will continue to perform it. And the Lord will perfect that which concerns you. He hasn't started only to give up later. He didn't choose you and call you to be His bride hoping that you would turn out okay. Hoping that He'll be able to complete His work in your life. So that you don't have to worry that one of these days when you've had an especially bad day, you've blown it again, that He's going to say, ah, forget it. They'll never make it. I quit. I give up. Because, you see, He knows all things. And on the basis of what He knows, He is going to do for you. He has chosen you. And He has called you. And He will perfect those things concerning you. He who has begun a good work will continue to perform it. But what the beautiful thing is, even now in my present state of imperfection, He doesn't see that imperfection. He sees me complete in Him. He sees the completed work. And thus, He overlooks my flaws. There's a scripture that says love covers a multitude of sins. As I'm a grandfather, I realize that more and more. Now, some of my little grandkids would be, I suppose by others, considered brats. But I surely don't see them that way. And I'd be ready to fight anybody who called them a brat. They're just cute. And they're just expressing themselves. And I love it the way the Lord loves me and overlooks my flaws, my failings. I love it that He sees me complete. And so the groom, speaking of the bride, Christ speaking of the church, says, You are all fair. You're completely fair, my love. There is no spot in you. As He looks at you, He says, Oh, you're so beautiful. There's no spot in you. We say, But Lord, look at this. Look at that. How foolish can you be? Calling attention to every flaw that you have. Just accept the fact that He loves you and that He sees you that way. Enjoy it. Come with me from Lebanon, my bride. With me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Ammanah, from the top of Shinar and Hermon, from the lion's den and from the mountains of the leopards, that northern area of Lebanon, Mount Hermon and all. In those days, there were lions and leopards in that area, recorded in the scriptures. But then He goes on to say, You have ravished my heart, my sister. And here the idea of sister is that of infinitely delicate, intimating the very whiteness of purity in the midst of the love that is there. You've ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. Thou hast ravished my heart with one of your eyes and with one chain of your neck. And while you're there, we encourage you to browse the many additional biblical resources by Pastor Chuck. You can also subscribe to the Word for Today podcast or sign up for our email subscription. Once again, all this can be found at thewordfortoday.org. If you wish to call, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-WORD and our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Again, that's 1-800-272-9673. For those of you preferring to write, our mailing address is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck continues his verse-by-verse study through the Bible. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. Now once again, here's Pastor Chuck with today's closing comments. But you who have given your lives over to follow Jesus Christ and to serve Jesus Christ, you've already begun to experience some of the riches, the satisfaction, the contentment, and the peace of letting the Lord be Lord. And when you come to the end of the road, there's that certain looking forward to the glorious rewards that God has promised for His faithful servants. To stand before the Lord and have Him say, Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful in the little things now I'll make you ruler over the bigger things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Come study the Bible with Pastor Chuck Smith as he teaches from Genesis through Revelation on a digitally remastered audio edition of Pastor Chuck's Bible commentary. That's over 600 audio MP3 files of Pastor Chuck teaching through the entire Bible all on a 16 gig reusable flash drive. Now you can easily listen to Pastor Chuck's Bible commentaries when you insert this key into your computer. Then you can transfer all of these audio Bible studies to a smartphone or any other listening device to learn and study God's Word on the go. 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