Song of Solomon 3:6- Here Comes The Bride

This is the Truth Network treasures of the song of songs, which is Solomon's delight. We get to do today verse of the third chapter which should be the love verse which often has to do with the light so this one is again a mouthful and such amazing stuff is in here so will read in English who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke perfumed with murder in frankincense and with all powders of the merchant so that's a little cryptic. There's no doubt. And I'll be completely transparent say that in my previous readings of the song of Solomon in all my study. I always thought this had to do was Solomon but I can assure you that it isn't.

It's completely the bride. This is us coming out of the wilderness and you know that's actually the way it is interpreted by Rossi and Matthew Henry and by Spurgeon. So I think there are three in agreement that this is in fact the church and again if we think about the allegory of you know, the Israelites in the desert and clearly the pillar of smoke but this particular pillar. Very interestingly, in Hebrew is an extension of the word palm tree and says you can see this pillar of smoke looking like a palm tree. You can't miss.

If you're in our generation that is a mushroom cloud. Okay.

And so here you see this little mushroom cloud over this palm tree looking pillar of smoke and what's interesting about it is it's perfumed with murder, frankincense, and all the powders of the merchant and so there's a lot of ways that we can look into that and and clearly this is a picture of in so many different ways the sacrifices right that again that the prayers of the saints have always been considered a sacrifice and they go up like incense. We are familiar with this, but also in the smoke that rose up from the altar was often. You know the fat of animals that went up and the delightful smell to the will of the Lord, you know where he would.

You'll be pleased with that aroma like he was with Noah sacrifices and so I don't know if you ever thought about this, but it is it Spurgeon puts it so beautifully that all those saints who literally gave their lives for the church right there. Part of this pillar of smoke that goes up almost like an atom bomb or mushroom cloud and you see it coming out of where it's coming out of the wilderness in I'm sure you do see the picture that you know, Israel came out of the wilderness as they came into the promised land. Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. They were in there for 40 years. He got it done in 40 days. Again he came out in all his splendor unit ready to ready to go into his ministry as he came out of the wilderness and anything about the word wilderness if your math under any fan like I am in in in the idea of wild heart by John Eldridge teaches that adventure is critical to a young man's heart, in that it stretches him. It teaches him. And when you look at the word wilderness you can see that it has to do with testing or proving our stretching and and so we are stretched, when we go into the wilderness and just like Jesus was tested as he went into the wilderness, but the idea is that as we take on the wilderness, we survive then we know that we have what it takes, and more importantly, we know that Jesus has what it takes and how to turn to him and and and just a beautiful picture of what adventure is about instantly different ways and why you know we love to go to the wilderness because there we we get a chance to take that. So here we see the bride coming out of the wilderness after she's been tested and all the sacrifices in this plume of smoke and obviously there frankincense and myrrh make reference to Jesus and you you can't miss that. But also there is this really cryptic one at the end. From my perspective, it says the powders of the merchants which again that the Rossi says that you know that has to do with what the perfect perfumer would buy the spices in order to to get these things to go up in the incense that went up in the temple and Matthew Henry makes a similar statements about that but but the interestingly Spurgeon at a really different take on it in his no excuse me. Matthew Henry said that that it was Jesus that was the merchant and that he was far-fetched.

I never thought about that word before other than meaning you know some that was unbelievable but the Jesus went far in order to fetch us and so merchants would go far to get the spices and for Matthew Henry's point of view. You know Jesus went far in order to provide us the sacrifice of we needed to be that pillar smoke coming up out of the wilderness. I think that's beautiful and then what's really cool.

From my standpoint, is what Spurgeon had to say about that is back in the day that Solomon lived when he was writing this, that they would purchase from the merchants drugs embedded medicinal things that they would burn with the incidents in order to reach your further expand our euphoric things you know almost you know you might think of you know the most high God's will speak like they they literally would take these things medicinally in order to feel better, or to rise spiritually, you know you can go there wherever you want to go but that that the end of the day that's really something that connects I think to what the passage is actually speaking to.

So the question you know that you ponder, I pondered a lot on it in, and finally asked the Holy Spirit. I like I'm read all this, I thought I just can't understand completely why the powders of the merchants, what, what does that have to do with and in the Holy Spirit really pointed me back to revelations chapter 3 when he, Jesus, all told, the church, Leah Cynthia, he counseled them to buy gold and arraignment of white and ointment for their eyes because they needed to be able to see well when you look into the it's an interesting thing. The word murder has to do with bitterness and and as we talked about that word before this case throughout the song of Solomon, but is very close to the word Mary and most sacrifices have to do with bitterness in the frankincense could be translated white. It's the same almost word and in Hebrew as frankincense itself. When you see it. I got some at home. It's absolutely white and so it almost looks like a white stone, honestly, you know, in this idea of white raiment or incenses. It all seems to fit together. And then there's this idea of the ointment of the eyes, which is a medicinal powder, so to speak. This is something that you would, you know, have to purchase from merchant. But what Jesus says is I counsel you to buy from me right. How are you going to get this stuff and it is back to what Matthew Henry said Jesus is the merchant and we have to get from him, raiment, white raiment, we have to get from him gold. We have to get from him the ointments that we need the medicinal things in order to be able to see, not through euphoric spiritualism, but through the real thing right.

The real ointment that we need for the real medicinal thing the and so the powder from the merchant being Jesus. I I'd love that I'd love the thought of Jesus. The only way I know to get these things is is from you and just like the virgins went out to buy oil you know Jesus is the merchant clearly in this picture and I think it really is gonna provide me a lot of stuff to think about is is as I go to Jesus to to understand how to get these things, but in a clearly there's there's some two or three things going on here and on the number one that in the book of Revelation there is going to be a mushroom cloud. That's unbelievable. If the church comes out of the wilderness all these years that we are being tested spent a long time that that is coming out and there's gotta be a wedding supper of the Lamb and all these things that we see and are going to take place bidden in the meantime.

For me personally, you, we all go through these times of testing and as we come out of that testing right people see the sacrifice and ends like a pillar of smoke that they know that wow man that smells really good and so is they see your pillar as you come out of your testing, whatever that may be that and and I can't help but think that a lot of the times I was asked to speak initially was as I came out of the hospital after my leg was crushed and after I had cancer and all these things because people wanted to smell that incense date.

They wanted to see what God had done to heal me. They wanted to, to see that that glory that white that Jesus had done through the testing that he'd given me and and what is that look like in your life right then and how does it that just like the daughters of Jerusalem are the ones who say who is this well when people look at your life right in the see the testing that you go through.

Maybe you're going through some right now the beauty is is that if we go to Jesus by these white raiment that you know continue the sacrifices and and of course get the assignment I ointment so that we can see what he's actually doing when we come out of the wilderness right people rose was at is like a palm tree of smoke like coming out and it's going to be thank you for listening I appreciate it so much