GYC SE Spring Conference 2019

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GYC Southeast

Dee Casper

Building a House for my Wife

God in heaven, I thank you for the privilege to pray, to pray together, and the fact that we are always welcome in your presence, that we were always on the forefront of your mind.

And Lord, I just pray as we come before you right now, that you would minister to us in this place, that you would speak to us, and Lord, I pray that you would do something in this room, in this moment, that none of us would soon forget, for your glory's sake.

Building a house for my wife, what on earth is this man talking about?

So we're going to be talking about the second coming of Jesus this evening.

Can I do that as a Seventh-day Adventist preacher?

Can I talk about the second coming of Jesus?

And we as Seventh-day Adventists have, for years, been communicating the close, imminent coming of Jesus Christ.

Jesus isn't here yet, so there must be something about believing that, that we haven't fully wrapped our minds around, because there's some work to be done.

But that being said, our presentations regarding the second coming have largely been in kind of a polemic arrangement, where we have communicated what the second coming is not.

The second coming is not a secret rapture.

It's going to be literal, visible, audible, every eye shall see him.

And we don't need to run from the peculiarity of our message in the second coming.

Do we need to communicate what it isn't at the expense of what it is?

Scripture from Genesis to Revelation has something in mind, it's quite interesting.

I believe that the narrative of the second coming, largely in Scripture, is actually painted amongst the backdrop of a marriage.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but the kind of linear nature of where scripture is pointing, is talking about a marriage.

Jesus is coming again to claim his bride and to take her back to be with him, to live with her forever.

In fact, Genesis, once Adam and Eve are created, the whole story basically begins with a wedding.

Then we get to the book of Revelation and we get to the close of this amazing story of the plan of redemption and what happens there?

And so I have this kind of thought and I didn't go to college like you guys, so you may be smarter than I am, but I'm just left with the impression that if the book begins with a wedding and it ends with a wedding, maybe something about this narrative involves a wedding.

And the second coming is actually couched in this language.

When's the last time you went to the Song of Solomon in a sermon?

I may have to censor some of it, maybe that's why.

Do you even know where that is in the Bible?

Do I even know where that is in the Bible?

Song of Solomon, chapter 8, beginning in verse 6.

This is the Shulamite, Solomon's girl, speaking to him.

She says, set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is as strong as death, jealousy as cruel as the grave, its flames are flames of fire, and then it says, a most vehement flame.

Now, people wrestled with the Song of Solomon being in the Bible over the years.

In fact, Martin Luther, to the best of my recollection, was wholeheartedly against it.

What is this love story, this kind of ooey-gooey love story doing in the middle of sacred scripture?

It's very hard to see where God fits in the picture for some.

In the original language it reads differently in verse 6, but the translators didn't really know what to do with this last statement, a most vehement flame.

The Andrews Study Bible picks up on this, and this is what they say.

They say, "...best translated, a flame of Yah, literally the Lord.

This expression, reserved for the thematic climax of the entire song, reveals that Yahweh is the source of human love and thus provides the basis for the typological interpretation of the song.

So this whole thing, the Song of Solomon, is meant to communicate something very important.

And just take a step back and look at some very common sense things about this.

This is a book about the son of David pursuing his bride.

Song of Solomon is about a son of David pursuing his bride.

Don't the scriptures talk about another son of David somewhere else?

Maybe the Song of Solomon is communicating something about the big picture of Jesus pursuing his bride, and that's why it's here.

Maybe it's not out of place, maybe it's communicating the grand arc narrative of scripture and God's pursuit of his bride, the church.

And so Yahweh is the source of love, and that's what we find from this text.

Skip down to verse 10, and I'm gonna skip about halfway down the verse because I don't wanna hear snickering in the back of the room.

But then it says, "...then I became in his eyes as 1 who found peace." When Solomon and his girl, and this thing is consummated and brought together, there's an abiding sense of peace brought into their experience.

Now, the word Shulamite is actually the female equivalent to the Hebrew word peace.

Solomon's name is the male equivalent of the word peace.

And so when peace and peace come together, there is this sense of abiding peace.

This is what God is longing to bring to his people.

That when we surrender and give in to the pursuing love of God, There is this sense of abiding peace.

This is what God is longing to bring to His people.

That when we surrender and give in to the pursuing love of God, there is this sense of abiding peace that comes into the believer's experience.

And in fact, I wasn't even looking for God, but I praise God for the fact that He came looking for me.

And when I surrendered my life to Jesus, there was this sense of abiding peace that swept me off my feet and brought purpose and meaning to my life.

This is what God wants for us, and it comes through this grand arch narrative of love and pursuit.

Looking at different themes through Scripture, 1 of the purposes of Army Bible Camp is to teach us how to study the Bible, how to connect themes in Scripture, to dig deeper for ourselves.

So we're just running through 1 thread of Scripture tonight.

Again, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan.

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Building a House for my Wife

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