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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Isaac Eliot

Christ’s Voluptuous Bride

1 of my closest friends, Chuck Holtry, was married.

I don't know what your experience has been.

Weddings have typically, for me, been a time when people seem to let down their hair, so to speak, if you know what I mean.

In fact, I came away from that wedding refreshed, inspired spiritually.

And part of the wedding was they asked me to present something on Sabbath and so what I did is I prepared a subject that had to do with love.

And where would you go in the Bible if you had to prepare a sermon about love for a young couple that was about to be married?

I thought, you know, the Song of Solomon.

And so I thought, okay, well let me look.

And so I began to do some study and looked at a few books and began to compile some material together and thus was created the subject that I'm going to present to you today.

I don't know about you, but I have never heard, my whole time as a church member I have never heard a sermon on the Song of Solomon.

Perhaps there's good reason it's 1 of those books as a child that we would pitter over you know when certain portions were read and I never looked at the Song of Solomon seriously until challenged to do so for this wedding.

Now let me just pause here and remind you of 2 Timothy 3.16.

You don't have to turn there but we all know the Bible says that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for proof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, which means that if the Song of Solomon is merely a love story, If it's merely poetry, a love song for a man that loved his bride, it would not fulfill the criteria of 2 Timothy 3.16.

It wouldn't have any instruction for righteousness.

But if you look closely at the story, you'll begin to understand there is far more imagery or meaning behind these symbols than meets the eye.

So I'm going to attempt to help you see that.

I was here last night and I, with you, I'm planning to, like many of you, I'm planning to be a Mentone in just a few minutes, so I'll be sensitive to that.

But my sermon is actually very brief, but the first part of this presentation that I want to share with you is I really want to help you understand how to unlock this book, this seemingly poetic book in the middle of the Bible on the Song of Solomon.

So let's open to Song of Solomon chapter 6 And let's look at verse 6.

And notice with me what the Bible says here.

Song of Solomon chapter 6 and verse 6 now, this is Solomon speaking He's speaking to his bride The Shulamite and look at what he says to her.

This is quite Interesting Solomon's song of Solomon chapter 6 verse 6.

He says Thy teeth are as a flock of what?

Sheep, which go up from the washing, whereof every 1 beareth twins, and there is not 1 barren among them.

Now ladies I don't know what you've heard in your life, but Has anyone ever told you in compliments, has anyone ever said you have teeth like a flock of sheep?

This is 1 of those expressions that almost seems to beg for answers.

Solomon is telling his bride that your teeth are like a flock of sheep.

You know I was in Walmart 1 day and I was holding my son I was in the checkout line and the woman behind me looked at my son and she said She turned to me and she said, you have a beautiful son.

And so I smiled at her as a way of saying thanks.

And then she turned to me and said, you have a beautiful smile.

By now, you're tempted to think, does she need money or what?

But I've never, ever told someone, you know, you have beautiful teeth.

Solomon is telling his bride, your teeth are like a flock of sheep.

As strange as it sounds, it's actually not so odd if you begin to think about sheep and your teeth.

Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that go up from the where?

Now all of you dental students should realize, isn't that true about your teeth?

Your teeth all have twins, isn't that right?

Not just that, but teeth, like sheep, should be close together.

Your teeth also should be close together.

Now, if this was only a love story, if this was merely a poem to compliment his wife, Song of Solomon chapter 6 and verse 6 contains absolutely no instruction in righteousness.

But the Bible says that all Scripture is profitable.

All Scripture, which means Song of Solomon chapter 6 and verse 6 is no mistake, is no exception.

Now let's step back for a moment and think.

Let's think about this passage because the book of Song of Solomon really, as we look at it from a distance, it begs to be looked at from a spiritual standpoint.

Now we know that in Scripture there is another very prominent son of David, that being who?

Of Christ, because he also is the son of David.

Now just to give you a little background Solomon had many wives, but the Song of Solomon celebrates his marriage to his first wife.

And as we look at this story, you're going to see that this first wife is a very fitting symbol of God's church.

She wasn't anything, she wasn't from some respected family, she wasn't wealthy, you know, all of these criteria were not there.

This woman was simply a humble vineyard keeper.

And Solomon chose her out of the multitudes of women that he could have married.

He chose this humble woman to be his bride.

Now there's some powerful lessons in that.

We'll talk about that more in just a little bit.

But as we look at it from that standpoint, folks, when Solomon is complimenting his bride, it is another way of seeing Christ describing his love for who?

With that idea now, verse 6 takes on new meaning.

Think now, Christ is speaking, he says to his bride, thy teeth are as a flock of what?

Now, let me insert a principle here that is found throughout the Bible.

When you study the Bible, and especially on passages that seem to indicate by their symbolism, every physical object has a spiritual symbol.

Let me say that again and I'll illustrate this, but in Scripture, this is complete throughout the Bible, every physical symbol contains a spiritual meaning.

The Bible says, thy teeth are as a flock of sheep.

So the Bible is comparing The bride the church is comparing her teeth to a flock of what?

Let's think about this in Scripture in Scripture What do sheep?

Represent in Scripture, what do sheep represent?

Well, I'm going to throw out a few passages.

Well, first, keep your finger there and let's turn over to Psalms 79.

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Christ’s Voluptuous Bride

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