Transcript

Podcast Introduction

This is Poetry Thursday. We’ll complete the book of Song of Solomon with the reading of chapters 7 and 8. I’m calling today’s show, “What Is God?”

Comments on Song of Solomon 7

As we’ve already discussed on a previous episode, this book can be seen as an allegory about the relationship between Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride. Obviously, discussing all the imagery is far beyond the scope of this podcast, but I do suggest that you make it a point to get a good commentary and do your own study. Well worth your time.

I would like to take a couple minutes to focus on chapter 7 verse 10, where the bride exclaims, “I am my beloved’s, and he desires me!”

She says this after he has told her the many ways that he finds her beautiful. It sort of reminds me of when Sally Field won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1985. (Play clip.) Yes, it’s true. Despite our many flaws, Jesus finds us (the church) beautiful and worthy of His love. Romans 5:8 says “…God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I can’t imagine why, to be honest. What could He possibly find in us that would cause Him to give of Himself so completely? Why would such a holy and perfect God love me (and you) so much that He would give up the glories of Heaven for even an instant, to live amongst us on this tiny, dirty, sin-filled and rebellious speck in the vastness of the universe to ultimately be tortured and nailed to a cross like a common criminal? Why would he choose to take on my sins and yours? Why would he allow Himself to be utterly separated from God the Father because of me? 

The answer is truly beyond my understanding. His Word tells me, and I believe what the word says, that the only reason is because He loves me, and He loves you. But why does He love us? 1 John 4:8 says simply “…because God is love.” Let that sink in. God. Is. Love. God is love. God is. Love. Not God *has* love, but God *is* love. It is His essence. It is who He is. God *is* love. And He loves you. And He loves me. 

 “I am my beloved’s, and he desires me!”

I don’t know about you, but my response to that kind of love is to reciprocate, to return that love as much as I can in my puny, imperfect, human way. But it thrills me to no end that He sees me as worthy of His attention. And above that, that He is working in me to refine me, to purify me, so that on that day when I see Him face-to-face, I will be the bride He desires.

Today’s Bible Translation

Bible translation used in today’s episode: Ch. 7-8 NET

Links

Interview with Kenny Metcalf. On the Lifespring! podcast. On YouTube: Part 1 of 3.

Support

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Transcript

Download .txt file.

STEVE WEBB – 0:00
It is His essence. It is who He is.

INTRO S12E358 – 0:11
Coming to you from Riverside, California, this is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible. And podcasting since 2004, I’m your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily show where we’re reading through the entire Bible in a year and this is Poetry Thursday, our last Poetry Thursday. We’ll complete the book of Song of Solomon with the reading of chapters 7 and 8. I’m calling today’s episode, “What is God?” The show notes page today is at lifespringmedia.com/s12e358. My email address is st***@*************ia.com. Let’s get started.

SONG OF SOLOMON 7 (NET) – 0:45
Song of Solomon, chapter 7.

The Lover to His Beloved:
(1) How beautiful are your sandaled feet,
O nobleman’s daughter!
The curves of your thighs are like jewels,
the work of the hands of a master craftsman.
(2) Your navel is a round mixing bowl –
may it never lack mixed wine!
Your belly is a mound of wheat,
encircled by lilies.
(3) Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle.
(4) Your neck is like a tower made of ivory.
Your eyes are the pools in Heshbon
by the gate of Bath-Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
overlooking Damascus.
(5) Your head crowns you like Mount Carmel.
The locks of your hair are like royal tapestries –
the king is held captive in its tresses!
(6) How beautiful you are! How lovely,
O love, with your delights!
(7) Your stature is like a palm tree,
and your breasts are like clusters of grapes.
(8) I want to climb the palm tree,
and take hold of its fruit stalks.
May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes,
and may the fragrance of your breath be like apricots!
(9) May your mouth be like the best wine,
flowing smoothly for my beloved,
gliding gently over our lips as we sleep together.

The Beloved about Her Lover:
(10) I am my beloved’s,
and he desires me!

The Beloved to Her Lover:
(11) Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside;
let us spend the night in the villages.
(12) Let us rise early to go to the vineyards,
to see if the vines have budded,
to see if their blossoms have opened,
if the pomegranates are in bloom –
there I will give you my love.
(13) The mandrakes send out their fragrance;
over our door is every delicacy,
both new and old, which I have stored up for you, my lover.

SONG OF SOLOMON 8 (NET) – 2:39
Song of Solomon, chapter 8.

The Beloved to Her Lover:
(1) Oh, how I wish you were my little brother,
nursing at my mother’s breasts;
if I saw you outside, I could kiss you –
surely no one would despise me!
(2) I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house,
the one who taught me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the nectar of my pomegranates.

The Beloved about Her Lover:
(3) His left hand caresses my head,
and his right hand stimulates me.

The Beloved to the Maidens:
(4) I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem:
“Do not arouse or awaken love until it pleases!”

The Maidens about His Beloved:
(5) Who is this coming up from the desert,
leaning on her beloved?

The Beloved to Her Lover:
Under the apple tree I aroused you;
there your mother conceived you,
there she who bore you was in labor of childbirth.
(6) Set me like a cylinder seal over your heart,
like a signet on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
passion is as unrelenting as Sheol.
Its flames burst forth,
it is a blazing flame.
(7) Surging waters cannot quench love;
floodwaters cannot overflow it.
If someone were to offer all his possessions to buy love,
the offer would be utterly despised.

The Beloved’s Brothers:
(8) We have a little sister,
and as yet she has no breasts.
What shall we do for our sister
on the day when she is spoken for?
(9) If she is a wall,
we will build on her a battlement of silver;
but if she is a door,
we will barricade her with boards of cedar.

The Beloved:
(10) I was a wall,
and my breasts were like fortress towers.
Then I found favor in his eyes.

The Beloved to Her Lover:
(11) Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon;
he leased out the vineyard to those who maintained it.
Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit.
(12) My vineyard, which belongs to me, is at my disposal alone.
The thousand shekels belong to you, O Solomon,
and two hundred shekels belong to those who maintain it for its fruit.

The Lover to His Beloved:
(13) O you who stay in the gardens,
my companions are listening attentively for your voice;
let me be the one to hear it!

The Beloved to Her Lover:
(14) Make haste, my beloved!
Be like a gazelle or a young stag
on the mountains of spices.

COMMENTS – 5:15
Beloved, as we’ve already discussed on a previous episode, Song of Solomon, or Song of Songs, can be seen as an allegory about the relationship between Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride. Obviously, discussing all the imagery is far beyond the scope of this podcast. But I do suggest that you make it a point to get a good commentary and do your own study. It is well worth your time.

What I’d like to do today is take a couple of minutes to focus on chapter seven, verse 10, where the bride exclaims, “I am my beloved’s and he desires me.”

She says this after he’s told her the many ways that he finds her beautiful. It sort of reminds me of when Sally Field won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1985.

SALLY FIELD – 5:59
You like me!

COMMENTS (CONT’D) – 6:00
Yes, it’s true. Despite our many flaws, Jesus finds us (the church) beautiful and worthy of His love. Romans 5:8 says, “…God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Now, I cannot imagine why. Why would he do that? What could he possibly find in us that would cause him to give of himself so completely? Why would such a holy and perfect God love me and you so much that he would give up the glories of heaven for even an instant to live amongst us on this tiny, dirty, sin-filled and rebellious speck in the vastness of the universe to ultimately be tortured, and nailed to a cross like a common criminal? Why would he choose to take on my sins and yours? Why would he allow himself to be so utterly separated from God the Father because of me?

Well, the answer is truly beyond my understanding. His Word tells me, and I believe what the Word says, that the only reason is because he loves me, and he loves you. But why does he love us? I John 4:8 says simply, “…because God is love.“ Let that sink in. God is love. Not God has love, but God is love. It is His essence. It is who He is. God is love. And he loves you. And he loves me.

“I am my beloved’s, and he desires me.”

I don’t know about you, but my response to that kind of love is to reciprocate, to return that love as much as I can, in my puny, imperfect human way. It thrills me to no end, that he sees me as worthy of his attention. And above that, the fact that he’s working in me to refine me, to purify me, so that on that day when I see him face to face, I will be the bride that He desires.

You have a comment? Let me know. Go to lifespringmedia.com/s12e358. Tomorrow is Prophecy Friday. We’ll complete the book of Revelation with a reading of chapters 18 through 22.

Boostagram.

SUPPORTER SHOUT-OUT – 8:25
Couple of days ago, Sean of San Pedro sent a boostagram of 7777 sats also known as a Stryper boost. He said, “Only seven episodes left. This is bittersweet.” Well, Sean, thank you. It is sort of bittersweet, isn’t it? This has been a great year. I’ve enjoyed this year more than any other in my nearly 18 years of podcasting. But as they say, all good things must come to an end. And of course after today’s episode, there are only five days remaining.

And by the way, speaking of Stryper, which of course, was a Christian, sort of, glam rock band in the 80s. I interviewed Kenny Metcalf on episode 176 of the Lifespring podcast back in 2008. Kenny was Stryper’s first keyboard player. He was neighbors with the Sweet brothers who started Stryper. And Kenny is the guy who introduced them to Jesus. Kenny has a really amazing Job-like story and, like Job, he lost his health. He was covered literally from head to foot with sores, and he nearly died. If you’d like to listen to the show, I’ll have a link on today’s show notes page at lifespringmedia.com/s12e358. And if you want to go over to YouTube, I actually have some of that interview on my YouTube channel. I’ll have a link to that on the show notes page as well.

ON THIS DATE IN CHURCH HISTORY – 9:58
On this date in church history, Joseph Mohr began serving as pastor of St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. In 1818, on Christmas Eve, he and church organist, Franz Gruber, created the enduring Christmas carol, “Stille Nacht”, or “Silent Night”.

CLOSING PRAYER – 10:23
Let’s pray. Our heavenly Father, after today’s reading, all I can do is say, thank you, Lord. Thank you for loving us in a way that none of us deserve. Your love is a perfect love and the best that we can do is bask in it and try our best in our own feeble way to love you in return. And we look forward to the day that we will be in your presence. I pray God that you would bless the Lifespring family today. Be with each of us, I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

OUTRO S12E358 – 10:59
The show notes page if you’d like to comment on today’s show, is at lifespringmedia.com/s12e358. Send an email to me at st***@*************ia.com. Thanks to the team: Kirsty, Sean of San Pedro and Denise. Thanks to the sat streamers and boosters. And thank you for spending part of your day with me.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. My name is Steve Webb.

Bye.

Later, dude.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Corrected by Denise