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Come out, you daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon wearing the crown, the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, the day his heart rejoiced.

Song of Songs 3:11

As David was promised that God’s Messiah would come from among his descendants (2 Samuel 11b-13), so Solomon, his son and the heir to Israel’s throne, comes into the spotlight in the outworking of God’s purposes towards the fulfilment of this role (cf 2 Chronicles 7:18).

Here in this ‘love song’ in Scripture, which the KJV calls ‘Song of Solomon’, God gives us a glimpse of what this Messiah will mean to us, his Church, and what we will mean to him.

The language of this ‘love song’ is embarrassingly personal and sensual, but this helps to portray for us the HEIGHT, LENGTH, BREADTH and DEPTH of God’s LOVE for us.  We are to be his Bride (cf John 3:29; Ephesians 5:25-27, 32; Revelation 19:7; 21:2, 9), the ‘daughters of Zion’ rejoicing in his intimate love as we look forward to sharing in our great Wedding Banquet (cf Matthew 22:1-14) when he returns, or we go to meet him when our time on earth is finished!

But the question we must ask is: “What sort of a Bride will we be when this happens?”   Paul reminds us that “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the Word, and to present her to himself as a radiant Church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:25b-27).  Are we seeing evidence of his work IN us and ON us?  Will our lamps be filled with oil when he comes? (Matthew 25:6-10).  Do our  worship, our social interaction together, our care for one another, give the impression to a watching world that we are a joyful, excited, bubbling Bride waiting for her BIG DAY?  Or do we just project an image of ‘gloom and doom’ because the world is in such a sad and sorry state?  It’s worth reflecting on – and it’s worth having a quick read through this almost ‘R-rated’ book in God’s inspired Word as we do!