I.
Review.
A.
The goal for this final session is
a two part goal.
1.
First, is to show that everything
in Song of Songs has a scriptural backing for every definition that is given
for the spiritual interpretation. Not that I am going to go through every verse
and show you, (that's for you to seek on
your own with the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to take this journey with Him!),
I am however, going to pull out some key points that the Lord has been highlighting.
2.
The second point is to point out,
just as Maira was doing last week, that we are His inheritance. And both points
will be accomplished simultaneously.
B.
We will start in Song of Songs 4:12
and go on from there. Just as Maira pointed out last week, we see the Bride go
through a time of discipline for not stepping out in obedience, not because of
rebellion but because of fear. She doesn't want to leave her comfort zone and
so the presence of God pulls away. We can see that in our own lives when God
has spoken to us and then He waits for us to obey. And until we move we don't
see God nor feel His presence, not because He is disappointed with us but
rather He is drawing us out.
C.
We then see her step out in
obedience by saying "yes" in her heart, and before she even fully
steps out God meets her where she is and gives her revelation
of Himself that she didn't have before.
All it took was the "yes" in her heart and God met her!
II.
A
Garden Enclosed!
A.
This is where we pick up the story
line, her simple and weak "yes" has moved His heart! She hasn't even
done anything yet! Last week Maira walked us through the 8 character traits
that Jesus prophesied over the Bride;
and then He begins to reveal to her what she means and is to Him.
"A garden enclosed
Is my sister, my spouse, A spring shut up, A
fountain sealed. Your plants are
an orchard of pomegranates With pleasant fruits,
Fragrant henna with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron, Calamus
and cinnamon, With all trees of frankincense, Myrrh and aloes, With all the
chief spices— A fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And
streams from Lebanon." Song of Songs 4:12-15
B.
He
calls her His garden enclosed, His spring, His Fountain sealed up! Gardens were
places of encounter, it was where the king would go to be with his queen, where
he would meet with only his closest of friends. And here Jesus says to her,
"you are My place of encounter, it is in your heart where we can meet in
the most intimate of ways, where I will share things with you that no one else
will know!"
C.
He
also says that she is His spring, His fountain! It is where He can go when He
"thirsts", and His "thirst will be satisfied! We can see the
story of S.o.S. play out in the story of the woman at the well in John 4:3-38.
"
He left Judea and departed again to
Galilee. 4 But
He needed to go through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near
the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now
Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It
was about the sixth hour.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give
Me a drink.” (Will you
give Me a drink? NIV) 8 For
His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You,
being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings
with Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of
God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked
Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with,
and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are
You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it
himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this
water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water
that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him
will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may
not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus
said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for
you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband;
in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a
prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the
place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming
when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You
worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the
Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is
seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who
is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
27 And at this point
His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one
said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot,
went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see
a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then
they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi,
eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do
not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone
brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who
sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are
still four months and then
comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the
fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who
reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows
and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the
saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to
reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have
entered into their labors.”" John 4:3-38
D.
Notice
that in verse 7 He initiates the conversation with His search for a garden, a
fountain enclosed, His inheritance? He says to her, "Will you give me a
drink?" (NIV)
E.
Then
He gives her revelation of her inheritance in Him in verse 10 and 13. This is
the story of S.o.S., our inheritance in Him and His in us!
F.
When
she realizes who He is she then begins to spread the news of Him and tells
everyone to "come and drink of this living water!" And we can see
that
with the Bride in S.o.S. when she
runs through the city seeking for her Bridegroom and begins to tell the
daughters of Jerusalem who He is to her in chapter 5:9-16 and 6:1-9.
G.
He
tells her that this spring will produce in her and others a worship that He
seeks and desires! Worshipers who worship in spirit and truth! It is the very
thing He gets in S.o.S. 4:16 and 5:1. She prays that the "north
winds" would blow, the times of testing. She is praying Psalm 139:23'
"Search
me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties;"
For
it is in that testing that He will produce within her the fragrance of a true
lover!
H.
She
also prays for times of refreshing when she say "Blow oh south
winds"! We all cry out when we are being tested and are at our breaking
point, but can we seek Him with the same fervor when times are good or do we
grow complacent and comfortable? She is saying that in her there will be no
difference in her worship and heart for Him, because she prays for both the
north and south winds to carry the fragrance of her garden.
III.
All of us, Individually and
Corporately are His Garden Enclosed.
A.
In
verse 31 the disciples urge Him to eat, but He responds, "I have food you
know nothing about." (NIV). His food is to do the will of the Father; to
produce within each of us a garden that produces fruit, and springs of living
water that are guarded and kept pure
just for Him, to produce lovers that love Him the way He love them!
B.
He
charges His disciples in verse 35 to open their spiritual eyes and see the
harvest! To see that each individual has the potential of being a garden
enclosed, gardens that He can go to encounter individually and corporately!
C.
This
passage testifies to the fact that He desires encounter with us more than we
want with Him! For it was He who initiated the conversation and it was He who
asked, "Will you give me a drink?" And She gave it to Him and caused
others to pour out to Him as well!
IV.
He is Jealous for His Garden!
A.
Let
us go back to S.o.S.; in chapter 8:11 it says,
"Solomon
had a vineyard at Baal Hamon (lord
or possessor of abundance);
He leased the vineyard to keepers; Everyone was to bring for its fruit A
thousand silver coins."
Now
we know that the early Rabbis viewed Solomon as the figure head for God in the
Song of Songs, and we view him as Jesus. So how does this help us understand
His jealousy for His garden?
B.
Let
us go to Matthew 21:33-46,
"33 “Hear
another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard
and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And
he leased it to vinedressers (Tenants
NIV)
and went into a far country.
34 Now
when vintage-time drew near (Harvest
time approached NIV), he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might
receive its fruit. 35 And
the
vinedressers
took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.
36 Again he sent other servants,
more than
the
first, and they did likewise to them.
37 Then last of all he
sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
38 But when the
vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come,
let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’
39 So they took him and
cast him out of the vineyard
and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to
those vinedressers?”
41 They
said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers
who will render to him the fruits in their seasons.”
42 Jesus
said to them, “Have you never read in the
Scriptures:
‘The
stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you
and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will
be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
45 Now
when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He
was speaking of them. 46 But when they sought to lay hands on
Him, they feared the multitudes, because they took Him for a prophet."
C.
In
verse 34 He says that the Lord sent "servants" to receive the
harvest, but they were rejected and beaten and even killed. These servants are
the Old Testament Prophets.
1.
Isaiah
suffered martyrdom by being sawn in half by Manasseh.
2.
Jeremiah suffered martyrdom by
stoning at Tahpanhes in Ancient Egypt.
3.
Ezekiel suffered martyrdom in the
land of the Chaldeans.
4.
Micah suffered martyrdom by Jehoram.
5.
Amos was tortured by Amaziah the
priest of Beth-el (Amos 7:10) and martyred by Amaziah's son.
6.
These are just a few of the
prophets that were sent and killed by those that did not want to give the
harvest to the Lord, the fruits of the gardens of the people's hearts. All the
prophets called out to the people to turn their hearts back to the Lord and
love Him rightly but they refused.
D.
Finally God sends His Son to turn
their hearts. However just as the parable states they took the Son outside of
the vineyard walls and killed Him. Jesus was taken outside the walls of
Jerusalem and killed, because the Pharisees did not want to give Him His
inheritance, the hearts of the people. How many times do we read that the Pharisees became jealous
because the people were going over to Jesus.
E.
And Jesus even pointed out how they loved the praise
of men.
His inheritance is the nations! It's what He asked for in Psalm 2, that every heart, every person
individually and corporately would be a garden enclosed, set aside specifically
for Him!
F.
In
Verse 43 He tells them that the kingdom is no longer entrusted to them, and we
see this in Isaiah 5:1-7,
"Now
let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My
Well-beloved has a vineyard On a very fruitful hill. He dug it
up and cleared out its stones, And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst, And also made a winepress in
it; So He expected it to bring
forth good grapes, But it
brought forth wild grapes. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What
more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then,
when I expected it to bring
forth good grapes, Did it bring
forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will
do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall
be trampled down. I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned
or dug,
But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command
the clouds
That they rain no rain on it.” For the
vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the
house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For
righteousness, but behold, a cry for
help."
G. He came seeking the choices
fruits and found bad fruit, He found hearts that
rejected Him and did not produce the fruits that He desired. In John 15 He
tells us that every branch that does not bear fruit is cut off to be thrown
into the fire.
H.
I pray Eph. 1:17 over us, that we would begin to walk in the revelation
of who He is (our inheritance) and what He desires from each of us (His
inheritance)! That when He comes to each of us and asks, "Will you give me
a drink?" that He would find within each an everyone of us; A spring shut up, A fountain sealed, A
fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And streams that flow down from
Lebanon; that His deepest longing for those that worship in spirit and in truth
would be quenched!
