Currently on the Pilgrim Way Broadcast…

I have been doing some messages on the Song of Solomon. The March 2 broadcast will focus on Song 1:4. What better book to mark the Christian’s relationship with our heavenly Solomon? I will probably continue in Song of Solom for the foreseeable future. I’ve preached through the book from the pulpit here at Grace Baptist and I think it would be profitable to spend some time in it on the broadcast.

The Pilgrim Way Broadcast is a 15-minute program aired Monday at 9:45 AM and PM Eastern time on www.fbcradio.com, the web radio station from Foundations Bible College in Dunn, North Carolina.

Thought for the Day- Song 1:3b

Song of Solomon 1:3b “the virgins love thee”

When the fragrance Christ fills the room, the virgins respond. Who are these virgins? They are the undefiled, pure companions of the Bride. They would be our companions, our fellow-travelers and pilgrims. A Christian is undefiled in Christ, who is pure and unspotted from the world. One who is so undefiled will love Christ. They will be attracted to Christ and will love Him. When they hear the name of Christ in a message or a prayer, they will be attracted to Him and their love for Him will be magnified and be displayed. If you are a spiritually undefiled virgin, you will love Christ and be attracted to Him. A professing Christian who has no such attraction to Christ is not such a virgin, nor does that man love Christ as he ought.

Song of Solomon 1:2- Thought For The Day

Song 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.

The Biblical kiss is a high outward form of affection. People who love each other kiss each other and the Shulamite desired this outward token of love from Solomon. The Shulamite would not think of asking Solomon to kiss her for that would not be proper etiquette for a lady. She rather expresses the hope that Solomon will start the process by volunteering the kiss.

Biblical unveiling of the “kiss”

1. The kiss often preceded the blessing:

1. Genesis 27:26,27

2. The kiss was the social equivalent of our handshake or hug:

1. Genesis 29:11,13; 31:28,55; 33:4; 45:15; 48:10; 50:1

2. Exodus 4:27; 18:7

3. Ruth 1:9,14

4. 1 Samuel 10:1; 20:41

5. 2 Samuel 14:33; 19:39; 20:9

6. I Kings 19:20

7. Luke 15:20

8. Acts 20:37

3. Kissing was associated with making obeisance:

1. 2 Samuel 15:5

2. Psalm 2:12

4. Kisses are used in worship of false gods and for idolatry and apostasy:

1. 1 Kings 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

2. Hosea 13:2 And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

5. Kings of the earth are commanded to kiss the Son:

1. Psalm 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

6. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other in Psalm 85:10.

7. The adulteress uses kisses to seduce her victim in Proverbs 7:13.

8. The kisses of an enemy are deceitful:

1. Proverbs 27:6

2. Matthew 26:48,49/Mark 14:44,45/Luke 22:47,48

9. Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss in Matthew 26:48,49/ Mark 14:44,45/Luke 22:47,48.

10.A woman kisses the feet of Jesus in Luke 7:38,45

11.The “holy kiss”:

1. Romans 16:16

2. 1 Corinthians 16:20

3. 2 Corinthians 13:12

4. 1 Thessalonians 5:26

12.The “kiss of charity” in 1 Peter 5:14.

1. A “kiss of agape”, divine love that does not have a human basis or foundation.

The primary New Testament Greek word for “kiss” is the same word from where we get “friend”: Strong’s #5368 filew phileo; to be a friend to, have affection for, to kiss. Judas did kiss Jesus but did so intensively, which is denoted by the “kata” prefix onto the Greek word. The scarlet woman in Luke 7:38 as well as in the return of the prodigal in Luke 15:20 and the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:37 also involved a vigorous, affectionate kiss, not just a peck on the cheek.

“thy love is better than wine” The Hebrew word here is alcoholic wine and the effects it can have. Wine does have some desirable effects in that it makes those who have well drunk seem to be in a happier frame of mind. But true love does what wine cannot in producing a genuine feeling of blessedness. Paul draws this contrast in Ephesians 5 where he urges not to be drunk with wine but rather to be filled with the Spirit. If you must be intoxicated, avoid wine and allow the love of God and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to do that work. Love is better than drunkenness although they may produce somewhat similar physical results. Wine makes the heart glad but love makes the spirit glad.

“If ever there was a man on earth who had Christ’s love in him to the full, it was holy Samuel Rutherford; yet you can see in his letters how he labored for suitable expressions while trying to set forth his hungering and thirsting after the love of Christ. He says he floated upon Christ’s love like a ship upon a river, and then he quaintly asks that his vessel may founder, and go to the bottom, till that blessed stream shall flow right over the masthead of his ship. He wanted to be baptized into the love of Christ, to be flung into the ocean of his Savior=s love; and this is what the true Christian ever longs for…When Madame Guyon had spent many a day and many a month in the sweet enjoyment of the love of Jesus, she penned most delicious hymns concerning it; but they are all full of craving after more, there is no indication that she wished for any change of affection to her Lord, or any change in the object of her affection. She was satisfied with Christ, and longed to have more and more of his love (Charles Spurgeon, “Better Than Wine” in The Most Holy Place, 14-15).”