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Today is Friday July 31, 2009 and we are studying the book of Song of Solomon, please read Song of Solomon in your Bible or Click Here to read it. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Song%20of%20Solomon%201-8&version=9

Today's Message: Bride of Christ
The love between a man and his wife is the pattern for the relationship between Christ (Man) and the Church (His Bride).

The book of Song of Solomon is the twenty-second book of the Old Testament/Bible and contains eight chapters. The author of the book is Solomon and it was written to Israel and all believers. The purpose of the book is to show the relationship between Jesus and the Church as demonstrated by the marriage relationship between man and woman. What we are to learn from the book is the divine model of love between a man and his wife is the pattern for the relationship between Christ (Man) and the Church (His Bride). Song of Solomon is one of those books that is a bit hard to explain, it illustrates the love and joy that is expressed between a man and woman. It is mature in content so it tends to make one wonder why it is even in the Bible and what it has to do with Christ. Well, it is no error that the book is in the Bible, for every book is united by Christ and teaches us something. There are actually several meanings in the dictionary for the word marry, one is defined as to unite intimately. When we think about the relationship between a husband and a wife, it is the most intimate relationship one will ever have, next to one with God. As their love grows, the relationship intensifies and the love grows even stronger. Well, the same thing happens between Christ and His bride.

Christ has a bride like no other, His bride is not one in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense. When we accept Jesus into our lives, we develop an intimate relationship with Him, spiritually, meaning that we become His bride. Christ's bride is literally all the souls, or people, of their own free will, whom have repented and have chosen to believe upon Him and accept Him into their lives. We were chosen in the world that was, and are God's elect. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” -Ephesians 1:3-5. In other words, we were chosen as Christ's bride before we were born, in fact, even before the world was created. His bride is all those souls that God had took in the world age that was, meaning the age before souls did not live in the fleshy bodies that we have today.

Let me tell you how long I procrastinated about writing this lesson, I just did not know how to word it, as I began reading the chapters I was thinking how can I use Scripture to reference Christ from this book, I mean the thought of relating Christ to a wife wanting her husband to kiss him just boggled my mind. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.” - Song of Solomon 1:2. Then after doing much research on this book I finally figured it out, well the Holy Spirit figured it out for me. There are two meanings to this passage, 1. The wife longing to embrace her husband, who is away and awaiting his return. 2. The bride of Christ longing to embrace Him (spiritually, not physically), who is away and awaiting His return. The passage, “For thy love is better than wine”, draws our attention to what we have to remember Christ by, the Holy Communion. Remember, Jesus Said, “ Take, eat; this is my body. 7And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.” - Matthew 26:26b-29. Now, it would be better to have Christ here in person, but until His return, we have the sweetness of His wine (blood) to remember Him by. Therefore the subject is of the wife talking to her husband. The husband being Jesus Christ who is away and separated from his wife.

The bride also describes her wonderful memories as her bridegroom tarries. The bride was asleep on her bed, but her thoughts were continually about her absent bridegroom. “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go,” - Song of Solomon 3:1-4a. The wife is now in a state of daydreaming, or wishful thinking. Her husband is not with her, but she is concentrating so very much on His love, that it seems real to her. She is searching and watching for him very much like we are today as we are awaiting Christ's return. However, Christ is still very much with us in Spirit. We can feel the touch of His Holy spirit, and enjoy the comfort that He gives even though Christ is not with us in person.

As Christians, we sometimes enjoy a very close sense of the presence of Christ, but all too often, His presence seems far away. Yet our love for Him continues to grow as we wait expectantly for that first glimpse of Him when He welcomes us home. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” - I Thessalonians 4:16,17. As we await His return we have the Holy Spirit to comfort us, it is comforting to know that our bridegroom is still with us, even though we can not physically see Him. It is amazing to stop and even imagine what the world would be like when He returns, for some reason I picture everyone being Casper the friendly ghost, I know that is silly, but at least it's a good ghost. I guess there are many things that we will have to wait patiently to see, but that just makes it all worth the wait. Praise God!

Today's Prayer:
Dear God,
Lord, our hearts rejoice with resounding thanksgiving, as we consider that You chose us before the world was made so that we could be Your holy people; people without blame before You.  Because of Your love, You chose to make us Your own children through Your Son, Jesus Christ.  We are set free by the blood of His death as You forgive us of our sins.  Your awesome power is seen not only in the vast universe but in the hearts of men and women, boys and girls whose lives are submitted to Your divine authority. 

Have a wonderful day/night and weekend
God Bless You,
Christina