Outline of Song of Solomon - First 5 Revelations — Ed Miller

Good morning, brothers. This is intimidating, having my two sons-in-law sitting there. I'll ask you to open, please, to the book of Song of Solomon. As we come to the study of God's Word, we come to look at His precious truth.

Reliance on the Holy Spirit for Revelation

I remind myself, I remind you again, of that principle of Bible study that is absolutely indispensable. And that is total reliance upon God's Holy Spirit. We praise God for all of the academics, and we must have it.

We must do the human side. We must look at the book as a book. But then we must come to the Lord and say, Now dawn Christ upon us. We need to see You. And there is no study, no labor, no research. No academic endeavor that will ever unveil Christ.

Only God can reveal God. I'd like to share the indispensable verse this morning from the book itself. If you just glance, it's a little bit out of the context of Song, but it contains a principle. Glance at Song chapter 5, please, and verse 2.

I was asleep, but my heart was awake. A voice, my beloved, was knocking. Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is drenched with dew and my locks with the damp of the night.

I pray this morning, as you have testified in prayer and in Song, that your heart is awake. The groom's at the door. Behold, a voice. The groom was knocking. When you think of a voice, you think of words.

And may I just suggest, here we have the voice of God. The Bible, that's his voice. And I believe you'll find it true in the balance of scripture that every time he speaks, he knocks. Behold, a voice.

The groom is knocking. And every time he speaks, he seeks entrance. He seeks to come in. He desires to have a union with us. And so, as our heart is awake, and as the groom speaks, and as the groom knocks, I just pray, and let's pray together, that we'll have open hearts, receptive hearts, and invite him in to do all his pleasure.

So let's bow before him. Father, once again, we thank you that you've been so faithful to speak, to knock, to come to our heart's door over and over again, seeking entrance, seeking to have the one that you have called, your dove, and your darling, and your perfect one, and your unique one.

Lord, we are amazed at your estimation of your bride, but we praise you. And we ask that you would give us the grace to open the door wide this morning as you speak, as you knock. And we ask that in the all-prevailing name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Four Foundational Observations About Song of Solomon

I want to give just a little bit of a review of what we looked at last night. I see a couple of brothers that were not here last night. Let me do what I attempted to do last night. God assisting. I attempted to lay before you at least a burden on my heart.

And I'm quite convinced it's the burden on the heart of the Lord as well in His revelation of Himself in this marvelous Song of Solomon. I called attention last evening, and I'll just mention them again, four general observations about the book as a whole, just to get us all on the same page and going in the same direction.

My first observation was this, that the Song of Solomon is the record of a love story of two worlds, human love illustrating heavenly love. And as you know, our emphasis this weekend will be upstairs.

It will be on the heavenly side. We want to look at the groom as he draws the bride, and the bride as she responds to the drawing of the groom, and so on. But that's the message of Song. It's a love story.

And it's not enough to say, the groom loves me. That's true, but it's not enough. It doesn't go far enough. He is in love with you. That's what this book is about. The groom is in love with his bride.

And it's a love story on two levels. Now, in my own Bible, when I open to Song, I don't see Song 1 -1 as the first verse. I have put Hosea 6 -3 as the first verse of Song. And here's why. Hosea 6 -3 says, so let us know.

Let us follow on to know the Lord. And that, to me, just summarizes the book. It's especially appropriate because the book of Hosea and the book Song of Solomon ought to be studied as sister books. They ought to be studied together because it's the same message.

Song of Solomon gives it on the positive side. Hosea gives the same truth on the negative side. Song of Solomon tells us how God's heart rejoices when we respond as His bride. Song of Solomon, I mean rather Hosea, is the broken-hearted love of God when we don't respond.

But it's the same message just looked at another way. Hosea 6 -3 then, in that context said, let us know. Let us press on to know the Lord. And that word know in Hosea is used as it is here in the sense of Genesis 4 -1.

Adam knew his wife and she conceived. It's talking about the intimacies of the marriage bond, the intimacies of relationship. Matthew 1 -25 says that Joseph knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son.

And so that word know is a very precious word and it talks about that intimacy of the marriage tie. And song is a love story of two worlds in which we're to know and press on to know in all the intimacies that that union suggests.

Know, press on to know the Lord. So that's the first observation. It's a love story of two worlds. Second observation is this. That song presents us with the climactic redemptive experience. It's climactic because it takes us as far as we can go in this world.

Of course, it's in seed form. It's in the language of poetry. It's sort of veiled, but it's all there. It's redemptive because it is a spiritual union, a union of faith. And it is experience. And we called attention to that last night.

It's not just theoretical. It's not just theological. It's not just holding some positional truth. He desires an actual, a real, a vital living union with Him. And that's His heart. The third general impression was in terms of the many appearances of the groom.

As you go through song, He keeps coming. And then He comes again and again. He's ever coming in this book. Over and over again He comes. And then the bride turns around and He's gone. And then He comes again.

And then He disappears. And then He comes again. And sometimes He comes without leaving. He just keeps coming and coming and coming. And each coming, I think, I perceive is more personal and more intimate than the one before.

That's the progress in this book. Every time He shows up, something happens. Something happens in the life of the bride. That's also the progress in your life and mine. Every time He shows up, something happens.

And that's what the Christian life is all about. And so that's the third observation. And finally, when we closed last night, I was pointing out how personal this book is. The story is told one-on-one, the groom and the bride.

It does not deny corporate truth. That's all the way through the book. You go through the book, you're going to see the body. You're going to see the church under many figures. My mother's house, my brothers, my sisters, the groom's companions, the virgins, the shepherds, the daughters of Jerusalem, daughters of Zion, the watchmen, the keepers of the vineyard.

It's all talking about the church in one of its forms. But the focus is on the groom and the bride. It's told as if there were only two people in the book. And so as we study the book together, we want to look at it that way.

Praise God, we're all here as a body. But God has brought you here. It's about you and Him. It's about me and Him. The only way to bring the church into this experience is to enter in yourself. The only way to bring the body in is as the individual enters in.

That's why Psalm 1 -4 says, draw me and we will run after you. Sometimes we get so busy trying to bring everybody in, we haven't entered in ourselves. May God have mercy on us. Now let me get what I believe then.

The Book's Progression from Revelation to Rest

That's the review. Let me lay before you what I think is the plan of this book. And then we'll begin to look at some of its precious truths. Now don't put a lot of stock, please, on the outline I'm going to share.

Because as I said last night, the surest way to kill a love poem is to try to outline it. They say a good love letter is you don't know what it's going to say before you start writing it. And then after you've written it, you don't know what you've said.

That's a good love letter. Well, when you see the Song of Solomon, you know I'm sort of ruining it by outlining it. And yet I think it's important just so that we can follow it together. I want you to note, first of all, verse 2, please.

The poem starts off on high ground, very high ground. May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Your love is better than wine. I think on other occasions when we've been together, I suggested to you how beneficial it has been for me to have a year verse and to have a year book.

Any excuse to get into the Word. But I just found it so helpful. I asked the Lord to give me a verse for the year. And that verse just stays with me. And that book I study. In fact, my wife and I share our year book together.

We choose together the year book. And then through the year, we just study that book. Well, this year, my year verse is right here. Song chapter 1, verse 2. And my year book is Song of Solomon. So you actually, this conference is a little early.

We should have met at the end of the year after the Lord dawned some more on my heart. But you're only two verses deep. And you have this expressed desire that may he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.

Your love is better than wine. Now, wine is the book of Ecclesiastes. That's wine. That's the joy the earth gives. The joy that leaves a hangover. Natural joy. That's why it's held in contrast to the Spirit of God.

That's why we read in Ephesians 5 .18, Do not get drunk with wine. That's dissipation. But be filled with the Spirit. And God holds that one over against the other. The world's wine to this bride has already been found to be vanity.

Your love is better than wine. And that's where the book begins. A kiss is just about universally the symbol of affection. His mouth. You know who gives this expression of love and affection? Kisses here is plural.

It's not singular. Kisses. Not one. Many kisses of his mouth. May he. King James says, let him kiss me. It's a sigh. It's a desire. It's a longing. And so the book, you're only two verses deep. And the book opens with this concept.

The desire of the bride. She has already tasted the world's wine. She has rejected the world's wine. She has embraced the love of her groom. And now her sigh is that he would express himself over and over and over again and keep showing how much he loves her.

That's how the book opens. That's why I chose it as my year's verse. Because that's my prayer for this year. That my heavenly bridegroom, the lover of my soul, would continually express love to me through the year.

Not once, but with the kisses of his mouth. For I have found this world's wine to be a vanity of vanity. And I am beginning to find his love to be a song of songs. That's my prayer for this year. I call attention to that because wouldn't you think song 1 -2 should be song 8 -14?

That's not going to help you to look at 8 -14. That's the last verse. That's my point. Don't you think such a passion, such a desire to have somebody who has looked at this world's wine and said no, looked at the Lord and His love and said yes, and desire all I want is that He would continually express His love to me.

Wouldn't that be a great goal for this book? That would be a nice place to end up. It's not the goal. It's the starting point. That's what I'm calling attention to. If you went to a week of special meetings, and those meetings were around this precious book and the lovely Lord Jesus, and then later I talked to you and we were fellowshipping together, and I said, how did it end up?

And you'd say, what a conference we had. Many of God's people saw the vanity of this world and the wine of this world and turned it down. They saw the love of the Lord Jesus and embraced it. And now their hearts are panting.

They're just desiring more and more that He would express Himself to them over and over again as time went on. I would say, what a glorious place to end up. What a glorious goal. You had such a great conference.

But that's not the Song of Solomon. That's not where it ends up. Brothers, that's where it starts. You're only two verses deep, and you've got this bride already having rejected this world and embraced the groom and desiring that He would express His love.

This book is not about getting people to seek the Lord. It's not about that. It's about the progress of those who are already seeking Him. You've got to note that. That's what I mean when I say this poem starts on high ground.

When you open the pages of this marvelous book, you don't see a poor sinner in need of a glorious Savior. It looks like that's already been settled by the time you open this book. You don't see a backslider in this book in need of restoration.

She's already desiring Christ. This is not some worldly Christian who needs to be delivered from the wine of this world. She's already tasted both and chosen one. She's rejected this world. She's chosen her groom.

It starts on that high ground and then goes forward from there. Somebody prayed this morning, mentioned anointing. Only God can teach this book. I'm going to share a few little thoughts. But only the Lord can communicate this.

We are on high ground. There are no lows in this book. There are only low highs. It goes from mountain to mountain to mountain to mountain. It's glorious. And only God can communicate it. It starts with those who desire Christ and Christ alone.

That's why we call it the climax of the redemptive experience. Because it begins with a seeker. And then God shows how now He's going to take that seeker forward. This is not a progression that leads to a seeking heart.

It's a progression that begins from a seeking heart. Where do you go from here? How does God manifest and draw into a more intimate union than someone who has started in verse 2? Well, God help us, that's what we want to look at.

Now, as I understand it with my present light, there are certain stages of this progress. The movements in this book center around these three passages. And I think you've already received these verses, but let me look at them with you.

Chapter 2, verses 16 and 17, please. My Beloved is mine, and I am His. He pastures His flock among the lilies until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away. Turn, my Beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the mountains of Bethar.

What I want you to notice, especially in verse 16, is the emphasis. The emphasis is on her interest in Him. And, oh yes, His interest in her. It's mentioned also. But the emphasis is this. He's mine. He's mine.

Oh yeah, I'm His too, but He's mine. And you would expect stage 1 to be full of, let me tell you about my personal Savior. That's stage 1. That's the beginning. He's mine. My interest in Him. The second verse is Song 6 -3.

I am my Beloved's, and He is mine. Did you notice she flipped it over? Did you notice she turned it around? Now, it's His interest in her. She doesn't say, He's mine. And, oh yeah, I'm His too. Now she says, I'm His.

And He's still mine. But the emphasis is now on His interest in her. And then the final movement is in chapter 7, verse 10. I am my Beloved's, and His desire is for me. And this time she completely drops the emphasis of her interest in Him.

And all that takes up her heart and her affections is this. I'm His. I'm His. The other's still true, but it's not her life anymore. It starts off with, He's mine. I'm His. And as she goes on, she says, I'm His.

And He's mine. And when the book ends up, I'm His. And all His desire is toward me. And I'm suggesting there's a progress to move from my interest in Him to His interest in me. Brother Stephen Kahn noted those same divisions in his wonderful book.

And he called it the stages of love. He calls that first section initial love. And then he calls the second section growing love. And he calls the third section mature love. But he was careful not to give chapter and verse divisions to divide it up.

He didn't give the outline. He's wiser than I am. You see, some people don't think that they get married until the end of the book. They say the first part is about a courtship and then about an engagement and finally it ends up in a marriage.

I have a big problem with that particular approach. I have a problem with the union that they're having and the relationship they're having if they're not married early in the book. That just bothers me.

I think it's the testimony of a woman as she describes the episodes of love as she came to know her bridegroom lover. Now I'll give you the chapter and verse divisions that we'll use this weekend. After this weekend, do me a favor.

Throw them away. And don't tell anybody I gave them, especially Stephen. I believe that first stage, that experience of the seeker, is found in chapter 1, 1 to 3, 5. And if you're going to understand God's heart, I would suggest that you write down this keyword, revelation.

Revelation. That's stage 1. I think the second experience of the true seeker as she moves from her interest in him to his interest in her is found in 3, 6 to 6, 10. And the keyword is surrender. Submission.

I think the climactic stage of that redemptive experience, the climax of the union when it's all his interest in her, chapter 6, 11, right through the end of the book. And this time there are two keywords.

Rest and fruit. And with the light I presently have, that's my understanding of the progress. I think God will take the true seeker, the one who desires that he express himself and reveal himself, He'll take him from revelation through surrender into rest and into fruit.

The Seeker's Need to Be Drawn

Right at the beginning of the book, there is the expressed desire not only to have Christ manifest Himself over and over, but the bride, right at the beginning, sees her need to be drawn into that union.

Psalm 1, 4, draw me. She wants to go forward in him. She wants him to express his love. She wants to experience intimacy. But she has the good sense to know it's not going to happen. Unless he draw her.

Draw me and we'll run after thee. This is part of the discovery of our fallen hearts, that we need to be drawn. It's an amazing truth of the Bible, brothers, that from sin we need to be restrained. And to union with Christ we need to be drawn.

What are we made of? We're dust. So frail that we have to be held back from sin. And in order to know the Lord, we have to be drawn into it. What does that tell us what we are? Hosea 11, 4 says, they did not know that I drew them with bands of love.

Jeremiah 31, 3 says, I have drawn them with loving kindness. John 6, 44, no man comes unto the Father unless the Father draw him. Psalm 110 and verse 3, thy people will be willing in the day of thy power.

Exactly so. The bride wants to be drawn to the groom from height to height. She moves from one mountaintop to another because He is drawing her. He heard her prayer. Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth.

Let Him kiss me. Draw me and we'll run. And He begins to do it into all these stages. The power to pursue the Lord as much as I love Bible study does not come from studying the Bible. The power to pursue the Lord as much as I love it and enter in is not generated by worship songs.

Praise God for worship songs. But that's not what draws you. The power to pursue the Lord is not created because we're involved in ministry or some service to the Lord. It's not because God in His grace has led us to a good fellowship.

That's not what draws us to the Lord. Only He can draw us to Himself. It's a person. As you read the book, one thing strikes you. I was discussing this with Doug this morning. An amazing thing. If I didn't know, I speak as a fool, if I just read the book, I'd say I know who wrote that.

The bride. It looks like she wrote it. She's talking about her experiences. I was in the bed. I was looking for him. I went here. I asked them, help me. It's all her testimony. It looks like the thing was written by the bride.

But remember, the bride didn't write this book. The groom wrote the book. Solomon wrote the book. King Solomon. This is not a book saying, look how I saw him and what I found. This is a book on, look how I drew her.

He wrote the book. And it's about how in his relationship he drew her into these intimate experiences with him. And now this is easier understood on heavenly ground. You say that my heavenly groom has drawn me.

I sing the song, but he wrote the song. But as I said, it's a love story of two worlds. And do you realize, you married men especially, the awesome responsibility God has given you as you reflect Him in your union with your wife.

Brothers, you are writing her song. Your relationship with her is going to be the song that she will sing. May God help us to be like Jesus. As we write the song, our wives will have to sing. It's a love story on both levels.

Revelation as the First Stage

But He draws her and continually draws her as we are to continually draw our own life partners. Let's begin. God help us, please. Once again, we're going to look at it in terms of the outline, chapter 1, verse 1 to 3, 5.

I suggest that the key word or main word in this section is revelation. When I start where the bride started, when in my life I begin where the book of Song begins with the prayer that He would draw me into union with Himself, having already seen the vanity of this world, having already embraced Christ and now desiring that I would just know Him and His love, draw me into that union, Lord.

From that moment, and here's where it begins, He begins to open our eyes. This first stage is marked in every place by revelation. Every experience, every turn. In this discovery of Him, He is answering her prayer, kiss me with the kisses of your lips.

And every time He kisses her, her eyes open. Wider and wider and wider. Every kiss is a new revelation. And she sees things that she has seen for the first time. Once you start seeking the Lord, He opens your eyes.

You desire Him and He begins to kiss you and you see things. Now in stage one, I don't want to blame the wife and just say, now this is all just theory and doctrine. But in a sense, she's seeing so much in stage one and clearly, and I think I can show you that, she's not entering in.

But she sees it. So if you were to sit down with the bride and say, let's discuss. She has a lot of life. By the time we're at the end of stage one, she could tell you some wonderful things. Then you look at her life and you scratch your head and you say, you know so much.

You haven't entered into that yet. And so we want to look a little bit at what happens when He kisses her. Now, I don't want you to think that stage one, one to five or six here, then all of a sudden, boom.

Now I'm going to mention ten things. Not all this morning. Relax. Her eyes get open and she sees this and this and this and this. And we're going to sort of, I'm not going to try to develop it. I'm just going to sort of go through it like the book does.

But I don't want you to think that this happens all at once. Don't forget this was written after the fact. And she's looking back, or the groom has now written this song. This is how she went. And so from Revelation 1 where her eyes are open and she saw this, to Revelation 2 when she saw this, there might be a lot of time in there.

In fact, as I went through this, I was very convicted because there are some things that she saw in stage one. I have known the Lord for 46 years and I'm just starting to see some of the things she saw in stage one.

And so God is writing a Bible and He gives us this climax of redemption in seed form. He gives the whole story. But it didn't happen like that. Little by little as He kissed, draw me, I'll run after you.

Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth. He kisses her and her eyes open wide. So let's look at some of those revelations. The first revelation is in verse 4. By the way, I also think they're in the order that they occur in your life.

So we're going to mention 10 things or whatever. And maybe some have more or less putting them together or spreading them out. I think they happen this way. I think this is God's order. Well, you decide that.

The First Revelation: Christ as King

Chapter 1, verse 4, draw me after you, let us run together. Here's where it begins. The King has brought me into His chambers. You say, this is a love story. He's the heavenly bridegroom. He loves me.

He's in love with me. And my desire is that He would bring me into that union so I would know that love. But it doesn't start there. By the time you get to the end of the book, He's lover. But at the beginning of the book, He must first be Lord.

First Lord, then lover. And so she sees Him as King. That's her first revelation. The King has brought me into His chambers. That's the first kiss. Her eyes are open and all of a sudden, He's the King.

I think many Christians have tried to know the Lord as lover and they haven't known Him as Lord yet. They haven't been into the King's chambers. It's got to begin there. Until we know Him as King and Sovereign and Lord and Master, we can't go forward.

Are you glad, brothers, that He drew you? Not forced you. Drew you into the King's chambers? Do you remember singing that song when you desired Him and He kissed you and in love you saw who He was? That's where it all begins.

Now, the song doesn't develop it. It only reflects it. I can guess from my own life I won't do that. The King has brought me into His chambers and then she adds, we will rejoice in You and be glad. See, we sort of read that la-la-la.

We will rejoice in You. The Hebrew word is so tremendous. It means to spin around under violent emotion and dance with pure delight. That's the Hebrew word. She saw Him as King. She saw herself in His chambers and she began to spin around in violent emotion and dance with pure delight.

When the Lord unveils His royalty to our heart, when we discover He's not who we thought He was, but He is who He said He was, King of kings and Lord of lords, that's the first revelation. Draw me. She sees Him as Lord.

The Second Revelation: Seeing Ourselves in Christ

There's another discovery in that first stage. And again, she just saw that. She's in the King's chambers. But as you'll see as you go through the story, she's not quite experienced that yet, but now she could discuss it with you.

You need to know Him as Lord. God said it. That settled it. Second discovery. She not only sees Him. Verse 5 and 6, I am black but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kadar, like the curtains of Solomon.

Do not stare at me because I am swarthy. It's His great love that He does not let us go on being deceived. First He shows us who He is. You know where we're going. Then He shows us who we are. And she began to see herself.

The tents of Kadar. We're told that they were made of black goat hair. One thing I noted, that this first stage of love is filled, and you'll see it as you go through this first section. It's filled with self-depreciating remarks by the bride of herself.

Once she sees herself, she keeps cutting herself down. She's contrasting her own experience with what she thinks a queen ought to be. And she doesn't think she fits the bill. And so in this early stages, she keeps trying to make herself attractive so she can impress the groom.

And it's all about the jewelry and the fragrances, and she keeps trying to make herself beautiful because she's seen herself. And she feels ugly. And she feels unworthy to be united to the king, and he's brought her into his chambers.

You see, queens don't have dirty hands, and queens are bathed in milk, and queens have servants all around them, and queens live a life of luxury and ease. She knows who she is and where she's been. She's worked long hours in the vineyard.

She's brown from exposure to nature's light, to the sun. She doesn't feel like queen material. Her back is humped. Her hands are calloused. Her skin is charred. She doesn't feel soft like a queen ought to feel soft.

And when you read of this stage, she sees who he is, and then she sees who she is, and she begins to cut herself down. Who am I? I'm nobody. I'm nobody. Why did He choose me? For example, chapter 2, verse 1.

She said, She's the Rose of Sharon. Now I know many people apply this as the words of the groom. And He's the Rose of Sharon. I don't know if you're familiar with that chorus. Sweet Rose of Sharon. Sweet Rose of Sharon, blooming for me.

Jesus, it is the emblem of thee. Beautiful flower, fairest that grows. I'm glad I have found thee, sweet Sharon's Rose. And there are many choruses that Christ is the Rose of Sharon, Jesus Rose of Sharon, bloom within my heart, and so on.

But as I read this, I'm not sure it's a reference to the groom. I'm inclined to think it's the bride speaking of herself in depreciating terms. Commentators tell us that that Rose of Sharon was not a very beautiful rose in the family of roses, sort of plain among the roses, just a rambling rose, a desert flower.

It'd be like me saying, I'm just a daisy, just a dandelion. And then the groom speaks in verse 2 as a lily among the thorns. She said, I'm just the Rose of Sharon. He said, no, no, no. You're like a lily among the thorns.

The point is this, that the bride has seen herself. Now at this stage, I don't want to use the word, but I have to. I think it's just doctrine. I think she has her eyes open, but it's all up here. And she sees both sides.

She sees herself out of Christ. I'm not worthy. I'm ugly. I'm not queen material. I'm nobody. I'm just a little Rose of Sharon. Oh yeah, I know. I'm in Christ, and I've been accepted in Him, and I have His imputed righteousness.

You know in verse 5? She said, I'm black. And then she adds, but lovely. I'm like the tents of Kadar. Then she quickly adds, a little like the curtains of Solomon. She sees both sides here, but her emphasis is on the dark side.

And she just sees darkness as her environment. That's her tent. That's where she's living at this point. But she has seen both. First we see Him. I saw the Lord high and lifted up. Then I said, I am undone.

And Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, he saw himself as a leper in a leper colony, unclean lips among an unclean people. So the first step, draw me in. I'll run after you. And he begins to kiss her. He kisses her once her eyes are open.

He's the king. He's brought me into his chambers. Kisses her again. Says, oh, look at me. I'm just like the tents of Kadar. Oh yeah, I know. I'm like the curtains of Solomon too. I'm dark. Oh yeah, but I'm lovely.

The Third Revelation: The Futility of Vineyard Labor

She sees both, but she's emphasizing the one. He kisses her again. The third eye opener is the revelation of how badly she had been burned by all her activity in the vineyards. Do you remember, brothers, when you started seeking the Lord, and you saw how badly you had been burned by all the activity of working in all the vineyards?