The Song - Summary

Over the last 3 posts I have tried (not sure how successfully) to summarise some of the ideas we considered when looking at the Song a couple of month ago.
As I mentioned (in part 1, I believe), a lot of people today read the Song as purely about a human marriage relationship and use it as a manual for romance and sex. Yet this has not always been the reading of the book. Most of church history has regarded this as a book about Christ and His Church spoken about allegorically through a human relationship. The book shown about is a prime example of this teaching. Richard Sibbes' work was originally titled "Bowels Opened", which quite simply meant that this book was about the deepest desires. Although I haven't read this book (yet!) it is very clear that Sibbes believed the Song to be fundamentally about Christ and the Church.

I don't believe there needs to be a split between the two views, as though they are incompatible.
I wonder if the best way to read the Song is as primarily about Christ and the Church, because the whole of Scripture is about Jesus, The Word of God. But also saying that, because all marriages are supposed to reflect Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5), the Song too speaks of human marriage and shows what it should be like. As for the explicit sex references, I guess you can make your own mind up on that, but I would say that some of the descriptions I have heard are more stretching metaphors than saying it is about Jesus and His Bride!

I have much to think through when it comes to the Song and I am not sure when I will get to do that. But, it has been stimulating to think about it speaking of Christ and showing Him to be ultimately desirable, loving and beautiful. As well as challenging and comforting to see His delight in His Bride whom He loves and protects.

Happy reading of the Song. May it warm your heart to Christ and build your marriage to more clearly reflect the mystery of Christ and His Bride.

The Song - Part 3

Once again my aim is to throw out some ideas and stimulate your thoughts on the Song, not to completely convince you of an particular reading of it. Here goes.

When she is asked why she loves him, she replies with wonderful descriptions of him and his love, not will a list of things that he does (see ch5v10-16). He is the object of her affections, he is the the desire of her heart, he overwhelms her. When we think of Jesus, do we merely think of what He has done, or can do, for us? Or do we delight in Him?

Chapters 6-8 seem to speaking eschatalogically speaking of the consummation of the relationship and feasting together. She is "beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun" in 6v10 and like an army. Is this then a clear picture of the church reflecting the Sun and becoming like Him, an vast army collectively displaying the glory Jesus?

There is a wonderful, beautiful and moving verse in chapter 8. Verse 6:

Set me as a seal upon your heart,
    as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
     jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
    the very flame of the Lord.

This love that is stronger than death is great description of divine love. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8) not even death. The church is sealed by God, kept in His heart, names are written in the Lamb's book of life. This certainly seems to be describing something greater than human romance.

A couple of other things that are worth thinking about. Ch2v7 and ch8v4 speak of not trying to stir up love. We cannot manufacture love for Christ with our own efforts. Love comes through a fresh revelation of the grace, goodness and love of Christ. If we are friends of the Bride, we will encourage her to look to Christ, not deflecting her gaze elsewhere. We will see to help our brothers and sister in Christ to captured by a beautiful vision of Him and we will seek to draw others to Him as well, so that His love is known and they may enjoy Him.

The Song - Part 2

In our second session we focussed on chapters 4 and 5. We thought about the fact that fundamentally our God is relational. We see that in the fact that the Living God is Triune; Father Son and Spirit. But we also see a lot of marriage language in the Bible to describe God's relationship with His people.

As mentioned in the previous post ch4v9-10 we see that Christ is captivated by His Bride. He doesn't just tolerate us, he sincerely and abundantly loves us. Think about v7 "You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you." How clearly does that show us that we have the righteousness of Christ imputed to us? The Bride is perfect, flawless!

From 4v11-5v1 we have a wonderful picture of the blessings Christ pours out on His church, wonderfully generous. The fruit that the Spirit brings about in us is pleasing to Christ our husband, He takes delight in it. Not only that, but it isn't even the gifts she delights in. In chapter 1 it is Him whom she seeks and loves, not what He gives to her.
So it is with believers. We want Christ and not His gifts when we know how sweet and wonderful He is.
As we move further into chapter 5 we see a picture of the church losing delight in Christ as she is pictured not wholly desiring him but rather favouring sleep as he knocks on the door. (Link to Revelation 3 where Christ stands at the door and knocks). Interstingly, as she gets to the door, just as he has left, she smells him and touches what he has just touched and her desire for him is aroused again. We see her desire for him recover as she sees how kind he is despite her failings.
Chapter 5 is he major instance of declining affection, but there is also a small one in ch2v15 (little foxes).
Is this not true of us? As we are reminded of the beauty of Christ, the smell of life of the gospel, are we not drawn to desire Him more?


Here's another quote from Sibbes:

"It is the nature of love upon all occasions to reflect upon the loved"

What do we think upon and dream about? That's what we love!

Here's a final Sibbes quote for this post:

"Our duty is to accept of Christ's inviting of us"

Jesus accepts us, he woos us, he loves us, we need to accept and embrace that love! In accepting Him, we show His wonderful salvation and show His glory.
We need to enjoy Christ and feast with Him if we are to suffer for Him. Actually enjoying Him will mean we will want to suffer for Him and with Him.
We honour Him by taking and receiving.

Much to chew upon again!

The Song - Part 1

Song of Songs = The erotic part of Scripture that many avoid and others spend too much time speaking about and investigating in detail right? Summed up in the picture below.




Back in April our North East Team Days were in Doncaster and we had the pleasure of looking at the Song with Mike Reeves, UCCF's Theological Advisor.
I thought it might be useful to collate some of the stuff we looked at over our 3 sessions, partly for my own benefit of really grappling with it, and for the benefit of you the reader because, as one of my friends would describe it, it's tasty!
(The edited audio of the session will appear in the 'Sermons and Talks' tab soon!)

Let's start with a quote from the Puritan Richard Sibbes"

This book is nothing else but a plain demonstration and setting forth of the love of Christ to His church, and of the love of the church to Christ

Not a familiar idea to our ear is it?
Now, whatever you think to Sibbes' statement don't stop reading just yet. I, with you I'd imagine, think there is more than that to it, but, Sibbes' view was the prevailing view all the way up to the 1800s.
This stems from the very true and helpful belief that the whole of the Bible is about Jesus and His church first and foremost. So The Song must be about Jesus and the church even if it has a secondary meaning of a human marriage, sex and love.

Let's think about who the man and woman in the song are:

Who is he?

He is described at King and Shepherd, which makes him sound Davidic. But it's not David, it's Solomon, we are told in chapter 3.
As we look at ch3v6 we see a pillar of smoke, very reminiscent of the exodus and on top of that he seems to be a priest. There are lots of allusions to the temple in ch3v6-11, reminders of the Ark of the covenant and the 60 posts plus silver and gold.
Following that, in ch8v5 we have a beautiful description of the exodus, with the people leaning on Jesus.

Surely only Christ is King, Shepherd and Priest, is he not?

Who is she?

She is like a vineyard which should make us think of Isaiah chapter 5 where the people of Israel are described in that way. She is clothed with jewels which you could also link to Ezekiel 16.
But the biggest echo seems to be to Psalm 45. The king seems to be marrying a Gentile, v10f is a wonderful gospel, marrying the Lord.
Christ leaves everything for us, we leave everything that is rotten and bad for Him.
In chapter 4v8-9 she is sister and bride, which is fine if that relationship is to Christ, but illegal under Jewish law if it is person to person. This is also wonderful if it the Bride that captures the heart of Christ. It means He is delighted with us and loves us, we are beautified by the Spirit for Him.
We get everything that is His, because we, as the church, are in a covenant of marriage with Him!
(This idea of the LORD being brother as well as Father is seen in 1 Kings 14 in the meanings of the names Abijah and Ahijah!)

Some food for thought I think! Chew it over! I certainly will be.

The LORD is Peace - Judges 6

The church I am a member of is currently working its way through the names of God on a Sunday evening. At the end of last month I had the privilege of looking at "Jehovah Shalom" - The LORD is peace, as revealed in Judges chapter 6 when the Angel of the LORD meets Gideon.

I thought I might post my thoughts on the passage with this theme of "Jehovah Shalom" in mind.
Generally I find thematic sermons harder to passage than straight exegesis of a passage.

First, the people of Israel are in the land of promise and at the end of chapter 5 we are told there has been 40 years of peace; no war, plenty of rest, and prosperity/well-being.
But, as chapter 6 begins, it all goes pear-shaped again. As we so often read in the book of Judges, "the people did evil in the eyes of the LORD". In chapter 6 the LORD gives them over to Midianites and Amalekites to be raided and pillaged for 7 years. The people of Israel are experiencing covenant curses (no time to go into this).

The people then cry out to the LORD to come to their rescue. They are utterly helpless. As we read what follows we are surprised. The LORD doesn't just reach out His hand and save them, He sends a prophet who reminds them of what the LORD has done for them and then declares that they have not listened. If the passages stops there the people are in deep trouble. They merely want the LORD for a rescue, a return of their prosperity and protection. They do not want the LORD for who He is, just His blessings.

Fortunately the story doesn't end there, and this was the second things I looked at. The Angel of the LORD appears to Gideon who is threshing his wheat in a winepress to he can hide from the raiding parties and have some food.
The dialogue between the Angel and Gideon is fascinating. The identity of the Angel becomes clear, and it is wonderful. He declares that He will be with Gideon. In verses 14 and 16 He is clearly identified as the LORD, not just speaking on His behalf. So, who is this Angel? He is the Eternal Son of God, the second member of the One Triune God, the pre-incarnate Christ. Gideon meets Jesus.

Gideon comes to realise this very fact as he returns with a sacrifice which the Angel burns us with the tip of His staff and then disappears. Gideon's reaction to this speaks volumes. He is terrified. He thinks he is going to die, because he has seen the Angel of the LORD face to face. He equates the Angel of the LORD with the LORD Himself. I think it is fair to say that Gideon believe in a Triune God.
Gideon need to know the peace that the Angel then declares to Him. He need to know the he is safe, secure, not in danger of death. He needs to know shalom.

My final point was, how does this apply to us. How does we know "Jehovah Shalom"?
Quite simply, we know Jesus. We know peace with God because of Him. Here's a list of verses I read out to show peace linked with Jesus (there are many more); Luke 2:14, Colossians 1:20, Ephesians 2:14-18, John 14:27, Romans 5:1, 2 Thessalonians 3:16. Not to mention Isaiah 9 where the Messiah is called the Prince of Peace.
Interestingly enough, one writer says this about the word shalom, that its core meaning is: "reconciliation brought about by payment of a debt, the giving of satisfaction."
That's exactly what Jesus does. Gideon needed to know it because he was a member of rebellious Israel who had turned to worshipping idols, we need to know it because we too worship idols instead of the Triune God of the universe. Jesus dies for us, making peace, defeating sin and death. In Him, and in Him alone, we are made right in the sight of the Father, Jesus' righteousness being credited to us, meaning we can be in relationship and at peace with God.
The Angel who meets Gideon is the One and same Lord Jesus Christ who dies on the cross.

Knowing the peace that Jesus is, brings and gives to us frees us to live lives that are truly fulfilled and satisfied. We are freed from legalism because we do not, and can not, earn this peace.

There is much more to say, but this post is fairly substantial already. Here is the manuscript I preached from. Check it out if you want to see more of the application and content.

(As always, any feedback, comments or questions are welcomed.)

Bible Handling.......and your chance to do it!

What a privilege it is to be involved in Bible ministry on a regular basis.

Being a staff worker with uccf:thechristianunions gives me this privilege all the time.
One such example was last week, when my colleague, Hamish, and I spent a day training the Relay workers from out regional team.
We started after lunch with 2 sessions: One on basic Bible handling, looking at the author's purpose, context and structure tools (as they are described in Digging Deeper by Andrew Sach and Nigel Beynon). The other giving them time to put those skills into practice by working on some passages in teams of 3 then presenting their findings and an outline to the whole group. We purposely chose passages which studied in isolation from their context would not make complete sense, or lose their thrust.

The evening was then spent chilling out together with a little bit of healthy competition thrown in for good measure in the form of Cranium!

The following morning we embarked on a new set of sessions which Hamish and I had decided to introduce this year for the first time. We decided to specifically look at handling the Old Testament and how it is about Jesus. The format was the same, teaching of skills and helpful stuff about ways passages can point to Jesus. Then we gave them passages to go away and study and present their findings.
What was encouraging was that while some of the Relays had done a lot of Bible handling before, all of them seemed to really benefit from the concentrated time spent thinking and discussing together. The OT stuff stretched us as well as them, which is always a good thing. Hopefully we all will grow in love for Jesus and the word as we see it hanging together so wonderfully.

Final thing to say is, if you are a final year student, or you're wondering what to do when finishing university in a couple of years, why not think about Relay (see video below) and you too could enjoy some wonderful fellowship and excellent opportunities to sharpen one another through studying the Scriptures and discussing how best to understand it.

Jeremiah 29:1-23

I recently had the privilege of preparing a sermon on Jeremiah 29. I gave it at a little church in Ouston, Gateshead as a guest speaker (11th Sept) and then at my home church, Calvary in Sunderland (9th Oct), as part of our series in Jeremiah.

I was keen, as with the passage on Elijah from 1 Kings (blogged about a while ago), to preach the passage in context but also show how it spoke of Jesus.
The transcript of what I said is linked below. As with the other sermon I posted on here, this is roughly what I said. Some parts get expended others shortened as I speak. My aim is not to gain plaudits by posting this, I'd love any thoughts or comments from anyone who preaches, or just wants to throw their thoughts in for good measure. Maybe I will try and record future talks somehow.

In preparation, I found Tim Keller's talk, which was mainly about the first section, looking our for the welfare of the city, helpful.

The transcript is available here.

1 Kings - Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath

I recently had the privilege of preparing and preaching 1 Kings 17v8-24, which for those of you who don't know is the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

My biggest challenge and concern was how to preach Christ faithfully.
Attached is my sermon manuscript. I tend to preach from a full script, but it often changes as I go. So what you read it not exactly what I will have said, but near enough.
From what I can remember when I preached on Sunday I expanded a bit on Jesus' resurrection and what it means but other than that if you'd been there you would have heard something very similar to the text.

My reason for posting is not for recognition, but for any helpful thoughts or feedback on whether I hit the right notes in terms of preaching Christ. Preaching Christ from the OT is something I have not really had the chance to do before, and when I have preached from OT passages in the past I have not thought as much about specifically preaching Christ in a very explicit way.

Here it is