Rise Up, My Love, and Come Away!

My days are softened by the tender voices of doves outside my window. Trees are budding and new leaves adorn the oaks and vines that overlook a creek that splashes behind my apartment building. Life is luscious on days like these. I know that soon, summer will rise early like the burning sun and nature will turn a dozen shades of brown. Such is life in the south.

For the moment though, I rejoice and revel in the sweetness of springtime. More than once, a curious dove finds her way to my balcony and peers into my world as I observe hers. I know that soon, the gentle morning coos will end. It is the same every year: one day, they grow quiet.

I can't pretend to know the scientific reason behind it—does it get too hot? Are the doves preoccupied with other things? Do they fly away? My ornithological queries aside, this I know: one morning I hear them; the next I do not.

As Pastor JD Farag says often, prophecy has a shelf life.

So do the sounds of a dove.

My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away. For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!—Song of Solomon 2:10-13 

I can't help wondering at the exultant and very precise descriptions given here. It reads like a map to an event or a recipe with perfect instructions.

Winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth.
The time of singing has come.
The voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree is showing her new little green figs.
The grapes are tender.
Rise up, my love, and come away!

You can almost circle it on your calendar: this is the time for love.

The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills. (Song of Solomon 2:8)

Did you know that Paul wrote the same thing? It may not invoke the same blushing cheeks, but oh, the same joy fills my heart: "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Thess. 4:16)

I love that Scripture gives both Paul's fatherly exhortation and also the heat and heartbeat of a passionate Solomon, the prince turned king whose name means "peace." Song of Solomon is a breathtaking work of prophetic poetry that has been lifting my heart in these last days as we watch and wait for our Lord's appearing. If you've ever wondered if Jesus is longing for us as much as we long for Him, spend an hour in this lyrical book.

For example, consider these intoxicating words:

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret places of the cliff,
Let me see your face,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your face is lovely.” (Song of Solomon 2:14)

No wonder the bride, the Gentile woman known only as the Shulamite, begs her love, "Draw me away!" (Song of Solomon 1:4 NKJV) We see this foreshadow of the rapture confirmed by Solomon's father, King David, in one of my favorite Psalms:

For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock. (Ps. 27:5)

Song of Solomon is written as a conversation, or like a play you would see dramatized in a theater. The main character, Solomon himself, speaks rapturously of his beautiful bride. The Shulamite adores him and together, they speak of and to a third group, the daughters of Jerusalem. Scripture tells us they are virgins; companions of the bride. In a modern way, we could think of them as the bride's friends who become her bridesmaids. Here is one ardent way the bride describes her beloved to them:

His mouth is most sweet,
Yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved,
And this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem! (Song of Solomon 5:16)

Other than the Song of Solomon, the Bible records only one other reference to the daughters of Jerusalem. Further confirming the prophetic nature of this love song, it is not-so-surprisingly uttered by Jesus Himself:

But Jesus, turning to them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, wombs that never bore, and breasts which never nursed!’ Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ (Luke 23:28-30)

With this striking and startling statement, prophecy and poetry are irrefutably linked. Jesus is speaking to the women of Israel who lament and mourn after Him as He makes His way to Golgotha to be crucified. He calls them daughters of Jerusalem, telling them to weep for themselves and for their children. And He references two unforgettable passages that speak of Jacob's Trouble:

"But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!" Matt. 24:19

Also the high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
Shall be destroyed.
The thorn and thistle shall grow on their altars;
They shall say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
And to the hills, “Fall on us!” (Hos. 10:8)

With this passage in Hosea, we are unmistakably referred to Revelation and the time of the end:

And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Rev. 6:16-17)

It is for them that Jesus tells the women of Israel to weep. By calling them the daughters of Jerusalem, He points us directly to Solomon's lovesong and orients our understanding of the times. The daughters of Jerusalem are not the bride, but are the virgins who run after the bride. (Song of Solomon 1:3-4). Later, the Shulamite tells them,

He brought me to the banqueting house,
And his banner over me was love.
Sustain me with cakes of raisins,
Refresh me with apples,
For I am lovesick.
His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand embraces me.
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases. (Song of Solomon 2:4-7)

Is this the same banqueting house that the five wise virgins follow the bridegroom into, and the door is shut? I believe the famous virgins of Matt. 25:1-11 are a parable of the daughters of Jerusalem. They are not the bride, but they follow the bride. They are waiting for the midnight cry and for the bridegroom who will take them to the "wedding banquet" (Matt. 25:10, BSB). 

Solomon gives us deeper insight into the mystery of this union, of the bride and the bridegroom, of the body of Christ. Notice his tender endearments to the one he loves:

You have ravished my heart,
My sister, my spouse;
You have ravished my heart
With one look of your eyes,
With one link of your necklace.
How fair is your love,
My sister, my spouse!
How much better than wine is your love,
And the scent of your perfumes
Than all spices! (Song of Solomon 4:9-10)

My sister, my spouse—the beautiful mystery. 

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." John 1:12

As believers who are saved by grace, we have received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." (Rom. 8:15) We are the adopted children of God, redeemed through the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. This distinction is important, and where I believe many modern Bible translations make a serious mistake when they omit "only begotten" in John 3:16 and similar passages. The Greek is clear. 

And I believe Solomon is clear.

My sister, my spouse...

The season is ripening. One morning the flowers will fall away and the song of the doves will cease. The figs will become dark, soft and sweet. The rain will come. So will the harvest.

May the Shulamite's prayer be our own:

Make haste, my beloved,
And be like a gazelle
Or a young stag
On the mountains of spices.

---

I realize many in the body of Christ are divided over whether or not the Church is the bride. For the record, I currently hold a "yes" position. Compare also: Eph. 5:27 and Song of Solomon 4:7 NKJV.

Recommended: Jeff's powerful study on The Model for Marriage. 

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