This great love song tells the story of courtship and marriage. And as we have noted, it doesn't start, as we might have expected, with the lovers meeting for the first time and getting to know one another. This isn't a Western romance either. It's a story from another time and another place. At the beginning, there is a man and a woman who have been bound together in the covenant of betrothal. It happened before the song starts. And the song begins when we see that his love has begun to move her heart. Initially perhaps, though we don't know, they may have been betrothed to one another without even knowing one another and it's within the context of this covenant of betrothal that they have begun to know each other. It may have been that they already knew each other, that he had begun to woo her and then they had made this commitment of betrothal in preparation for the marriage. But the song begins as her heart is warmed by his love, and the bud that once perhaps was cold and closed has begun to open up in the flowering of reciprocated love. But her love to him is accompanied by certain frustrations. She wishes he could see unmarred beauty in her, but hers is the weathered appearance of one who has laboured under the sun. He is a king, but she is no princess. She wishes she could give him something of value, but she has nothing to offer. Her labour has been misappropriated by others, and all the hours that she has spent in the vineyards has been for others' gain and her loss. She comes empty-handed. She wishes she could be with him. Her heart now yearns for him, but she doesn't know where to find him. he has always come to her but now she wants to go to him and she fears that if she embarks upon a search for him that her search may be misinterpreted and she may be mistaken for a prostitute and what shame she would incur. These frustrations she shares with her companions And then she turns to implore the one whom her soul has begun to love. Where do you go when you shepherd your sheep? Tell me, where can I find you? And his attentive response is found in chapter 1 and verses 8 through 11. If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, follow in the tracks of the flock and pasture your young goats beside the shepherd's tents. I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make for you ornaments of gold studded with silver. And so I want to draw your attention to the King's attentive response. He has overheard her conversation with her companions. He has listened in to her frustrations. He has been attentive to her complaints as well as to her question of where he may be found. And I want you to first notice a stunning attestation in his response. She, we've noticed, is frustrated. She has a marred appearance. Yes, she acknowledges that she's lovely, but she's very dark. She has worked under the sun. She's not like perhaps some of her companions who have grown up in the city of Jerusalem, perhaps among the noble families of that city, accustomed to coming in and out of the palace there and to the norms of the court. She has spent her life in the vineyards and the fields, labouring to enrich her brothers And she's frustrated then that she doesn't have the beauty of those who gather in the royal courts. How will this king desire her when there's so little of beauty? But he responds and attests her surpassing beauty. Oh, most beautiful among women. He says to her, he sees through past the darkened skin, past the weathered appearance and he beholds her underlying loveliness and it attracts him and he glories in that. He is satisfied with that. For him, a king used to royalty and the adoration of the young women, the virgins who gathered in his court. She is one that stands out, not because her beauty is marred, but because her beauty satisfies him. Oh, most beautiful among women. It is music to her ears, I have no doubt, to have his confirmation that she satisfies him, that he is pleased with her, that he isn't going to be looking for anyone else, his eye isn't going to be taken up. with another's beauty, for to him she is the most beautiful. And for the church that feels its inglorious past and knows that there is no comeliness in herself, The Church, as we saw last time, longs to be gloriously beautiful. The Church longs to be a suitable bride for the King of Kings. The Church longs to be one who can be brought into the presence of the Almighty God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, who does all things well, and be pleasing to him And this is Christ's word to the church. This is what he would say to the church, oh most beautiful among women. You are the bride of my choice, he says to the church, I haven't looked at anyone else. My eye hasn't been taken up with the beauty of any other. This is the one and the only one who, in my eyes, excels in beauty. He looks on the church with the eye of the lover. But this isn't blind love. This isn't a love that is intoxicated to the point of folly, seeing things that aren't real. No, when Christ looks at the church, when Christ is satisfied with the church, when Christ desires the church for her beauty and her glory, it is because it is real. It is true. It is there. And how is this so when the church has been brought out of the wilderness of this world, marred and marked by sin? How is it possible that she can be, in his eyes, most glorious among women? How is it that the church, so sorrowfully sick, can please him? It is because he has transformed her. It is because he has washed her. Because he has renewed her. He has made her into a new creation. He has come to her and has transformed her by his own grace, by his own love for her. So that she is beginning in herself to reflect his own glory. So that she is beginning to have this regal appearance that is fitting for the wife of a king as she will be. She is beginning to take on the glory of the God of heaven. as he works in her and for her. And so Christ would have us know that there is no doubt in his mind as to the beauty of the church. He would have the church know that in his mind she is most desirable and that this is why he comes to her, this is why he has advanced and draw near to her, because he longs to take her into his embrace and to be united with her. Those frustrations then about her marred beauty, he quells, he silences, and he fills her ears with the music of his love and satisfaction in her. But the king has not only taken note of the fact that she is concerned about her appearance and whether he will really find her attractive, and he addresses the question then with which she has come to him. Tell me you who my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon, for why should I be like one who veils herself beside the flock of your companions? And in his response we see a gentle correction. She's frustrated. She's annoyed with herself and with her ignorance of his location. Where is he? Where does he go every day as he takes his flock out to pasture? Why is it that she must wait for him to come to her? She longs to go out to wherever he is in the middle of the day when the shepherds take a break and have a rest and entertain friends. She wants to be there, she wants to be among them, she wants to be by his side. But where is he? And he responds to her, if you do not know, follow in the tracks of the flock and pasture your young goats beside the shepherd's tents. She has thought about embarking on a search for him. And as she has thought about that, she's thought about what people might think about a lone woman searching around among the tents of the shepherds. They'll think that she's a prostitute. What shame that would bring to her and therefore to the King. No, she could not do that. But he says to her, you don't need to bring shame on yourself. You don't need to go on a search from place to place looking for me. He tells her how she can find him. Follow the tracks of the sheep. There I go. I go out every day and I take my flock with me. And I imagine, given that he is a shepherd king, his flock is substantial and the way that it has gone will be easily visible in the dirt. And so he says to her, follow the tracks. You can see where they went, surely. You can follow the tracks. And why don't you bring your own goats along with you? And then you can be among the shepherds quite legitimately. No one will question. No one will wonder, oh, what's she doing? Is she just like those other women that come out here? in midday to satisfy the desires of some of those shady shepherds. No, no one will bat an eye if you come out with your young goats and you come beside the shepherds' tents in such a situation, having followed the tracks of the flocks. You need have no doubt then where I am, the king says. And of course, in this, there is this implicit invitation, isn't there? He doesn't say to her, well, you don't really need to know where I am, because when I want you, I'll come to you. No, the invitation is there. You come to me. You're most welcome to come to me. Follow the tracks and come to me. Bring your young goats and come to me. Come beside the shepherd's tents to me. And so her frustration at not knowing where he is, where he goes, whether she might be welcome there and how people might misinterpret her advances. He silences all of those doubts and all of those questions. And he shows her, guides her to the place that he goes day by day. And so it is that Christ would have us know where he may be found day by day. He says in effect to us, you can find me where the sheep are. Wherever my sheep are, there I may be found. Wherever my sheep gather together, there I may be found. And so Believers are encouraged to come to Christ, to come among the sheep, among the flocks and to the tents of the shepherds. Here the faithful shepherds will guard them and will guide them and will take care of the sheep. For Christ has gifted such shepherds to the church, he tells us in Ephesians chapter 4, that he may guide them and that they may guide them and feed them and bring them along to maturity. They are shepherds under the chief shepherd Peter reminds us in 1st Peter chapter 5. and those under shepherds have responsibility to care for the flock and not to abuse the flock. Here Christ is present and Christ provides and Christ protects and Christ guides as he always has. He instructs through the writer of Hebrews, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. It's always been the same. Where Christ's sheep are, he may be found. Coming among the sheep of Jesus Christ, you come into the presence. of the lover who has such a tenderness towards his bride, the church, and always welcomes her. Liz and Dean ever says, oh you just wait until I come to you, you just sit there in your longings and in your yearnings and in your exasperation and just Wait, at some time I will come and I will show my love to you. No, he says come to me. Come to me, wherever you are, whenever. You may come to me when you're weary and worn and sad, you may come to me. When you're longing to experience my love, you may come to me. When your situation and circumstances are overwhelming you, you may come to me. You may find in me a refuge and a shelter and a place of peace and of comfort. I will draw you into my embrace and I will show you my favor. We don't need to doubt, you see, where Jesus may be found. He may be found where his sheep are. And then she has this third frustration. She has been used by her brothers. They were angry with her and they made her the keeper of vineyards but her own vineyard she had not kept. She was frustrated by her personal poverty and now she's in love and she is loved and now she has this this one person in all the world that she she desires to honor and she desires to bring gifts to him and to show her him in some way her her devotion and her love but she has empty hands she has nothing to bring and this this is her frustration And he's listened and he's noted her frustration as he's talked about it to her companions. And he now says to her, I compare you my love to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of jewels. He revels in her. And he has adorned her with these jewels. And he thinks of her, as he tells us, like a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. It may seem a strange comparison for us, but the Egyptians were known for the beauty of their horses and the power of their army. And it's interesting, in this Song of Solomon, The queen, the bride, the one whom the king loves is not some weak woman that he comes to rescue, a damsel in distress as it were. She's depicted a number of times like an army. And here it is, here in verse 9, I compare you, my love, to a mare among Pharaoh's chariots. Your beauty, but also your strength stand out. You may feel that you come empty-handed to me, but I am completely satisfied in you, he says to her. And she is most valuable to him as she is. And he makes her even more valuable by showering her with gifts. Though written many, many decades after the Song of Solomon, the imagery of a bride who is adorned is presented to us in the 16th chapter of Ezekiel, which I read to you earlier. And this is the Lord speaking of Israel. This is the Lord speaking of his people. And he's speaking of Israel as a girl, a baby initially. born in wretched circumstances, abhorred and rejected and left to die and he has come along and he has caused her to live and he has come along again and caused her to be clean and beautiful and adorned her with a garment and washed her and given her jewels, ornaments and bracelets and a necklace and rings in her nose and earrings and a crown on her head and has brought her into royalty and her beauty is acknowledged by all the world. It's the same picture you see, it's the same situation, it is God speaking of his bride. Or to bring it into New Testament language, it is Christ speaking of his church. Oh she was nothing. Nothing to look at, nothing to desire, no beauty to behold in her. Wretched and rejected, yes, but he has taken hold of her and he has washed her and cleansed her and he has clothed her with rich garments and he has adorned her with costly jewels. And so Jesus says to the church, this is how I view you. You are great and you are glorious and you don't need to worry about the fact that you've got empty hands and you can't give anything to me. I give everything to you. I enrich you beyond your wildest dreams. And I make you to be glorious and beautiful in this world. And so Christ adorns his bride. He glorifies her by his spirit's renewing, regenerating, redeeming power. He washes her in his own blood and cleanses her from all her sins. He gives to her gifts. that she may be glorious. And then we see here are the companions, we've noted them before haven't we? We've noted the virgins mentioned in verse 3 and the daughters of Jerusalem mentioned in verse 5. She has acknowledged their love for the king and how suitable it was that they should love him because we noted that these virgins, these companions, these daughters of Jerusalem are so identifiable with the bride that it's almost as though they and the bride are one. And I want you to see that here because here she has come empty-handed to the king. she has nothing to bring to him no gift to offer to him and she says he says to her well don't worry about that I have enough for both of us and he makes her so so glorious that then she responds as it were in the voice of her companions we will make for you ornaments of gold studded with silver so what's going on here what's going on is that she now Having been reborn by the Spirit, regenerated by his in work, cleansed by Christ and made a new creature, having been adorned by him with beauty and honor, she now adds to that as it were. We will make for you ornaments of gold studded with silver. It is a reflection really of what we read in Revelation chapter 19 where we see the marriage supper of the bride of the Lamb. as the bride is brought to the Lamb on this great and glorious day. In verse 6 of chapter 19 of Revelation we're told that there was a loud cry, Hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns, let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Now that's interesting isn't it because actually The bride is clothed with a garment of righteousness that has been provided for her by the king, by the lamb whom she is to wed. It is his righteousness that she is enrobed in. It is his salvation that has become a garment for her and yet we're told that the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. but we're told it was granted to her. She was enabled to clothe herself with this fine linen, bright and pure, because of the Spirit's work in her, enabling her to live and to serve and to work for the glory of Jesus Christ in adding to, as it were, the garments that he had given her. It is the outworking of his work in her, but at the same time it's her work. It's her righteous actions because he, as Paul says to Philippians, has enabled her to will and to work for his good pleasure. And so he adorns her and she adorns herself. And the church is brought to Jesus Christ in this glorious passion. No more shame. No more doubts. No more wondering. There she is standing before her lover. The church is nothing. It's weak. It's inglorious in this world. The world looks on the church and there is nothing in it that they desire. Just as the world looks on Jesus and there's nothing in him that they desire. The world looks on the church and the church is despised and rejected by men just as the world looks on Jesus and he is despised and rejected. The world looks on the church and they see a people who are sorrowful and acquainted with grief in the midst of the wretchedness of this sin-filled world. just as the world looks on Jesus and sees in him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief as he passes through this world of rebellion against him. And so she has become like him in this world, nothing, not desirable, not glorious at all, and yet she is everything. to her saviour. He loves her so much that he left the glory of heaven to come into this world. He loves her so much that he endured the cross and despised the shame for her. He loves her so much that he endured hell on her behalf so that she might no longer be under any condemnation. He loves her so much that he entered into the world of her wretchedness so that he might lift her into his world of glory. She is everything to him. and humbled under her sin and under her wretchedness, but transformed by him and his love, she will be exalted and she will sit beside him on his throne, the most beautiful. among all of his creation, she will reign in glory by his side forever and ever. Brothers and sisters, this is us. Let's pray. Our Father God, we thank you for the love of Jesus Christ for the Church. We cannot comprehend it, We cannot understand it but how thankful we are for it, that we have been drawn into his love, washed in his blood, cleansed through his righteousness, clothed with his glory, made ready to sit by his side forevermore. We long to be there, seated with him. Until that day comes, may we ever be found with the sheep in his presence, loving him and growing into him, we pray in his precious name. Amen.