We're now turning God's word this morning to the song of Solomon, chapter three and four. We'll begin reading at verse six of chapter three and then read through chapter four. The text this morning will be chapter 3, verse 6 through chapter 4, verse 7. And because of the length of that, I will not be reading those verses. We'll begin reading at Song of Solomon, chapter 3, verse 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? On that question, the one that is referred to there is the bride, I believe, the Shulamite. And now in verse 7, the attention turns to Solomon. Behold his bed, which is Solomon's. Three sore, valiant men are about it of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, being expert in war. Every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and in the day of the gladness of his heart." Now it turns the attention to the bride, to the Shulamite. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Thou hast dove's eyes within thy locks. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing. For of every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. Thy neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. Thy two breasts are like two young rose that are twins, which feed among the lilies, until the day break and the shadows flee away. I will get thee to the mountain of Myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amenah, from the top of Shinar and Hermon, from the lion's dens, from the mountains of the leopards. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine, and the smell of thine ointments than all spices. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits. Campfire with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices, a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind, and come thou south. Blow upon my garden, but the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. Thus far, we read God's word. Let's pray and ask God's blessing in the word. Father in heaven. We pray that in the word today. And we would have hearts that are open to hear of the glorious and beautiful relationship that we have with thee. relationship that is compared to marriage as we know it here on this earth. May we see something higher and better than the marriages we have on this earth. We see the everlasting relationship that we have with thee and may we be comforted by that. Also, we pray that they will use this word to have an effect upon our marriages. That we would love and serve in our marriages, that we would show glory and beauty in our marriages. reflecting the love that God has have for us and that the bride, the church has for thee and Jesus Christ. And so we pray also that that will bless the single members of the church and those who desire marriage and prepare for marriage, that this also would show them the right way in which they are to prepare for that, but always with an eye on the relationship that we have with thee, our God, because of thy sovereign grace. So bless this word as it's preached. Give strength to thy servant as he brings that word that he may bring it in truth and in clarity. It's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. We have before us in the text the wedding day of Solomon and the Shulamites. Everything in the book of the Song of Solomon before this was leading up to this wedding day. It had to do more with their courtship, their dating relationship as they were getting ready for this day. For those of us who are married, then we may think a little bit about our wedding day. Maybe it was many years ago or maybe not that long ago. You may remember a lot of effort was put into preparation for that wedding day. A lot of thought was given to what it is that you were going to wear. And then preparation for the ceremony and planning and then planning for a reception as well. And you wanted this day that was perfect as you thought of it in your own mind. And maybe especially the brides here, as you thought of that and had that picture in your own mind for years before that day actually came. As beautiful and wonderful as that day may have been, And we often find out afterward that every day in marriage after that isn't as picture perfect maybe as that day was. The hardships and difficulties in marriage were spinned against. A day in which we had all smiles towards one another and eyes that adored one another, weren't always the same eyes and the same face we saw later on in the days of marriage. That's why it's important for us to see what is before us here in this text. It's not just a wedding day of a man and a woman. But it's a wedding day that reminds us of something so much higher and better. I don't mean at all to paint a negative picture of marriage here on this earth, but a realistic one where there are struggles in marriage and there are hardships. And there's sin in marriage, and that doesn't mean it's not wonderful. It's wonderful at times. There's great bliss in marriage, certainly, when we're loving each other like we should, when we're confessing sin to each other and forgiving each other, as we are called to do. But the glory and the splendor of the day of the wedding of Solomon the Shulamite, and our marriage as well, points to something higher and so much better. That's what the Scriptures are always pointing us to in marriage. God's teaching us in this passage about a relationship with Him in Jesus Christ. So that in this passage, as we look at the glory and the splendor of Solomon, We see something higher and better, the glory and the splendor of Jesus Christ, our bridegroom. As we look at the beauty of the bride of Solomon, as it's described here in the passage, we see something higher and better. It's the beauty of the bride as she's made beautiful in Jesus Christ. And so we see then that relationship between Christ and the church. So this morning, as we consider this wedding day, we want to keep that in mind. So our theme is that the wedding day, you know, this first of all, the glorious groom. Secondly, the beautiful bride. And then finally, the everlasting significance. In verse seven, through the end of the chapter, We have set before us the glory and the splendor of the groom who is Solomon. It's evident especially from verse 11 where we read, Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals and the day of the gladness of his heart. The day of the gladness of his heart, the day of his espousal is his wedding day. And so what's pointed out to us is the glory of the man on this wedding day. But in the verses that go before this, the glory and the splendor of Solomon is set before us in what we might think is a strange way. Because our attention is called not to Solomon himself, But in v. 7, we see that our attention is called to His bed of all things. Notice that in v. 7. Behold His bed. Our attention is called to the bed of Solomon. Now, there's a reason for that. And looking at the bed of Solomon in the great palace of Solomon, we are taught something about Solomon as a bridegroom. So that's what we see and understand by looking at his bed and being wowed by this bed. There are two things to notice about this bed and two things that it declares to us about Solomon as the bridegroom. And those two things are these. He will provide and he will protect. Provide and protect. We look at the bed of Solomon. The first thing our attention is called to is the armed guards around the bed of Solomon. Notice verse 7. Behold his bed, which is Solomon's. Three score valiant men are abouted of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords. being expert in war, every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night." Notice that the bed of Solomon then is a place of protection for his bride. It's a bed that's surrounded by 60 well-armed guards. That's twice the number of the Secret Service bodyguards that would have been around David. These warriors are here to provide protection because of the fear in the night. That fear in the night refers to the potential assassins who would want to come in and harm the king and his queen. And so the point here of the bed of Solomon is to show that Solomon, as the husband of his soon to be bride, would provide protection for her in that bed with 60 well trained warriors. The bed of Solomon would be a safe place for Solomon and his bride. The second thing to take notice of in the bed of Solomon is the beauty of that bed. This bed is not a simple cot. It's not a mat simply that was thrown down on the ground there in the palace. But this bed was extravagant. We see it described in verse 10. He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. The wood from which this bed is made was imported from Lebanon. The posts that were made of silver, the base of it, the foundation was made of gold and there was a canopy of purple that was over this bed as well. This is a bed, the end of the verse says, lovingly prepared by the daughters of Jerusalem. I believe that's the idea of it. It's lovingly prepared by these daughters of Jerusalem. And so you see that Solomon makes this place, this bed, a place where his bride will want to be. And so Solomon is showing by this, or the text is showing by this, that the kind of husband Solomon would be, would be a man that provides for his wife as he is called to do. He will provide whatever she needs so that she can live comfortably and have all the things that she needs. And so, the glory and the splendor of Solomon is set before us by looking at his bed. And then in verse 11, the daughters of Jerusalem are called to behold King Solomon with his crown. They're to look on Solomon in his wedding day, to see him in all of his glory and splendor, in all of his kingly robes, with the crown that is upon his head, and see his glory as the King of Israel. You see his glory as he's crowned even by his mother. And in this day of gladness and heart, you see that Solomon in a very real way is in the spotlight on his wedding day. And that even tells us on our wedding day or when there is a wedding day, it's not all about the bride. It's also about the groom. Because remember, the wedding there is pointing at Christ and His church. It's not just about the church. It's especially about Jesus Christ. The groom's not just someone there, just kind of a sideshow there at the wedding. No, it's the groom and the bride. And here in this wedding day, the groom also is in the spotlight. In all of this, Keep in mind Jesus Christ and all of His glory and splendor. Solomon is a picture of Him. He's a picture of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who is atoned for our sins and finished the work of God for His bride. We see Jesus Christ as He's the one who provides for His bride and protects His bride because He loves His bride. Together, we come together, as it were, for a foretaste of the great wedding feast that is to come as we're gathered for the Lord's Supper. And we remember our bridegroom today, the one who loves us with that perfect love. And we're going to come back to that later in the sermon. But going back to marriage for a moment, there's important application of what we see here today for the calling of husbands and for the calling of young men who are preparing to be husbands. We have set before us the very essence of what it is to be a husband that loves his bride. A husband that loves his bride does two things especially in his love for her. He protects and he provides. We as husbands are called to provide for the wife that God has given to us Now, this doesn't mean here that we have to provide extravagantly. We're reminded here in the passage that we're called to work hard to provide what it is that the wife needs of the things of this earth, so that she and the family have that which is needed. But it's more than that. A husband is called to provide spiritually for his wife. He's to lead her. He's a leader in the word of God and lead her in prayer and lead her in coming together to worship God in the worship services in the church. So the husband provides as well in that way spiritually for his bride, but also the husband is called to protect. This is part of the dedication of love in marriage. It's not simply that a husband is called to provide protection from outside attacks so that if an intruder were to come in the house, he would be the one who would stand between that intruder and the wife with a baseball bat or with his fist or with whatever it may be. That's certainly true, a husband ought to do that. But it means so much more than that. But a husband who protects his wife then does not dwell with her in harshness or in bitterness. He's not a man who's constantly fighting with his wife. He's not giving her the silent treatment. He's not yelling at her, abusing her with his words. He's not certainly not abusing her with his hands. So he's a husband instead who dwells with her in love. He protects her. He's gentle with her. He's kind with her because he loves her. He's a man who doesn't focus on her weaknesses and then attack her where she is weak, but instead protects her where she is weak because that is what he is called to do. There we see the essence of the husband's calling, provide and protect. Well, there's an important word then for you young men and you young women, even for you children, as you listen to this word. Maybe some of you aren't thinking about marriage yet. Maybe others of you are thinking about marriage. Young men, as you think about it, or will be thinking about it one day. Preparation for marriage means learning to be this kind of man. A kind of man who is going to protect and provide So that when you go on a date with a young lady, you're not just trying to put on an outward show of something that you really aren't, trying to get her maybe to fall in love with you or to woo her. If that's what you're trying to do in a dating relationship, then you've no business dating yet. But instead, what we do in that is you want to show that you're a man of integrity. You want to show her that you will protect her, and do that in a very real way, even in the dating relationship, not pushing her physically to go further than you ought in that relationship, but you ought to protect her. in that way from the waves of sin. You have to be a young man who's not trying to control her, what she wears and who she's friends with and all of the rest, but learning to love and serve by protecting and showing as well that you're a young man who's going to work hard to provide for the future wife that God may give you. That's the genuine way that a young man should prepare himself to be a husband even in dating relationship. And young women, this is an important word for you. This is the kind of young man that you should look for. A man who will provide and protect. Don't be concerned with the shallow things of what a man looks like or how much money he might make or if he's just a lot of fun to be with. No, you want a man who in integrity will love you with the love of Jesus Christ, protecting and preserving. Look for that kind of man. That's the groom that is set before us here in in Solomon on his wedding day, a man who provides and protects. Now the text turns to the bride. Again, with that word, behold, verse seven, we said, behold, his bed. But now at the beginning of chapter 4, Behold, thou art fair, my love. Our attention is turned to the beautiful bride. It's not just there at the beginning of chapter 4, but we go back as well to chapter 3, verse 6. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? There are those who interpret that as a reference to Solomon. But we should see and understand that because the word this there is in the feminine, that this indicates, no, that this is about the bride. This is about the Shulamite. pointing out as well her perfume with myrrh and frankincense, with all the powders of the merchant. Here she comes in her beauty. And then in chapter 4, that beauty is set before us. Think, men, about your wedding day and the first look at your bride. She was in her gown and all ready for the wedding. That's what's set before us here in the text. Solomon, as it were, his breath taken away. By the beauty of his bride, as this is expressed in the poetry of the book, a song of Solomon. And there are seven things that Solomon notices about his bride. But we want to see and understand this. As Solomon is looking at his bride, we might think at first look at this, that he's enamored with her physical beauty. But that's not at all the case. Well, he notices her physical beauty and he's declaring that as well here in the passage. But the beauty that he's looking at is more than beauty that is skin deep. He's looking beyond that outward beauty to the spiritual beauty of his bride. And we want to see that as we go along and look at these aspects of the beauty of his bride. So, first of all, with that in mind, Solomon focuses on her eyes. And he says, her eyes are as doves. So the idea here in the text, and similar to what we read in chapter 1, verse 15, when we considered that, he's not saying that her eyes are like the eyes of a dove, but he's saying that her eyes are like doves. Literally. Now understand again that the eyes are a window into the soul And doves are a beautiful picture in the scriptures of gentleness, gentleness in love that is worked by the Holy Spirit in the people of God. And so what Solomon notices, even as he looks into her eyes, is not simply the beauty of her eyes. He doesn't talk about the color of her eyes or the shape of her eyes. But he talks about here what he sees in her eyes. And what he sees in her eyes is love. What he sees in her eyes is gentleness. And he's enamored with the beauty of her gentleness and her love. that as well he calls attention to her hair and says that her hair is as a flock of goats. She has dark and lovely hair that he calls attention to. After that, he calls attention to her mouth. First, her teeth are white and they're straight, not all over the place. White and glistening then like sheep's wool in contrast to her dark skin. And then he notices her lips. Her lips are like a thread of scarlet And here he notices not just the beauty of her mouth, her teeth and her lips as he looks at her. What that emphasizes is the purity of her mouth and the beauty of her speech towards Him as she speaks of her love for Him. He then notices her temples and says they're like a piece of pomegranate. that reminds him of pomegranate when he looks at the sides of her face. And pomegranates are a picture of fertility and life. He sees spiritual life within her and her neck. He looks at her neck, compares that to the tower of David. And he remembers around that Tower of David all the armor and the shields that are around that tower. And that reminds him as well of the necklaces around her neck. But it's not again the physical outward beauty, but he's seeing the inward beauty of his bride. And then finally, he notices her breasts and compares them to two young twin gazelles. And the idea here that as he notices that, as he's attracted to her, But he's not simply attracted to her physically. He's attracted to her spiritually. He desires true intimacy with his bride. And he desires that even on his wedding night. How different that is from the pornographic culture in which we live, in which it's all about the outward. It's all about the shape and it's all about the physical beauty. It's all about lust, carnal lust and desire. That's not what we find here in Solomon. It's not Solomon just lusting after his bride, just can't wait to be in bed with her, physically with her. He sees the beauty of her soul. He sees her spiritual beauty. And He desires to be close to her and to be intimate with her and to show His love as He has experienced love from her. From this, we learn how a husband is to view his wife not only on their wedding day, but throughout their marriage. We learn from this what a godly woman is focused on as well. The question here is, what is it that makes a woman and a wife beautiful? Young men, as you date and you look for a bride, what makes her beautiful? You men, as you look at your wife and you look at your bride, no matter how long you've been married, what is it that makes her truly beautiful? Well, we're thankful for physical beauty that God gives, but we all understand that that physical beauty fades. It changes. Our bodies change. Our bodies age. But as husbands, what we notice is the spiritual beauty of our wives. We have to praise them for that. but to look in her eyes and see her love and her devotion and be thankful for that. See gentleness and kindness. And may we focus on that in our marriages. It doesn't mean it's always there. Sometimes it's not. Just like there's not always a providing and protecting love that we as husbands show to our wives. I hope there's no husband here saying, About his wife. Yeah, but you don't know the eyes of my bride. How awful that is, if you would say that. But there might be times when it's not that way. And there might be times. From an earthly perspective, we'd say we would deserve that. But there are times, no doubt, we ought to it ought to be that we look at our brides and we know. Her devoted love to us, even though we're undeserving, of such love. There are weaknesses in our brides, but yet we have to focus on this, see them in the spiritual beauty that is found within her as one who is a child of God. And that's what we ought to encourage as well, not the physical, especially the spiritual beauty that is within them. May this as well be what the women of the church and the girls of the church are looking to develop in themselves, not a beauty that's skin deep. There's a lot of focus on that in our world today, on the beauty, the outward beauty of a woman upon her shape, upon what she looks like, upon what she does with her face and the makeup that she puts on and all of the rest. and having a certain look. Now, it's not necessarily wrong to be in that and to be involved with that and to want to make ourselves look nice. But we should especially be devoted to making ourselves look attractive in a spiritual way, developing the gifts of that gentleness and love within us, developing the gift of having a meek and a quiet spirit. The great temptation in our day is we spend all kinds of focus on the outward and very little on the inward. And that may be husbands, because that's what you're focused on. And it ought not to be that. But instead, the spiritually attractive devotion and love is in the heart of a godly woman. Young women, this is what you ought to develop in yourselves as well. There's a thinking in our world today that women can find everything that they need in a relationship with a man. And so she ought to do whatever she can to woo that man and attract that man. And then that feels good to have the attention of a man, even physically, if he gives attention to her. Young women and girls, this is not what you ought to be seeking after. Because you're trying to find in a man what you can only find in Jesus Christ and in God Himself. In the end, that's idolatry. It's being self-centered, focused on me and what I want. It's not a relationship that's focused on God and focused on virtue. And so as we learn these things about marriage in the text here today, we want to see and understand that there is everlasting truth that we want before our minds. As we began in the sermon, the text is pointing us to something much higher and better. When you read the text. And now you understand that this text is about the glory of a groom on his wedding day and the beauty of the bride on her wedding day. We might wonder from different perspectives if this is all exaggerated. This all exaggeration, this hyperbole that we find here in the text, we may look at it from all kinds of different perspectives, maybe from the perspective of those who aren't married. and who desire to be married. And they maybe look at marriage and anticipate that marriage will give you this fairytale ending of living happily ever after. That it will be a marriage where there's a constant garden of delight with each day being better than the one before. And then you hear the stories about marriage. And you understand and know that there can be many pleasures and blessings in marriage, but it can be very hard and difficult. And there may be some of us looking at it from that perspective. Yeah, beautiful wedding day. But this is what follows. It's not so beautiful. And the days that follow may be that this beautiful bride, others hurtful and harsh words that may be that this husband and all of his glory as he vowed to protect his wife. He snaps at her. He gives her the silent treatment. He's angry. Even the best of marriages, in the best of marriages, husband and wife see the ugliness of the other, probably like no one else sees. And that's because we're all idolaters in our hearts. And so, from all different points of view, we may look at what we have here and say, that seems to be too much hype. It's not really like that at all from those who desire it and who don't have it, from those who have it and look at it and say it doesn't measure up. But we have to see and understand that this lifts our gaze beyond all human relationships to something higher and better. Marriage serves the purpose of pointing out to us something higher and better, the single life. points out to us that which is higher and better. That's true for those who are single and never been married. That's true for those who have been married and husband and wife is not there anymore. They've abandoned them or husband or wife has died. We must not think this morning that earthly marriage is the end to all happiness. That earthly marriage is where it's at to find security. and to find what satisfies. God did not design marriage for that purpose. And if we seek that out of marriage, we will always be disappointed. There is only one marriage that provides all that we need for security, for protection and provision. And that's our marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ. This wedding day before us here in Song of Solomon 3 and 4 is pointing us to that marriage, the marriage of Christ to his church. What a bridegroom is Jesus Christ. He provides unequaled love, provision and protection. In a way that comes out here in the very people who are involved in this wedding day, Solomon, the Shulamite was not his only wife. We know that there were many, many other wives that he had, hundreds of them. And so we see and understand even for the Shulamite and for all of those women, this could not be the end all for them. I mean, that's true for all brides as well. But Jesus Christ, He is the perfect bridegroom. Let us see Him today in all of His glory and in all of His splendor. When you see Him in all of His glory and all of His splendor, don't first of all look to where He is now enthroned in heavenly glory. Look at Him as He came to this earth and He took upon Himself flesh. And he suffered and he died. Because there you see his perfect love. He didn't come to be served, but to serve others, as we read in Mark 10, verse 45, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. We studied that in Bible study this past week. What a beautiful passage as it declares to us the love of the bridegroom for us. He submitted to all of the pain and suffering of the cross to free us from the death that we deserve. He gave his entire life for the bride of the church. That's Ephesians 5, a beautiful passage on marriage. He gave all of himself in his love for us. In his act of self-sacrifice, we see the constant love and care of the Lord for his people, although we do not deserve this. That picture is the love of our God for us. We have a bridegroom who protects and provides. He provides everything that we need. That's the very figure of the Lord's Supper, the bread. The bread is that which we need. And the wine as well, symbolizing the abundance that we have in Jesus Christ. Not just a few blessings, but blessings that are measured out in a syringe. But manifold blessings, as we'll consider in the sermon tonight, in his love for us and his care for us is forever. We are broken sinners. We are those who disobey him. We found that again in this week of self-examination. But we have in this world a love. That is secure. And last forever. Because we are the bride of Jesus Christ. And so this morning, as we come together, we have a foretaste of that wedding feast that is to come. That great wedding day, as it were, when Jesus Christ will return and we'll be gathered to be with him, though we are we are his bride, but we're not yet with him. But that day is coming and then we will serve him perfectly. And we will live in the great glories and the beauties of that love forever and ever. That love that is delightful and satisfying and fulfilling that alone is the love that is delightful and satisfying and fulfilling forever and ever. And so may we today have the hope and the comfort of that love. of Jesus Christ for us. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're thankful, Lord, for the love of Jesus Christ for his bride. Comfort us, Father, in the knowledge of this today. May we be filled with this and grant us grace then to reflect that in our lives and especially in the relationship of marriage that thou has given to some of us. All these things we pray in Jesus name. Amen.