Sacred Sacraments - Day 243 Through the Bible

My Lessons and Applications from Today's Readings

In the cabin garden - near Mt. Celo Church.  The butterfly has long been a symbol of Christianity.  "The caterpillar stage is seen to represent earthly life and the preoccupation with taking care of physical needs; the chrysalis or cocoon stage resembles the wrapped body of the dead in the tomb; the butterfly represents resurrection/rebirth, freed from mere earthly/material constraints/restrictions."

Just Between Lovers, An Allegory of God's Love for Israel and the Church, or Both?  Song of Solomon 1 and 2 (What it Says - Summarized) Two young lovers (betrothed, it seems) are in these chapters anticipating their marriage and, especially, the consummation of their marriage.  The dreams at this point (or so it seems in 2:7, "do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases:"), that the young wife-to-be experiences, are both tormenting and erotically ecstatic.  There are hints of jealousy at the attraction the other young women have toward her betrothed, the doting and effusive praise of his bride by the groom, jealousies and intrusions of others into their lives for ill, including their love life.  From the Shulamite: "Your name is ointment poured forth; therefore the virgins love you.  Draw me away!"..."I am dark but lovely...My mother's sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept."  From the daughters of Jerusalem in this first chapter, "We will run after you." From her brothers, "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes."

My Lessons and Applications or Rather My Conundrums - This is one of the most difficult books for me in the Bible because of the contradictory exposition and commentaries I have heard and read on it and because of the Biblical history we have on Solomon and his other writings.  Charles Spurgeon definitely sees this book as an allegory of God's love for both the church and Israel as does the traditional Jewish Rabbinical view, as I understand it.  In my Bible, just in these 2 chapters alone, I have notated 10 different devotionals of Spurgeon's Morning and Evening based on Song of Solomon 1 and 2, and his seeing these as an expression of God's love for us.  Alistair Begg preached a series on this on the radio adamantly deriding any notion of this being anything other than the love song of a man and woman.  Having just finished an in-depth study of Ecclesiastes and the books of Samuel and Chronicles, it is difficult to read this and "buy into" a Biblical love story where Solomon is the groom.  After all, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3) - many of whom were pagan and led the king into idolatry who in turn led the nation into idolatry, that caused the division of Israel into 2 nations and led them into captivity.  This all takes away any intended eliciting of sweetness of committed, Biblical human love and rather focuses, it seems, on a love based solely on human sensuality.  It seems a further extension of Solomon's "under the sun" perspective of the world that we saw in Ecclesiastes, especially when viewed in light of his many marriages and mistresses.  It is much easier to see this as depicting God's love for us and his ideal for Biblical marriage, but I will have to leave further commentary on this to others more versed on this book than I.

The Cost of God's Love for Us / How We Honor or Dishonor that Sacrificial Love - 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 - (What It Says - Summarized) There is division - factions - in the church at Corinth.  Paul admonishes them that they come together at church for the wrong reasons: 1) "You come together not for the better but for the worse."  2) "When you come together, I hear that there are divisions among you." 3) "For there must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you." 4) "Therefore, when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper...for in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk...What!...Do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing?"  5) "I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat.  This is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood.  This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.'"  Paul then admonishes the Corinthians to "examine yourselves" carefully before coming to the Lord's table, for "whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord...For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.  For if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged.  But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be with the world condemned." 

My Lessons and Applications - The sacraments are sacred and are not to be entered into lightly without dire consequences to our spiritual, and perhaps physical, well-being.

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus...and since we have a great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."  

Hebrews 10:19, 21-22

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

Psalm 139: 23-24