Beloved, Lover of my Soul, Altogether Lovely, Rose of Sharon, Lily of the Valleys

Drawn from the Song of Songs, also named Song of Solomon, in the Song of Solomon 2.1 we see the Bride say of the Bridegroom;

“I am my beloved’s and He is mine.”

Yes, how we live for that, He is mine and I am His!

This week’s study is an invitation to fall in love with Him more and more, to lavish upon Him praise, upon praise!

He is the fairest among 10,000.

The Father says of Jesus, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him.”

We live to please God and live only for His presence and His praise.

I have loved you with an everlasting love, I knitted you together in your mother’s womb.

I have engraved you on the palm of my hand.

Blooming in the Desert

I have come up from the desert, leaning on my Beloved.

In all things we are to look to His support and lean on Him as He brings us out of the wilderness of the world and its ways.

We have come from dry and desolate places, wastelands and He has brought us into a beautiful garden, set apart for Him.

He makes the desert bloom.

Isaiah 35.1-2 says of the desert;

The wilderness and wasteland shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;

It shall blossom and abundantly rejoice, even with joy and singing,

The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon.

They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God.

The Rose of Sharon

The Rose of Sharon is actually not a rose at all, or the misnamed hardy hibiscus which bears the same name.

It has also been referred to as the rock rose, cystus salvifolius, the Sage leaved Rock Rose which produces a healing resin, which is very sticky and sticks to the wool of sheep, it is also used for perfume.

This plant represents abundance and abundant amounts were needed to make this rose oil and so is very expensive.

Jesus died to bring us into abundant life and His costly love raises us up to eternal life.

We are overshadowed by His love and our wounds are healed.

This plant grows rocky hillsides, cliffs and rocks throughout Israel, in Golan, Hermon, Galilee, Gilboa, Carmel and the upper Jordan valley and in areas of Judea and Samaria.

This flower is actually in the crocus family, called “havatzilah” and is a meadow saffron which grows high on the mountaintops.

There is also debate as to whether this name refers to Jesus or His bride, but there is still much we can learn from this depiction of Jesus and His church.

He reveals Himself to us so that we can learn to trust Him as we more deeply appreciate His character and the relationship between us.

If nothing else, the Song of Solomon is all about Jesus’s relationship with His bride.

This flower carries beauty and fragrance and has the ability to thrive in harsh conditions.

It displays the divine nature and the ability to bring hope and salvation.

It is full of grace and divine purity, it is a balm which brings health and the hope only to be found at Golgotha, at the Cross of Calvary.

It blossoms in adversity and shines with beauty, truth, holiness, faithfulness, love and compassion, which instills a response of esteem and adoration.

Captured by the Rose of Sharon

(By John Piper/Andrew Murray)

We are captured by the Rose of Sharon.

We have kissed the rose and felt the thorn, the precious Rose of Sharon changes not.

We bow down and kiss the Son.

He is the one and only genuine article, He is authentic, there are no replacements for Him.

The following song describes Him like this;

Jesus, Rose of Sharon,

Bloom within my heart,

Beauties of Thy truth and holiness impart.

That where’er I go my life may shed abroad,

Fragrance of the knowledge of the love of God.

Jesus, Rose of Sharon,

Bloom in radiance and in love within my heart,

Jesus, Rose of Sharon,

Sweeter far to see,

Than the fairest flowers of earth could ever be.

Fill my life completely, adding more each day,

Of the grace divine and purity I pray.

Jesus, Rose of Sharon,

Balm for every ill,

May Thy tender mercy’s healing power distil.

For afflicted souls of weary burdened men,

Giving needy mortals health and hope again.

Jesus, Rose of Sharon,

Bloom forevermore,

Be Thy glory seen on earth from shore to shore,

‘Till the nations own Thy sovereignty complete,

Lay their honours down and worship at Thy feet.

“None among the sons of men, none in the heavenly train can with Sharon’s Rose compare, none so sweet and none so fair.”

May we be like honey bees feeding on the nectar of the Rose of Sharon, distilling His presence, so that others may be attracted to His fragrance in us, for,

“We are the fragrance of Christ to those who are perishing,” an outstretched hand for those in darkness and entangled in the briars, who will pull them out and wake them from their stupor.

Let’s learn to love one another and focus on Jesus, the Rose of Sharon.

Lily of the Valleys

The Rose of Sharon grows on the mountain and the lily in the valley, surely He is with us in every circumstance of life.

Lilies bring comfort, valleys represent the low places in life, the dark and gloomy times we all go through, He is the comfort in our valleys and the Rose represents the joy of our mountaintop experiences.

“Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of a song.”

We are protected by His fragrance, where Jesus is, we are safe, the Hounds of Hell cannot hunt and track us because we are covered by His fragrance.

We are protected by the fragrance of life.

The Lily Among the Thorns

He is the lily among the thorns, Jesus wore a crown of thorns, yet bloomed amid His suffering.

Matthew 6.28, “Consider the lilies of the field, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.”

Jesus bloomed as a blessing in the valley of death, He stood in the face of it and overcame.

He came into a world of sin and thorns, but His loveliness was in full bloom for all to see and we too can bloom amid tribulations.

The lily blooms in contrast to the brambles and thistles, it’s fragrance and beauty makes it stand out.

The spotless purity of the lily demonstrates humility and matchless purity of heart and soul, this spirit is in Jesus and develops in us in our communion with Him.

There is abounding preciousness in such simplicity.

As He is, so we should also be in the world, as display of His grace and character.

Jesus grew up as a root out of dry ground, He blooms and shines in a wicked and lost world as a beacon of hope and light.

He diffuses His fragrance and beauty and transforms the landscape of our lives.

He appears in the midst of what is dead and unfruitful and brings life and transformation, how many of us have that testimony?

Jesus went through the valley of humiliation and suffering and the valley of the shadow of death for us.

Reproducing Through Adversity

Pristine in purity and holiness, in Revelation 6.11 He is, “Clothed in white linen.”

 He clothes us in purity, covering our sin.

He is a sweet-smelling sacrifice.

He bears good fruit in our lives.

The bulbs of these lilies multiply.

“Like a lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters.”

A bad tree and disobedience produces thorns, obedience produces good fruit.

Jesus became a lily among thorns for us, when He wore the crown of thorns imposed on Him in mockery.

He took our sins, our thorns and our failures.

There is a lily in valley of sickness, disease and death.

Out of the valley of death on the cross, the lily of hope grew and spread.

The lily is a fruitful plant, reproducing itself x 50, Jesus tells us to bear fruit, to reproduce and increase His gift in us, He expects a harvest.

He reproduced brothers and sisters from the grave, His death produces life.

From the ugliness of your life something beautiful will come, He will transform you.

In persecution we are lilies among thorns, growing up through the thorny ground of difficulty to shine our light as God’s people in the battlefield of life, shining through prison doors  and barbed wire, through the thorns.

His name is as incense poured forth, a sweet-smelling fragrance.

Where there is death, He is the fragrance of life.

In the Song of Solomon 2 He says, “I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley.”

Lilies were associated with wedding feasts, the love between Christ and His church.

He has made us beautiful.

Hills and valleys are part of our lives, and we can always find a lily in the valley, His working in our lives.

We bloom as a lily among the thorns, as He makes everything beautiful in its time.

Lilies Stand Tall

Don’t let the enemy walk over you, stand up in the valley and praise and be a witness to God’s goodness.

They are trumpet shaped and prophetic, as God’s people we declare, “I am the Rose, even though I am in Sharon, the Lily in the valley, even though I am among thorns, we are being restored, healed and shining in our love for our Saviour.”

Lover of my Soul

The wife having great esteem for her husband, tells of His greatness and glories, so also should we.

Do we place greater value on Christ than on the world?

Are we content to live without His presence, being unconcerned for His honour?

How can I honour Jesus?

Where can I find His presence?

What do you think of His royal apparel, His wounds?

What do you think of the king in His beauty?

Has he a high and glorious throne in our hearts?

Would you set Him higher if you could?

Would you be willing to die if you could but add another trumpet to the strain which proclaims His grace?

Saints conquer when the love of God is spread abroad in their hearts.

Altogether Lovely

Christ is lovely.

“White and ruddy is my beloved.”

All His heavenly beauties shine, nature cannot produce an object so glorious, so divine.

He has wholly won my soul to the realms above.

“Whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report”, all are to be found in our well-beloved.

Is He altogether lovely to us?

Fairest of Ten Thousand

The Son of David takes the first place as the Fairest of Ten Thousand.

Christ is lovely to all our spiritual senses.

He is so lovely that He needs no beautifying.

Esther had to undergo 12 months of treatments before she was considered fit to visit the king and we will receive His ministrations all our life, but not Jesus, for He is perfect already.

He is the chief among 10,000, He is the standard, set apart, we will speak of His excellencies.

He has the name above all names.

His locks are wavy and black as a raven – He is youthful, strong and in His prime.

His e

yes are like doves by rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set.

His cheeks are like a bed of spices and banks of scented herbs – He is fragrant and full of the fruit of the Spirit.

We will talk about this in a later post, as every spice in this garden represents a fruit of the Spirit and He reproduces the same fruit in us!

His lips are like lilies, dripping with myrrh – He is sweet and fragrant, He brings the fragrance of life and takes away the stench and victory of death.

Like a lily attracts a honeybee, so He attracts us.

His hands are rods of gold, set with beryl; He lifts us up with His scarred hands.

His legs are pillars of marble, set on bases of fine gold – there is strength in His legs, our foundation is strong.

His countenance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

His mouth is most sweet – The words of His mouth are sweet, they bring life, His name is as ointment poured forth – healing and life bringing.

He has good ointments which our soul needs, He is the Balm of Gilead.

This is our Beloved, this is our friend.

He is a generous and giving friend, not with-holding anything or hiding from us, but seeking us out.

He is fairer than the sons of men.

He is delightful, goodly pleasant, lovely and beloved, the object of our desire and affection.

He is a cluster of henna blossoms and a bundle of myrrh, like an apple among the trees of the woods.

His fruit is sweet and His Spirit produces sweet fruit in us.

His fruit is good to eat, He brings us to His banqueting table, to nourish us with pleasant sustenance.

His left hand is under my head and His right hand embraces me.

He is like a gazelle or a young stag skipping on the hills and leaping on the mountains.

He feeds His flock among the lilies and gathers lilies there.

There are beds of spices in His garden.

His love is better than wine.