Rabbi Schneider - A Study of God's Divine Love
On last week's broadcast I talked about the fact that I don't believe that Solomon, when he wrote the Song of Songs, knew that he was actually prophesying of the Holy Spirit's love for the church. But we need to remember, as I pointed out on last week's broadcast, Peter told us that no Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God; in other words, that all Scripture has been written by the Holy Spirit. And then we looked at what Jesus said in the 16th chapter of the Gospel of John. Jesus identified his Holy Spirit's primary assignment was, listen now, to glorify him.
In revealing the Holy Spirit's nature, Jesus said in John, 16: He will take of me, he will disclose it to you, and he will, listen now, glorify me. So if the Song of Songs was written by men that were moved by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit's primary aim is to glorify Jesus, then within the Song of Songs, there must be the glorification of Jesus, and it must be about Jesus, since the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to take of Jesus and disclose it unto us. We read last week in the Book of Luke, chapter 24, that after Yeshua had risen from the dead he appeared to his disciples in a bodily form that they couldn't recognize.
In other words, he took on a bodily form that looked different from the physical image that he had with them while they, while he was on earth. And he's kinda playing dumb with them cause they're all down cast, cause they're so, they're so beaten down because Jesus had been crucified and their whole world had been fallen apart. They weren't convinced yet that he had risen from the dead. And so Jesus comes up to them as they're walking on the road to Emmaus, and he, and he kinda plays dumb. He says, what's wrong guys? And they said haven't you heard what happened? This Jesus that we thought was the Messiah, they came and crucified him. And then the Bible says, in Luke, 24, that Jesus then took them on a journey, get this, through all the Scriptures, beginning with Moses, beginning in the Torah, and then going through the entire Word of God.
Jesus pointed out to them the things underneath the surface in the Word of the Lord that were really about him. And then he opened their eyes. You see, beloved, in the end the whole Bible's about Jesus. That's why when we get to the 23rd chapter of the Book of Leviticus, which tells us what God's appointed days are, we find that these feast days, these holy, appointed days of the Lord, Passover, unleavened bread, first fruits, Shavu'ot, all these different holidays of the Lord. The fall comes and we have the fall holidays, the feast of trumpets, Yom Kippur, and the feast of tabernacles. In the original historical setting, in, in, in the Book of Leviticus, 23, we don't see Jesus right jumping out of the pages, in Leviticus, 23. But the Holy Spirit then gave us understanding that they were actually prophetic shadows of Jesus.
So that we know that Jesus was crucified on Passover. That the Spirit of God came in Acts, chapter 2, on Shavu'ot or Pentecost, and this is the same thing with the Song of Songs. In the original, historical context we just read about the natural, but there's a deeper meaning, there's a lower level, there's the fuller essence of it. There's the substance of it, and the substance of it, beloved, is it's the revelation of Jesus. And the Song of Songs reveals to us the heart of the Father, the heart of Jesus, the emotions of God. The Song of Songs is the revelation of the bridal paradigm that ultimately we've been saved, we've been purchased by the blood of Jesus to be his bride, to be his inheritance. This is the key, this is the climax, this is the end to which all Scripture is pointing to. It culminates in Revelation, chapter 19, with the marriage supper of the Lamb, and so the Song of Songs is the Tanakh's or the Hebrew Bible's revelation on our marriage to God. God has married his people. The Lord has married us, we read beloved, in the Book of Isaiah.
I wanna go now to the Book of Revelation with you for a second, chapter number 19, and I wanna show you something. Revelation, chapter 19, I want you to get that many of us have a revelation of the saving grace of the Lord. We realize that we've been saved, and we have legal understanding of salvation, but many of us lack understanding of how God feels about us; that he actually gets enjoyment out of his relationship with us; that we can move the heart of God. Even as it was when Jesus went to the place where Lazarus had died, and all the people around were crying because of Lazarus's death. And the Bible says that when Jesus came into their midst and he saw all the people, all Lazarus's family and friends crying, the Bible tells us that Jesus, listen now, was very moved. He was very moved in his Spirit. In other words, that he was touched by human emotions. That he feels also.
You see the reason that you and I have feelings, the reason that we have emotions, is cause we were created in, we were created in God's own image. And God has emotions. And God has feelings. And the mystery is that he's touched with our feelings. And so read in Revelation, chapter 19, with me, verses number 7 and 9, hear the Word of the Lord: Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. Verse 9: Write, blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me these are the true words of God. Can you imagine that Jesus would be married to a bride, which is the church? Can you imagine that he would be married to a bride that he got no enjoyment out of? I mean, can you imagine him marrying someone that he's unmoved by? No, Jesus, beloved, is moved by our emotions.
We find in Scripture that at some points he greatly rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. At some points, he cried in the Holy Spirit, the shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept. Why? Cause he was being moved by the emotions of his people. You see, there's a bridal and a real relationship between the Lord and us, and he gets great pleasure, beloved, out of his relationship to us. And the Song of Songs is the story about the Shulamite bride, who's a shadow of you and me, a shadow of the church, beginning to discover this. And she, she begins by telling us that she has a taste of his love, that she was, she, she, she received the kisses of his word, the kisses of his mouth which are an expression of intimacy. So we read there in verse number 2, that the Shulamite bride says: May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.
Now the kisses of one's mouth, this is a kiss of intimacy. And so she had an intimate relationship, a love relationship, a bridal relationship with the king. Of course in the natural it was King Solomon, but King Solomon is a prophetic shadow, beloved, of the great bridegroom King, the glorious King, Jesus. I'm gonna turn now, to help you really get this. I know this is a stretch for some of us. Some of us are having a hard time buying that the Song of Songs is really about God's love for his people from a marital, from a, from a, a marital paradigm. But I wanna show you something here that's gonna help. You need to get this prophetic foundation to be able to receive the fullness of God's joy that's revealed to you in the Song of Songs.
We're gonna go to the Book of 1 Corinthians now, chapter number 11, verse number 2, 1 Corinthians, actually I wanna go to 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 2; listen to what Paul says: For I am jealous for you, with a godly jealousy for I betrothed, what's that, that's engaged to, I presented you to in marriage, for I betrothed you to one husband so that to Christ, to Messiah Jesus, I might present you as a pure virgin. This is marital intimacy, beloved. This is, this is marriage language. We find in another portion of Scripture that Paul speaks about a great mystery, when he speaks about a man leaving his father and mother, then clinging to his wife, and then the two of them together becoming one flesh. And he says, behold I tell you a mystery. I'm speaking to you about the relationship between Christ and his church.
So understanding now then that Messiah's relationship to the bride, to you and I that he purchased, is a marriage relationship, you can begin to understand the prophetic revelation of the Holy Spirit coming out of the Song of Songs for you and I as it relates to the Lord's marriage relationship to us, and us, hallelujah, to him. You know, Paul tells us in the Book of Ephesians, chapter number 3, verse 17 through 19, that we should be praying that God would give us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we would know the height, the depth, the breadth, the width and the length of the love of God in Messiah Jesus. That we need revelation, beloved, of God's love for us.
And Father right now, I pray that you'll touch our hearts with your fiery finger, Lord, and give our hearts revelation of how jealous you are for us; those of us your people, Father, that you purchased to be the bride of Jesus, Father, with his own blood.
You know when Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood, beloved, one of the reasons he did that was that he would have an inheritance. You and I are his inheritance. We don't belong to our self, we belong to him; we're his bride. So let's with that foundation, continue on today as we get our Bible open and our notebooks open beginning in the Song of Songs, chapter number 1. May he kiss me, the Shulamite bride, a prophetic shadow of the church here; this is to be our cry, oh kiss me Jesus, kiss me with the kisses of your mouth.
Now those were crying out, "Jesus I want to encounter you. Make yourself real to me. Touch my heart so that I know you're alive. Touch my heart so that I can feel your love for me. Make yourself known and felt." So this is what she's saying here: May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. And why does she want to be touched with the kiss of his mouth; because she's come to the understanding: For your love is better than wine. She had discovered, because she had encountered Jesus in the prophetic sense. She had discovered, beloved, that the kisses of King Jesus' mouth upon our hearts; again we reject all sensual interpretations. I want you to reject every sensual thought that might, you might have a picture about this. We're not talking about the natural, we're talking about the kisses of his mouth, beloved, speak of the words of the Lord. The rabbis call it the kisses of the Torah.
The Bible tells us in Deuteronomy, 8:3, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. The kisses of the Torah; it's the revelation of God that reveals his love to us in our hearts. This is what we're talking about there. May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. In other words, may he touch my heart by his Word with the revelation of his love. And the Word that we're talking about, is living, it's active. When the Holy Spirit touches our heart, beloved, it's the Word that's touching us. And Jesus is the embodiment of the Word, right? In the beginning was the Word, speaking of Jesus, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. So we're asking the Lord to kiss us with Jesus; and not only to kiss us with Jesus, but to kiss us with the revelation of Jesus' love for us.
And this is what we're gonna do, as we go through the Song of Songs, beloved, we're not just gonna go through it informationally, but we're gonna turn it in, listen now, to a prayer dialogue. Because as we study the Song of Songs we're gonna see that the Shulamite bride, who's a shadow of the church, keeps calling out to the King, Solomon, who's a shadow of Jesus. She calls out to him and then the king responds back. And at times we're gonna hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in here. So what we're gonna find as we go through the Song of Songs, is that it's a dialogue. She'll speak to the king, and then the king will speak back to her, and then at times the Holy Spirit will interject. So we're not just gonna study this from afar. We're not just gonna study it as someone would do when they went to a restaurant and read the menu. But we're gonna eat it, just like someone goes to the restaurant, they look at the menu and then they order something and eat it.
So here's how we're gonna do it. We're gonna turn it in, beloved, to a prayer dialogue. So let's do this. I'll show you how we're gonna do this. She says may he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. So let's turn it into a prayer dialogue. Father God we thank you that you kiss us with the kisses of your mouth. Jesus we thank you that you're revealing your love to us. Remember, beloved, the kisses of the mouth, that's an intimate kiss. Jesus we thank you that you're revealing your love to our hearts, and now we ask you that you will continue in an ever greater way to unfold to our hearts the mystery of your love for us, that you would in an ever increasing way kiss us with the kisses of your mouth, hallelujah, and Amen.
Do you know, this is what Jesus is doing right now? In the Book of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 17, listen to what Yeshua said as we think about this portion of Scripture that we just prayed. The Gospel of John, chapter 7, verse, chapter number 17, Yeshua speaks about what he did, 17:26 of John, Jesus says to the Father: I have made your name known to them, that's the kiss of the mouth. It's the revelation when Jesus said I have made you name known. Remember Jesus is the Word, right? In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, so the Word in the flesh, Jesus, made known to the Father's people, the, the, the thoughts and the feelings of God.
So listen what Jesus said again; John 17:26: I have made your name known to them, and get this now, and will continue to make it known, get this now. Jesus said I kiss them with the kisses of my mouth, and remember Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus said I and the Father are one. Remember Phillip said to Jesus, show us the Father. And Jesus said, how long must I be with you. Can't you see, Phillip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one, so it's the same thing. So Jesus is saying here, I have made known your name to them, in other words, he kissed his people, he kissed the Father's flock with the kisses of his mouth. I have made your name known to them.
And get the next phrase, and will make it known. In other words, Jesus is gonna continue, beloved, to kiss us with the revelation of the heart of God. He said I made your name known. I revealed to them your love for them. And he said, and I'm gonna continue to reveal it to them. And so what he's says, continuing in verse number 26: So that the love which you have loved me with may be in them. Get this now, remember the Songs of Songs is about the revelation of the, of the, of God's love for us. It's about the, the Shulamite bride, the shadow of the church, calling out to the glorious bridegroom, King Jesus, to kiss her with the kisses of his Word. Now Jesus comes and says Lord I kissed them with the revelation of who you are. I have made your name known to them. And I'll continue to make it known to them.
Listen to this now, so that the love which you have loved me with may be in them. Do you get it, beloved? God is in the, is, is right now in the process of making known to us the revelation and the strength of his love. Listen to verse number 23 of John, 17. Yeshua says this in John 17:23: You sent me, speaking of the Father, and he says, and you love them even as you have loved me. So Jesus says I'm gonna make your love known to them, and you love them, Jesus said in John 17:23, even as you love me. So this is what the church, beloved, is crying out for. This is what God wants us to do. He wants us to cry out to him, that he would reveal to us, beloved, the fullness and the strength of his love for us. And so the, the Shulamite bride, the shadow of the church, calls out in verse number 2: May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.
And so Father God we are asking you to do now that which you are doing. Father that you would make known to us through the kisses of your mouth, through the Word who has become flesh, the Lord Jesus, that you would make known to us Lord the fullness of the revelation of your love for us, that you would help us to understand how you feel about us. Lord Jesus, kiss me, I pray, with the kisses of your mouth. Make my heart fully alive to you. Awaken me, Lord Jesus, to your love. Thank you, Jesus, Amen and Amen.
And why is the bride, why is the bride so hungry here? Why is she so passionate about, about Jesus? Why is she so much focused on, on, on receiving the revelation of Jesus' kiss here? It's because, beloved, she's experienced it at some level. And so she follows up in the next verse by saying: For your love is better than wine. She had come to the place in her life, where she had seized the fact that Jesus's love was more satisfying than wine. She says: Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth! For your love is better than wine.
What is wine? Wine is the shadow in the Bible of earthly celebration. Wine is the symbol of good things. You know Jesus's first miracle was he turned the water to wine. So the wine of the world or the things that the Lord blesses us circumstantially with, those are good things. But they pale, beloved, compared to experiencing God's presence. They pale in compared to knowing the love of Jesus. All the things in the world, all the, the favor that God puts on our life circumstantially, in relationships, with health, with finances, these are all very important. But they pale in comparison to knowing the love of God, and so she calls out, kiss me with the kisses of your mouth, for your love is better than wine.
This is what the Apostle Paul was saying in the Book of Philippians, chapter 3, when he said that he had suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but rubbish in order that he might know Jesus and the power of his resurrection. Now beloved, you're not going to want to miss an episode of this. And I promise you, those of you that have been touched by God, as you sit and stand with me week after week, as I'm going through the Song of Songs, this revelation, it's gonna get into your heart, and it's gonna change you. There is gonna be a change that's gonna take place in your life. You're gonna begin to call out, just like the Shulamite bride, who's a shadow of the church. You're gonna be, you're gonna begin to call out to King Jesus with passion, "kiss me with the kisses of your mouth", and you are gonna be changed by the love of God; get it.