Rabbi Schneider - Called Into a Divine Romance
As I've been saying in my earlier broadcast, there are three main characters in the Song of Songs. There is the the king, who in the natural is king Solomon. He is a prophetic shadow of the bridegroom king, king Jesus. And then there is the bride that he's going to marry, she's called the Shulamite bride. She is a shadow, beloved, of you and i, the church. And then there's the daughters of Jerusalem, those are less mature believers. We're going to be looking at these figures, and how they speak to us, beloved, of how the Holy Spirit feels about us in Jesus love.
You need to understand that God feels. He feels about you. He has feelings. That's why you and I have feelings. We were created in his image. We see several times in scripture the feelings of God come to the surface. The shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept" took place because Jesus was moved by the emotions of those around him. He felt their emotions. Not only did he feel their emotions, but he himself responded to those emotions, and wept. We see it another point in scripture that it says that Jesus was filled with great joy in the Holy Spirit. Yeshua said, "It's my Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He delights over you". The Hebrew prophet Isaiah tells us that the Lord delights over those of us he's going to marry.
So, this is a journey into the knowledge that every day, every second of every day God, beloved, is not just aware of us, but he's involved in a personal relationship with us. And so, knowing that that's what the book of the Song of Songs is about, that it's a journey into divine Romance, and I advise you to get the earlier teachings on this, so you can get the full foundation to understand why we're interpreting the book prophetically the way we are. You can obtain it through the contact information at the end of the broadcast today. With that said, let's pray, and then we're going to get right into the Word of God.
Father God, we bless you today. And we ask you to come and touch our hearts. Father, we find the Shulamite bride here, calling out to king Jesus. Kiss me with the kisses of your word. And so Father, we call out to you today, would you release, Father, Lord Jesus, would you release the Holy Spirit to kiss our heart, bringing us the revelation of how you feel about us. Bring us into divine love. Amen and amen.
We're going to begin verse number two of chapter one, "May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth", and then she follows up and speaking to Jesus, "For your love is better than wine". So, we need to understand that she had in some way encountered Jesus, she had encountered the bridegroom king. That's why she knew that his love was better than wine. And so, she was so thirsty, her focus in life, beloved, was to enter deeper in to the love of king Jesus, of the bridegroom king.
So, we need to first of all lay the foundation that when religion is boring to you, when following Jesus is boring to you, when reading the Bible is boring, when you're not hungry for Jesus, it's probably because you've never encountered him at some level. He's never made himself real to you in some way, because once he makes himself real to you... And he does this in many different ways. Sometimes it may be when you're reading the Bible, and you just feel the Holy Spirit touching your heart. It may be through a friend that speaks to you something. It may just be that the Holy Spirit comes to you in some type of a mystical way, maybe in a dream, or maybe his presence just comes over you, but the point is that: once you know he's real, once you've experienced him, it's going to elicit in you a passion for more of him.
This is what the case was with the Shulamite bride. She had a chamber experience with king Jesus. We're going to read that she says here later on in a few verses. She said, "The king has brought me into his Chambers". Look at this verse with me if you will. She's hungry for Jesus. In verse number 4, the second part of verse 4 she says, "The king has brought me into his Chambers". And so, she's so thirsty for more of him, she's love sick for more of him, she's longing for more of him, because she's encountered him in some way. And so, I want to pray right now if you're sitting and watching this broadcast, and Jesus has never made himself known to you in such a way that you know he's real, that you know he's a person, that you know he's alive, and that you know he loves you. Let's pray right now, let's ask him to do that.
Father God, in Jesus name, Jesus we come right now. And I ask you to release into the hearts of your people that are watching right now, a supernatural knowledge through divine revelation, that they would know, each one, that you love them. Cause us to know, Jesus, that you're here, that you're now, that you're real, that you're alive, and that we can experience you in some measure in this age. That we don't have to die and go to heaven to experience you, that we too can have experiences with you on this earth, just as the Shulamite bride exclaimed, "The king has brought me into his chamber". So, Lord Jesus, I'm asking you to ignite a passion and a hunger within these that are watching right now, to search after you, to seek you. You said, "Seek and you'll find". Do it Lord, by making yourself known and felt to them. Give them, Lord, an experience with you, a chamber experience, a bridegroom chamber experience.
So, she has had this experience, and now that she's had this experience she wants nothing more. She's going to drop everything else to pursue Jesus. In much the same way that the apostle Paul did in the book of Philippians chapter 3, when once he had met Jesus, remember on the road to Damascus, Paul wasn't searching for Jesus, remember, he was going after Jewish Christians to put them in prison, but on his way to arrest any Jew that believed in Jesus, Jesus encountered Paul. And remember, a blinding light came to Paul, and knocked Paul off his horse, and then Jesus spoke to Paul, and he said, "Paul, Saul, shaul, shaul", he called them by his Hebrew name, "Get up, and it's going to be told for you what you must do for me".
So, Paul encountered Jesus. And once Paul encountered Jesus, his heart was now ravaged for Jesus, he could pursue nothing else in life. He said in the book of Philippians that he had all these other things going for him in life previously. He said he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, from the tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth day, educated under the leading Jewish sage of his day, Gamaliel. But then he went on to say: but all those things he countered as loss, and counter them as nothing to be given up in view of, he said, the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, Messiah, Yeshua Mashiach his Lord.
So in other words he said, "I lost my family, I lost my friends, I lost the standing I had in the religious community. I lost all those things, and I count them as rubbish", he said, "Compared to knowing the superior knowledge of Jesus and his love, and his power in my life". So, that's what happened with this woman. This is what the call of the church is. That once we get a taste of Jesus, we get so ruined for him, we get so undone by him, that we can't concentrate or focus on anything else, but pursuing him. And so, this is how the song opens, "Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth". She has a revelation of divine love. She's been touched with the kiss of God. She has a revelation, beloved, of how God loves her.
The Bible says in the book of Ephesians chapter 3 that you and I should be praying that we would know the height, the depth, the breath, the width, and the length of the love of God that surpasses knowledge. And once we get touched by it, then we're going to recognize, beloved, that it's better than anything else in life, that we're not going to have a passion for all those other things that used to so enslave our hearts, because we're going to be running after Jesus, we're going to have the capacity now to let those other things go.
For some of you maybe it's a boyfriend or a girlfriend, you know the relationship's bad for you, you know it just makes you miserable, you know what ends up leaving you depressed, you know it's not of God, but you're like addicted to this relationship. Once you get a taste of Jesus reality, that he's here, that he's now, that he loves you today, and that you can experience him more and more and more, that'll give you the ability to let go of those other things you're hanging on to, whether it's through addictive relationship or some type of a substance abuse, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, cigarettes, whatever it is: lying, cheating, internet pornography, whatever it is.
When you get a taste of the reality of Jesus, you'll be able to let those things go, because you'll be able to say like the Shulamite bride in verse number one, "For your love is better than wine. I want you, because I've experienced you, and your love is better than all the things both good and bad that the world has to offer". Look once again, "For your love is better than wine". She's talking, beloved, about the good things that the world has to offer, as well as the sin of the world, because the Bible says that the wages of sin are pleasurable for a season. In other words that it feels good to sin, but the end result is death. But when you experience Jesus, you're going to say, "You know what? The pleasure of experiencing Jesus is greater than all the good pleasures of this world. It's better than food". In other words, "I want you so much Jesus, I'm willing to fast and pray".
It's better than of human relationships, "Your love so much satisfies, that I'm willing to let go of some of these earthly relationships in terms of giving all my time to them, to be alone and spend time with you, Jesus". It's better than our hobbies, and so on, and so forth, that there's no substitute, beloved, for the satisfaction that comes with being touched by God. And also, she says when your love is better than wine, she's applying it to the negative things in life, the things that this world gives us, the cheap thrills, the cheap thrills of this world. When you're touched by Jesus, beloved, you're going to be able to pursue him.
And so Father, once again I pray that you would release in a real way. You said, Jesus, in John 14-21 and 23, that you would come and disclose yourself, that you would come and manifest yourself to us. So, touch us Lord Jesus, that we'd be able to pursue you as our primary passion in life, just like this Shulamite bride spoke to king Solomon. And all God's people said: hallelujah, and amen.
She went on, beloved, after she had experienced Jesus, she began to praise him. And so she says, as she continues in verse number three, "Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, your name is like purified oil: therefore the maidens love you". So, she's saying, "Once I experienced you, it was so beautiful, it was so beautiful to me when I experienced you, and this is the reason that those have experienced you love you". And so, she says again, "Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, your name is like purified oil: therefore the maidens love you". In other words, once we experience him, the natural progression of our heart opening to him in love, giving forth a fragrance to him will take place. In other words, when you taste them, you become a satisfied customer. "Your oils have a pleasing fragrance".
You know, when we think about the fragrance of a plant, or we think about the oil of a flower, the essence of that plant, when you think about the fragrance of a plant, what the fragrance is actually doing is allowing us to smell the internal makeup of that flower, of the plant. And so, when we go and we smell the fragrance of a flower, what we're actually doing when we smell the fragrances, we're we're smelling the essence or what's inside that flower. And so, what she's saying here is, "You are so beautiful inside, your fragrance is so lovely". She had a revelation, beloved, of the beauty of king Jesus.
Father, we ask you to reveal to us your beauty. Father God, your word says that your invisible attributes, who you are, your fragrance is clearly seen in what you've made in the creation of the world. And Father, when we look in the world we see the beautiful blue skies, the puffy clouds, the beautiful blue oceans, the beautiful trees, Father, all the beautiful animals, and the colors, and the birds. Father, we see the rainbows and the sunsets. We see your beauty in creation, and we know Abba, that this beauty that we see in creation it's your fragrance, it's just a symbol, Father, of who you are on the inside. And so Father, come over me, come over us, revealing to us how beautiful you are. Let us, Father, experience your beautiful essence, that our hearts might unfold to you, Father God, in Jesus name, and for Jesus fame. Amen and amen.
She says in verse number three, after she gets done saying, "Your oils have a pleasing fragrance", again praising the beautiful bridegroom, king Jesus, she says, "Your name is like purified oil". It's the same concept. I'm thinking of the... She's praising and extolling the beauty of Jesus name. I remember, beloved, as a a young person back in 1978, when as a Jewish person I knew nothing about Jesus, I was 20 years old, but the Lord appeared to me in a vision one night in the middle of the night on a summer day. No one had been witnessing to me, I never read the New Testament, Jesus wasn't even on my radar screen. I was a Jew, I never thought about Jesus, but Jesus appeared to me one night in a vision in the middle of the night. I talk about it in my book "Awakening To Messiah" which can be ordered for the contact information at the end of the broadcast today.
The point is, beloved, when I had that vision of Jesus, I knew that the Lord had revealed himself to me, but I didn't understand Christian doctrine yet, I had never read the Bible. And I remember shortly after that experience I was out one day, and this woman was mixing the word Jesus in her conversation, she wasn't even a Christian, she was a new ager, she wasn't even referring to Jesus in the biblical sense of the word. But every now and then she would mentioned the name Jesus, as if he was just some prophet or something. But whenever she said Jesus, whenever she said his name, beloved, it was like the Holy Spirit filled his name with beautiful music. In other words, she'd be talking, and all her words would be like this, but then as soon as she would say the name Jesus, all of a sudden the name Jesus would jump out from the rest of the sentence, be lifted up out of the sentence, and be filled with the beautiful music. That's what the the bride is doing here, she's praising the beautiful name of Jesus. "Your name is like purified oil: therefore the maidens love you".
Father, I just want to pray again for those that are watching the broadcast. Jesus, you said that no one knows you except the Father. And no one knows who you and the Father are, except you choose to reveal yourself. So, Jesus I'm praying that while these that are watching right now are sitting on their chairs or their couches, the floors, Father if they're standing wherever they are, I'm asking you Lord to release to them the fragrance of your name. I'm asking you, Father God, to make yourself known, felt, experienced in a tangible and in a real way to these, Lord, that you're drawn to yourself right now, that they'll know that you're alive, that Father we too would run after you, Father passionate on you, focused on you, saying as we're calling out for you in divine love and holy passion, "Kiss me Lord Jesus with the kisses of your word, for your oils have a pleasing fragrance, and your name is like beautiful purified oil".
And beloved, when we have this experience, we're going to be like the statement that comes next, "Therefore the maidens love you", then we are going to fall deeper in love with Jesus. You see, those of us that love Jesus, the reason that we love him is because he's made his love known to us. See, the Bible says, "It's not that we loved him, but that he loved us and shut his love in our hearts". And so, it's not that we first chose to love God, but it's that God loves us, and he made his love known to us. And when he made his love known to us, it gave us, beloved, a hunger to run after him and to love him. That's what's going on here.
So I'm going to read verse two again, then we're going to go to the next verse together. Once again, "May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine. Your oils have a pleasing fragrance, your name is like purified oil: therefore the maidens love you". And next she states, beloved, her life's assignment, and her life's purpose in verse number four. After she focuses on pursuing him, she says this in verse 4, "Draw me after you and let us run together". Once again, "Draw me after you and let us run together". Two things, number one: draw me after you. In other words she's praying to Jesus, "Draw me to yourself, bring me to yourself, pry my hands loose from anything that I'm hanging onto, that's keeping me from you. Draw me through every hindrance, Lord Jesus, that's in the way between me and you. Draw me after you".
See this is what Jesus said in John chapter 6. He said, "No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him". So, this is a principle that we can't come to Jesus unless God draws us to Jesus. Jesus said, once again, in John 6, "No one comes to me unless the Father draws him". So she's crying out in the Song of Songs chapter 1 verse 4, "Draw me to yourself, God. I can't come on my own. Draw me after you". And then she follows up by saying, "And let us run together". This is two separate things. The first is she's saying, "Draw me to yourself that I can be one with you in intimacy, that I can know you". See, Jesus said, "This is eternal life that we would know God and Jesus Christ, Yeshua Mashiach, whom he has sent".
So that's what she's saying, first of all, "Draw me to you. I want to be one with you. I want to know you", but then she follows that up by saying, "And let us run together". This involves, beloved, sharing in the ministry of Jesus on earth. You see, even as Jesus came to earth to fulfill the Father's assignment, so we have an assignment on earth, and that is beloved to continue on the work that Jesus did. Jesus said, "As the Father sent me, so I now also send you". And so it's being drawn to the Lord in oneness, in love and intimacy, but then it's also running with him in life in completing his assignment that he has on earth.
You see, beloved, we are his light on earth right now. We are the body of Jesus on earth right now. We have an assignment. In John 17 Jesus said, "Father", as he began to praise the Father for being one with him, then Jesus said to the Father, "I have completed the work which thou gavest me to do". So, once again, first of all Jesus speaks about he and the Father being one, and he's going to now return to the Father and be glorified in the Father, and with the Father with the glory that he had before the world was. And then he says, "And I completed the work that thou gavest me to do". So this is our vision, beloved. Song of Songs 1:4 - draw me after you, Lord Jesus. I want to know you, I want to be one with you in intimate, Romantic love. And too I want to run with you in this world, I want to complete the work, Lord Jesus, that you have assigned me to do, even as you completed the work the Father gave you to do. God bless you, shalom.