Rabbi Schneider - From Salvation to Marriage
King Solomon has made himself a sedan chair from the timber of Lebanon. He has made its post of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple fabric with its interior, a lovingly fitted out by the Daughters of Jerusalem. Now pay attention to the next verse. Go forth the Daughters of Zion and gaze on King Solomon with the crown. Remember King Solomon is a shadow of Jesus with which his mother is crowned him. Listen to this now. On the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart. And so this whole song, the song of songs, culminates with the wedding between King Solomon and the Shulamite Bride. Why am I stressing this? Because our relationship with the Lord, it's not just the relationship between us and our Savior.
Yes, Yeshua has saved us from our sin. But He didn't come to earth and shed us blood just to save us from our sin. He came to marry us. That's why, once again, Revelation 19 culminates with the marriage supper of the lamb. That's why Jesus told parables about the wedding. That's why John the Baptist described himself as the friend of the bridegroom. That's why Paul told us in the Book of Ephesians that the earthly marriage relationship between a man and his wife is a shadow of the relationship between King Jesus and His bride. We are are the bride of Christ. Jesus didn't come just to save you. He came, beloved, to marry you. And that's why the song of songs is such an intimate, prophetic portrait of the type of relationship that Jesus has with His bride.
Let's continue on in chapter four. Solomon or King Jesus speaking to his bride. How beautiful you are, my darling. How beautiful you are. And then what happens is Solomon, in the natural in King, Jesus in the supernatural, starts praising the beauty of his bride. Listen to this now from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet, I want to rebuke self rejection off of you. Many of us stumble when it comes to being able to accept ourselves. We don't feel comfortable in our own skin. We struggle with feelings of inferiority.
I want you to know, beloved one, you are beautiful beyond words, beyond your imagination. You are so beautiful to God because you are created in His image and inside you is something so glorious you can't even comprehend it. Listen to what happens in chapter four. Jesus, talking to His bride prophetically says, How beautiful you are, my darling. How beautiful you are. Your eyes are like doves, eyes. And then I'm just going to briefly go through. Next, he praises our hair. How beautiful our hair is. Then he says how beautiful her teeth is. Next, he praises her lips, then her mouth, then her temples, then her neck. And then verse number seven. You are all together beautiful, my darling. And there is no blemish in you. Listen to this. You are altogether beautiful, Yeshua said to her. And there is no blemish.
And you, Father God, will you just put your hand over your heart with me? Father, thank you for making me beautiful to you through the blood of Jesus. Thank you for sanctifying me through the finished work of Christ, through the renewing power of the Holy Spirit, and from the sanctifying power of Your Word. Thank you for making me righteous to You. Thank you. That I'm accepted in the beloved to You. Thank you, Father. That You love me and that I'm beautiful to You. And now, Father, I will not sin against You by rejecting who I am. I will accept myself in you because it's for you that I was made. Thank you for who I am. And thank you for Your love.