Deep Unto Deep - Week #2

Chapter Two: He is a Bridegroom

Song of Songs 4:9 shows that God is ravished with delight over His people, and we “cannot pass by this quickly…To say that He loves me is a familiar notion indeed, but to pursue, know and experience His love is a rare preoccupation…We confuse the hearing of a concept with the actual abiding of that reality inside of us.”

The discovery of how true the author’s words above are is what has changed the way I approach the love of God. I think I unconsciously used to think that hearing and even accepting truth from God meant that the work was done; and while the entrance and acceptance of His Word by faith is necessary as a first step, the deep lodging of that truth in my inner being requires what Dana Chandler later says: “It is not casually or from a distance that we dive into the depths of these vast regions, but rather we enter this Ocean by a focused abandonment, a violent pursuit and a lifelong drinking…We have heard with our ears of a God of love, and we have known with our minds that in this love is our life, but have we yet been embraced by Love Himself?”

Now I understand the great value and need I have to regularly be quiet before God and listen and let Him tell me of His love for me. It’s not enough that years ago I may have heard Him tell me His heart is ravished over me; I must live by His love always. I’m spending time in Psalm 52 right now and meditating (chewing over) verse 1b many times: “The steadfast love of God endures all the day.” (ESV)

Just this morning as I was waiting silently before Him, He showed me a little bit more how prone and bent toward idolatry fallen man is; so much so that if we don’t have a lifestyle of waiting on Him and listening for His voice, we are quick to worship visible things, such as the work of our hands (i.e., finding our satisfaction and significance in being able to point to measurable results), etc. I’m as prone to this as anyone and so I fight for time to regularly and consciously wait on Him for His smile and/or loving correction that affirms me as His own.

The Everlasting Story
The author points out how important it is to understand the end and goal for humanity from God’s perspective, and that is a great wedding day (Revelation 19) with the Son.

Speaking of the Trinity, Chandler says, “The Holy Three have always existed as a divine dance of romance, a whirlwind of affection and pleasure and love unending. It was from this pulsating intimacy that God created humanity and the natural order. Though we will always remain the creation, He formed humanity to enter into relationship with the Trinity, the Godhead. In His great mysterious heart was a desire to bring human beings into the holy river of affections known between Father, Son and Holy Spirit and to share in this divine communion with them. The Father desired a family, and the Son desired a bride. From this overflow of burning desire, humanity was brought forth.”

I have the privilege of meeting and sharing with God’s people in a variety of places, and it’s obvious that the Holy Spirit is stirring deep hunger in the Church for the presence and love of God in an experiential way; no longer content with conceptual knowledge of God alone, His people are beginning to cry out for Him, and without this kind of knowing of God, we won’t endure the time of testing that is coming on the earth as the world is collapsing around us.

“When God created Adam, He said to him, ‘I will make a partner suitable to you.’ The Holy Spirit revealed to Paul that this promise ultimately speaks of Jesus and the church (Eph.5:32)…On that final day, Jesus will have affectionate partners who are voluntary lovers fully possessed by Him, and natural history will culminate with a lovesick bride in the image of Jesus, ruling the Kingdom of God with Him.”

Bridegroom Heart
Hosea 2:16 says, “And it shall be in that day, says the Lord, that you will call Me ‘My Husband’ and no longer call Me ‘My Master.’” Throughout the generations, God unveils and emphasizes different faces of His personality and character, and as we approach the end, His heart as a Bridegroom will be unveiled as never before, and His people will know Him as Husband rather than as Master.

Jesus spoke of this reality in his final prayer to His Father (John 17:24) and in His final public sermon (Matt. 22:1) in the parable of the king who had planned a marriage. He also addressed the reality of His heart as a Bridegroom when speaking of the primary reason for fasting after His ascension (Mark 2:18-20). This is a shift in thinking about God and will massively affect how we work for and with Him in the end of the age.

The author goes on to speak of the zeal and jealousy of the heart of this great Bridegroom: “The Father in His zeal for His Son will bring forth a worthy bride. The Son in His ardent love for His Father will present us to Him as a holy people, the family of God. The Holy Spirit in His devotion to the Son will equip us and accomplish His way within us…Lest we think that we ourselves keep our own hearts, we must rest assured in God’s own zeal to bring our righteousness forth as brightness and our salvation as a lamp that burns (Isa. 62:1). We need only to say ‘yes’ to Him.”

Bridal Heart
In the last part of chapter two, the author speaks of the heart of the bride, reminding us that the King is overcome with our love (Song of Songs 6:4). In the gaze of the loved one, the Lover sees the fulfillment of His inheritance promised to Him by the Father…
“He is overcome by our eyes of faith as we peer into the mystery of who He is and who we are before Him with only a dim understanding and faint comprehension. It is this act of gazing that causes the Lord to speak one of the strongest statements of scripture about the way His heart is moved by the love of weak human beings. He says, ‘Turn your eyes away! They overcome Me!’

“When we walk through the valley of difficulty with darkness veiling our eyes from Him and when our enemy hurls accusations against Him on every side, we will cry out wholeheartedly, ‘My Beloved is fairer than the sons of men. He is the most gracious of them all! I know what is within His heart…My Beloved is beautiful and excellent…His leadership is perfect! All His ways are just and true!’”

We are given the privilege of loving Him voluntarily during this life when we see so dimly; each day we get to choose once again to sow seeds into the unseen through faith and love. Someday we will see with perfect clarity and be in wonder and awe forever; meanwhile, it is in this short moment on earth that we have the opportunity to love Him without having seen Him. This ongoing choice ravishes His heart and overwhelms Him!

“Forever these choices will ring through the corridors of eternity with resounding worth and relevance.”

I pray that we will grasp more each day how much our weak love for Him moves His heart; may the Spirit of God come and reveal the heart of Jesus, the Holy Bridegroom, and in that revelation, may our hearts be set ablaze with love for Him, empowering us to choose to love Him and not be offended by His leadership, no matter how we feel or what the circumstances of life are like.

God bless you this week. Next week we’ll cover chapter three: Awakened to Love.