Glory and Grace

DEVOTION

SONG OF SONGS

GLORY AND GRACE

Song 5:9-16

9 How is your beloved better than others, most beautiful of women? How is your beloved better than others, that you charge us so?

10 My lover is radiant and ruddy, outstanding among ten thousand. 11 His head is purest gold; his hair is wavy and black as a raven. 12 His eyes are like doves by the water streams, washed in milk, mounted like jewels. 13 His cheeks are like beds of spice yielding perfume. His lips are like lilies dripping with myrrh. 14 His arms are rods of gold set with chrysolite. His body is like polished ivory decorated with sapphires.   15 His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars. 16 His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely. This is my lover, this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

NIV

The church is looking for Jesus, and asks the daughters of Jerusalem if they find him, to tell her where he is because we are faint with love. We did not identify who those daughters were, because now they ask just how better is Jesus then others. In this we can see these daughters of Jerusalem as the Old Testament Jews being asked by the New Testament church about Jesus. Those Jews did not know how better he was then the law they loved. The church described Jesus to those living under the law, how wonderful he is. It reminds us of the picture painted for us in the revelation given to John.

Rev 1:12-16

12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. 15 His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

NIV

Certainly there are a lot of differences in how Jesus is described by Solomon and what John saw. But the point is the same, there is none like him. There is no one better then Jesus. There is no question the church sees Jesus as its Savior. He is called the Son of God. Yet he is God incarnate. He is the living God, in the flesh, a mystery no doubt as to how God contained himself within the limits of humanity, yet he did exactly that so as to redeem us. How powerful is that! There has never been, nor will there ever be anyone like Jesus. That is why he is described in all these ways. There are no words that can describe him. No one or nothing can satisfy our soul as Jesus can. We might try to look to some other source to give us peace, happiness, contentment, security or completeness, but they will all fall short of Jesus. That is what is meant that he is outstanding among ten thousand. Whatever we can think of to give us a sense of comfort, pleasure, or fulfillment, they all will fail us, and they all will fade away in one way of another. But Jesus never fails us, and he never fades away. He promised he would be with us, that he would never forsake us, and that he would be with us until the end. His words are sweeter than any other words. Man can write excessively using impressive language, deep words that appear to hold wisdom, but they are all just words of men, meaningless in comparison to the words of Jesus. Scholars have filled volumes of books using words we have difficulty in understanding, but Jesus’s words are plain and to the point, filled with the wisdom of God. So we remind ourselves to turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full into his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in light of his glory and grace.