"How fair you are, my love, how very fair! Your eyes behind your veil remind me of those of a dove. O my love, how beautiful you are! There is no flaw in you!" -Song of Solomon 4:1, 7 AMP
His anticipation grew. Dazzling gowns were being chosen, the best music selected, the finest linens and table settings arranged. This would be the wedding reception of ALL wedding receptions.
His bride was very poor, it was true, but his father had accepted her into this wealthy family. In the Eastern United States as well as the South people liked to call families with as much wealth as his "old money". Well, "old money" or not, this poor bride from the 'other-side-of-the-tracks' was to be his. His father was so taken with this bride that he was willing to foot the bill for everything. She was fully loved, fully accepted, and becoming fully a part of the family.
"...my absent lover sends forth his fragrance over me. My beloved is to me like a scent bag of myrrh that lies in my bosom. My beloved is to me a cluster of henna flowers in the vineyards of En-gedi (famed for its fragrant shrubs)." -Song of Solomon 1:12-14 AMP
How could it ever be possible? It is still beyond belief. The richest son of the most wealthy family wanted her as his bride. Unfathomable! She was poor, from the worst of families, and most of all there was her immoral past. How could her bridegroom ever look upon her, let alone desire her. Yet he did. Not only that but his father had fully accepted her into the family as well. "Old money" never mixed with "trash" from the 'other-side-of-the-tracks'. This "old money" not only mixed with her but his father actually wanted to adopt her. Adopting her would remove all her shame and take the power out of the taunts of everyone who hated her. How could it ever be possible?
"...arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. So I went with him, and when we were climbing the rocky steps up the hillside, my beloved...said to me, O my dove, while you are here in the seclusion of the clefts in the solid rock, in the sheltered and secret place of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely." - Song of Solomon 2:13b-14 AMP
They called each other every day, the bridegroom and the bride. Living such a great distance apart they could hardly wait until they could be together. When they called each other they planned and prepared for the wedding. She learned how to live a life of prestige. He grew more and more in love with her every day, tenderly teaching her what a finishing school would teach her for a bride in his culture. Out of her love for him she strove to do his every direction and wish. She would fail at times, in spite of herself but with great patience he would encourage her to try again. They grew together in love.
"Looking forward to the shepherd's arrival, the eager girl pictures their meeting and says, 'Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I should find you without, I would kiss you, yes, and none would despise me for it.' Vividly she pictured it. 'The voice of my beloved...behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.' Joyfully the radiant bride turned to him, the one altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand to her soul, and with unconcealed eagerness to begin her life of sweet companionship with him, she answered, 'Make haste, my beloved, and come quickly, like a gazelle or a young hart and take me to our waiting home upon the mountains of spices!'"
Now re-read the story with the following in mind: The bride in this story is you, the Bride of Christ, the bridegroom is Jesus, and the father is God Himself. The reception is the Marriage Supper of the Lamb which happens directly after our "Beloved" comes for us.
"Make haste, my beloved, and come quickly!"
