Well, here we are at the final verse of the second chapter, and as we set out on this chapter, if we climb to 30,000 feet for a minute before we get into the details of the last verse, I had supposed that the first chapter had to do with letter Aleph, and the second chapter would have to do with the letter Bet, and we've talked about before that the letter Bet would be a house, and a house means so much more than just a building, as we left the last few verses in the Aleph section.
You might remember they were talking about their house being with beams of cedar and cypress galleries, just a beautiful picture of this house, but in order to have a house, it takes a family. In other words, the house of Jesus requires a bride, and so to me, so much of what we are experiencing in the second chapter is Jesus securing his bride, and if we see that anywhere clearly in this chapter, we see it in the last verse in my view. As I've seen it this morning, it's like, man, like the day does break, as the beginning of this verse says. So as I read verse 17 in English, at first it's going to sound confusing. It took me a while to get to where I think it's going, but stick with us here.
I think it'll be worth the journey. So verse 17 in English reads, until the day break and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe, or a young heart, upon the mountains, upon the mountains of Bethur. So, oh, there's a lot going on here, and clearly we have a problem. In order for us to be married to Christ, we have a sin problem.
We have a heart problem. We have all sorts of issues that we need his help with, and so I love, love, love how Solomon, the Holy Spirit, and all worked through this particular verse. And I guess I'll go from the back forwards, because to me the important thing is Jesus had to die on a mountain, on Mount Calvary, and I don't know if you would call that Bethur, but let me just share that the idea of Bethur is the idea of the sacrifice. In other words, that word is the same word as the two halves of the calf that was the covenant that Abraham did, that you might remember the smoking pot and the fire torch went between.
And so this idea of separation, and we have a problem, right? We're separate from Christ, and so we needed him to be high. And you might remember the beginning of this chapter we started out in a low place, because we were lilies of the valley, or we're lily of the valleys, or the rose of Sharon, which is actually even down in the swamp. So you can't help the contrast here between we're in this really low place, and he's in this really high place of the mountains, as were the apple trees that were growing up on the mountains, and now we have this row or young heart, which fortunately can navigate the mountains. And fortunately, as we found out in the earlier verses, right, that he is leaping upon the mountains and he is skipping over the hills. And so here and is asking him to come to that mountain of covenant, right?
In order to have a house, we got to have a bride, and we got to have a covenant of marriage. And so I just love, love, love how they use that word, the mountain of Bethur. And this idea of, I don't know if you've ever studied that when, you know, Abraham got his covenant and he laid the two pieces and he had the vision or the dream as it became dark.
And here, you know, it's dark, right? And the fire came and he had his vision, but it was only God that went between the pieces of the thing. And so when you look at that word, you're going to find it again in Jeremiah 17, I believe it is where God is mad because they've walked through the pieces of the calf and they didn't keep their end of the covenant. Well, the way that it was back in those days, from what I understand the tradition was that when you split an animal like that and you walk between the pieces that you were saying, if I don't keep my end of the bargain, that I will end up like these pieces of the animal. Well, you might note that when Abraham made that covenant with God, he didn't walk through it. It was God, the firebrand and the torch that went through it. And just like on Mount Calvary slash Bethur, there was only one person up there that made the walk between the two pieces that paid the price for us.
And so, you know, I love, love, love that. And so the idea is interestingly as we follow the whole story of this chapter, you know, where here we have this bride and she, he keeps trying to get her to come away with him, but you know, he's asking her, he asks her, then he's even, she even goes into the secret place, the cliffs of the rock, right? And he's asking to see her face and hear her voice, but here she's still scared, right? She's saying until the morning dawns and the shadows flee, like she is, it's dark and she's scared and she's asking her lover to jump, right? Once again, those mountains and to come for her.
And in order to do that, right? He is the one who comes through the mountain of Bethur and he came after his bride. And again, even so come Lord Jesus, right? And so as I see the beauty, beautiful ending of the second chapter, you know, that, that we see this picture of what would take place in my picture, in my opinion, that's what we're seeing here. Then how does that look in your life?
Right? And, and so interestingly on Monday night, the 4th of July at this horrible dream again. And so, you know, I guess God's just teaching me stuff through dreams. And in this particular dream, there was a horrible war and I was on a side, but I didn't want to be on that side. And that side was evil. And I couldn't seem to get away from evil wherever I went. It was evil. And they kept wanting me to do things and I couldn't do them because I knew they were evil. And it was just so evil, evil, evil. And they finally were going to murder me or whatever was going to happen. I woke up in the dream terrified again, only this time the terror wouldn't go away. And I, you know, I tried his left hand is under my head on my pillow and his right hand doth embrace me, but this time it didn't do it. I was, I was still scared.
I was still terrified. And so I love, love, love what God has done in my heart. Um, you know, he had me memorize this song of Solomon. And so I began, um, right now I'm, I'm up to this very verse that we're talking about. So he, I, you know, Monday night I started out at verse one of the song of Solomon and I just started saying, you know, let him kiss me with kisses in my mouth. And I went right through to, you know, the rafters of, of, or the Cyprus galleries and the, and the Rose of Sharon. And I sat down under a shade and his banner over me was love all these different things that are in these two chapters. And interestingly, as I proceeded through it, I finally got a sense that he had come right between, he jumped over the mountains, he'd skipped over the Hills and, and I was once again in his presence and I was once again, um, you know, in his presence, his fullness of joy and, and able to overcome my fears. And, and so I like the, the Shulamite woman or whatever you want to call the bride and the song of Solomon. I mean, I'm asking Jesus, would you please, please be like a row or a young heart on the mountains of Bether, skip over and skip over the Hills and leap over the mountains and come for us. Thank you for listening. I love, love, love the second chapter, which I think is very much Jesus building his house.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-03-27 12:28:33 / 2023-03-27 12:32:14 / 4
