SOS 1:13-14 The Fragrance & Beauty of the Bridegroom

Preached by James R. Reynolds, Sr on December 13, 1978.

Song of Solomon 1:13, 14 — A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts. My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of Engedi.

The Nature of His Fragrance

 

1. A Bundle of Myrrh

 

The bridegroom is to the bride as a bundle of myrrh. He is saturating her with his own fragrance, person, and nature.

 

Deep in the little heart of the bride, there dwells the beloved. Her whole life becomes permeated with his beautiful fragrance. The sweetness, fragrance, and beauty of Christ in the lives of the saints is beautiful.

 

The exercise of the flesh is a rotten smell. The world does not need to see a demonstration of our ability, but the life and nature of Jesus. We need to show Christ to this dying world.

 

John 12:20, 21

And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

 

They won’t see us, but they will see Him.

 

1. Myrrh

 

1. Myrrh is a Very Fragrant Substance

 

Myrrh reveals to us the life of Christ and His fragrance in our lives.

 

What is it that is going to make the Christian be what they should be? The Christ in their heart, not a trying, struggling, or striving, will help you keep the law of grace.

 

• A demonstration

 

• A yielding

 

• A living by faith

 

Romans 1:17

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

 

All the fragrance that is perfected in the bride will be His perfect work completed in us. It’s not enough to do the best you can, you have to let him do His best in you.

 

This fragrance is pointing to Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit.

 

Exodus 30:34

And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

 

Matthew 5:13

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

 

The fragrance represented the life of Jesus Christ.

 

John 8:29

And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

 

II Peter 1:17

For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

 

The Father is pleased with the work of the Son in us.

 

John 17:21-23

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

 

The only thing that will please the Father is the life of Christ manifested in the believer. It is this fragrance alone that God is after.

 

In talking to us, He will perfect us and make us what we ought to be for Him.

 

2. Myrrh is Bitter

 

Myrrh is a symbol of the suffering of Christ.  We need to see the bitterness and suffering in the life of Christ. It is not enough to know that He suffered for you, but you must suffer with Him to reign with Him.

 

II Timothy 2:12

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

 

Romans 8:17

And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

 

Galatians 2:20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 

• Delivered at the cross

 

• Deliverance for the old nature at the cross

 

• Yield fully to God’s commands

 

It will take the baptism of the Holy Ghost to help you to die the death to self.

 

We must be identified with His death that we might be in the likeness of His resurrection.  We won’t have the fragrance of His life or the attributes of His life until we first die out to self.

 

Ephesians 4:22

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

 

Colossians 3:8, 9

But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;

 

Philippians 3:10-12

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

 

II Corinthians 5:2, 4

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

 

Romans 6:11

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Myrrh has to be crushed and broken to let its fragrance get out.

 

Judges 7:19

So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

 

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

 

Isaiah 57:15

For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

 

It is not easy to yield to the process. There is nothing wonderful about the crushing and the breaking, but the reward of it is wonderful.

 

 

 

 

Hebrews 12:11

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

 

What is the chastening going to accomplish in your life? It is going to make you what you ought to be.

 

Ephesians 4:10, 15

He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

 

2. The Duration of His Fragrance

 

1. Lie

 

“Lie” means to remain or abide permanently.

 

As he possesses her vessel, she catches the revelation.

 

He will take up His abode and permanent residence in your heart.

 

Matthew 28:20

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

 

Hebrews 13:5

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

 

John 14:21, 23

He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

 

Psalm 119:11

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

 

1. All Night

 

“All night” signifies the absence of the physical presence of the bridegroom.

 

II Peter 1:19

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

 

Job 19:26

And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

 

I Corinthians 13:12

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

 

I Corinthians 3:18

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

 

Malachi 4:2

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

 

Romans 13:12

The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

 

The world events are fast gravitating to a one-world-system.

 

• Domination of world power
• One-world government
• One-world money system
• One-world church
• One-world educational program

 

We must cast off the works of darkness and run in the race of the Lord.

 

3. The Place of His Fragrance

 

1. The Breast

 

1. The Breastplate of Faith and Love

 

I Thessalonians 5:8

But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

 

1. The Breastplate of Righteousness

 

Ephesians 6:14

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

 

I Corinthians 1:30

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

 

Jesus is the breastplate of righteousness. How do we get the breastplate of righteousness? We get it by faith and love.

 

Galatians 5:6

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

 

I Peter 1:4, 5

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

 

II Samuel 6:14

And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

 

God is going to bring us into a place of perfection by faith and love.

 

Ephesians 3:17-19

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

 

Hebrews 6:1

Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

 

God has so much for us.

 

Colossians 2:9

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

 

You will never become God, but you can receive His full substance.

 

1. The Heart

 

The Heart speaks of our own self; the seat of affection and desires.

 

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

 

Proverbs 23:26

My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.

 

Why does God want your heart? Because He does not have control until He has your heart. He is either Lord of all or not Lord at all.

 

He does not only want to be there present in our hearts, but He wants to rule, He wants to be Lord, He wants to be King of your life. It is so desperately hard for us to turn the reigns of government over to Him, but through the process of Christ dwelling in our hearts and our willingness to break as we come to the cross and the crossroads of our lives where we have to make decisions. It is in times like this that we shift the reigns out of our control and into His hand.

 

Ephesians 5:22

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

 

It is not only a physical law, but also a spiritual law.

 

The slain Lamb is going to have a slain bride. She is going to have a lamb-like nature and she is going to be slain.

 

Revelation 12:11

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

 

Engedi- very barren waste desert with much rock- totally barren, but there is a fountain of water that gushes up out of the rock that floods the valley and nourishes the vineyard.

 

There are beautiful flowers coming out of a barren land.

 

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

 

Isaiah 53:2

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

 

4. The Beauty of the Bridegroom

 

1. A Cluster of Camphire

 

Camphire- Henna flowers

 

The camphire was very heavily fragrant and beautiful. We see the furtherance of the life of Jesus- how He is beautiful, but so fragrant.

 

Jesus was not one that just gave us a way of life; He was the one that gave us the way of life.

 

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

 

Colossians 2:9

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

 

In the life of Jesus we see all the attributes of God so beautifully balanced.

 

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

1John 5:7

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

 

There is not just one flower, but a cluster. She is being made after his image. We were made in the image of God, but we, through the Fall, lost that lofty relationship we had with God.

 

I Corinthians 15:49

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

 

Romans 8:7

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

 

It is going to take the grace of God, and God’s power working in your life to produce the best that God can do in you to satisfy the law.

 

It is not the love of God that tells you that you can do as you want to; it is the love of God that tells you that you have to live according to the Bible.

 

John 12:20, 21

And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

 

Henna is the word that is used in relationship to the price of redemption. We partake of the divine nature because of the price that Jesus paid on the cross.

 

1. The Vineyards of Engedi

 

Engedi had a very rocky, hard terrain. At the upper part there was a fountain that flowed down. Along the river produced by this fountain was a beautiful vineyard, out of which grew the henna flowers out of an old, bleak, barren, dearth, dry desert land.

 

John 7:37, 38  

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

 

Ephesians 5:26

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

 

Isaiah 26:3

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

 

There is not only flowers and beauty, but there is also sustenance.

 

John 15:5

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

 

The same life that is in the vine is also in the branches.

 

John 15:2

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.