Quite often, when it comes to marriage or the Christian life, we want a detailed, five-step plan for success. Something clean and precise. But life is rarely clean and precise. And marriage is not a formula; it is a dance. Now, dances do have steps to learn. True. You must practice some basics, but at …
Continue reading A Dance Between Two Armies | Song of Songs 6:4-8:4
We have been to the summit of the Song of Songs, the peak of the poem's chiastic structure. He saw her coming up from the wilderness and then delighted in her as with a garden paradise. She then invited him into her garden, and their friends rejoiced over them. That was the very center of …
Last week, we began the section of the Song of Songs that takes us today to the very center of the poem. It began in 3:6 with the question of who or what is coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke? I made the argument that both of those translations are correct …
In high school, there was a kid who dressed all in black, proudly proclaimed himself to be an atheist, and dabbled in Wiccan practices. By his own admission, it was all largely for the shock value. One day, a close friend of mine got a chance to speak with him about God. Surprisingly, he said …
Father,forgive them,for they know notwhat they do. Luke 23:34 ESV In the final chapter of Genesis, Joseph's brothers were in great fear after their father's death that Joseph would begin to exact his revenge upon them. However, Joseph wept at the very thought and told them, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but …
Even though the Song of Songs is a song, the Holy Spirit preserved no musical accompaniment for us; only the lyrics, which are God-breathed. So, as we read, we must be sensitive to the text's tonal shifts. We saw this in the previous section of the Song (2:8-3:5). While there are many repeated words and …
Continue reading Altogether Beautiful | Song of Songs 3:6-4:7
On my bed by nightI sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not.I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares;I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not.The watchmen found me as they went about in …
The voice of my beloved!Behold, he comes,leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.My beloved is like a gazelleor a young stag.Behold, there he standsbehind our wall,gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice.My beloved speaks and says to me:“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,and come away,for behold, the winter is past; the rain is …
Continue reading The Voice of My Beloved | Song of Songs 2:8-17
Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.Our couch is green; the beams of our house are cedar; our rafters are pine.I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.As a lily among brambles, so is my love among …
The hope of eternal life is at the very center of the Christian faith. Christ said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). Indeed, in John 17:3, Jesus says that eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. That is why Christ …
Continue reading Question 52: What Hope Does Everlasting Life Hold for Us?
B. C. Newton 