This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Here we have two of the longest songs from
the husband praising the beauty of his wife.

The songs surround a short conflict between the
groom and the other men who desire his bride.

The husband lavishly
compliments his wife’s beauty.

He uses vivid metaphors to speak of her
flowing hair, perfect smile, and rosy cheeks.

Out of every other woman in the world,
she alone is perfect to her husband.

When we last heard from the bride, she was alone, searching
for the groom who was waiting for her in their garden of love.

Now, the bride goes to join
her husband in the garden.

Then, seemingly out of thin air, we hear the
distant calls of other men, begging her to

leave the garden and
come home to her past life.

The men beg her to return to
them—even to dance for them.

But the husband comes to her defense.

He calls her attention back to the garden
through another series of intimate praises.

But now, he not only compliments her
beauty, but explains his desire for her.

The bride finally responds: “I belong to
my beloved, and his desire is for me.”

These words are a reverse of those
spoken by God to Eve as a curse.

In that Garden of Eden, God told Eve, “Your desires
will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

But now, the man desires the woman and they are equal.

This truth is highlighted when the woman is called a
Shulammite, a feminine version of the name Solomon.

Both names, Solomon and Shulam, come from
the word Shalom, meaning peace or wholeness.

When the two parts become
whole, Shalom is found.

It can be difficult to hear God lavish compliments
on us and rejoice over us with singing when

there are so many other voices
calling out for our attention.

Like the bride, we can easily and abruptly be snapped away from moments with God by the voices of culture,
entertainment, or our past life.

Those voices tell us to leave the
imaginary garden of God’s love and

throw ourselves back upon the previous
ways we found validation and love.

When God says we are beautiful, those
voices drown him out with comparison.

When God says he desires us, those
voices tell us that type of love doesn’t exist.

But we need to listen to the
truer voice of our husband, Jesus.

As the woman (Shulam) was
given the name of a king (Solomon),

we have been given an even
greater name—the name of Jesus.

He is the king of the whole
earth and yet he calls us his bride.

When he calls us radiant, holy, blameless, without stain,
wrinkle, or blemish, we can know that his voice is more true.

Jesus overturned the curse by desiring us.

His desire for us is good news when we
feel undesirable and God seems far away.

But Jesus shows his great love
by dying for us on the cross.

We can escape the voices of the world and go
back to the garden with God.

There we finally find true peace and shalom because
we have been made one with our husband Jesus.

I pray that the Holy Spirit would open up
your eyes to see the God who desires you.

And that you would see Jesus as the one whose
loving desire took him all the way to the cross.