Seven Things Jesus' Love Offers His Bride

"For your love is sweeter than wine." (SoS 1:2). Charles Spurgeon once preached an entire sermon on that one line. Christ's love is better than wine because of what it is not: it costs nothing, it never sours, it carries no impurities, and you cannot take too much of it. It is better because of what it is: like wine, it heals, it gives strength, it is a symbol of joy, and it exhilarates the soul.

Many disagree about how to read the Song of Solomon. Some hear only Jesus' love for His bride, the Church. Others hear only a poem to guide one husband and one wife. It is a mistake to pick one when both are true. The book is "inspired by God" (2 Tim. 3:16), and most Church fathers, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose, and Augustine among them, read it as a love song between Jesus and His Church.

Chapter one opens with the bride and the groom expressing their mutual love, and it offers seven lessons about Jesus' love. Each one He gives to you, and each one you owe your God-given spouse:

• Joy, the bride's excitement at the chance to be with her bridegroom (SoS 1:1-4).
• Encouragement, offered when her brothers were angry with her and she felt vulnerable (SoS 1:5-7).
• Fellowship, the path the shepherd gave her so she could find him (SoS 1:7-8).
• Purity, the beauty her groom adorned her with at great price (SoS 1:9-11).
• Honor, the bride's finest perfume poured out for her king (SoS 1:12-14).
• Admiration, spoken plainly in both directions (SoS 1:15-16).
• Support, a home framed with cedar beams that would not fall (SoS 1:16-17).

Solomon hardly seems the right messenger for godly love. God's law forbade a king more than one wife (Dt. 17:17), and Solomon broke it 999 times (1 Kgs. 11:3). But Jesus can transform any sinner and use him for His glory, because "love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Pet. 4:8). His love can transform any broken marriage too.

The study walks all seven lessons verse by verse. Keep reading below.