The Stone Cut Out

10My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand. 11His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven. 12His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels. 13His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. 14His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires. 15His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. 16His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.

Song of Solomon 6 1Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? 2My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. 3I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine. He browses among the lilies, 4You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

When a kindergarten teacher asks the children, “What is your father like?”, the children who live with their fathers and are loved by them will describe him in great detail and boast of him — his looks, his character, even the way he talks. But a child who has grown up without seeing his father has never seen him, and cannot say a word about what he looks like or what sort of person he is. And a child whose father never plays with him, or whose father is violent, will also have nothing to say about him.

The father described by a child who grew up in his father’s arms hearing a kind voice cannot be the same as the father a book introduces. A child who plays with his father, grows to resemble his habits and his speech, and learns without noticing by watching how his father judges and decides, will grow up seeing the world through his father’s eyes without knowing it. That is why it matters so much that parents judge and act rightly.

Only when parents judge the world rightly inside the word and act on it will the children who grew up watching walk that road too, and raise their own children rightly when they become parents. But becoming a parent a child respects is never easy, because you have to live knowing that your child watches and learns exactly what you say and do and decide.

So then, what is the God you believe in like? What has God the Father told you about how to live? Only when a believer knows the word of truth exactly can they tell others about God well, like the child who described his own father in detail.

The father a kindergarten child describes is probably a father who gives him food, buys him pretty clothes and takes him to the zoo and is good to him. Even that much from a small child boasting is enough to tell us what a good man his father is. If believers could tell others about the love and the word they have received from God without adding or subtracting, as that child does, then the people of the world would take an interest in God’s warm love. Worldly people may see that father as poor and powerless, but to the child at least he is strong and able, a sure fence. Even without expensive clothes and without a big house, simply being with a father who loves him will make the child as glad as if he had gained the whole world.

Like the child who boasts of his father without minding how anyone else judges him, if believers tell the word of truth honestly inside a pure faith, there will be no problem at all in telling people about Almighty God. Believers dress the Father up according to their worldly greed, their own pride, and the clothes they happen to be wearing and the size of their house, and that is why they cannot tell others about God as he is. When they have no worldly strength and are poor they are ashamed of God, and when they hold a little of the world’s strength they grow proud and lift themselves above him. Believers tell others about God according to their own circumstances, and that is why the world does not know his power, though God does not change.

The gospel is telling others exactly the God a believer has met. Preaching the gospel is saying that the one who is a fence around me and holds me in love is my Father, and he is your Father too. People think preaching the gospel is too hard, so they hem and haw like the child who never met his father and cannot say a single word properly. Do not try to dress the Father up; tell others his love as it is, the way the Shulammite boasts of Solomon.

When the women of Jerusalem asked the Shulammite, who was searching for Solomon, what he had that was better than the worldly men they loved, that she should search so hard, she began to describe him in detail, as though she had been waiting for the question.

She said that the head of the Solomon she loves is like fine gold, that his hair is wavy, that his eyes are like doves beside the water brooks washed with milk, and that his cheeks are fragrant as a bed of spices. She said his lips are like lilies dropping liquid myrrh, his hands like rings of gold set with beryl, his body like carved ivory overlaid with sapphires, and his legs like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold; and she boasted that Solomon is altogether lovely.

Song of Solomon 5:10

10My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.

The Solomon the Shulammite sees stands that far above other people; he is precious, and the words mean that he has a noble bearing.

What do you tell people your husband is like? Do you boast that your husband is honored among many? If you truly love and respect your husband, you must let go of the laziness and pride the Shulammite showed, and the wrong words and actions, and keep your home with everything you have.

Jesus is a bridegroom as precious as this to believers. The Lord, the husband of believers, is white and clean because he has no sin, and he stands above many because he made atonement for sinners. After the wedding feast with believers is over, the Lord will wear a crown on his head, put on a robe sprinkled with the blood of atonement, and judge the world in righteousness. To the believers he loves he is one who deals in endless grace, but he will judge with the authority that rules with a rod of iron every soul that has not repented of sin.

In Revelation 1 the apostle John saw Jesus. He wore a robe down to his feet and a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white like wool, his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet like polished bronze refined in a furnace, his voice like the sound of many waters. Out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun at full strength. The husband you love now is none other than the judge who stands at the end of the world. This is the very reason we must keep our faith, however hard it is to keep in a rough world and however hard it is to live according to the word — so as not to be fools who receive the judgment the world receives.

Colossians 2:9-10

9For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily, 10and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;

Jesus our king came into this world with a body, but inside him is deity, and he is the honored one who is the head of all rule and authority. The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever; his love toward believers does not change and he keeps the promise of salvation without changing. This all-knowing, all-powerful Christ became one with believers and became the head of the whole church. That is why believers who are in Christ receive the Lord’s fullness as it is and can live able to overcome the world. It is the same as the Shulammite being free to enjoy Solomon’s ability and authority and wealth to the full, as long as she lives as his wife. In the same way, if believers keep the faith, Satan will not be able to attack them, and they will live enjoying the particular grace of God to the full.

Song of Solomon 5:13

13His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.

She said Solomon’s cheeks are like a bed of spices and banks of sweet herbs, and that his lips are like lilies dropping liquid myrrh. People who look at a fragrant flower bed are happy in their hearts, and people lying on a bank of grass, soft as a mother’s arms, feel at peace.

While she was with Solomon, at least, the Shulammite enjoyed peace and rest with no worry of the world and no anxiety of any kind. Living as Solomon’s wife is this peaceful, this safe and this happy. To live in a rough world under someone’s protection and enjoy peace like this in body and soul must be a very great blessing. Be thankful too that you can be someone’s protector, or be under someone’s protection.

Matthew 11:28

28“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.

To people who cannot lay down the heavy load of life however hard they run toward success, this word — that anyone who simply comes to me will be given peace and rest — is an enormous blessing, because nowhere in this world is there anyone who will carry our load for us.

The most frightening and heaviest load for people is surely death. The word saying that he will carry the load of death in our place is the greatest word of blessing for people standing in the middle of death, and a word of grace leading them from darkness to light. Anyone who cannot tell others about a Christ like this with the Shulammite’s confidence is a fool carrying a heavy load on their own shoulders.

Just as Solomon’s lips are like lilies dropping liquid myrrh, every word the Lord gives is a word of grace that makes souls live. Everyone who holds the fragrance of Christ, beautiful as the scent of lilies, has gained eternal life. It is astonishing how much she must love her husband Solomon to describe him this way. And it is hard to understand that when the husband she loves this much came to her, she found it a bother and would not open the door. Husbands and wives grow apart when they do not treat each other as persons.

Looking at a Shulammite who treated so precious a husband carelessly, believers too must know that treating Christ carelessly and not living according to his word is sin, and must repent. The Holy Spirit walks with us even now and works to help believers directly, and we refuse him again and again out of greed for the world. We do not know how precious and how particular a power that love is, so out of laziness and pride and greed for the world we treat the Lord carelessly.

The Shulammite is boasting of her husband to the women, but inside she must have deeply regretted behaving carelessly toward him and driving him from her side. She regretted not having been better to him while he loved her, and that is why she searched for him all the harder. I hope while Christ is pouring out grace on you, you will be better to him and receive that love forever.

Song of Solomon 5:15

15His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

In Daniel 2, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had a frightening dream one night, and when he woke in the morning he could not remember it. So he called all the magicians and enchanters and fortune-tellers and ordered them to find out the dream he had had and interpret it, though he could not remember it himself. He threatened them: if they could not interpret it they would all die, and if they could, he would give them gifts and rewards and great honor. The king was making an impossible demand, asking them to interpret a dream he had forgotten himself, but the magicians and enchanters and fortune-tellers could not refuse him. When they said that even on pain of death there was no way to know the king’s dream, the king grew angry and gave the order to kill them all. Just then Daniel, who had been brought there as a captive, heard of it, went to the king himself and asked for time, saying he would give both the dream and its meaning. Daniel and Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego prayed to God, asking for help so that they would not be killed in Babylon.

God heard this prayer and showed him Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in a vision at night, and the dream was as follows.

Daniel 2:31-35

31“You, O king, saw, and behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and its appearance was terrifying. 32As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass, 33its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay. 34You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35Then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold were broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. The stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Opened up in detail, the dream means the following.

The head of fine gold means Babylon. Babylon was a country rich in gold, and it made all its idols and images of gold. The chest and arms of silver are Media and Persia, which made and used their money in silver. The thighs of bronze mean Greece. Greece made its weapons of bronze, and with those swords and spears Alexander the Great conquered the world. And the iron mixed with clay in the legs and feet is Rome, which made its armor and helmets and shields and chariots all of iron. Nations trampled by Rome’s iron chariots collapsed like clay, but Rome could not keep its strength and fell in the end. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was fulfilled entirely through the history of Israel.

Human history like this divides more and more as it goes down from the head to the feet. Part of the feet is iron and part is clay, so you can see how unstable it is, and you can see that the more it divides the lower the quality becomes. This is human history and human life. Human beings are evil and have a nature that can never become one. They divide, and then gather again to gain strength, but at bottom they never become fully one. As time goes on, this history of sin will divide more and more and form more and more factions, and in the end it will perish.

Nebuchadnezzar appointed Daniel, who had interpreted the dream, as chief minister and gave him many rewards. But Daniel told the king plainly that he had not found all this out by his own wisdom; God had shown it to him. He did so because he longed for King Nebuchadnezzar to meet God fully through him.

Daniel told the king that he was able to interpret because God had shown it to him, and yet the one who enjoys blessing in the world is Daniel. Look at the faith of a believer who lives according to the word from the world’s side and you see God; look from God’s side and you see an obedient child, and that is why he sends down a great blessing.

Daniel 2:34

34You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

The stone cut out that broke the image is Jesus. When Jesus, the cornerstone, struck the feet of an idol built out of human history and power and philosophy and civilization, it all broke to pieces in a moment and vanished like chaff on a threshing floor. An idol built by human beings falls this easily; only the Lord’s strong legs, like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold, will stand tall over the whole world.

Daniel saw the stone that struck the image become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. The cross of Jesus is filling the whole world now. The Christ you boast of to the people of the world is this magnificent, and he is filling the whole world. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was the will God gave, so all of it came about.

Song of Solomon 6:1

1Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?

The women of Jerusalem heard the Shulammite and wanted to meet Solomon, wondering how remarkable a man he must be for her to love him this much. So now those women set out to find him first. Because she truly loved him, her heart reached those women; in the same way, if you truly love Jesus Christ, the people of the world will come to church wanting to meet him. And once they have met Jesus inside truth, they will preach the gospel themselves, as you do.

The Samaritan woman, who preached the gospel the moment she heard the word of truth, is a case like this. She had come out to the well to draw water and met Jesus, who was waiting at the well on purpose in order to meet her. She was astonished that he knew she had had five husbands, astonished that a Jew was speaking with a Samaritan, and deeply moved by his word that worship in spirit and in truth is right worship. Once she heard the word of truth from Jesus and became certain that this man really was the Messiah, the woman left her water jar and went straight into the town to preach the gospel. If the Messiah is certain and the word of truth is certain, what is there to hesitate about and what is there to fear?

John 4:42

42They said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your speaking; for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

The people who heard the word the woman brought believed it, so they said that they now believe him not because of what she said, but because they know he is the Savior. If believers know Jesus rightly and tell others about him, the people who hear that gospel will be saved. That is what preaching the gospel is.

Once the women of Jerusalem who heard the Shulammite boasting meet Solomon for themselves, they will see that he has a precious character and a precious love, and they will respect him. If you too tell people boldly how magnificent Jesus is, many who hear it will gain eternal life. This is how much preaching the gospel matters.

You do not know how many souls will be saved through the word you preach, so read the Bible a great deal, pray, and with the help of the Holy Spirit tell others rightly about the Jesus who governs the world like the stone cut out.

The Shulammite never stopped boasting of her husband. May you preach the gospel with everything you have. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.