I’ve taken time off from writing – but it’s time to get back to it.

In the previous post I quoted from the #1 Love Song of all time – “Song of Songs” by Solomon. It is expressive and shameless in its celebration of sexual intimacy between a husband and wife. But since Jesus says this song is ultimately about him (Luke 24:44), and that human marriage refers to his marriage to the church (Eph. 5:31-33), then what you believe about love, sex, and marriage reveals what you believe about Jesus. And what you believe about sex, the when and between whom, also reveals what you believe about Jesus.

Jesus said that this (song of songs, love-making in marriage, one flesh union, skin on skin intimacy between a man and a woman) is to help us see who is this God that would “so love the world that he would give his only begotten Son” – to die for a bride and win her heart forever. This is why Jesus approves of only one kind of sexual intimacy that is recorded in the Song of Songs. The kind between one man and one woman because there is only one male Jesus Christ and one female bride, the church.

In the Song of Songs, only a male speaking to a female and a female speaking to a male can do this. Two males or two females can’t ever speak to each other in such a complementary and diverse way. Only a male and a female can be husband and wife and only a male and a female were made to literally, physically, anatomically, spiritually – fit together. And it is only a male with a female in married love that displays Christ and the Church.

Therefore, I make these applications based upon what Jesus said and modeled:

1. If your spouse is a member of Christ, his bride, you cannot love the head while you despise his members, one of which is your spouse. Your relationship with your spouse is out of reverence for Christ. How you treat your spouse is how you treat Jesus. Jesus takes it personally.

2. Sacrificial Love on the husband’s part, and sacrificial respect on the wife’s part reveal both our sinful rebellion and need of Jesus Christ at the same time.

Remember, you have to be told to love and to respect. You have to be told to walk in love and submit to one another (Eph. 5:1-2). Your spouse did not create sinful rebellion in your heart – it was already there when you said “I Do”. You’ve always needed Christ to       conquer and captivate your heart.

3. You don’t need a perfect spouse to love him/her, you need a perfect Savior to change your heart to love the way he loves you. The challenge is to know yourself as the bride of Christ, eternally loved from before time – so that you can have the kind of love that lasts a lifetime.

This raises an interesting question:

Why didn’t Jesus get married to better display what married love is all about?

Answer: Because he already was married to a woman – the church! This means that no matter what your status is, married, single, widowed, or divorced, you can know true love by knowing Christ.