Gerry Almond (9 May 2011)
"Another look at the Song of Solomon and the Rapture"
I am sending this for edification all doves.
YBIC
Gerry Almond
In our Bible readings, most of us have read the Song of Solomon, God’s
greatest love story. It is a beautiful instructional book on love
and marriage, sex and the beauty of it as God intended it to be.
But, also, it was considered too risqué for anyone under age 30
to read by the ancient Jewish nation. It is full of descriptions
of what true love is all about and it is specific in its details.
It is also a less read and even lesser preached on book. But,
there is a way to look at the message in the Song of Songs, as it can
be called, that is different from the usual way in which it is seen.
IT CAN BE VIEWED AS A MULTI-ACT PLAY WITH A DEFINITE PROPHETIC MESSAGE FOR THE END DAYS.
The characters in the play as listed on a Play Sheet may be as follows:
The Shulamite Gentile Girl……………………The Bride to be
The Shepherd Lover…………………………...The Bridegroom to be
Solomon the King………………………………The Tempter
The Palace of Solomon………………………...The World System
The Daughters of Jerusalem…………………..Israel, old and new
The Little Sister………………………………..Modern Regathered Israel
The play opens with the abduction of a Gentile girl, a Shulamite of
great beauty. She is spirited away to the palace of Solomon, the
King. He has seen her beauty and he cannot resist her. He
plans to make her his own. But the problem is, that she has no
such plans. He knows this, but he has all the world’s treasures
in his palace to heap upon her and tempt her with. This, he
believes, will turn her head as he takes a poor, but beautiful gentile
girl and heaps all his treasures upon her.
The problem is that she is in love. There is a shepherd out there
somewhere far away that has captured her heart. He is “absent” in
person, but she can fly to him at will on what she describes as “the
wings of faith”.
Now enter the drama of it all. The more Solomon pressures her,
the closer she gets to her absent Shepherd Lover, whom she must visit
by faith because of His longtime absence. Not only so, but she
does not know when he will show up again. Her love, however, is
with reservation.
At this point, the characters in the play may be re-listed as follows:
The Shulamite Gentile Girl………………….The True Church of Jesus Christ
The Shepherd Lover…………………………Jesus Christ the Righteous
Solomon the King……………………………The Usurper
The Palace of Solomon………………………The World
The Daughters of Jerusalem…………………Israel
TheLittle Sister……………………………….Israel As in 1948 Regathered
The True Church is in love with her Savior and Lord, Jesus
Christ. He is, in turn, in love with her. But He has been
away almost 2,000 years dwelling at the right hand of His Father, in
heaven. The only way for her to access Him is by prayer, which
must be done in faith believing. The Usurper, Satan and his
minions control the palace, i. e. the world system. Using every
means at his disposal, Satan tries to woo the True Church away from
Christ, her beloved, by wealth, fame, fortune, threat, destruction,
sex, pornography, strong drink, envy, lust, etc. There is not a
stone unturned in his quest to “own” the True Church. Why?
So that he can deny the Lord Jesus Christ his Bride.
Everlasting and Eternal promises were made by YHWH to Israel.
These MUST have a fulfillment or else God is not God. Satan has
but one task, and that is to make just one word of the Holy Writ
fail. If he can do this, he wins. Thus, he uses every wile,
every lie, every deceit, and all means to do this. He has
destroyed the souls of men over and over with these practices and is
ever more at it today.
But, here comes a plan of God that will really upset Satan’s
applecart. That plan is called the “rapture”. The Song of
Songs says it this way. In chapter 6 and verse 10 it starts the
actual rapture event by saying, “Who is she who looketh forth as the
morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army
with banners”? This is a reference to the Bride to be.
Several times before, references to the rapture seem to be said in the
Song, But each time, the Bride to be was simply not ready. This
speaks a word about the truth of the doctrine of imminency. Her
taking could have come, but she just wasn’t ready. One time the
Shepherd even put His hand through the opening of the door to free the
latch, but, alas, she was asleep. By the time she roused herself,
He had departed. Personal ease seemed more important than waiting
for Him as she should have. Read this in chapter 5, a sad
commentary on the Bride to be.
The question in vs. 6 came only after an appraisal of this LOVELY
creature and a description of her sheer beauty. The describer is,
of course, Jesus Christ, the soon to become Bridegroom of this
beautiful one. (Her beauty is, of course, occasioned by His
provision of heavenly beauty, having bought her soul by His blood on
Calvary). Then she speaks:
“I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley,
and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates
budded. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of
Amminadib”. In these verses 11 and 12, is seen the rapture of the
Bride to be. An alternate reading could be “like the chariots of
my princely willing people”. Amminadib seems to not be a name,
but rather refers to Someone famous for His chariots.
Immediately the daughters of Jerusalem (modern Israel) speak in their
astonishment saying, “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return that
we may look upon thee.” In this verse 13, is seen the desire of modern
Israel to have the Bride to be come back. But she asks, “What
will ye see in the Shulamite?” Their answer comes immediately
saying, “As it were, the company of two armies.”
I think the two armies are the resurrected and then raptured
living. At first, it was a single army with banners in vs. 10,
but now it is two armies, as it were.
So, the rapture event, which includes the resurrection of the dead in
Christ and the taking of the living in Christ has here occurred.
She, the Bride to be is gone to be with her absent Shepherd Lover, who
is absent no longer. He has come in the air and with the clouds
to get her out of the ”palace” of this world’s system and away from the
Usurper.
The next act, chapter 7 of the Song finds the Bride to be described by
her Beloved. He says in chapter 7 and verse 9, when I kiss your
mouth, “and the roof of thy mouth, (is) like the best wine”. She
interrupts “For my Beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips
of those who are ASLEEP to speak”. (Perhaps this is a reference
to the resurrected ones?) And in verse 10 she continues and says
“I am my Beloved’s and His desire is toward me”.
“Come my Beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the
villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine
flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud
forth. There will I give Thee my love”, vss 11-12. Notice
in verse 13, an added agricultural item is that the mandrakes
(tomatoes?) give fragrance.
Here the marriage has or is occurring and the consummation is to
be. She will no longer be the Bride to be, but now the
Bride. His consuming passion for her is to be fulfilled NOW.
Finally, in Act 8, she speaks from a heart that recognizes that He is
far superior to her socially, so to speak, but she realizes that He
still loves her above all.
In chapter 8 and verse 8 the Bride speaks to her Beloved and says, “We
have a little sister, and she hath no breasts. What shall we do
for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?” Indeed,
what shall be done for MODERN Israel, the little sister that has not
been for 1,918 years and is now in the land again? By comparison
to the age of the Bride, she is a sub-teen. The Bride has an
answer: “If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of
silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of
cedar”. I think that this is saying that Israel will have her
Temple and her Kingdom after all. We call it the Millennial
Kingdom and it will be for 360,000 days or 1,000 years.
The Usurper is shut away, the demons cannot tempt or harm, the world
system is destroyed and Jesus Christ reigns supreme. The Bride is
very close by Him in this glorious reign.
Very soon now, this play will have its conclusion. We are
approaching Chapter 6 and verse 12. Notice, if you will, the
progression of the fruits of the valley. The grapes are coming
on, the pomegranates are budding (in the northern hemisphere).
Later, we find the mandrakes giving a fragrance. If these are
like tomatoes, that is summer time. Sounds right for a Spring
rapture followed by a Summer consummation of the marriage. Seem
right also, in light of the approach of Elenin. Just a final thought.
YBIC
Gerry Almond