Thursday, April 30, 2020

THROUGH THE BIBLE (Song of Solomon)



By Bishop Elijah H. Hankerson III, BA, MA, DD

                                     LESSON NOTES:

I.                  THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING THE ENTIRE BIBLE. If you understand that the Bible is written to show us how humanity was created for God, fell into sin, was reconciled through Christ (who was the product of a family) and God will restore everything through His sacrifice on the Cross; then you have the message of the entire Bible.

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 17Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

                                           A.                  JESUS AND THE EARLY CHURCH TAUGHT THAT THE ENTIRE OLD TESTAMENT TEACHES ABOUT JESUS. You can preach the Gospel from ANY Old Testament book; just as well as you can the New Testament.

John 5:39-40 39You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Luke 24:44-47 44He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." 45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46He told them, "This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 18:24-28 24Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25He had been instructed in the way of the LORD, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately. 27When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.

Acts 13:13-39

13 From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem. 14 From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have a word of exhortation for the people, please speak.”
16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: “Fellow Israelites and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me! 17 The God of the people of Israel chose our ancestors; he made the people prosper during their stay in Egypt; with mighty power he led them out of that country; 18 for about forty years he endured their conduct in the wilderness; 19 and he overthrew seven nations in Canaan, giving their land to his people as their inheritance. 20 All this took about 450 years.
“After this, God gave them judges until the time of Samuel the prophet. 21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
23 “From this man’s descendants God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as he promised. 24 Before the coming of Jesus, John preached repentance and baptism to all the people of Israel. 25 As John was completing his work, he said: ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one you are looking for. But there is one coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
26 “Fellow children of Abraham and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. 27 The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. 28 Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead, 31 and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.
32 “We tell you the good news: What God promised our ancestors 33 he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
“‘You are my son;
    today I have become your father.’
34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said,
“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’
35 So it is also stated elsewhere:
“‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’
36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.
38 “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses.

II.                  THE AUTHOR OF SONG OF SOLOMON. Solomon is the author. The song is also called Song of Songs.

Song of Solomon 1:1 1Solomon's Song of Songs.

III.            WHAT DOES THE NAME SONG OF SOLOMON MEAN AND WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE? Basically the best song ever written. This would be true because it allegorically describes the love that God has for His people. It is God’ love that has led to our Redemption through Jesus Christ.

Malachi 1:2
 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob,

Romans 8:37
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Ephesians 5:2
and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

2 Thessalonians 2:16
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,

1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 John 4:11
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.

IV.            ON A SIDE NOTE WAS SOLOMON’S BRIDE BLACK? Not really a side note, because it pertains to Jesus and the Gospel.

                         A.            APPARENTLY THIS IS SO, AS SEEN DIRECTLY FROM THE TEXT.

Song of Solomon 1:5
I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

Song of Solomon 1:6
Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.

                         B.            IT IS BELIEVED THAT THIS IS THE QUEEN OF SHEBA.

1 Kings 10:1-7 1When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the LORD, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. 2Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan-with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones-she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. 3Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. 4When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the LORD, she was overwhelmed. 6She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 7But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard.

Matthew 12:42 42The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

Luke 11:31 31The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here.

                         C.            FROM THIS ANCIENT AREA IT IS BELIEVED THAT ETHIOPIANS BEGAN TO WORSHIP THE LORD. There are Ethiopian Jews now, whose heritage goes back 3,000 years.

Psalm 68:31 NIV. 31Envoys will come from Egypt; Cush will submit herself to God.

Psalm 68:31 KJV. 31Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.

1.               FROM THE ETHIOPIAN JEWS DERIVED THE ETHIOPIAN EUNUCH. He took the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Ethiopia. Two thousand years later, one of the historic branches of Christianity is yet going strong.

Acts 8:26-39.

26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28 and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. 29 The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”
30 Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.
31 “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
32 This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:
“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,
    and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.
    Who can speak of his descendants?
    For his life was taken from the earth.”[b]
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35 Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.
36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37] [c] 38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. 
  
V.                  THE LOVE BETWEEN A HUSBAND AND WIFE.[1] They obviously enjoy being around each other. In like manner the Church should enjoy our relationship with God.

                         A.            CHAPTER 1. The husband and wife express their love for each other.

1.               THE WIFE.

Song of Solomon 1:7

Easy-to-Read Version

7 I love you with all my soul!
    Tell me, where do you feed your sheep?
    Where do you lay them down at noon?
I should come to be with you
    or I will be like a hired woman[ caring for the sheep of your friends.

2.               THE HUSBAND.

Song of Solomon 1:15

Easy-to-Read Version

15 My darling, you are so beautiful!
    Oh, you are beautiful!
    Your eyes are like doves.

                         B.            CHAPTER 2. The wife does not want to be where her husband is not present.

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

Easy-to-Read Version

8 I hear my lover’s voice.
    Here it comes, jumping over the mountains,
    skipping over the hills.
9 My lover is like a gazelle
    or a young deer.
Look at him standing behind our wall,
    staring out the window,
    looking through the lattice.
10 My lover speaks to me,
“Get up, my darling, my beautiful one.
    Let’s go away!
11 Look, winter is past,
    the rains have come and gone.
12 The flowers are blooming in the fields.
    It’s time to sing!
    Listen, the doves have returned.
13 Young figs are growing on the fig trees.
    Smell the vines in bloom.
Get up, my darling, my beautiful one.
    Let’s go away!”

                         C.            CHAPTER 3. The wife cannot stand to be out of her husband’s presence for one instance.

Song of Solomon 3:1-4

Easy-to-Read Version

3 At night on my bed,
    I look for the man I love.
I looked for him,
    but I could not find him.
2 I will get up now!
    I will go around the city.
In the streets and squares,
    I will look for the man I love.
I looked for him,
    but I could not find him.
3 The guards patrolling the city found me.
    I asked them, “Have you seen the man I love?”
4 I had just left the guards
    when I found the man I love!
I held him and would not let him go,
    while I took him to my mother’s house,
    to the room of one who bore me.

                         D.            CHAPTER 4. Things get a little steamy as the husband and wife have “relations.” He speaks in this text and she answers back in verse 16.

Song of Solomon 4:9-16

Easy-to-Read Version

9 My darling, my bride, you excite me!
    You have stolen my heart with just one quick look from your eyes,
    with just one of the jewels from your necklace.
10 Your love is so beautiful, my darling, my bride!
    Your love is better than wine.
The smell of your perfume
    is better than any kind of spice!
11 My bride, your lips drip honey.
    Honey and milk are under your tongue.
Your clothes smell as sweet as perfume.
12 My darling, my bride,
    you are pure like a locked garden.
You are like a locked pool,
    a closed fountain.
13 Your limbs are like a garden
    filled with pomegranates and other pleasant fruit,
with all the best spices:
    henna,
14 nard, saffron, calamus, and cinnamon.
Your limbs are like a garden
    filled with trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloe.
15 You are like a garden fountain—
    a well of fresh water—
    flowing down from the mountains of Lebanon.
16 Wake up, north wind.
    Come, south wind.
Blow on my garden.
    Spread its sweet smell.
Let my lover enter his garden
    and eat its pleasant fruit.

                         E.            CHAPTER 5. The husband enters his “garden.”

Song of Solomon 5:1-4

Easy-to-Read Version

 

The Husband Speaks

5 My darling my bride, I have entered my garden.
    I have gathered my myrrh and spice.
I have eaten my honey and honeycomb.
    I have drunk my wine and milk.

The Women Speak to the Couple

Dearest friends, eat, drink!
    Be drunk with love!

The Wife Speaks

2 I am asleep,
    but my heart is awake.
I hear my lover knocking, saying,
    “Open to me, my darling, my love,
    my dove, my perfect one!
My head is soaked with dew.
    My hair is wet with the mist of the night.”
3 “I have taken off my robe.
    I don’t want to put it on again.
I have washed my feet.
    I don’t want to get them dirty again.”
4 But my lover put his hand through the opening,
    and I felt sorry for him.

                          F.            CHAPTER 6. The husband has a lot of nice things to say about the wife.

Song of Solomon 6:4-9

Easy-to-Read Version

 

He Speaks to Her

4 My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah,
    as pleasant as Jerusalem,
    as awesome as the stars in the sky.
5 Don’t look at me!
    Your eyes excite me too much!
And your hair is long and flowing,
    like little goats dancing down the slopes of Mount Gilead.
6 Your teeth are white like ewes
    just coming from their bath.
They all give birth to twins.
    Not one of them has lost a baby.
7 Your cheeks under your veil
    are like slices of pomegranate.
8 There might be 60 queens
    and 80 slave women,
    and young women too many to count,
9 but there is only one woman for me,
    my dove, my perfect one.
She is the favorite of her mother,
    her mother’s favorite child.
The young women see her and praise her.
    Even the queens and slave women praise her.

                        G.            CHAPTER 7. The husband expresses his wife’s beauty. She responds by saying for them to go and have “relations.”

Song of Solomon 7:1-11

Easy-to-Read Version

 

The Husband Praises The Wife’s Beauty

7 Princess, your feet are beautiful in those sandals.
    The curves of your thighs are like jewelry made by an artist.
2 Your navel is like a round cup;
    may it never be without wine.
Your belly is like a pile of wheat
    surrounded by lilies.
3 Your breasts are like twin fawns
    of a young gazelle.
4 Your neck is like an ivory tower.
Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon
    near the gate of Bath Rabbim.
Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon
    that looks toward Damascus.
5 Your head is like Carmel,
    and the hair on your head is like silk.
Your long flowing hair
    captures even a king.
6 You are so beautiful and so pleasant,
    a lovely, delightful young woman!
7 You are tall—
    as tall as a palm tree.
And your breasts are like
    the clusters of fruit on that tree.
8 I would love to climb that tree
    and take hold of its branches.
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes
    and your fragrance like apples.
9 May your mouth be like the best wine,
    flowing straight to my love,
    flowing gently to the sleeper’s lips.

The Wife Responds to Him

10 I belong to my lover,
    and he wants me.
11 Come, my lover,
    let’s go out into the field;
    let’s spend the night in the villages.

                        H.            CHAPTER 8. The wife compares her husband to a suckling child; as she describes “relations.”

Song of Solomon 8:1-4

Easy-to-Read Version

8 If you were a baby, like my little brother nursing at his mother’s breasts,
    and if I found you outside,
I could kiss you,
    and no one would say it was wrong.
2 I would lead you into my mother’s house,
    to the room of she who taught me.
I would give you spiced wine
    squeezed from my pomegranate.
3 His left arm is under my head,
    and his right hand holds me.
4 Women of Jerusalem, promise me,
    don’t awaken love,
    don’t arouse love, until I am ready.

VI.                  FAMOUS VERSES IN SOLOMON THAT AID US IN OUR SPIRITUAL WALK.

                      A.               LITTLE FOXES SPOIL THE VINE. By burrowing, little foxes can destroy a vineyard. In the same manner little things in our lives that we fail to deal with can destroy our walk with God.

Song of Solomon 2:15 15Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

                         B.            JEALOUSY IS CRUEL AS THE GRAVE. While this verse is referring to how strong love is; it is pretty self-explanatory that jealousy is very cruel.

Song of Solomon 8:6. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.


VII.                  JESUS IS IN THE BOOK OF SONG OF SOLOMON.

                         A.            THERE ARE MANY VERSES IN SONG OF SOLOMON THAT DESCRIBE OUR REDEEMER.

1.               HE IS THE ROSE OF SHARON AND THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. The bride here describes herself as the beautiful floral varieties of Israel. This analogy has historically also been used to describe Christ.

Song of Solomon 2:1
“I am the rose of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys.”

2.               HIS BANNER OVER US IS LOVE. As a banner was a rallying point for soldiers; God’s rallying point for us is His love for us.

Song of Solomon 2:4
“He has brought me to his banquet hall,
And his banner over me is love.

John 3:16 16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

3.               HE IS THE FAIREST OF 10,000. Meaning there is no one like Him. White here means radiant.

Song of Solomon 5:10 10My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

                         B.            GOD’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS PEOPLE IS COMPARED TO A MARRIAGE OF A HUSBAND AND WIFE.

Isaiah 54:5-8 5For your Maker is your husband- the LORD Almighty is his name- the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. 6The LORD will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit- a wife who married young, only to be rejected," says your God. 7"For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back. 8In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you," says the LORD your Redeemer.

Isaiah 62:5 5As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

Jeremiah 2:2 2"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "This is what the LORD says: "'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.

Jeremiah 2:32 32Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

Joel 1:8
Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the bridegroom of her youth.

Hosea 2:15
 “Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 3:20
 “Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover,
So you have dealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.

Ezekiel 16:32-34
You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction for your harlotries. Thus you are different from those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do, because you give money and no money is given you; thus you are different.”

Hosea 1:2
When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the Lord.”

Hosea 9:1
Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations!
For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God.
You have loved harlots’ earnings on every threshing floor.

Hosea 2:2
 “Contend with your mother, contend,
For she is not my wife, and I am not her husband;
And let her put away her harlotry from her face
And her adultery from between her breasts,

Isaiah 50:1
Thus says the Lord,
“Where is the certificate of divorce
By which I have sent your mother away?
Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you?
Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,
And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

Jeremiah 3:6-10
Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.

Hosea 3:1-3
Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband, yet an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.” So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. Then I said to her, “You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you.”

Isaiah 62:4-5
It will no longer be said to you, “Forsaken,”
Nor to your land will it any longer be said, “Desolate”;
But you will be called, “My delight is in her,”
And your land, “Married”;
For the Lord delights in you,
And to Him your land will be married.
For as a young man marries a virgin,
So your sons will marry you;
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So your God will rejoice over you.

Jeremiah 31:31-33
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Hosea 2:16 16"In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'

                         C.            THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE OF CHRIST.

Ephesians 5:25 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

Revelation 21:2 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Revelation 21:9 9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."

2 Corinthians 11:1-4 1I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

Isaiah 62:5 5As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

John 3:29 29The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.

Jeremiah 2:2 2"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "This is what the LORD says: "'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.

Matthew 25:1-6 1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

                         D.            THE CHURCH AND CHRIST ARE ONE.

Romans 6:5 5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

John 14:20 

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

1 Corinthians 6:17 

But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

John 17:20-21 20"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

VI.               PRAYER FOR SALVATION. As we close, if you have not received this Jesus pray this simple prayer:

"Father, I know that I have sinned against You. Please forgive me. Wash me clean. I promise to trust in Jesus, Your Son. I believe that He died for me—He took my sin upon Himself when He died on the cross. I believe that He was raised from the dead. I surrender my life to Jesus today.

"Thank You, Father, for Your gift of forgiveness and eternal life. Please help me to live for you. In Jesus' name, Amen."
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