The Song of Solomon is full of beauty, passion, and longing. It paints a picture of romantic love that is vivid, emotional, and deeply intimate. But tucked into the middle of all this poetry is a warning that most people skip right over, and it might be the most important verse in the entire book.
A Solemn Charge to the Daughters of Jerusalem
After all the talk of love and romance and intimacy, after the imagery and the emotions and the feelings between this couple, the bride pauses. She turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, the young women who have been listening to this song, and in verse seven she gives them a stern charge: “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.”
Another version puts it this way: “Do not awaken love before its time.”
For the bride, the time had come. She and her groom were in the wedding week, with the consummation of their marriage just around the corner. But the love language between them is so compelling, so magnetic, that you can’t help but be drawn in. You can’t help wanting to experience something like what she’s describing. And the bride knows this. So she looks at the young women around her and essentially says, “I’m giving you a solemn charge. I’m asking you to make an oath.” It is a vow to purity before the wedding.
She wants them to defer the desire, not forego the desire. That distinction matters.
What God’s Word Says About Sexual Purity
The activity of marital union is completely and wholly pleasing to the Lord, but not before marriage. God’s Word is crystal clear on this fact. It flies in the face of our culture, but God’s Word is crystal clear that any sexual activity outside the covenant bond of marriage between a husband and a wife is sin.
We can try to ignore sin. We can try to justify sin. We can try to hide sin, which we often do. But what we cannot do is redefine sin, because God has already done that for us.
To be a Christian is to live right side up in an upside-down world. And it’s not easy. That’s why we need accountability. That’s why we need the body of Christ. That’s why we need a group of people around us, cheering us on to live in purity.
What If You’re Already Living Outside of That Standard?
The best thing we can do if we’re not living in purity is to repent. And we, as a church, are here to walk beside you, to pray with and for you, to uphold you in that decision of faithfulness to the Lord. If you’re currently living with somebody you’re not married to, we are willing to step in and help find a place for one of you to live in the meantime before your marriage.
And here’s what I want to encourage you with: the beautiful reality on the other side of repentance is freedom, forgiveness, joy, and a new beginning. It is an incredible reality. God says to us in 1 John 1:9, “If you confess your sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.”
And then Paul turns around in Romans 8 and says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
God doesn’t give us these standards, these commands, to in any way kill our joy. He gives them to us to maximize our joy in the context of a lifelong relationship between a husband and a wife.
What This Song Teaches Us About Christ and the Church
As we’ve seen this song being sung, this poem being read, these words of affirmation and attraction given between the bride and the groom who are soon to be, we remember something important. Although we have not taken the Song of Solomon as a strict allegory, meaning every single detail does not necessarily equate to something else, we do believe what Paul wrote in Ephesians 5.
If you’re familiar with Paul’s writing, you know this passage. If you’ve ever been to a wedding ceremony, you’ve probably heard something from it. It’s where Paul describes the relationship between a husband and a wife, the roles they should live out in the context of their marriage. It’s a beautiful passage. And at the end of Ephesians 5, he says, “And the two will become one flesh,” and then adds, “This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church.”
We are meant to learn something about Christ and the church, something about the gospel, when we see this poetic imagery played out before us. When we see the strength of their love for one another, it reminds us of the strength of God’s love for us.
God Sings Over You
Just as the words of the man provided assurance and identity and security for the woman, so God’s Word provides the same for us. Just as the couple sang this song over one another, did you know that Zephaniah says God rejoices over us with singing? If you’re ever wondering what God thinks of you, just turn to Zephaniah chapter 3. It says He rejoices over you with singing.
He’s not angry at you. He’s not mad at you. He’s not waiting for you to step out of line so He can smack you back into place. If you’ve come to know Him through repentance and faith, you are His divinely adopted son or daughter, and He loves you. Even if there have been past failures and hurt, even if there has been a train wreck of a life in the past, through repentance and faith, He loves you, and He rejoices over you with singing.
Love Is His Banner Over You
Just as the couple’s relationship thrived in the context of the community, so our relationship with God thrives in the context of the body of Christ. And just as his banner over her was love, God’s banner over you today is love. He loves you.
That is the message woven through every chapter of this ancient love poem. The purity it calls us to is not a burden. The boundaries it celebrates are not restrictions. They are the context in which love, real love, the kind that reflects the gospel itself, is free to flourish.
Watch the full sermon here.
