Arise and Come Away! Song of Solomon 2:8-13
I. The Song of Solomon Introduction
a. Might be prone to ask why is the Song of Solomon even part of the canonical Scripture
b. At first glance, it appears to be a collection of love poems, sensual and sometimes steamy, between two lovers.
c. But the Song of Solomon made it into the Scriptures, because over the centuries, wise readers of the Bible realized the Scriptures can be read more than one way. Yes, passages have a literal meaning, but they also have other meanings: Figurative, mystical, allegorical.
d. The Song of Solomon is an allegory of God’s love affair with his people and of Christ’s love for you and me
e. Wesley, in his notes on the Song of Solomon, said “The scope of this book is to describe the mutual love, union and communion which is between Christ and his Church.”
II. In an allegorical reading of our passage today we find God as one playfully seducing his beloved to come outside the walls:
a. 2:8 The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.
b. Our loving God finds his fair one holed up behind a wall and he looks into to find his fair one. 2:9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.
c. It is the same God who stood on the hillside scanning the horizon for his prodigal son to return. It is the same God who, in the cool of the evening, went searching for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Even.
d. Only this time, our God is in a playful, joyful, frolicking mood. He comes leaping and bounding. He eagerly peers through the lattice. Because, he knows something his fair one behind the wall does not know. Winter is over. The rains have ended. Spring has come. A new beginning awaits His fair one.
III. And that is good news for his fair one. Because his fair one has been locked inside four walls for a long, wintry season of constant rain, constant sorrow. In our allegorical reading, we are the fair one. We see ourselves as the ones behind the wall as our loving, playful God peers in.
a. At some point in life we find ourselves walled in by some scenario in life
b. Situation you are not for sure how to untangle yourself. Perhaps, a job you hate, a relationship that is harmful to you, an addiction, a dilemma with a child engaged in destructive behavior that you don’t have answers for, a loss that has left you lost and off balance, a general anxiety about life that has left you in a panic.
c. So not having the energy or the strength to move outside of the walls life has built around you, you collapse as the cold, damp winter close in around you.
d. The winter rains come, and the walls of depression and hopelessness and anxiety and fear seem like they will surround you and imprison you for your entire life.
e. Again, Wesley, put in like this: The winter – Spiritual troubles arising from a deep sense of the guilt of sin, the wrath of God, the curse of the law; all which made[you] afraid to come unto God. But, saith Christ, I have removed these impediments, God is reconciled; therefore cast off all discouragements, and excuses, and come to me.
IV. How does God thaw the winter? How does he seduce his fair one – you and me – to leave our isolation, our enslavement and find freedom in the new spring that God has to offer?
a. His voice speaks. The voice of my beloved!… 2:10 My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; 2:11 for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 2:12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 2:13 The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance.
b. Wesley says, God “Invited me outwardly by his word, and inwardly by his Spirit. Rise up – Shake off sloth, and disentangle thyself more fully from all the snares of this world.”
c. I know you are entangled in the snares of this world. I know you have deep disappointments, unresolved dilemmas, paralyzing fears and anxieties. Look to the left and to the right, each one of us here has found ourselves behind those walls of doubt, hopelessness and fear, the damp, coldness of uncertainty, regret, and self-doubt.
d. Yet, listen! The playful but provocative voice of God calls. Behold, the voice of the beloved comes leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills, like a gazelle or a young stag. And his says to you there in your guilt, doubt, anxiety, perplexity and fear. “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, “for a nearer union, and more satisfying communion with me.”
V. The voice of the beloved is that same Jesus who said:
a. John 10:27-28: 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
b. Matthew 11:28-30 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
c. Jesus also said this to kick off his ministry in Matthew, Mark and Luke. “I have come to declare the kingdom of God is at hand!
d. What does that mean for us? It means the winter is thawing. The rains are ending. “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5)
e. The evangelical pastor Tony Campolo said it like this: “Its beginning right here, right now. It’s starting right here. The kingdom of God is among you. The kingdom of God is in you. That’s what he said. It’s not just in the sweet by and by and the ugly here and now, he’s filling people with his spirit. And as many as receive him, to them he gives the power to become the sons and the daughters of God that will change the world from what it is into what God wants for it to be.”
f. Jesus’ stories were often about parties. The party at Cana where the water was turned to wine. The feast that the father throws for the prodigal son who has returned. He even compares the kingdom of God as a feast. And remember the kingdom of God is something to be experienced here and now.
VI. What does that mean for you if you feel trapped within damp walls of a winter to which you see no end in sight?
a. It means this. Listen! The voice of God calls. Your loving, creator God is ready for you to venture beyond the walls. And by the looks of the leaping, bounding, anxiously peering, gazelle-like God, you’re going to have a new adventure, a new, spring-like beginning.
b. And you will not go alone. Your beloved says, Arise and come away. He’s going with you. And you will find that if you leave your walls, you will discover there are others recently freed from their cold, damp winter who are taking their first steps in new spring.
c. You may be a little skittish at first, frightened even. In C.S. Lewis’ Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, the little girl Susan asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan the lion is safe. You may remember that Aslan the lion is the Christ figure in the story. The conversation between Susan and Mr. Beaver goes like this: Mr. Beaer said, “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan…Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”…”Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
VII. Conclusion: If you will dare leave your walls, you will find the world is still scary, the world is still full of risks. But you will find a good God, a loving savior in Christ Jesus. You will find as the beautiful one in Song of Solomon: The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance.
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