The Greatest Love Story Bible Study - by Connie Witter Because of Jesus Ministries Song of Songs Chapter 1:1-11

- The Divine Kiss This beautiful book of the Bible reveals the True Gospel- the Greatest Love story ever told! It is the story of Jesus, your bridegroom, and His relentless, pursuit of you, His bride, to win your heart with His love. Solomon is a picture of Jesus, and the Shulamite is a picture of you. These two Hebrew words are taken from the same root word, one masculine, the other feminine. We are one Spirit with our King, united with Him as one. Men and women alike have a need for love. We all pursue love because it is what we were created for! Women love to be told they are beautiful, lovely, and good. They love affirmation that they have done a good job and validation from those they love. Men as well love to hear they are handsome, strong, and good. They have a need to be respected, admired, and appreciated as well. However, when we constantly look to human love to fill this need we end up broken and disappointed because people are not always going to approve of us. They will find fault and they will point it out. So this leaves us with only one love that can truly make us whole because Jesus never changes His opinion of you! He always approves of you! He is constantly singing over you that you are wonderful, perfect, and very good! And even when you do fail, He lifts up your head, looks straight into your eyes, and tells you again- My beloved, your perfect in every way! Jesus, your Bridegroom is singing love songs over you! Read Song of Songs 1:1 The most amazing song of all, by King Solomon Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing. AMP Ephesians 1:4: Long before he laid down earths foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. MSG Have you ever wondered, what is my bridegroom singing over me? The Song of Songs answers this question. As you read it, listen to Him sing over you personally, and be made whole in His love! As we read through this beautiful love story, you will see the process that your bridegroom went through to propose to you, His beloved bride, to make you His ownThe Covenant, The Bridal Price, The Cup, The Bridal gifts, The Marriage chamber, and the wedding Celebration The Kisses of His mouth: The Covenant of love Read Song of Songs 1:2-4 out of the Passion Translation by Brian Simmons Verse 2: Smother me with your kisses- You, His beloved Bride began your journey wanting to know Him and His love for you! Here we see the bride asking for a deeper revelation of His love for her personally. In so doing, we are really asking, Remind me of your covenant proposal to me. Remind me what you say about me, the Truth of your love is the only thing that sets my heart free. I will drink in your love like the sweetest wine! The Word of God is the kiss from the mouth of our Beloved King, breathing upon us revelation of His love!

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His Covenant Promise or Proposal- His marriage vows: the kisses of His mouth: I will write upon your mind and heart that you are holy, just and good! I will only see good in you- in my eyes you will always be lovely, pure, holy, blameless, and good! I will win your love and trust by laying my life down for you! You are so valuable I paid for you with my own life blood! I will never see any fault in you or ever bring up a mistake youve ever made because I will be merciful and compassionate toward you and never remember your sins! You are mine forever! Ill run after you, pursue you, shower you with my love and goodness until you realize I will never stop loving you and you fall exhausted into my arms to be made whole by My love. (Hebrews 8:6-12; Ephesians 1:4; Jeremiah 31:3; I Peter 1:18,19) His Spirit Kiss Divine- The first kiss of God happened in the Garden of Eden when He breathed His very life into Adam and Eve, creating them in His very image and the covenant kiss began: You are so good so very good and I approve of you completely! You are excellent in every way! Now live in our love- our joint opinion of you! You look just like us- You are holy, lovely, and so beautiful to us! Genesis 1:26-31; 2:7 Caresses of love- His free gifts He has given to you. His peace, His righteousness, His strength, His comfort, His provision, His protection, His salvation. Again you are asking to be reminded g of the promises you have in Him! Remind me of your love and how you see me! This implies each and every promise you have in JesusHis love is revealed in the price He paid to freely give you for all His gifts of love. The Cup I drink them in Like the sweetest wine!- You accepted His marriage proposal. You have drank in Jesus Himself, you drank the cup and accepted His covenant promises and the price He paid for you to make you His own and you became His bride. Verse 3: Oil represents the Holy Spirit and His work in your heart. He is Flowing oil over your mind filling your heart with His love- Psalm 23:5 You anoint My head with oil, my cup overflows. Romans 5:5 For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. Verse 4: Your hearts cry is to find true love and you have found it in Jesus! You long to be close to Him, to know Him, to be adored by Him, to be one with Him! The Kings chamber is the Holy of Holies where the King lives and only those invited can enter. You ask, Draw Me into your heart, I long to be close to you! Take Me into your palace of glory, take me into your chambers, and reveal your great love for Me! You, His beloved bride, are the temple of God where your King lives! His secret place is inside of you! This is something you will discover and come to understand more fully along your journey as the King reveals His secrets and mysteries to you in His Holy Place- Colossians 1:27 The mystery of the Gospel- Christ in you the hope of glory! Verse 4: We will remember your love As we laugh and rejoice in You, Celebrating Your every kiss As better-than-wine. No wonder righteousness Adores You! Wine in verse 4 represents the pleasures and riches of this world. You, His Bride acknowledges that His kisses of love are better than anything the world has to offer, and you rejoice in the righteousness He has given youIsaiah 61:10 You see Him as your perfect Bridegroom! Read Song of Songs 1: 5-7

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This is a picture of you and I turning our focus away from Jesus, to ourselves and the world around us. We have all taken on our own opinion of ourselves and looked to others for approval and validation and it always leads us to a dark place in our soul. Verse 5: You and I have both looked at ourselves and taken on a different opinion then the one our bridegroom has of us. This is a place where our mistakes, failures, and our shortcomings cause shame and fear to enter our hearts. We hear of this amazing, unconditional love, but our own inadequacies, weaknesses, and mess ups cause us to feel unworthy and lacking in so many ways. But our beloved, bridegroom, doesnt even address our failures or shortcomings, just like He promised, He will never see any fault in us and so His response to our feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness is You are so lovely! We arent quite sure this can be true? How can our bridegroom see us this way when we just messed up and acted badly? Cant he see that Im not really perfect or lovely? So we speak of how our own opinion of ourselves makes us feel: But I feel so dark- discouraged, sad, guilty, ashamed, inadequate and unworthy! But again your Bridegroom reminds you of His view and opinion of you, hoping this time you will agree with Him: Yet you are lovely as the fine linen in the Holy of Holies! Fine linen represents righteousness (Revelations 19:7-9) Here your bridegroom reminds you that you are the righteousness of God in Him, innocent and pure and lovely and none of your mistakes will ever change your identity in Him or how He sees you! (II Corinthians 5:21) Verse 6: Here we see that our attempt to gain the approval of the world has made us feel dark and rejected. This is a picture of you and I after we, His bride, received His proposal and His promise to see no fault in usthen we go into the religious system of the world and hear that we have to try harder to please him, we have to try harder to gain approval, we really arent that valuable; and our hearts begin to believe the lies, Im really not that worthy- Im really not that good! They think Im not good enough. Fear of the opinion of man and their disapproval floods your soul. Religion makes you feel youll never measure up to Gods expectations and instead of living secure in His love, darkness, shame and fear floods your soul! Then you realize that youve tried so hard to gain the approval of others and even God, that you have not be been living in the approval you have in Him! Verse 7: In this dark place, you call out to Jesus, the Lover of your soul, asking Him to draw you ever so close to Him so that you can rest once again in His love. You realize again that only His love can satisfy the deep needs of your soul. It is Him you long for with no separation (veil) between you. II Corinthians 3:6-18 Your Bridegroom responds to your feelings of darkness with whispers of love- reminding you how He sees you! Read Song of Songs 1:8-11
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Verse 8: Your bridegroom tells you what to do if you lose sight of Him. Come to Him with your burdens and cares and let him remind you how He sees you! Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG) 28-30 Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and youll recover your life. Ill show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with mewatch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I wont lay anything heavy or illfitting on you. Keep company with me and youll learn to live freely and lightly. Jesus says, Come to Me and let me remind you of my love, let Me tell you how I see you! I rescued you from the dominion of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of My love. Colossians 1:12-14 (NLT) 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. He rescued you from the dominion of fear, worry, guilt, condemnation and shame and brought you into the love feast of His kingdom Proverbs 4:20-23 New Living Translation (NLT) 20 My beloved, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to my words. 21 Dont lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, 22 for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole body. 23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Verse 9: You thrill His heart with unspeakable joy! Jude 1:24 (AMP) 24 Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight] Verse 9: Pharaoh's finest horses- You are strong and powerful, for I have clothed you with dignity and honor! You are royalty! You walk with confidence and security in Me! (Proverbs 31:25) Verse 10-11: Your beauty shines from the inside out for we encircle you with golden reins of love. Gold represents deity the very nature and character of God- His glory- Here your beloved bridegroom is telling you that He shares His glory with you and you are so very beautiful to Him! He has sealed you with the Spirit of grace! Silver is a symbol of redemption. Redeem means to pay a ransom; to rescue. Grace is unearned favor and blessing; a free gift; His divine influence of love upon your heart. In verse 11, He is reminding you of your worth, the price He paid for you to be free from guilt, shame, and fear, and that all He has is a gift of grace to you. You dont have to work for His approval, you already have it! You dont have to work to earn His blessings, you are already blessed! You dont have to try to be perfect, you already are! He is enthralled with you and you take His breath away! His one desire is that youd come into harmony with the song He sings over you! Sing, My love, listen as I sing love songs over you and harmonize with Me! We will dance and sing together and you will be transformed by My love! The Greatest Love story continues.

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