“The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” (Song of Solomon 2:8)
The book Song of Solomon is a depiction of love in a holy marriage. It’s very lyrical and symbolic in reflecting the love between the church and Jesus. Verse 8 begins a section titled “The Bride Adores her Beloved.” The bride recognizes her beloved’s voice. She hears him coming. She has been waiting for him and imagines the steps he takes in coming to her. She imagines him eagerly leaping and skipping on the paths of the mountains and hills he has to take to get to her.
And just as the bride recognizes her beloved’s voice, the church hears the beloved Savior’s voice and recognizes it. “And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.” (John 10:4-5) We listen for His voice and recognize His voice when we hear it. There are many voices in the world, but we only listen for our Beloved’s voice. And it’s only His voice that we follow and obey.
Just as the bride in Solomon’s book waited eagerly for her beloved, we eagerly wait for our Beloved. We imagine His coming on the clouds for us at the sound of the trumpet. We imagine our meeting up in the clouds. We imagine the joy and love in that meeting. “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so, shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1Thessalonians 4:16-17)
When the bride imagines her beloved leaping and skipping on the mountains and hills to meet his bride, we are reminded of David when he brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. “And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So, David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.” (2Samuel 6:14-16) David danced before His Beloved God. He humbled himself in not acting aloof as royalty before the Lord but gave himself to the joy of bringing the Ark of the Covenant, where his Beloved God would meet with His people back home. He cared not what he looked like or what others thought of him. He expressed his joy and love for His Beloved by dancing before Him. Dancing before the Lord is an acceptable way to express our joy and love before our Beloved. Some churches are too formal to accept this form of worship. And in other churches it’s choreographed. Both are stifling the Holy Spirit Who wants to express His love and joy spontaneously through God’s people.
As God’s people leap and skip before the Lord, the earth even joins in. In the prophecy of Isaiah about Israel’s salvation, the Lord commands the earth to rejoice. “Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel.” (Isaiah 44:23) And again later on in describing the reign of Christ on earth, Isaiah prophesies: “And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.” (Isaiah 49:11-13) They will come to the Lord, the Beloved leaping and skipping on the way the Lord has made in the mountains and highways which will also rejoice.
Our Beloved Savior comes soon. His bride, the church, waits eagerly for His arrival. Listen for His voice as the Shulamite bride listened for her beloved’s arrival. Imagine His journey to earth as He comes for His bride.
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