Intimacy with GOD by Esher Shoshannah (e book reading free .txt) 📕

filled and thrilled her but it was the "beryl" (Heb. "tarshish" or "precious stone") which moved her to tears because His preciousness was enwrapping her soul. The Holy Spirit shares with us the deep thoughts of the Beloved in I Pet. 2:4-8. We who are His holy people and priests know how infinitely valuable He truly is – the Beloved is the precious Cornerstone, the Rock upon which her life is established. Then, wonder of wonders, the Holy Spirit discloses that we are "living stones" which make up His spiritual house/temple (Eph. 2:19-22). We, His bride, are just like Him – glorious, valuable stones!

 

PRAY WITH ME: "Dear Lord Jesus, You are the strength and keeper of my heart! You are the precious Cornerstone of my heart and You have made me a precious, living stone in Your temple. Thank You for placing me on the spiritual breastplate of Your heart! Everything about You is precious! Dear Lord, cause me to feel more deeply that preciousness. In Jesus’ name, amen!"

 

Filled with joy she continues...

"...his belly is as bright ivory..."

She continued to speak words that filled the daughters with astonishment. The word "belly" is a Hebrew word meaning "inward parts" (me'eh) and is sometimes used figuratively to represent emotion or compassion. It is used in connection with God (Isa. 63:15; Jer. 31:20) concerning His feelings. "Ivory" in Bible times was a rare commodity, therefore extremely expensive. Only those who were very wealthy could afford to possess it. Ivory was obtained at great sacrifice, for the elephant had to die!

So in love was the Beloved with His bride that He was filled with infinite spiritual hunger (belly) for her sin-sick soul. He left Heaven and lived and died for her. How rare this was (ivory). O what a sacrifice! O what a cost! Only God Almighty could feel this deeply. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (I John 4:10).

The Holy Spirit brought to her mind how Jesus is touched by the feeling of her infirmities. (Heb. 4:15). The bride began to experience her Beloved's compassion sweep through her soul. Clean and pure, that's how she felt. It was His righteousness and holiness, the highly polished white ivory! (II Cor. 5:21).

 

"...overlaid with sapphires (lapis lazuli)."

The sapphire, a very costly jewel (Job 28:16), is the second exquisite stone that the Holy Spirit reveals to her heart. She felt the strength of a firm foundation holding her up (Isa. 54:1) while reflecting the meaning of the "sapphires"! It was a precious gem which adorned the breastplate of the High Priest (Ex. 28:18-21) representing one of the twelve tribes. Sapphire is also one of the foundation stones used for the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:19), the city in which the Bride of the Lamb will forever reside (Rev. 21:19,27). This blessed thought swept through her soul, "I am on His heart and He is the foundation of my life. He wants me to live with Him forever. As much as I want Him, He desires me infinitely more! His promises and love for me are my firm foundation."

Joy, peace and contentment swept over her. The daughters were thrilled at this wonderful change continuing to take place right before their eyes as they themselves were being drawn to Him. The bride continued her description of Him...

 

V.15 "His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars."

Marble is extremely hard and durable. It represents stability. His legs speak of His walk or manner of life. The Word of God declares, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth..." (Psa. 25:10). Concerning the Lord Jesus, the Word teaches, "...who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil..." (Acts 10:38). His feet were "fine gold" and she knew that His footsteps were actually God walking on this earth. She said to the daughters, "My Beloved is white, pure, and righteous ("Lebanon" - 3:9) and He is stately and majestic ("cedars" - 1:17). He is my Wonderful Counselor, my Mighty God, my Everlasting Father, my Prince of Peace! He is my King forever! He is magnificent! He is my Husband!"

She exclaimed, "I was, '...troubled on every side, yet not distressed;...perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;' (II Cor. 4:8-9). For in me, my '...earthen vessel, is the excellency of the power (Christ living in me - Gal. 2:20; the Holy Spirit living in me - Acts 1:8, II Cor. 4:7). Even though I was unaware of it during my times of great pain and sin, my Beloved's power was bringing me safely through it all. Praise His holy name! There were many times I was so spiritually tired I could not take one more step. I remember the relentless attacks of the enemy bearing down on my soul. Now I know it was my faithful and loving Husband who would pick me up and carry me! When I thought I was all alone His ever steady, infinitely strong legs were taking me through the deep mire of my mess. There was not one moment He stumbled! His legs are the legs of God. I feel His invisible, gentle and secure arms holding me as He carries me onward and upward to our permanent home. O praise His holy name!"

With that she sprang to her feet renewed in heart, refreshed in soul, restored in body, rejoicing with thankful tears streaming from her eyes, hands raised toward heaven, her countenance radiating the glory of God and shouting the following words for all heaven and earth to hear...

 

V.16 "His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."

As these words fell from her lips, the bride knew deep from within her heart she would never, never hesitate again when her Beloved called (and she never does from this point to the end of this song!). His Words are, "life and spirit" (John 6:63) and "life... and health...." (Prov. 4:22). Not until this moment, in confessing His beauty and glory, did she understand how powerful and life changing His Words truly were! This wounded bride remembered that her Husband was "the Word" who "was God" (John 1:1)! Prov. 18:21 teaches us that there is life in the power of the tongue. When speaking His Word, life and spirit emerged from her innermost being. She had previously hidden His Word in her heart (Psa.119:11) and now the remembrance of that living Word was overcoming her failure in the time of crisis! It was the dark hour of her deepest need. Yet, His Word, which had been stored away in her heart, was transforming her from the pit of despair to the glory of renewal! Joy flooded her soul as she shouted to the heavens...

 

"His mouth is most sweet..."

His spiritual mouth had been sweet from the beginning. The Beloved had kissed her heart with His Word from the very beginning (1:2) She testifies, "Sweet! Yes, yes, yes! There is a sweetness of joy in my spirit, where there had just been self-condemning bitterness! There is a sweetness of hope in my soul, where there had previously been the desperation of depression! There is a sweet wholeness in my body, where there just had been defacement! Look at me - every wound has been healed!" With joyful intensity she speaks, "How sweet are thy Words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." (Psa. 119:103). Honey gives quick energy and that is what has just taken place in her spirit, soul and body! Then silence, a holy silence swept across the plains of her heart as joyful tears fall from her cheeks. And after what seemed like an eternal moment of quietness, the bride in an emotional whisper proclaims...

 

"...yea, he is altogether lovely..."

All of a sudden the bride abruptly stops speaking. Her mind races searching for more descriptive superlatives, then the tense silence is broken as she intensely declares: "He is altogether lovely!" Over and over she says it with a heart bursting with liberating love: "He is altogether lovely!" All I can say is, "HIS MOUTH IS MOST SWEET! THERE IS NOTHING OR NO ONE SWEETER THAN HE! HE IS ALTOGETHER LOVELY! THERE IS NO BEAUTY BEYOND HIM. HE ALONE BRINGS BEAUTY TO MY HEART AND SOUL. HE IS MY BELOVED!" What was once hideous became totally beautiful.

She thought, "Who would have imagined that a scar could be so beautiful?" At that very precise moment, the Holy Spirit flooded her mind with a vision of her Beloved’s scar. His hand became larger and larger until she could see what was imprinted in that scar: "I am the Almighty, the Bread of Life, the Chief Cornerstone, the Conqueror, the Deliverer, the Emancipator, the First and the Last, the Great Physician, the Holy One, the Image of God, the Justifier, the Keeper, the Lover of your soul, the Messiah, the Near One, the Offering, the Prince of Peace, the Quick One to bless, the Rock, the Shepherd, the Truth, the Upholder, the Vine, the Word, the Yielded One, the Zealous One!" She then exclaimed again with a loud voice of conviction: "“He is altogether lovely! O how I love Him!"

If only we could realize how powerful speaking His Word out of our mouth truly is. She had spoken to her mountain and the mountain of despair had disappeared (Mark 11:23,24). As she spoke the Word of the Living God out of her mouth, angels were activated to minister to her (Psa. 103:20; Heb. 1:13,14; Psa. 91:11,12). O yes, "His mouth is most sweet" because His Words break the yoke of bondage in our souls and stops the powers of darkness coming against the soul. Make a study of the following verses: Deut. 30:14; Psa. 8:2; 119:103; Prov. 10:11,21; 14:3; 18:7; 23:16; Matt. 4:1-11; Rev. 12:11; 19:15.

What the bride has just spoken (5:10-16) are the revelations given to her by the Beloved in intimacy of devotional fellowship with Him. She has the heart of Mary of Bethany. It was Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet and received the Word from the One with whom she was in love. Jesus said that Mary had chosen that good part which would not be taken away from her. O to have those spiritually intimate thoughts stored in the deep recesses in our heart because we sat with our Beloved and meditated upon Him. When we go through times where we have failed our Beloved, such as this bride did, the Holy Spirit will bring back to our memory His gracious and merciful Word and long forgotten glories of our Bridegroom's blessed person. Why? So that we may be healed and delivered!

He had asked her to go with Him in chapter two. Her Beloved wanted His bride to share these revelations with other lilies. He loves to see the surrendered lilies come together and share with each other the secrets He gave them in private. Our Beloved has great joy watching the angels exulting in what they hear from such gatherings. Because of this we begin to see the Lover of our souls in a much more magnificent light. This is when we are "...able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:18,19).

Dear surrendered reader, gaze upon this bride who is so in love with Him, standing there strong, all signs of her bleeding wounds have disappeared! Just look at her with the