June 29 ▪ Day 180

Scripture Readings

Psalms 62:1
Song of Solomon 5–6
Revelation 19–20
Proverbs 30

Verse Focus (Psalms 62:1)

Truly my soul finds rest in God;
     my salvation comes from him.

Meditation

Psalms 62:1 is lovely. “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him,” says the NIV. The ESV says, “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.” I love how these two translations capture the slightly different meanings of the Hebrew words. Finding rest in God, and waiting in silence for God. If it weren’t for this verse, it wouldn’t have occurred to me that these are actually related things.

When I find rest in God, I think of that in terms of gaining His peace. But rest is also restorative. Refreshing, sustaining, renewing. And God is truly the only source of such regeneration. That makes sense, of course, considering that God is the one who gives us life and breath. When we wait upon Him, we reconnect the portion of His breath that we carry to the vastness of His being — it cannot help but revitalize us.

When we wait in silence for God, we still ourselves. We hush the demands of everyday life, release our worries and fears, and rest in the sufficiency of His grace. We focus our attention on Him. We rekindle our understanding of His sovereignty. We come into His presence. As we wait, we are expectant — listening. God desires to communicate with us; we long to hear what He has to say. And sometimes He doesn’t speak in words, but converses with us only through our imperfect recognition of His power and glory.

“My salvation” is a million different things, and it is the only thing needed. God saves us from our cares and burdens. He saves us from our sin and wickedness. He cleanses and renews us. He gives us the help we need, with whatever issue or problem confronts us. He redeems us and gives our life meaning.

Father God, I’m so grateful that you are our Savior. I always need saving in one respect or another. I’m grateful that I can come to you and wait; you give me what I need, whatever it is that I need — whether it is emotional, spiritual, intellectual, or physical — you provide. Thank you. Thank you for Jesus, our Mediator. I pray in his name, Amen.

In Song of Solomon chapter 5, the husband speaks of enjoying pleasures in his garden. The friends of the couple encourage them to have their “fill of love (v. 1).” Then begins a new sequence, similar to the dream in chapter 3, in which the bride hears her lover knocking at the door. At first reluctant to move, the bride rises to open the door only to find her beloved has gone. She goes out in search of him, but is not able to find him. The city watchmen find her as she is out looking for her husband; they beat her and take away her veil (actually more of a mantle — a kind of light garment that is thrown over the rest of a woman’s clothing). The bride charges the daughters of Jerusalem to pass along a message to her husband if they find him. “Tell him I am sick with love,” she says in verse 8. The daughters ask what makes this man so special, that they should pass along her message. And so for the rest of the chapter the bride describes how handsome and distinguished her husband is.

Chapter 6 continues the narrative from the previous chapter as the friends, or daughters of Jerusalem, ask where the husband has gone. But then the poem switches to a time when the lovers enjoy each other in their marriage bed. She replies to the friends that her husband has gone to his garden. The groom then speaks, praising his wife’s beauty and her physical attributes. Translations differ as to whom they think is speaking when the question is asked in verse 10; whether interpreters see the bride or the groom speaking in verse 11 also differs.

As chapter 6 ends, friends or daughters of Jerusalem call for the bride to return. They address her as the “Shulammite.” In the last verse, the husband asks why they should gaze upon the Shulammite when they observe the dance of the “two armies.” I interpret this as a poetical reference to the dance of the two lovers.

When the friends address the bride as the Shulammite in verse 13, most interpret this as a reference to the town or place that the bride came from. Since there is no record of a town called Shulem, some scholars think that the name is synonomous with Shunammite, that is a person from Shunem, which was a village in the tribe of Issachar, north of Jezreel and south of Mount Gilboa. Others think that Shulem might be a variant for Salem, and believe that Solomon’s bride came from Jerusalem. An alternate interpretation of this name comes from the fact that it is only used for the bride after their marriage. Shulammite means “peaceful” and they see it as her married name, as a feminine version of Solomon, which also means “peaceful.” Personally, I lean towards this last interpretation. 🙂

Chapter 5, verse 2 begins, “I slept, but my heart was awake.” When the husband knocks at the door, some see this entire sequence as a dream that the bride has, while others interpret that she woke up and that these describe real events. Obviously, whether it is a dream or meant to be real will affect how you interpret what is going on in this chapter. If this is a dream, interpreters see it as the bride’s fear of losing her husband. She also fears herself to be insufficient, and thus the delay in answering her husband’s knock. That is why she wants the daughters of Jerusalem to tell her husband how much she loves him. Allegorically speaking, interpreters see the delay in answering Christ’s knock as a kind of backsliding. So to have Christ “disappear” and to suffer reproach at the hands of the watchmen is a consequence of the bride’s prior sinful neglect.

Chapter 6, verse 3 is a nice reprise of chapter 2, verse 16. Song of Songs 2:16 says, “My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies.” Song of Songs 6:3 says, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies.” Does this show a progression in love? In courtship, the bride is possessive and sees the lover as first belonging to her; now, in marriage, the bride sees herself as belonging first to her husband. But the ownership is mutual, an important understanding for Christ and his Church.

Revelation 19 shows us the rejoicing that occurs in heaven once the prostitute Babylon has been judged. They rejoice that her influence is gone, and that those she killed have been avenged. It is also the signal that it is time for the Wedding Supper of the Lamb and his bride, the Church. In verse 9, the angel instructs John to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”

We see a vision of Jesus, riding on a white horse. He is called “Faithful and True” because “in righteousness he judges and makes war (v. 11).” His eyes blaze fire; he wears many crowns. His robe is dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. He is marked by the name “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” but he also has a secret name that only he knows. A sharp sword comes from his mouth.

At first the white horse made me wonder if Jesus was also the first horseman of the Apocalypse, but then I saw that his entire army are all riding white horses.

I have read Revelation many times, and there are many things I have not understood about this book. However, it wasn’t until today when I read this chapter that I really understood that the “Marriage Supper” of the Lamb is not a banquet, but the final battle between Christ and his forces and the beast and his armies of the East. It is only a banquet for the birds that will feast on the flesh of the dead.

The Lamb’s forces win, of course. The beast and the false prophet (also known as the second beast) are both thrown alive into the lake of burning fire. The rest of the forces are slain by the sword that comes out of the Lamb’s mouth — the two-edged sword sometimes identified as Scripture, or the Word of God.

Revelation 20 records what happens after the marriage supper — the two beasts have been captured and thrown into the lake of fire with burning sulfur. Now the dragon — Satan — is also bound and thrown into the abyss, that is, the bottomless pit. Verse 2 tells us, though, that Satan will only be bound for 1,000 years. “After that he must be released for a little while (v. 3).”

Those who had been slain because of their testimony about Jesus (those who had not submitted to the beast or taken its mark) are raised to life again and they reign with Jesus during the thousand years that the dragon is bound up. The “rest of the dead” are not resurrected until after the thousand years are ended (v. 5). The chapter gives us a few important definitions, telling us that those who get resurrected to reign with Christ during the thousand years are part of “the first resurrection (v. 5).” Those who blessed enough to participate in the first resurrection need not fear the “second death (v. 6),” which we are told in verses 14 and 15 is when someone whose name is not written in the book of life is committed to the lake of fire.

Chapter 20 gives a very brief overview what will happen. The devil will be released from the pit; he will try to deceive “the nations (v. 7).” Satan and his armies — an uncounted multitude — will try to surround God’s people, but fire from heaven will destroy them. Satan will be thrown into the lake of burning fire, just as the beast and the false prophet were thrown in there a thousand years earlier. It is a place of endless torment.

Then comes the judgment of the dead. John describes seeing a “great white throne and him who was seated on it (v. 11).” The earth and the sky flee away from the presence of the One on the throne (v. 11). All the dead are judged according to what has been written in the books about what they have done. If their names are not found written in the book of life, they are thrown into the lake of burning fire. After all the dead have been judged, even Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of burning fire. This is, John tells us, the second death.

Over the past two thousand years, Christians have had many different ideas about the book of Revelation. Theology differs on how to understand the thousand year reign of Christ, known as the Millenium. Sometimes what distinguishes one denomination of Christianity from another is how they interpret prophecy of the end times. For a general overview of the major different views on the Millenium, there’s a brief article on the Internet here: Ligonier Ministries: The Millenium: When Is It?

Verse 11 tells us that the earth and the sky “flee away” from the One on the throne. This reminds me of how the islands and the mountains disappear at the final judgment (Revelation 6’s sixth seal and Revelation 16’s seventh bowl). It makes me wonder if this is yet another re-telling of something that we heard earlier. Is it a signal of what will happen immediately before the dead are judged?

I continue to pray for wisdom in understanding this book.

Proverbs 30 begins another section of the anthology of wisdom that is the book of Proverbs. Here, we have the “words of Agur son of Jakeh (v. 1).” Agur’s section comprises only this one chapter.

I have always loved the first verse. “The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out.” If the Hebrew is vocalized a different way, the verse gets translated as “The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal.” But I have always identified with crying out to God when you are emotionally exhausted.

Today the verse that strikes me is verse 5. As the CSB says, “Every word of God is pure; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.” The CSB tells me that the word translated as “pure” literally means “refined.” The ESV translates the first part of the verse, saying, “Every word of God proves true.” Verse 6 is an interesting addendum. “Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” It’s tempting to tell someone that something is in the Bible when it’s not — especially when you want a reason why young children should do what you’re telling them to do! But here Scripture — God Himself! — warns us not to give in to that temptation.

Father God, thank you that your words are pure. Thank you that your Word proves true, time and again. Help us to continue to take refuge in you and your Word. Continue to give us wisdom and insight to understand the Bible. Do not let us twist or misuse your Word. May your Holy Spirit dwell within us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.