When God made mankind, He made us male and female, and
commanded us to multiply (Gen. 1:26-28). Therefore, sexual attraction has been
built into us by our Creator. God married the first two human beings by
marching Eve down the aisle and presenting her to Adam as a comparable helper
(Gen. 2:18). Adam complimented Eve by saying, ‘This is now bone
of my bones and
flesh of my flesh; she
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man’ (Gen, 2:23). Of course, Adam’s romantic raptures about his wife were
short lived. They soon fell into sin. Adam then began blaming God and Eve for his
problems (Gen. 3:12). However, like the great Counsellor He is, God poured the
good oil on troubled waters by promising them a Redeemer, One that would come
from their own loins (Gen. 3:15).
To me a romantic evening with
my wife consists of good food complemented with fine wine and soft music. Am I
on the right track?
In the most romantic Book of
the Bible, Solomon and the Shulamite show us how to do romance. They pay each
other poetic compliments throughout The Song of Solomon. She says of him,
‘He brought me to the banqueting house [the house of wine], and his banner over me was love. Sustain me with cakes of raisins,
refresh me with apples,
for I am lovesick’
(Song 3:4-5). She says, ‘Behold, you are handsome my beloved!” (Song 1:16), “May the wine go straight to my
beloved, flowing
gently over lips and teeth. I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for
me’ (Song 7:9b-10 NIV). We wonder if this allusion to wine is a good
translation, that is, until we remember that Solomon had immediately just
said to his wife, ‘the
fragrance of your breath [is] like apples, and your mouth like the best wine’
(Song 7:8b-9a). Yes, now we understand why she says, ‘May the wine go straight to my
beloved.’ However, let us also remember that God has given us the ‘wine that makes glad the heart
of man’ (Psa. 104:15a).
The Shulamite says of her husband, ‘Let
him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is better than wine’
(Song 1:2). And Solomon says of his wife, ‘How fair is your love,
my sister, my spouse!
How much better than wine is
your love’ (Song 4:10a). So, what are we to conclude? Love is better than wine!
This means that a couple’s desire for each other is much stronger than any
desire for wine, and, sadly, we know how addicted to wine some people can be.
We must not let anything spoil the romance.
What does it all mean? Romance, as illustrated by Solomon and the Shulamite, is a picture of Christ and His Church. He overtures us, but not because we are beautiful. As the Shulamite had become ‘darkened by the sun’ (Song 1:5), so the fall has affected Christ’s bride. But she says, ‘I am dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon’ (Song 1:6). The Shulamite’s real beauty is in Solomon's love for her. Her beauty is in her praises of him! Likewise, the beauty of Christ’s bride is in her praises of Him. And remember, ‘Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases’ (Song 2:7b). If romance is to work properly, it must go both ways, ‘We love Him because He first loved us’ (1 John 4:19 NKJV).
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