The Christian’s Eternal Spring in Christ

Even though our local weather men and calendars now agree that the spring season has officially arrived, we in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles know not to put away our winter clothes or plant new flowers—just yet.

All we have to do is take a quick look back at our area’s track record for snow in late March & April to keep us from getting out the storage totes and buying potting soil:

• 2017 – Rare Late April Snowfall & Blizzard
• 2016 – March 26 White Easter
• 2009 – March 26-28 Blizzard

Brrrr!

As long as we live on this earth, we will continue to have more unpredictable and unstable weather (tornado season—grrrr!) to look forward to.

While we cannot control the weather, we Christians can rest in this super-fantastic news: We have the incredible blessing of enjoying an eternal spring in Christ!

You might be wondering what I mean by “enjoying an eternal spring in Christ.”

Allow me to explain.

One of the most wonderful parts of spring is that—after a cold, harsh winter—new life starts springing up everywhere!

Multiple shades of green and brightly colored flowers (daffodils are among the first to appear) explode onto our landscapes, and the sounds of singing birds fill the atmosphere—from sunup to sundown.

Simply put, spring represents the symphony of new life.

In my opinion, there is no better place in God’s Word to see and hear this symphony of new life than right smack-dab in its middle:

“For behold, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been
heard in our land.
The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth
their fragrance.”
—Song of Songs 2:11-13

That’s right. This passage comes from the Song of Songs, a.k.a the Song of Solomon or the Canticles. 

The Song of Songs is one of the most neglected and misunderstood books in the Bible.

Just ask my mother-in-law.

When I gave her a copy of my book, His Banner over Me Is Pursuing Love, over the Song’s first two chapters, she adamantly exclaimed, “The Song of Solomon is the only book in the Bible I can’t figure out why God put there!”

For centuries, Christians have been dazed and confused by this metaphor-laden masterpiece nestled in the heart of God’s Word.

And for years, I was one of those Christians.

Until, that is, Christ started wooing me with His pursuing love through every verse.

There have been many great studies based on the Song’s literal interpretation, which celebrates love in an earthly marriage.

But you may be surprised to learn (as I was) that the Song’s allegorical, or symbolic, interpretation is its most ancient.

In fact, Rabbi Akiva, a renowned Jewish sage, defended the Song and was instrumental in its inclusion in the Tanakh. His intense passion for the book was expressed when he declared, “Heaven forbid that any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs is holy. For the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is the holy of holies (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5).”*