Blossoms are appearing! The season of songbirds has come, and the cooing of doves is being heard in the land.  Song 2:12

My family used to raise doves, and sell the babies to pet stores. It was fairly easy, since they mated for life. And mated a lot! In fact, that is one of the unique things above doves. When our doves weren’t eating or sleeping, they were preening and loving on each other. The male constantly did a courtship dance, too.  “Coo-Coo-Wah,” (with head bow) and he’d repeat it over and over until his female was finally receptive to him. [see video]
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I am going to boldly say that this image and the verse above is prophetic, and not just because we are well into the season of blossoms and birds making babies right now. It is also a season that the Bridegroom is working hard to woo His bride to love Him, and love each other, deeply. This is no longer a generic doctrinal love, nor a temporal fleshly love. It is a loyal, passionate, and life-giving love that physical marriage is only a shadow of.

Listen for this heavenly song. Discern who is singing it and who is not. The song precedes His desired intimacy. And this intimacy is so powerful that it is going to shake both heaven and earth!

Focus, Vulnerability, and Death

Look at you! How beautiful you are, my darling. Look at you! You have the eyes of a dove.  Song 1:15

How stricken Solomon is, seeing the Shulamite arrive from her journey, riskily standing before him in the midst of the ‘shepherd’s camp’ with her bright eyes peeking through her veil (i.e. of flesh). And then, her use of scents to turn her thoughts to loving him. All of this caused the King to notice and value her “dove eyes.”

Notice it wasn’t her “eagle eyes” that he commended. There’s a difference. Have you ever noticed that doves can’t get-away from danger as quickly as other birds? We lived in the country, and once in awhile a hawk would swoop down to our bird feeders and get a mourning dove. It may be because dove eyes have a remarkably wide scope of vision, but they have a single focal point. They can only focus on what is in front of them. And when they do, this makes them vulnerable to enemies. Perhaps this adds meaning to why a pair of doves was a sacrifice for the poor who could not afford a lamb.¹ This gentle bird, focused on love, is as much a picture of Jesus Christ, as it is of the Bride suffering the same treatment as her Lord.

No Shadow of Turning

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.  James 1:17

I need to warn any readers here. It’s no coincidence that what is about to unfold in the Song from this point on is very intimate and life-giving. Intimacy must have a loving atmosphere – and a loving look – in order to thrive.

On the other hand if you’ve ever looked into the eyes of suspicion, fear, or disinterest, for example, you know what it looks like to look into a stranger. That person might be your dearest friend, but if their eyes are shadowed by lies, you feel like prey. There is no true intimacy in this environment.  Doves “see” each other deeply. They know who is theirs, and they have a heart to bring each other back into focus.

The fellowship of doves. It all begins with the eyes.

If the eye is single [like a dove focused on one thing], the whole body [you and the Ekklesia on the earth] is full of light.  But if it be bad, the body will be dark.  In fact if your light is darkness [hypocrisy], how dark that is!  Matthew 6:22-23

¹ Luke 2:24