He Brought Me Into His Chamber! (Song 1:4)

The humility of the heart cry, “Draw me!” (Song 1:4) is one that is irresistible to God. Pray it often! Pray it with sincerity!

My experience is that you will pray it when you are desperate. You will pray it when you get a genuine glimpse of Christ’s beauty or smell His fragrance. And you will pray it when you feel powerless against all the “stuff” that tries to clutter the space between you both.

But don’t despair if you have to pray it several times, all through the day. It is for the sifting of your own conscience that you may need to do so, so you know how serious you are about having a close relationship with Christ.

For the Shulamite, she meant business. And her prayer got a speedy response:

“He brought me into His chamber,” Song 1:4.

Now exactly what took place in this “chamber moment,” (or private inner room/bedroom) we aren’t told. But it is my sense that the Shulamite became Solomon’s wife through sexual consummation. And it’s downplayed for a reason – partly because what took place for the Shulamite’s “first time” was too sacred to talk about – beyond words, really.

Eye have not seen, nor ears have not heard…what God has prepared for those who love Him, 1 Corinthians 2:9.

❤︎  1. The Custom of Preparing a Bridal Chamber

Be not troubled…My Father’s house has many rooms… I go to prepare a place for you. And I will come again, and receive you unto myself, so that where I am, you will be also, John 14:1-3.

As I’ve been contemplating “consummation,” I remembered this little nugget about ancient Jewish marriage customs:

After a couple was espoused (engaged) the man would return to his father’s house to build a home for his bride. It was typically attached to his father’s house, surrounding a central courtyard for enjoying corporate fellowship and shared life with the family. But the individual room was for the couple’s special use only. It was for them to share intimacy, private discussions, and fellowship together in their unique way, apart from the din and distraction of the outside world.

When the man finished preparing all the details of this “bridal chamber,” he would then return with a wedding party to get his bride. She didn’t know when exactly, but she did have a little warning; usually just enough time to get her stuff (already packed) and light her lantern and go out to meet him.

He would then take her back to the bridal chamber, the marriage would be consummated, and the rest of the week was one long party! :-)

Now back to Jesus saying to the disciples, “in my Father’s house are many rooms,” and “I go to prepare a place for you” …

It is first compelling to consider another ancient Jewish custom, regarding the marriage proposal and engagement. It actually corresponds to the the “last supper” that Jesus shared with His disciples!  (See this short article I posted here.) 

That being the case, Jesus’ death represents the dowry price that was necessary in a Jewish marriage contract. (“You are bought with a price,” 1 Cor. 6:20)

And then finally, after His resurrection, Christ goes away to prepare a bridal chamber in His Father’s house!

“…That where I am, you will be also.”

❤︎  2. A Brief Look at Timing

When this began to come together for me, I was curious if any of the books and commentaries I own on the Song (which number about 18) made a similar connection between Song 1:4 and Jewish marriage customs. Nothing.

At first this puzzled me, until I remembered that the common view of Jesus “preparing a place” and “coming back for us” is all future! They say it will happen at Jesus’ “second” coming.  And that these dwelling places are in heaven.

But is this true?

Partly – if we are talking about a new physical-like reality in resurrected bodies. But one thing that helps me understand a lot of confusing concepts, is to remember that God is beyond time. He can see the past, present, and future joined as one layered reality, and He can see things in the future as they already happened. The Bible doesn’t make any apologies in expressing all of the separate parts in seeming randomness. Sometimes it will say something is a past reality, other times that it is future, and then right along with it – say that it is a process unfolding that won’t happen without our participation!

So as to Jesus “coming back to get His Bride” and “bringing her to His bridal chamber,” we can understand this too, in a past, present, and future reality. They are all true.

The “past” reality is the one I am primarily dealing with in this post, however, because it’s the very ground from which our life of ongoing intimacy with God is rooted into!

❤︎  3. When the Bride Enters His Chamber

So to summarize things up to this point:
(1) There is a marriage proposal and engagement experience pictured in the last supper.
(2) There is a picture of a dowry paid, in the death of Jesus on the cross.
(3) Then upon His ascension, Jesus returns to His Father to prepare a home for His bride.

So the next question is….When did Jesus come back for His bride and enter with her into His prepared chamber?

Well, if you remember, after Jesus was resurrected, and before He returned to God, he paid His followers some visits in His spirit body telling them about an experience they would have of receiving “power from on high.”^⁠1 He told them to wait (like a bride would eagerly wait) because, “in a little while you won’t see me, but then in a little while you will.”^⁠2

Then when the fulness of time came, the disciples were gathered together “in one accord” in an upper room waiting, according to Jesus’ instructions. It was at this perfect “time of love”^⁠3 that we then have a picture of Christ coming (in the form of His invisible spirit) and “filling” the people gathered there. 

And the resulting ecstasy of union between them and God? Well, if you know the story, it could only be expressed in something beyond words. :-)

So from this point on, the mystery was revealed. The mystery of “Christ in us.”^⁠4 The mystery that We (our bodies) are the actual dwelling place of Christ’s Spirit! We, each as individuals, are the smaller rooms within the larger house (the Father’s house) that Christ has prepared (and is still preparing) for sweet fellowship and intimacy!

By this we know we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He has given us [through consummation] of His Spirit,” 1 John 4:13.

He in us and us in Him…this is oneness with God on its basic foundation.

❤︎  But Be Filled Again and Again!

The beautiful thing about the Song, and the reason I love it so much, is that it takes a lot of words (like all that I wrote above) and simplifies it down to a relationship between a man and a woman. You don’t have to know a lot of Jewish customs, or the Writings, in order to unpack a whole lot from that. Like the fact that a husband and wife aren’t intimate just once, and call it a life. Even as we too give evidence in our lives of being the bride of Christ by being filled with the Spirit again and again, and feeling grieved whenever the Spirit is quenched by our spiritual dryness!^⁠5

The Shulamite may have had a “first time” experience in the opening of the Song, and whether it was as amazing as the second time, or the 50^th time – we don’t know – and that part doesn’t matter.  There is a process to learning how to intimately dance together, and is different all the time and for every couple. And it is so much more than orgasm and the giving and receiving of seed. 99.9% of it is all the little acts of kindness and faithfulness shared between a couple, including the many ways they notice and call attention to each other’s beauty and virtues. Or another way of putting it…foreplay to orgasm is what you do the other 24 hours and 55 minutes of the day!

Sadly, most people who profess to be Christ’s do not have a rich spiritual life with Him, as these two have in the physical. They may believe they are the Bride of Christ, in theory, but their lives don’t feel or show it. They go about their days weighed down by all the cares and pleasures of this life, even staying busy for God, but as to a healthy spiritual inner life – it is at best like a couple who just live together as friends. If there is an ongoing experience of being “one” with God, it is a reality they see as off in the future, instead of something that can be realized and walked in right now.

Again, that’s why in this post I wanted to talk about our position in Christ, as seen from past events that He already accomplished. If we believe we are born from above and have the Spirit because of Christ’s work, then the serious question to ask is, “What now?” Is it really reasonable to rest on a first-time experience and no longer expect more? What does that say about our relationship with Him, and the great cost that He paid to have us, if we don’t give Him our all in return? 

A great thing to do once in a while, is go back to the simplicity of the prayer that the Shulamite starts off with, which is what I’ve also been praying again lately:

“Draw me, O God! Yes, draw me to that vulnerable place of encountering You again as You really are, and You encountering me as I really am. Not just once, as when you first awakened me and filled me with Your spirit. But like You, I long to share tender moments like that over and over again! Help me be more sensitive to those times You are nudging and pulling me into our secret place, or call me out of my slumber or busyness to meet You there. Take pleasure in me O God. I don’t want to ever miss a single moment of your sweet presence in my life!”

¹ Luke 24:49, John 14:16-18 /  ² John 16:16 /  ³ Ezekiel 16:8 /  ⁴ Colossians 1:26-27 /  ⁵ Ephesians 5:18, 4:30, 1Thessalonians 5:19