THOU ART FAIR!

THOU ART FAIR!

“Behold, thou art fair, my love: behold, thou art fair: thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks; thy hair is as a flock of goats; that appear from Mount Gilead”, says the Heavenly Bridegroom looking at the earthly bride who has looked down upon herself lamenting over her black complexion and ugliness, in verse 1 of Chapter 4 in the Song of Songs. Beloved of Jesus, your Savior standing by your side asks you to take your eyes off your mirror, and behold His mirror. Oh, the image on His mirror is just opposite to the image reflected on your mirror. Holding this heavenly mirror in His hand, Jesus says twice, “Thou art fair”. You may doubt His words as you hear it once. So He emphasizes His words by way of repetition. Dear reader, it is none but you whom Jesus addresses, “thou art fair”. Don’t look upon your past life – even the life you have lived yesterday. Today, you are fair in His eyes because the living Blood of Jesus has cleansed you. The divine Author of the Song of Songs does not call you “sinner” or “black person”. However, the prophetic books address you just opposite. The first book of the Prophets, Isaiah, describes your condition as follows:“Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters; they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward” (Is.1: 4). Prophet Isaiah says, "your whole head is sick, and your whole heart faints; from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment" (Is.1: 5-6).

Behold the crucified Savior! He became black and had no form or comeliness; there is no beauty that we desire Him (Is.53: 2) in order to make you fair, and without spot.

Jesus calls you “My love”. You are His love. You have to look fair only in His eyes. You may not look beautiful before the eyes of the daughters of Jerusalem, the people of God. Never mind.

You have doves’ eyes within your locks. The eyes of doves testify innocence, meekness, peace and non-violence. Your eyes are behind your veil. No human being or even the Devil can comprehend your eyes behind the veil. A doctor may comprehend the eyes of a patient suffering a particular disease. Seeing your eyes behind your veil, Jesus is reminded of the gentle qualities of a dove you are required to possess as His bride. Instead of exposing the lack of such qualities in His bride and exhorting her in long words to imbibe them, the loving Lord simply testifies, “thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes”. This is like a loving mother telling her naughty son, “You are a good boy”, rather than, “Be good and behave well”. This is the mystery of the Song of Songs, which a few like you can understand.

Your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead. The long hair of a woman is a glory to her and is given her for a covering (I Cor.11: 15). To a bride, hair is more precious than gold ornaments. Her glory lies in the long hair. Likewise, Jesus has covered you with His glory, which He received of the Father (Jn 17:22). The Author of the Song admires the glory of the bride. This is compared to a flock of goats that go down Mount Gilead. It is like the beautiful black, wavy fleece of a flock of the Arabian goats. The goats are not seen individually but in a herd. The beautiful black fleece of the flock is compared to the glory of God covering the Church. Every goat has lost its individual identity in the flock as it follows the shepherd. Likewise, every child of God has to shed his/her individual identity as he/she follows the great Shepherd.

The Mount Gilead is a rocky or strong mountain whence Gideon fought the Midianites (Jud.7: 3). Jesus, the great Shepherd, has kept you on this spiritual mountain where you find abundance of spiritual food and where He prepares you for a spiritual war against the devilish spirits likened to the Midianites.

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