Song of Solomon 8:1

Love, or desire towards another, takes different forms in the heart. There is the love of pity, the love of gratitude, and the love of admiration... But in addition to this, there is the love of kindred. It has its foundation in nature, and so it is called "natural affection." And this love of kindred has a glory all its own. It allows the deepest closeness. There is full ease in going out and coming in. No one thinks expressions of love intrusive; they are welcomed as right and fitting. The heart knows its right to indulge itself over its object, without check or shame... The love of kindred, the love of those who live in one house, whom nature or the hand of God has bound together, feels its right to please itself, and is not afraid of being rebuked. See, for instance, Song of Songs 8:1.

These verses clearly take us back, not forward, in the position and experience of the bride... here we are led back to the foundation of everything she has passed through to reach this point: the deep desire of her heart for unhindered, unrestrained communion with Messiah, the King. She desires the full liberty of kindred affection. "Oh that you were as my brother!" This answers to the beginning of the book: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine."

Here the bride expresses the love that she had expressed from the first. Here again is a proof that the marriage had not yet taken place, because there would be nothing to be ashamed of when it did.

The bride is not content with the secret expression of her love for the Bridegroom. She desires that all might know her love to the King. Oh that you were as my brother, she says, then indeed I could show my love in front of everyone, and nothing would be out of place... To express our love to Christ in a world that has rejected Him will call down the hatred of the world; but the time is coming when without hindrance we can publicly witness our love to Christ without being despised.

Song of Songs 8:1 gives us a passage which may express the state of mind dealt with in the book... Still, the Spirit of God wants to assure the heart of the remnant of the Saviour's love. So the heart's expressed desire to have its Beloved does not stop until it has gained its object. The heart assures itself as the Spirit of prophecy works in it. For in fact Christ is for the remnant, and the remnant is for Him. The whole is based on this.

Her affections are aroused, her desire goes out to Him, but she holds back for fear she would be despised... She has not in the past walked as one who knew Him; her conduct has not shown that she was His. How often believers fail to show in their daily walk that they belong to Christ. It is a good thing when they come to see this. They have forfeited all right to expect others to believe they have a relationship with Him. They begin to realise how much they have lost by their neglect, and their desire for more intimate relationship with Him is deepened.