Song of Solomon 8:6

This last chapter takes up and sets forth all the principles of the whole song... In verse 5 comes the exclamation, "Who is this that comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?" Then the Bridegroom reminds His bride that she owes everything, wholly and entirely, to His grace — all the blessing she has entered into, and her very existence as the object of His affection and the companion of His joys. It is in response to this that she cries, "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm."

She does not doubt his love, but she realises that all her blessing depends on his love, not hers... So the restored soul delights to say of Christ: "My confidence is that my name is on His heart — I have a place in His affections. My name is on His arm — I have the protection and support of His strong arm." We can trust His heart and His arm, though we cannot trust our own.

The heart and the arm (probably the shoulder) are emblems of love and strength, as always in Scripture. They may refer to the names of the twelve tribes engraved on the breastplate, and on the onyx stones on the shoulders of the high priest. The meaning will then be: set me as a seal on Your heart and shoulders. The seal is a symbol of security, for a divine seal can never be broken. Set me there, so that Your divine love may always carry me and Your divine power uphold me.

The Bridegroom's love is the ground of the bride's confidence, as the love of Christ is the ground of our confidence. This love has been proved, and found to be strong as death. Death makes sport of all man's puny strength. From the fall onwards men and death have been in mortal combat, and death has triumphed all along the line. Then at last love — love divine — went down into the dark valley and entered into combat with death. At the cross love came into conflict with death, and love triumphed. Death took away His life, but death could not take away His love. Love prevailed, because love yielded to death so that love might triumph over death.

If death takes a strong hold of a person, the grave keeps it. It is unyielding... It holds fast its prey. Beg the grave on your knees, as earnestly as you like. It will never give you back the loved one torn from your heart and buried in its deep caverns.

Almost universally people speak of jealousy in an evil sense; Scripture hardly ever does. It even speaks of a godly jealousy. The Apostle can say of believers, "I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. 11:2).

This love is so intense that it can only be compared to the consuming and purifying effects of fire — "a flame of Jah." That takes us back to the essence and greatness of its character, for love and light are the words used to express the divine nature.

We see the vehement flame of love carrying Paul through that remarkable life. He spent and was spent for the saints. He left home and ease, and faced hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, dangers, persecutions and death, constrained by the love of Christ... The flame of love that glowed in the martyrs' hearts triumphed over the flame of the fire that burned their bodies.