Our Beloved Christ is Radiant and Ruddy
4/30 Reading Portions: Numbers 7; Psalm 42-43; Song of Solomon 5; Hebrews 5
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4/30 Reading Portions: Numbers 7; Psalm 42-43; Song of Solomon 5; Hebrews 5
Song of Solomon 5:10
My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
DISTINGUISHED
Here, in Solomon’s wonderful song, is a statement exalting both Christ’s deity and humanity. As God, our Beloved is radiant. Although the Lord Jesus laid aside His glory as eternal God, He never stopped being God; for the Self-existent, Self-sufficient, and absolutely perfect God of truth can neither deny Himself nor be something He is not. And though Jesus set aside His heavenly robes for the incarnation when He walked upon the earth, the Lord Jesus was still more glorious than any eye had ever witnessed, or any life had ever encountered. Of His deity, the apostle tells the Colossians,
For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. Colossians 2:9
In Hebrews we read,
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, Hebrews 1:3
Our Savior is not only everlasting God as the Son, but is also fully Man, for He is ruddy, or reddish. The original Hebrew word is a derivative of Adam’s name, and it is the very same name given to Esau when he sold his birthright for some red stew. Though Jesus was a flesh and bone Man, and no different from any other human being in body and appearance, He was quite distinguished among ten thousand because His blood was pure and untainted since He was virgin-born. As such, He was perfect and sinless, unique and distinct from all other men. As Man, Jesus represented men before God, as well as God before men,
being designated by God a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 5:10
In His mission and ministry upon earth, Jesus was the heavenly Father’s beloved Son, in whom God was well-pleased. Since God has saved us by His grace through Christ, Jesus is our cherished Beloved because the Lord Jesus left the glories of heaven to become a Man, and as a Man, died upon a tree for you and me. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
My Beloved is God and Man,
Though its truth’s hard to understand;
Yet, I believe and trust God’s plan,
For my sins pierc’d Christ’s precious hand.