The following is an excerpt from The Song of the Ages Part II: The Kiss of Two Seas

Who is this that grows like the dawn,

As beautiful as the full moon…

(Song of Songs 6:10)

In this part of the Song we find the onlooking world looking at the rising Bride and they immediately compare her to the full moon… This is an absolutely staggering analogy full of revelation and insight. First of all, the moon itself is a cold rock filled with dusty craters. It hovers above the earth and continually encircles it like a constant companion. But that rock, as massive and big as it is, is completely invisible to the people of the earth—until it is positioned in such a way that the sun can shine on it.

In reality, the church is called to be a faithful friend to the people of “earth.” Unfortunately, we have often been like a cold rock to the world, filled with craters and holes, wounds and scars, division and emptiness. We have acted like dust-driven beings instead of the divine children of God. The church’s light has waxed and waned throughout time as she has gone through periods of oscillating radiance. But despite this, our great calling and identity has often been invisible to the earth. As a result, the church is often seen as distant and irrelevant—as irrelevant as a hovering rock would be to a world without sunlight. 

But when the moon is correctly positioned in front of the sun, the earth takes notice. And at one specific moment of its positioning, the moon reaches a full and complete reflection of the sun’s rays. In that moment, the beauty of the moon (which is really the beauty of the sun; the moon can take no credit) comes out in full blast. All of a sudden, the night is lit up and a glow is cast upon the earth that impresses it with a deep touch of wonder and peace. 

Such is the case with a church that is fully positioned before the light of Jesus. As the church reflects Him, our irrelevancy and coldness vanishes at light-speed. We become a true beacon of hope for the world, declaring that even though a night season is at hand, the “sun” has not left us. The moon is the evidence of a faithful sun still facing a sleeping world. Even if that world has turned from the sun, having rotated into rebellion and unbelief, the sun is ever shining with love and warmth.

Now let’s not miss the greater implication of this particular verse. This lyric is speaking of a “full moon.” It is talking about a church that fully reflects the Son. And remember, this is no longer the hopeful and prophetic words of Jesus to His doubting Bride. These are now the words of the “queens, concubines, and maidens” of the world (see v. 9) who are literally seeing a full reflection of God in the church. The weight of this statement is indescribable. This is talking about a full reflection of Jesus made visible to a world that is still lost in the darkness of sin. This is what is on the horizon of church history (and our own personal lives as we wake up to the Song of the Ages).

This verse is speaking of a day when the same glory that manifested through Jesus will shine out through His whole church. It is the coming crop, full and mature, that will have the same quality wheat as was produced by the original Seed of grain (see John 12:24). So let’s think about the original grain Himself—Jesus. He was and is gloriously beautiful. He walked in transformative love and brought hope wherever He went. He had divine authority over sickness and death. Jesus was fully confident and yet totally humble. Demons submitted to His word and men had no power over Him other than what He granted them. Jesus knew who He was and exhibited His identity in unrestrained splendor. This is the kind of stuff the entire world will see reflected in the church. 

In the Song, the other maidens are no longer seeing a cold judgmental rock filled with holes and dust, where criticism is easy to pile on, along with skepticism and avoidance. Now they are seeing the beauty of Jesus in full radiance. In other words, they are seeing the light of His glory rising upon the earth through His multiplied Body. This is the dawning of a new day for humanity through the manifestation of Christ in His church. No longer is it all about one grain of wheat stuck in religious history books. Now we are seeing a whole harvest of wheat—little Christs—who have risen as well. This is the great plan of the Father, which is hidden from many eyes, including doom-and-gloom theologians that have populated the pulpits of this world…