Rediscovering the Song of All Songs: Encountering Jesus in the Song of Solomon (Part 1)

The most transformative message I’ve ever encountered didn’t come through a revival meeting, a deep dive into systematic theology, or even a breakthrough or a power encounter with God. All of those things have shaped my life profoundly, but the message that altered me at my core came through one of the most unexpected books in the Bible: the Song of Solomon.

For years, I skipped over it. The pages were still stuck together in my paper Bible. When I finally did read it, I found myself thinking, “What is this doing in Scripture?” Lines like “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” and metaphors about necks like towers didn’t resonate with a heart hungry for revival, holiness, and the fear of the Lord. But after years in ministry and a season of near burnout, the Lord ultimately changed my life through that very book.

At first glance, the Song of Solomon appears to be ancient love poetry. But the Church throughout most of history has understood it to be a prophetic allegory. This book is a poetic portrayal of the love between Jesus, the Bridegroom King, and His people, the Church, His bride.

This isn’t a modern interpretive twist. For thousands of years, Jewish rabbis and Christian theologians alike read this book as a spiritual narrative. Only in the past century has it been reduced to a literal marriage manual. But in truth, it’s one of the clearest pictures in all of Scripture of how God thinks and feels about His people.

Where Romans gives us the legal framework of salvation, Song of Solomon gives us the emotional expression of God’s heart. It doesn’t just explain what God did for us. It reveals why He did it: because He loves us with burning desire and affection.

Let me just say this clearly. This message isn’t just for the women’s ministry or the marriage retreat. In fact, men may need it more than anyone. When Paul commands husbands to “love your wives as Christ loved the Church,” how can a man do that if he’s never actually received and understood how Christ loves him? If you don’t know the love of the Bridegroom, you’ll never be able to reflect it to your wife.

The Song of Solomon isn't gendered. It’s identity-shaping. We are all the bride of Christ. That isn’t a call to embrace femininity. It’s a call to embrace intimacy, partnership, and covenant love with Jesus.

On another level, this book is deeply prophetic. The Book of Revelation tells us Jesus is returning as a Bridegroom King for a bride ready for her wedding. Song of Solomon prepares us for that moment. It gives us language for the bridal identity we are called to embrace, not just as a future reality but as a present-day lifestyle of intimacy and delight in God.

Chapter one starts with a cry for an encounter with God:
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth—for your love is better than wine.”
— Song of Solomon 1:2

The opening verses set the stage for the entire journey. Allegorically speaking, the “kiss” is not romantic. It’s the kiss of revelation. It’s the request for the Word of God, which comes from His mouth, to touch our hearts in a deep, personal, transformative way. It’s an invitation to let Jesus reveal Himself to us in a way that awakens love.

Next, she makes a bold statement: Your love is better than wine.
Wine, in Scripture, often symbolizes natural pleasures, comforts, and joys. To say His love is better than wine is to say, Your love satisfies me more than anything this world can offer. That is the starting point of a spiritual journey we are all meant to walk. It’s about coming to know the love of God as powerful and pleasureful above every other earthly delight.

What we find out from the maiden in the Song is that desire is the doorway to encounter.
Spiritual hunger itself is a sign that God is at work in your life. You may think you're just desperate or frustrated or tired of empty religion, but that longing, that ache, is the beginning. It’s evidence of Heaven’s pull on your heart.

The key to encounter with God is spiritual hunger. The surest sign that God is moving in someone’s life is not how emotional they get during worship. It’s how deeply they long for more of Him. Desire is the doorway, and Song of Solomon opens with desire: “Let Him kiss me…”

The book doesn’t stop with desire. It immediately introduces tension:
“I am dark but lovely…” — Song of Solomon 1:5

This is the internal conflict most believers live with. We feel the blemish of our weakness, our failure, and our sin, and yet God calls us lovely. That paradox sits at the heart of intimacy with Jesus. He sees all our brokenness and says, I desire you. I delight in you.

Song of Solomon dismantles the performance-based mentality that says, “God loves me more when I do well and less when I fail.” Chapter one alone dismantles that lie. It reveals a God who is steady in His affections, unwavering in His delight, and determined to bring His bride into full maturity by love, not pressure.

The cry of the maiden becomes this:
“Draw me away with you. Let us run together.” — Song of Solomon 1:4

This is the Christian life in a single phrase. First, we are drawn by love into intimacy. Then, from that place, we run with Him into kingdom impact. You were made to encounter love and to run with the One who loves you. That is the first and second commandments joined together: love God, then love others from that overflow.

I spent years chasing power, performance, and ministry fruit. And though God used me, I would hit the wall in certain seasons and find my heart very dry and close to burnout. When the message of Song of Solomon began to hit my heart, God began to rewire my understanding of who He is and how He feels about me. I was never the same.

I became less harsh. More tender. My marriage changed. My emotions began to heal. My relationship with God was no longer rooted in striving, but in being loved and living from that place. This transformation is available to anyone who wants it. You weren’t made to run on human zeal. You were made to live by love. Song of Solomon offers a powerful path to bring you into the love of God almost like nothing else.