The Bible, in the most pure and holy sense, is the record of a divine romance, the romance of a universal couple— God in Christ as the Husband and His redeemed people as the wife. Often in the Old Testament the Lord refers to Himself as the Husband and to His people as His wife (Isa. 54:5; 62:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:32; Ezek. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19). This divine romance is portrayed in full in Song of Songs, where the seeking one again and again speaks of her beloved, who is a type of Christ as our Beloved, our Husband. In Song of Songs 1:16 the seeker says, with a sense of appreciation, “Behold, thou art fair, my beloved.” In 2:3 she both appreciates and enjoys him: “As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.” An apple tree is not only for appreciation but also for enjoyment. She sits under his shadow enjoying rest and feeds on his sweet fruit for satisfaction. Finally, in 8:14 she urges him to come quickly: “Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.”
The type of the beloved in Song of Songs is fulfilled in the New Testament. Christ is revealed as our Husband, and the believers are revealed as His counterpart, as His wife. In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul says, “I betrothed you to one Husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.” Here Paul is saying that Christ is the unique, universal Husband for us to love. He, the most lovely One, has attracted us, and we have been presented as a pure virgin to Him. Now we should love Him, treasure Him, and care only for Him, allowing no one to replace Him in our hearts. Our love for Him should be pure, and our whole being should be focused on Him, our Beloved, our Husband.
Isaiah 9:2 speaks of a great light shining in darkness. Matthew 4:16, which is a quotation of this verse and its fulfillment, applies it to Christ: “The people sitting in darkness saw a great light, and to those sitting in a region and shadow of death, to them light sprang up.” When Christ departed from Jerusalem to Galilee, He was a great light shining in darkness. At His birth He was a star, but in His ministry He was a great light. One day He said, “I have come a light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46). Christ came to this world as the shining of light, the manifestation of God as light (John 12:46; Heb. 1:3), so that men would not remain in darkness but believe in this light and thereby become sons of light (John 12:36).
The light in Matthew 4:16 is Christ as the light of life (John 8:12) shining in darkness. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). When Christ, the embodiment of the divine life, shines within us as the light of life, we are under His enlightening. Having received Him as the expression of God, we have Christ within us as our life (Col. 3:4), and this life is the light shining within us. Therefore, the divine light is the divine life in the Son operating in us. This light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it (John 1:5). When we follow this light, the light of life, we shall by no means walk in darkness (John 8:12).
Isaiah 42:6 says that God will give Christ for a light of the Gentiles. This sign is fulfilled in Luke 2:32 which says that God has prepared “a light for revelation of the Gentiles.” This was the word of the righteous and devout man Simeon, in praise to God regarding the newborn Christ. Christ is not only the glory of God’s people Israel; He is also the light for the Gentiles, who are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise (Eph. 2:12).
Luke 1:69 says, “And raised a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant.” This horn of salvation which was typified by the horn of God’s anointed, David the king (1 Sam. 2:10; Psa. 132:17), is Jesus the Savior, who came out of the house of David (Jer. 23:5-6). A horn signifies fighting power. Hence, the horn of salvation is the fighting power of God’s salvation in the house of David. The phrase “the house of David” indicates that this salvation is in the humanity of the Lord Jesus.