Have You Ever Been Kissed by the King?

February, the month of love, is right around the corner.

This is a time when we focus on celebrating those we love in special ways.

A time when we want those we love to feel loved by us.

Because everyone wants to feel loved, right?

We were made for love.

That’s why God created us.

So that we could be the precious recipients of His extravagant affection.

In the very first line of dialogue in the Song of Songs, the Shulammite maiden (Christ’s bride, the believer in Christ) passionately declares her heart’s intense longing for the King (Christ) to express His personal affection for her:

“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine.”
—Song 1:2

Interestingly, the word “kiss” comes from the Hebrew root word nasaq, which means “to kindle, make a fire, burn.”

Kisses are the most romantic expression of love between two people.

In every love story, whether a novel or movie, we can hardly wait for the hero and heroine to share their first kiss.

Now, for the spiritual parallel: the mouth is a symbol for the spoken and written Word of God, so the meaning of this verse for the bride is, “May He express His personal affection for me through the kisses of His Word.”

Her soul has been awakened to Christ’s exclusive love and affection for her.

Instead of seeing herself among the crowd of God so loved the world, she is beginning to see herself standing alone in her Bridegroom’s affectionate gaze.

Watchman Nee, an influential Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early twentieth century, writes of the kisses between Christ and His bride: “No one can kiss two people at the same time. A kiss is an expression of a personal relationship.”

Each one of us needs the personal revelation of “I am Jesus’ one and only true love.”

Your brain may be going tilt-tilt right now, thinking that sounds arrogant and absurd.

But I urge you to agree that all things are possible with God (Matt. 19:26).

You have utterly and completely captured His heart—forever.

To see and experience yourself as Jesus’ one and only true love will not puff you up, but instead will cause you to fall head over heels in love with the One whose personal kisses continually ignite your heart.

I have a question for you.

When you think about His love for you, do you see yourself standing among a crowd or exclusively His?

One way I experience Jesus’ kisses is when I am meditating in His Word and —all of a sudden—it seems to leap off the page and into my heart.

I will never forget one of those times.

I was reading Galatians 2:20, where the apostle Paul is writing of the believer’s union with Christ: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Song of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (KJV).

The phrase “the faith of the Son of God” leapt off the page and into my heart.

Christ caused me to realize that because of my spiritual union with Him in His crucifixion and resurrection, I now have His faith living in me!

I am one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:17).

And if He lives in my spirit, then His attributes, which include His faith, belong to me.

What a kiss!

I immediately started bawling like a baby, and in my mind’s eye, I saw a picture of Him kissing me all over my face.

Now that’s personal and real.

I will never again believe the lie that I do not have enough faith.

I will walk by the faith of the One who not only gave His life “for” me but also gave His life “to” me.

A “kiss from the King” communicates a special truth to us, whether it is through meditation on His Word or through any other means He chooses to reveal His personal affection for us.

Through Christ’s kisses, He causes objective truths to become personal to us.

You were kissed by the King when you heard the gospel and believed in Him.

I like to call this “Love’s truest kiss.”

In the same way, true love’s kiss brought Snow White back to life, our salvation (Love’s truest kiss) is our union with Christ’s eternal life.

Later in the Song of Songs, we see how much the Shulammite maiden (Christ’s bride) has grown in her love for the King as a result of personally experiencing the kisses she is asking for in Song 1:2.

I love the paraphrase of The Message:

“His words are kisses, his kisses words.
Everything about him delights me, thrills me
through and through!”
—Song 5:16

These are the words of one who has allowed herself to be loved by a King who is passionately in love with her and, as a result, has fallen head over heels in love with Him.

We have a a King who wants us to know through personal experience that He is in love with us.

I hope you enjoyed this post that was adapted from my first book, His Banner over Me Is Pursuing Love: An Intimate, Interactive Study of the Song of Solomon, Chapters 1 and 2.

My second book is a devotional spinoff of this study called Fifty Days in His Pursuing Love Devotional: Getting to Know the One Who Loved You First and Loves You Most.

I like to describe it as “Jesus Calling meets The Naked Gospel” because it is written in the style of Jesus speaking New Covenant truth directly to you.

In next week’s post, I’m looking forward to sharing more about what happened to you when you first experienced Love’s truest kiss—your salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.

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If you enjoyed this post, I invite you to check out all of my books and my video series based on my first devotional.