Song of Songs 1:2

I have been intending to take some time with the Song of Songs as it describes the journey of a soul toward union with its Beloved.  For those interested in this mystical (and perhaps primary) interpretation of this book, I can't recommend enough "The Songs of Songs" by Juan G. Arintero.

However, it is my own thoughts I will attempt to share here from time to time starting with chapter one, verse one: "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth..."

This is God intimately touching humankind, awakening us to His love through the new birth, and imparting Himself, the Spirit, into us.  The Holy Spirit's initial touch is the foretaste of all that is to come.

This is what draws us on toward a deeper and deeper walk with God-- we want more of Him.  The taste of who He is has been intimately communicated to our spirit in a way that awakens a love and longing in us unlike anything on this earth.

Ruysbroeck says the Holy Spirit is "an embrace that intimately penetrates the Father, the Son, and all the Saints in delightful union."  No wonder that the slightest kiss-- the slightest taste-- can produce in us a thirst for more of God that lasts a lifetime.

The kiss produces an awakening to spiritual things generally and to the bliss of Divine love specifically.

This is merely the beginning of our spiritual development.  We don't know how to respond to this love fully nor how to rest fully in the Lover-Beloved relationship… We have only been kissed so as to woo us on toward Him.  There are many stages in this divine union yet to come (thus the rest of the Song of Songs).

However, this is not the kiss of lovers without serious intention.  Quite the contrary.  This is the kiss that seals the Bridegroom's desire and intention to fully consummate a union and to draw the bride into a relationship that is eternal and deep beyond words.