Here we are, the final post of August and the last in this series, THE JOURNEY TO THE BEDCHAMBER.

Well, whose chamber do we speak of? The Lord’s chamber. 

A Bedchamber is synonymous to a bedroom. Bedchamber is simply the archaic form of bedroom. A bedchamber is the private quarters of a house where we sleep and also perform simple tasks such as dressing, that cannot be done publicly. It is a place of nakedness and vulnerability. A place of trust and intimacy. This is where you see into the person, INTO-ME-SEE (INTIMACY). It is a place that is not open to all but only specific people that we trust. Even the clothes worn in the bedchamber are normally not to be worn in other parts of the house because they are usually flimsy, light and less modest. The bedchamber is, for many of us, the place of comfort and  hiding from the rest of the world. It is our hiding place.

“Draw me away! We will run after you. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in you. We will remember your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you.”

Songs of Solomon 1:4

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One of the first places a bride is introduced to, is the bedchamber. On the night she is given to her groom, she is taken to the bedchamber to be intimate with her groom. She is taken at the invitation of her groom. This is how their lives together begins. They spend their first night together in intimacy and oneness. This act symbolizes that she now has access to the intimate parts of her husband and he, her. In the bedchamber, the couple become a single entity by the act of sexual intercourse. This act culminates the whole ceremony ushering them into a period of oneness.

JOY IN INTIMACY

One of the distinguishing characteristic of a wedding is joy. Weddings are fun because of the joy and happiness it brings. The families are usually happy, friends and loved ones come in celebration of the newly formed family. Food and drinks overflow in abundance with great music. The couple are usually beside themselves with joy in anticipation of the intimacy to be shared. There is a joy found in intimacy that cannot be mimicked by anything else. 1. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit that is produced from fellowship and intimate knowledge of the presence of the Holy One.

“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalms 16:11

The Psalmist declares that the presence of the Lord is filled with Joy and His right hand is an eternity of pleasures. Interesting enough, the book of Ephesians tells us of the Lord Jesus who is seated at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 1:20). Coincidence? Nope! The Lord Jesus as depicted by the Bridegroom in Songs of Solomon is pleasurable. His presence is sweet. He is Pleasure. And in the moments we spend with Him, we receive this pleasure and joy of His presence. This is why when the bride was brought into the chambers, there was a declaration, …We will be glad and rejoice in you…

Fullness of joy is realized in the Bedchamber as you bask in the presence of your Lover, Jesus. This is the place where life as God has,is saturated and permeates your very being. Joy flows from the very presence of God into you and it gets you coming for more. You become intoxicated with the presence of the Heavenly One who has called you to Himself and to be with Him. 2. Joy is also a force that empowers us to do things we will not do or will reluctantly do. The Bible tells us about what joy did to Jesus;

“looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Hebrews 12:2 NKJV

Jesus was able to endure the cross, as shameful as it was a death, in order to be seated with God by Joy. Then Joy must be a powerful force. What drives you as you look at the trophy that will be won at the end of a gruesome marathon is the anticipation of the joy you will experience when you take hold of the trophy. The governor Nehemiah declared to his weary and saddened workers, “THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH.” (Nehemiah 8:10). One sign of clinical depression is the lack of desire to do anything, but joy on the other hand is an enabler to be able to do what you have to do. 

THE UNRAVELING

The intimacy of the bedchamber is built with the process of walking with the Lord. At this stage, the Lord begins to unveil you to yourself just as the bridegroom undresses the bride. In the bedchamber of the Lord, you begin to see yourself for who you are. You begin to realize who He has made you to be. He reveals His pleasure for you and in you. The Lord continues to also reveal Himself to you in dimensions you have never known. It is this stage of intimacy that you hear secrets very few people on earth know about. Ancient secrets and wisdom are revealed to you. 

This place requires spending prolonged dedicated time with the Lord. He needs your full attention. He won’t share you with anyone or anything. Therefore, this place also needs time and sacrifice, lots of it. You may sacrifice your sleep, your job or your food. This stage usually entails periods of fasting and prayer. In fact at this stage, very few people will understand you because your desire is to be one with the Lord. Your heart will cry for what His cries for and His delight will be your joy.

Have you responded to the invitation yet? Well, what are you waiting for? 

“My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away.”

Songs of Solomon 2:10

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Come, my Love!