In Song of Songs 8:6 we are told of the flame of the LORD (Note: JAHS) in connection with the strength of love.

 

Song of Songs 8:6:
6 Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame (Note: flame of JAH).

 

The strength of love in the form of the flame of JAH is accompanied by the zeal or passion of God, which are like a consuming fire (cf. Deuteronomy 4:24).

 

Deuteronomy 4:24:
24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

 

The power of love is compared with the strength of death, and the influence of passion in connection with the power of Sheol or the realm of the dead, which reveals a principle that life and death are close together. If we want to approach the LORD and follow Him, a sacrifice is required, which includes the laying down of our ‘ego’ (cf. Matthew 16:24-25 i.c.w. Galatians 2:20).

 

Matthew 16:24-25:
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

 

Galatians 2:20:
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

 

 

There exist different types of the flame of the LORD in relation to the presence of God, which is evident from the different ‘sources of fire’ in the tabernacle as well as in the temple.

 

The first source of fire is the altar of burnt offering, which stood in the open air in the outer court, where the life of an animal was sacrificed and was accompanied, among other things, by the confession of the sin of each Israelite who came to the priest.

 

The second source of fire is the burning menorah, which was located on the south side in the covered area of the Holy Place.

 

The third source of fire is the altar of incense, which was located in front of the Holy of Holies and on which a special mixture of incense was offered to God.

 

These three sources of fire just mentioned are equivalent to the following spiritual realms:

 

The second and third realms within the sanctuary encompass the statement of Jesus who spoke of the importance of worshiping the Father in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:23-24).

 

John 4:23-24:
‘… 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’

 

It is the Holy Spirit in whom we cry, ‘Abba!’ and it is the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth (cf. John 16:13-15 i.c.w. Romans 8:15).

 

John 16:13-15:
‘… 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.
15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.’

 

Romans 8:15:
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’

 

Moreover, the outer court includes the Father’s pleasure of those who move forward in the sonship of Christ with a repentant heart (cf. Matthew 3:16-17).

 

Matthew 3:16-17:
16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’

 

The area of the covered sanctuary carries, among other things, the significance of walking in the obedience of God and is linked to the presence of the Holy Spirit (Note: symbolized by the menorah), who also appears in the Word of God as a dove (cf. Matthew 17:5).

 

Matthew 17:5:
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!’

 

It is the guidance of the Holy Spirit that allows us to taste and see the face of the Father (cf. Psalm 34:8), just as the light of the menorah helped to shine forward to the table of shew bread with the twelve shew breads lying on it, also called the ‘bread of His presence’ (cf. Exodus 25:37 i.c.w. Exodus 26:35; Leviticus 24:5-9).

 

Psalm 34:8:
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

 

Exodus 25:37:
37 ‘Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it. …’

 

Exodus 26:35:
35 Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.

Leviticus 24:5-9:
5 ‘Take the finest flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using one-fifth of an ephah for each loaf.
6 Arrange them in two piles, six in each pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord.
7 By each pile put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be a food offering presented to the Lord.
8 This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant.
9 It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in the sanctuary area, because it is a most holy part of their perpetual share of the food offerings presented to the Lord.’

 

 

All three areas were walked by the high priest from east to west, the course of which reveals the movement of the sun as well as the power of Jesus’ return (cf. Matthew 24:27).

 

Matthew 24:27:
27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

 

Speaking in a spiritual context, the high priest’s ‘east-west’ walk created what is called an arc of light in the presence of God, much as God is covered by an emerald rainbow in the throne room (cf. Revelation 4:2-3).

 

Revelation 4:2-3:
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.

 

This ‘arcing of light’ is associated with the promise of God as well as His eternal government.

 

If you consider the area of the Lamb which is represented by the outer court, with the area of the dove represented by the Holy Place in Hebrew and put the first two Hebrew letters of the word ‘lamb – śäh’ and ‘dove – jônāh’ together, you get the Hebrew word for ‘lamb – śäh’ according to Strong’s Concordance with the word key number: H7716.

 

Based on this, we can see that the presence of the Lamb is always present in a certain way, just as Jesus said that the Spirit of truth doesn’t speak from Himself; but speaks what He will hear and proclaims what is future. For He glorifies Jesus and takes from Him to proclaim it to us.

 

 

Returning to the flame of the LORD of Song of Songs 8:6, this is translated in Hebrew as the word ‘šalhäbät’, which is derived from the Hebrew root word ‘lahab’ and carries a preceding sibilant. Furthermore, it means ‘a flaring up of fire, a flame’. (part excerpt from Strong’s Concordance with word key number: H7957 and from the Elberfelder Study Bible with word key number: 8226*)

 

The root word ‘lahab’ means ‘flame, flash, shining or sharp blade, point of a weapon or spear.’ (part excerpt from Strong's Concordance with word key number: H3851 and from the Elberfelder Study Bible with word key number: 3933)

 

This clearly shows that the flame of the LORD, which is accompanied by the power of His love, carries within it His communication, that is, His living, powerful and sharp word, which is sharper than any two-edged sword (cf. Hebrews 4:12).

 

Hebrews 4:12:
12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

 

The presence of the flame of the LORD is like the cherubic watchful presence that guards the entrance to the tree of life, granting access only to those who have a legal right because they have died to themselves in Christ Jesus and now live in Him (cf. Genesis 3:24).

 

Genesis 3:24:
24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing to and fro to guard the way to the tree of life.

 

God’s desire is that we abide in His flame and thus in the center of His spiritual communication, so that we may be like a torch of salvation (Heb. יְשׁוּעָה – ‘jěšû'āh’) moving forward in our God-given identity in Christ Jesus in order to destroy the enemy’s ‘harvest fields’ with the standard of God’s righteousness (cf. Judges 15:4-5).

 

Judges 15:4-5:
4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing corn of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing corn, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

 

Isaiah 62:1-2:
1 For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her vindication shines out like the dawn, her salvation (Heb. יְשׁוּעָה – ‘jěšû'āh’) like a blazing torch.
2 The nations will see your vindication, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.

 

Let us be like the thorn bush in the wilderness at the time of Moses, which was encased in the ‘communication of God’ and showed Moses the way (cf. Exodus 3:2-4).

 

Exodus 3:2-4:
2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.
3 So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.’
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’

 

Since Jesus, like the serpent had to be lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, there is a connection with the preceding hissing sound of the Hebrew word ‘šalhäbät’ for ‘flame of the LORD’ (cf. John 3:14-15).

 

John 3:14-15:
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up (cf. Numbers 21:8-9), 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

 

Where the presence of the flame of the LORD appears, the communication of the Spirit begins, in a similar way as it happened at Shavuot/Pentecost in the upper room in Jerusalem among the approximately hundred and twenty saints (cf. Acts 2:1-4).

 

Acts 2:1-4:
1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

 

And if there is a united fire source of the spirit and the enemy has hidden himself as a cunning observer in the respective place in order to bring down, he will be seized by the apostolic power of God. Even if this happens unconsciously, he will be thrown by it into the fire of love of the saints that they have for each other, so that he must flee in fear (cf. Acts 28:2-3, 5 i.c.w. 1 John 4:18a; James 4:7).

 

Acts 28:2-3.5:
2 The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.
3 Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. …
5 But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.

 

1 John 4:18a-b:
18a-b There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, …

 

James 4:7:
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

 

Amen and Amen.

 

In His Wisdom,

 

Daniel Glimm