Anticipation - Song of Songs 1-2

Song of Songs 2:8-9 (ESV Strong's)
(The Bride Adores Her Beloved)

The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.

Anticipation

The book of Song of Songs is a love song.   Solomon and his Bride are exchanging words expressing their love.   In the above passage the Bride is envisioning the arrival of Solomon.  She is in great anticipation.   She is longing for him to arrive and sees him coming in strength and in power.   She sees him gazing through the lattice and calling for her.  This is a picture of great anticipation.   The book should be interpreted literally for what it is saying about love.   This is a great book to tell us what love “feels” like.  There is an “anticipation” for something that is so real.   She can “feel” that anticipation.    As the book unfolds it shows that the anticipation is fulfilled with the “acts” of love.   We should rejoice in how God made us in this way.  There should be a harmony between our anticipation and the acts.  This is true love.   God gives us this “feeling” of anticipation to enjoy.  We should rejoice in that emotion.  

Although we want to interpret this book literally, there is also a metaphor at place when reading this story.   This is a great picture of Christ (Solomon) and the Church (the Bride).   The Bride/Church is waiting in great anticipation for Solomon/Christ.  Our love for Christ ought to be that same anticipation for His coming.  Our love for our “love” is seen in our anticipation for him/her.  Our love for Christ is seen the same way.   We should be anticipating His coming in strength.  We should be anticipation His watching us and calling for us.  Anticipation for something shows our love for something.  It is a powerful emotion.   Our love for God ought to be demonstrated in our anticipation for Him.   Anticipation shows our love for other things in our lives.  We anticipation him/her arriving.  We anticipation the big game.  We anticipate the graduation.  These are all things we love. We don’t have a great anticipation for a root canal.  We don’t have a great anticipation for a lawsuit.   But, we should have great anticipation for Christ’s return:

Galatians 5:5 (ESV Strong's)
For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.