Jesus as the Rose of Sharon

ob,

Per our conversation the other day, you were asking why Jesus is sometimes referred to as the Rose of Sharon. The phrase "rose of Sharon" comes out of the Old Testament in the Song of Solomon. The verse reads:

"I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys." (Solomon 2:1)

Here are some basic facts about this verse and how it may be related to Jesus being considered the Rose of Sharon.

1. Nowhere in the New Testament is Jesus actually referred to as the rose of Sharon. However, He is symbolically referred to as the rose of Sharon by many.
    
2. You are right about Sharon being a place. Sharon is a plain - it is one of the largest valley-plains in all of Palestine. Back at the time of Solomon, it was considered a wild, fertile plain that had many beautiful flowers in it. Sharon was supposed to have been known for its beauty and majesty back in those days.
    
3. The person saying she is the "rose of Sharon" in the above verse was a Shulamite woman who apparently was Solomon's bride.
    
4. Here is the reason that I think people like to use this analogy of Jesus being the Rose of Sharon. The New Testament refers to Jesus as being the Bridegroom and the Church as His Bride. This tells us right here that God is using the "lover" analogy to describe the personal relationship that He wants us to have with His Son.

However, in the above verse, the person saying she is the rose of Sharon is a woman, not a man. Jesus is obviously referred to as "male" since He is always referred to as "He" in the Bible. The rose is considered the most "perfect" of all flowers.

You will notice that Jesus is symbolically referred to as the rose of Sharon. Jesus is totally perfect in His nature and personality. He thus can be considered the actual rose of Sharon since He is totally perfect within His own nature - just like the rose is supposed to be considered the most perfect of all flowers.

Normally in a husband-wife or boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, it is the male who gives roses to the wife or girlfriend. Since Jesus is considered the Bridegroom in His personal relationship with His church, it would thus be Jesus coming to us to give us the flowers. However, in this case, God may be going one step further in allowing this analogy to be made of His Son.

I believe God may be trying to tell us that Jesus will go one step further. Instead of Jesus being the One who would give us the flowers as we have in our normal human relationships, Jesus is actually referred to as the flower itself! And with the rose being the most perfect of all flowers, God is telling us that His Son Jesus is the Rose of Sharon rather than just having Him be the One to just give us this rose flower due to His perfect nature and perfect love that He has for all of us.

Women love flowers. They love the way they look and smell - especially roses. I feel God wants us to have realization of how special His Son Jesus is to us, and He is using the rose flower to compare His Son with so we can truly appreciate the beauty and perfection of Jesus and the perfect love that He has for each and every one of us.

Bottom line - Jesus is perfect love just as the rose is the most perfect of all flowers in its looks, beauty and smell.

By using the rose flower as a visual symbolism of Jesus' love for us, we can better see and appreciate what God is trying to tell us in the personal love relationship that He wants to establish with each and every one of us. He wants all of us to realize how special His love is for us and that He wants more than anything else to be able to enter into this personal love relationship with each one of us.

The above is my own personal opinion on what this analogy is referring to. I've always had a good witness that God the Father does approve of us using the Rose of Sharon to symbolize His Son's perfect love for us even though it is not actually stated per se in Scripture.

 

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Scripture taken from New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.


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