“After this I let my devotion slumber,
but my heart for him stayed awake.
I had a dream.
I dreamed of my beloved—
he was coming to me in the darkness of night.
The melody of the man I love awakened me.
I heard his knock at my heart’s door
as he pleaded with me:

The Bridegroom-King

Arise, my love.
Open your heart, my darling, deeper still to me.
Will you receive me this dark night?
There is no one else but you, my friend, my equal.
I need you this night to arise and come be with me.
You are my pure, loyal dove, a perfect partner for me.
My flawless one, will you arise?
For my heaviness and tears are more than I can bear.
I have spent myself for you throughout the dark night.^[b]

The Sleeping Bride

³I have already laid aside my own garments for you.
How could I take them up again
since I’ve yielded my righteousness to yours?^[c]
You have cleansed my life and taken me so far.
Isn’t that enough?
⁴ My beloved reached into me to unlock my heart.
The core of my very being trembled at his touch.
How my soul melted when he spoke to me!
⁵ My spirit arose to open for more of his touch.
As I surrendered to him, I began to sense his fragrance—
the fragrance of his suffering love!
It was the sense of myrrh flowing all through me!
⁶ I opened my soul to my beloved, but suddenly he was gone!
And my heart was torn out in longing for him.
I sought his presence, his fragrance,
but could not find him anywhere.
I called out for him, yet he did not answer me.
I will arise and search for him until I find him.
⁷ As I walked throughout the city in search of him,
the overseers stopped me as they made their rounds.
They beat me and bruised me until I could take no more.
They wounded me deeply
and removed their covering from me.
⁸ Nevertheless, make me this promise, you brides-to-be:
if you find my beloved one,
please tell him I endured all travails for him.
I’ve been pierced through by love,^[d]
and I will not be turned aside!”  Song of Songs 5 TPT

These scriptures have been ruminating in my heart for weeks now.  As I’ve read these scriptures over and over, I’ve seen them in a bit of different light than before.

It seems to me that the church in the west, especially, has seemingly been asleep, and her beloved has been knocking at the door, pleading with her to wake up, to come and allow Him to come in again.

The call is to shake off her slumber, allowing herself to get uncomfortable, as she takes up her cloak of righteousness again, and open the door to the Bridegroom Jesus.

So many things have kept the Bride from answering the request, to even hear the knock on the door.  So many, many distractions have kept us running here and there, doing things that seem “good”, “needed”, but in reality hold little to no eternal value.

Now, we find many of those things stripped from us as we have had to “shelter in place”, and many of our entertainment and distractions, busy activities, have been halted.  Are we now listening?  Has it gotten quiet enough to hear the call for more intimacy, for allowing Jesus past all those things, so that He can woo our hearts into deeper places in Him?

For possibly five years or more now, the idea of the bride being asleep has been on the forefront of my mind.

It began on an anniversary trip, when my husband woke up from a dream about a man being in the bed with another woman, but the man wasn’t even aware until he truly “woke” up.  My first response to the dream had been “That dream is about the church.  The church has been asleep and in bed with other lovers and not even known it.”  That was not my normal first response to a dream like that by the way.

Throughout the past few years, the Lord has brought it back up again and again.  He is wooing and pleading with His Bride, the true church, to wake up, to arise, and let the King of Glory in.

The other thing that really jumped out to me out of these scriptures is that when she finally does get up and He is gone, her heart longs for Him, and won’t be deterred from finding Him, the only one who will truly satisfy her longing.  As she is searching for Him, the “overseers” find her in the night and beat her.

When the true Bride does wake up, and gets to the place where she has to find the Bridegroom at all cost, I believe it will be the “overseers”, the “religious leaders” who come against the Bride, beat her, and remove their covering.   The “religious overseers” in Jesus’s day were the ones who came against the true “Bride” then. Many times today, those truly seeking after Jesus are deterred by the very ones who should be leading them to Him.

Was it their “covering” she ever even needed?  What she needed was the robe of righteousness of her Beloved.  Many are coming out from a false covering into the true covering of Jesus, their lover.

In prayer recently, the Holy Spirit began to shout in my spirit.  This is what I feel the Spirit is saying.

Oh my Bride, Oh my dear love, how asleep you have been.  Asleep at the wheel.  Bent on destruction of your own.  You have not given heed to my words.  You have become warm.

Wake up! Wake up! Rise from the dust, my Bride, while there is still time.  Take your place.  Take your place by my side.  We will war together.

You will be made pure again.

Let go of your programs, your petty, petty littleness.  Lay down your distractions.  Receive me.  Receive me.   Receive your husband, your lover, your King.

Will you even know that I’ve been knocking at your door?  Won’t you get up and answer it once again?

Throw off your deceit, your pride, your arrogance.  Will you yet arise and let me in?

I see your nakedness, and I long to clothe you.  I’d love to wrap my robe of righteousness around you, but you have chosen other lovers, and you have not even known.  You have devoured your young with your words, and not even given thought to it.

Take up my robe.  Humble yourself.  I will yet forgive you, heal you, and restore you.  Oh my love, my Bride, I am here, knocking.  Won’t you let me in?  I love you, Your Bridegroom

May we all answer the call, and let Him in.