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Scripture Reading: S. S. 6:4a
I. Through her living in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection, the lover of Christ becomes mature in the riches of the life of Christ so that she becomes not only a garden to Christ but also the sanctuary of God, signified by Tirzah, and its safeguard, signified by Jerusalem.
II. To become a garden to Christ is to be flourishing in the element of Christ’s life with its unsearchable riches; to become the sanctuary of God is to be built up (related to the building of the Body of Christ) in the growth with the life of Christ with its unsearchable riches (Eph. 4:15-16):
А. The sanctuary of God is divided by the veil into two sections: the outer Holy Place and the inner Holy of Holies.
B. Although the sanctuary of God is in the heavens, it is divided into two sections by the veil, which signifies our flesh (Heb. 10:19-20).
C. With Christ, the veil in the sanctuary of God was split (Matt. 27:51), but with the believers it still remains for the purpose of God’s dealing with them.
D. The apostle Paul became mature in the life of Christ, living in the ascension of Christ, yet God still let him have a thorn in his flesh through a messenger of Satan to keep him from being exceedingly lifted up (2 Cor. 12:7).
E. In God’s economy God first regenerates us in our spirit with His resurrection life (1 Pet. 1:3) and second renews us, transforms us, and conforms us in our soul through His resurrection life to the image of His firstborn Son, Christ as the first God-man (Titus 3:5; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29), but leaves our body to be redeemed progressively through our whole Christian life (2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 8:11, 13) and ultimately transfigured to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory at His coming back (Phil. 3:21).
F. Hence, there is still the need of the Lord’s ultimate calling of us to live within the veil through a stronger experience of the cross in dealing with our flesh after our experience of His resurrection as the new creation of God.
G. After the lover of Christ pursued Him for satisfaction and attained it in the first section of the book, the Lord first called her to be delivered from her self by experiencing His cross when she was secluded by introspection; then the Lord called her further to live in His ascension as the new creation of God in resurrection; now ultimately the Lord calls her to live within the veil in the Holy of Holies, God Himself, to enjoy the consummated God embodied in Christ.
H. It is here that all the seekers of Christ who live in the Holy of Holies, the consummated Triune God, within the veil, enjoy the hidden Christ in His hidden life supply (signified by the manna in the golden pot), the resurrection life (signified by the budding rod), and the inner law of life (signified by the tablets of the covenant), hidden in the Ark within the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:4), to the fullest extent.
After reaching the point where she is called to live in ascension, the seeker of Christ has reached her highest attainment. In her attainment she becomes four wonderful things as the consummation of her transformation: a garden, a sanctuary, the heavenly bodies, and a terrible army with the overcomer, the Shulammite, who is the reproduction of Christ, as the leader. Her becoming a garden is not as high or as deep as her becoming a sanctuary with a safeguard, that is, the holy city, Jerusalem. She becomes such a building, which is God’s dwelling place with a city surrounding it to be its safeguard.
Song of Songs 6:4 says, “You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners.” Tirzah eventually had a black background because at the division of the kingdom it became the capital city for the kings of Israel, the place of the king’s palace (1 Kings 14:17; 15:21, 33; 16:6, 8-9, 15, 17). But Song of Songs mentions Tirzah in a positive sense as being noted for its beauty. Of course, a number of positive types and figures in the Old Testament have a black background. Adam is a type of Christ as the Head of man, and he had a background of failure. David is a type of Christ as the victorious King, and he also had a background of failure. Although Tirzah had a black background when the kingdom was divided, the seeker is praised for being as lovely as Tirzah, in a positive sense.
Through her living in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection, the lover of Christ becomes mature in the riches of the life of Christ so that she becomes not only a garden to Christ but also the sanctuary of God, signified by Tirzah, and its safeguard, signified by Jerusalem. To be mature in the life of Christ is a great thing. The seeker is likened to two buildings. One is the palace of the king. The other is the city surrounding the palace as its safeguard.
A garden cannot be compared with a palace and a city. A garden is just a visiting place for the king, but it is not the dwelling place where the king lives or the city that safeguards the king’s palace. To be a garden is very good, but it is not sufficient. We have to reach the highest peak, the building of God.
To become a garden to Christ is to be flourishing in the element of Christ’s life with its unsearchable riches; to become the sanctuary of God is to be built up (related to the building of the Body of Christ) in the growth with the life of Christ with its unsearchable riches (Eph. 4:15-16). In the Old Testament the building of God is typified by Tirzah and Jerusalem; in the New Testament this building is the organic Body of Christ. The organic Body of Christ is also Christ’s wife (5:25-32). Furthermore, the organic Body of Christ consummates, completes, the building of the New Jerusalem.
The Bible’s divine revelation is very consistent. It begins with the creation of man with a spirit, with the tree of life (Gen. 2:7, 9), and with a garden that has a flow of water with three precious materials — gold, bdellium, and precious stones (vv. 10-12). Eventually, a woman comes out of Adam, built to be his counterpart, his wife (v. 22). This woman is also the body of Adam. This gives us a complete picture as a map for our driving through the Bible.
The sanctuary of God is divided by the veil into two sections: the outer Holy Place and the inner Holy of Holies. Although the sanctuary of God is in the heavens, it is divided into two sections by the veil, which signifies our flesh (Heb. 10:19-20). In God’s economy, such a marvelous thing — the sanctuary of God — has a negative thing — our flesh.
With Christ the veil in the sanctuary of God was split (Matt. 27:51), but with the believers it still remains for the purpose of God’s dealing with them.
The apostle Paul became mature in the life of Christ, living in the ascension of Christ, yet God still let him have a thorn in his flesh through a messenger of Satan to keep him from being exceedingly lifted up (2 Cor. 12:7). Paul received exceedingly great revelations from the Lord, and he wrote fourteen Epistles in the New Testament. In this sense, no one besides the Lord Jesus can compare with Paul. Because of the transcendence of the revelations that he received, Paul could not avoid being proud, so the Lord gave him a thorn, a messenger of Satan, to subdue him. If the apostle Paul could not avoid being proud by receiving so many revelations, who among us can avoid becoming proud? Paul prayed three times that the suffering of the thorn would be removed, but the Lord responded by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness” (v. 9). The Lord’s sufficient grace is the overshadowing power of resurrection. This grace is actually the Lord Himself. The Lord indicated that Paul would enjoy Him as grace more than ever. Thus, Paul boasted in his weaknesses, not in the revelations he had received, so that the sufficient grace as the power of resurrection might overshadow his weakness.
In God’s economy God first regenerates us in our spirit with His resurrection life (1 Pet. 1:3) and second renews us, transforms us, and conforms us in our soul through His resurrection life to the image of His firstborn Son, Christ as the first God-man (Titus 3:5; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29). However, He leaves our body to be redeemed progressively through our whole Christian life (2 Cor. 4:16; Rom. 8:11, 13) and ultimately transfigured to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory at His coming back (Phil. 3:21). We, the descendants of Adam, can become the “twins” of Christ, the firstborn Son of God, by transformation. Ephesians 4:30 says that the Spirit seals us unto, or for, the day of the redemption of our body. Day by day the sealing of the Spirit is going on. That sealing is the dispensing of the transforming Spirit as the sealing ink. The sealing Spirit dispenses all the elements of Christ progressively, little by little, into our being. Ultimately, our body will be transfigured to be conformed to the body of Christ’s glory at His coming back.
Hence, there is still the need of the Lord’s ultimate calling of us to live within the veil through a stronger experience of the cross in dealing with our flesh after our experience of His resurrection as the new creation of God. Logically, after we experience Christ’s resurrection, we should not need to go back to deal with the flesh. But in our actual experience we need to go back because our flesh is still with us. Often I find that the biggest hindrance frustrating me from doing God’s perfect will is the flesh. Thus, the flesh needs a stronger cross.
Brother Nee’s interpretation of Song of Songs includes these two calls to the cross: the call for the cross to break the self (S. S. 2:14) and the call for a stronger cross to deal with the flesh in a deeper sense. The self becomes a secluding wall of introspection that secludes the Lord’s seeker from the presence of Christ. Thus, there is the need for the seeker to remain in the cross by the power of Christ’s resurrection to be delivered from the self. Later, we see that in the sanctuary there is the veil of the flesh. Thus, there is the need of the highest calling to experience a stronger cross to deal with our existing flesh. This is according to the understanding of the hidden, intrinsic significance of the book.
We find this out in our marriage life. Who can live in their marriage life without their self being the center? This is why we have to be called to go to the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice and remain there. Furthermore, marriage life exposes our flesh. This is why we need a stronger cross. Brother Nee’s interpretation, no doubt, depends upon his understanding of the intrinsic situation of this romance.
Through these two steps of the cross’s dealing, we become God’s sanctuary. This sanctuary is the Holiest of all, which is God Himself. When we enter into the Holiest of all, we enter into God. Then we become the sanctuary. In this sense we become God. Later, we will see that the Shulammite becomes a duplication of Solomon. That is a figure of us as the reproduction of Christ, who is the embodiment of God. Thus, the many lovers of Christ eventually will become duplications of God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead. This is the fulfillment of God becoming a man that man might become God, which is the high peak of the divine revelation.
In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said that He and the Father would come to the one who loves Him to make this lover God’s abode. This is the mutual abode of God and man. Ephesians 3:17 says that Christ today is making His home in our hearts. These verses prove that the very God whom we are pursuing is making us His duplication. To make us His duplication means to make us His dwelling place, His Holy of Holies.
After the lover of Christ pursued Him for satisfaction and attained it in the first section of the book, the Lord first called her to be delivered from her self by experiencing His cross when she was secluded by introspection; then the Lord called her further to live in His ascension as the new creation of God in resurrection; now ultimately the Lord calls her to live within the veil in the Holy of Holies, God Himself, to enjoy the consummated God embodied in Christ. It is here that all the seekers of Christ who live in the Holy of Holies, the consummated Triune God, within the veil, enjoy the hidden Christ in His hidden life supply (signified by the manna in the golden pot), the resurrection life (signified by the budding rod), and the inner law of life (signified by the tablets of the covenant), hidden in the Ark within the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:4), to the fullest extent.
