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Scripture Reading: S. S. 1:12-14, 16-17; 2:2-6
I. A feast as the expression of the initial result of the mutual gain and enjoyment of Christ and His lover in the churches — S. S. 1:12:
А. Christ as the King is feasting with His lover at the table.
B. The love of His lover toward Him as spikenard spreads forth its fragrance.
II. The lover’s gain of Christ:
А. A bundle of myrrh, signifying Christ’s sweet death for her — v. 13a.
B. A cluster of henna flowers, signifying Christ in His resurrection in the churches built upon the fountain of His redemption — v. 14.
C. The husband, implied in “couch” — bed — vv. 16-17.
D. An apple tree, rich in fruit and shade — 2:3.
E. Raisin cakes for nourishment — v. 5a.
F. Apples for supply of life — v. 5b.
G. Both raisin cakes and apples are for the healing of her sickness of love in longing after her Beloved.
III. Christ’s gain of His lover:
А. A companion in love — 1:12.
B. The wife — 2:6.
C. A lily, signifying one who lives by His life in trusting in God — v. 2.
IV. The lover’s enjoyment of Christ:
А. As a bundle of myrrh between her breasts in the night — Christ in His death for her to embrace — 1:13.
B. As a cluster of henna flowers — Christ in His resurrection for her to express — v. 14.
C. As her Husband in the divine life as the couch, in Christ in His resurrection as the beams, and in Christ in His death as the rafters for their shelter — vv. 16-17.
D. As an apple tree as the bountiful supply of life to her and its shade overshadowing her — 2:3; 2 Cor. 12:9.
E. As the nourishing raisin cakes — S. S. 2:5a.
F. As the refreshing apples — v. 5b.
V. Christ’s enjoyment of His lover:
А. The fragrance of His companion in love spreading forth as spikenard — 1:12b.
B. As His wife in His embracing — 2:6.
C. As a lily expressing Him in the filthy and unbelieving world — v. 2.
VI. Unto the mutual satisfaction and rest of Christ and His lover in the churches:
А. Their mutual satisfaction and rest in their mutual enjoyment of all that they are respectively.
B. Especially their mutual satisfaction and rest in their bridal love and marriage life — 1:16-17; 2:6.
VII. The banqueting as the expression of the consummate result of the mutual gain and enjoyment of Christ and His lover:
А. In the church life — the banqueting house — v. 4a.
B. Christ’s love-banner spreads over His lover — v. 4b.
C. Christ’s bread of life nourishes His lover, and His rich supply of life refreshes her — v. 5.
In the previous chapter we saw that transformation in the church life is carried out by the transforming Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we are transformed by the Lord Spirit. Ultimately, the Spirit, the third of the Divine Trinity, has been processed, consummated, and compounded into the transforming all-inclusive Spirit, who is the consummated Triune God. The consummated Triune God is the transforming One.
In this transforming work there is the need of the Triune God to be the transforming Spirit, and there is the need of the coordination of some “transformers.” In Ephesians 4 these transformers are referred to as perfecters. Ephesians 4:11-12 says that God has given some apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds and teachers to perfect the saints to do the work of the ministry, that is, to build up the Body of Christ. Where are the perfecters today who know how to cooperate with the transforming Triune God? But here in this poetic book, which is very short, such a crystal is covered.
The transforming God is transforming us from a mare to a lily. Eventually, the seeker’s hair is bound into plaits of gold. Suppose that a woman’s hair grew straight up into the air, shooting to the heavens. This kind of hair “attacks” God’s throne. To have plaited hair is an indication of submission to the Head, to the throne. But regretfully, very few sisters have their hair plaited, bound. When the sisters work with submitted hair, bound hair, this is a glory to the Lord. If they are not in submission, their hair is “scattered,” not bound.
The lover of Christ has been transformed by the transforming Triune God to have plaited hair. Then the coordinators, the perfecting ones, say, “We will make you plaits of gold” (S. S. 1:11). Notice the word we, which refers to the perfecters. This means that the perfecters coordinate with the perfecting Spirit to put gold into the seeker’s plaits. Gold refers to God the Father in His divine nature. Our submission to God’s headship under His throne must be according to the divine nature. This is seen in the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem the gold signifies God’s nature as the base (Rev. 21:18b). This gold is wrought into the seeker’s bound hair. This signifies her submission to God through the transformation of the Spirit with the divine nature of God.
The plaits of gold are fastened with studs of silver. The silver studs are the fasteners and refer to the redeeming Christ. Only the redeeming Christ holds us, fastens us, so that we are not scattered. Christ accomplished God’s complete redemption, so whatever He has done is altogether legal, judicial.
The element of gold is wrought into the lover’s bound hair, and the plaits of gold are fastened by silver studs. Also, the seeker’s neck is adorned with strings of jewels (S. S. 1:10). Jewels are precious stones. These precious stones put together as one into strings signify the transforming Spirit.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 that we need to take heed how we build the church (vv. 10, 12). We should not build with wood, grass, and stubble but with gold, silver, and precious stones. This corresponds to Solomon’s mentioning of gold, silver, and precious stones in Song of Songs. Eventually, what is built at the end of the Bible will be a city of gold, precious stones, and pearls to replace silver. Silver signifies Christ the Son as the One who met all the legal requirements. The pearls bear the same significance. The pearl gates of the New Jerusalem are under the observation of the angels, through whom the law was ordained (Gal. 3:19), as the gatekeepers. Only God could have written such a book as the Bible, which is so unique and consistent. The entire Bible speaks the same thing concerning God’s economy to produce the church as the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem. This is the spiritual world that God is building up.
I would like to say again that our Christ is no longer physical. Christianity preaches mainly a physical Christ, but God is building up a spiritual world. The Epistles of the New Testament reveal that today Christ is pneumatic. He is no longer physical, because He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This is a great vision. More than ever I am strengthened to proclaim that Christ is the life-giving Spirit.
We need to see that for the building up of God’s spiritual world Christ visited us in two steps. The first step was His incarnation. He visited us personally and affectionately as a physical man. But during that period of time when He was a physical man, His disciples did not know anything spiritual. The kingdom that they and the other Jews expected was a physical one, but the kingdom of Christ is spiritual. Those in the physical world do not realize what God is doing with us. The Lord’s concern is to gain the New Jerusalem through the precursor of the organic Body of Christ produced in the churches and composed of all the believers, not physically but spiritually. To perfect others with gold, silver, and precious stones is to build up God’s spiritual world.
After many years of writing books on the Bible, J. N. Darby in his old age said, “O the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing nothing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here.” Surely, Darby was in God’s private and spiritual move. Are we? By the Lord’s mercy Brother Nee and I worked together and saw the same vision of God’s private and spiritual world. I have the full assurance that what I am doing here will go to the New Jerusalem. If we want what we do to be in the New Jerusalem, we need to learn how to add gold into the plaits of hair, how to make silver studs to hold the plaits of hair, and how to make strings of jewels, precious stones, to cover the naked neck. In other words, we need to learn to build with gold, silver, and precious stones. We must learn to minister the Triune God in a practical way to others for their transformation.
Now we need to see how the Christ-seeker goes on to experience being satisfied with Christ mutually in the churches. At the beginning she was seeking her personal satisfaction, but then she was taught to seek satisfaction mutually with Christ. Is our spiritual satisfaction personal or mutual? First, it has to be personal; then gradually it has to be mutual with the very Christ whom we seek for our satisfaction. We should not be seeking our personal satisfaction so much that we forget about Christ’s satisfaction. When we satisfy Him, we surely will be satisfied. If Christ has not been satisfied by us, we can never be satisfied by Christ. This satisfaction is mutual.
The lover of Christ is brought to a feast as the expression of the initial result of the mutual gain and enjoyment of Christ and His lover in the churches (S. S. 1:12). Christ is the Host, and His lover is the main guest, showing mutual enjoyment and satisfaction. Christ spreads a feast for the lover and her companions to enjoy.
Christ as the King is feasting with His lover at the table, and the love of His lover toward Him as spikenard spreads forth its fragrance. The feast is fragrant, and the spikenard is even more fragrant. The invited one would say, “Host, thank You for Your feast.” Then the Host would say to the invited one, “Dear guest, thank you for your spikenard.” This is mutual enjoyment.
Whether or not we can have some spikenard to satisfy Christ depends upon whether or not we have that kind of love toward Him. The spikenard is the lover’s, but the fragrance is Christ’s. Christ’s fragrance is expressed by the lover in her spikenard. Our experience of Christ should be constituted into spikenard. Otherwise, we have nothing to contain the fragrance of Christ. First, Christ satisfies us so that we gain the spikenard. Then we satisfy Christ by His fragrance. Such a mutual enjoyment for a mutual satisfaction is in the church life.
When we want to feast with Christ, we need the other church members. Christ would not go to the feast by Himself. At least we have to invite another five or seven to come. Then we will have a small group. But I am concerned that in our small group meetings, there is no feast with no table, spikenard, or fragrance.
The word gain is strongly used by Paul in Philippians 3, where he expresses his aspiration to gain Christ (v. 8). We need to see how to gain Christ.
The lover gains Christ as a bundle of myrrh (S. S. 1:13a), signifying Christ’s sweet death for her, and as a cluster of henna flowers, signifying Christ in His resurrection in the churches built upon the fountain of His redemption (v. 14). If we are going to gain Christ, we must gain Him in His death. Christ today is in His death, in His resurrection, and in His Spirit. To gain Christ is to gain Him in His death, His resurrection, and His Spirit. His Spirit is in our spirit, His Spirit is the reality of His resurrection, and His resurrection always implies His death. These three — the death, the resurrection, and the Spirit of Christ — always go together. If we have the death of Christ, we have His resurrection. If we have His resurrection, we have His Spirit, who is in our spirit.
We may say that we have exercised our spirit quite often, but when we exercise our spirit, do we receive Christ’s death and resurrection? Because of his quick disposition, a brother may be bothered by his slow wife. Then the Lord may say to him, “When you die with Me, you gain Me.” If he would take this word, immediately he will enjoy Christ in His death as a bundle of myrrh. The next morning he will be very refreshed with Christ’s resurrection. Then when he comes to the meeting, the Spirit of Christ will be in his speaking. The Spirit is constituted with Christ’s death plus Christ’s resurrection. We gain Christ through His death and resurrection in His Spirit, and this Spirit is in our spirit.
The lover enjoys Christ as a bundle of myrrh between her breasts in the night. This is Christ in His death for her to embrace privately (v. 13). Then she enjoys Christ as a cluster of henna flowers, which is Christ in His resurrection for her to express openly. This cluster of henna flowers is in the vineyards of En-gedi (v. 14). En-gedi means “the fountain of the lamb.” This signifies that Christ in His resurrection in the churches is built upon the fountain of His redemption. This fountain, which is through Christ’s redemption, is the Spirit. In the night we embrace Christ as a bundle of myrrh in His death. In the morning we wear Him as a cluster of henna flowers in His resurrection. This resurrection is in the church built upon the fountain of redemption. Here are the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ. This is the way that we gain Christ. Through the experience of His death and resurrection in His Spirit we gain Him.
The lover also gains her Beloved as her Husband, implied in the couch. In verse 16 the lover says, “Indeed, our couch is green.” The lover and the Beloved stay together on the grass-green couch. Green signifies the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life is the very place for us to enjoy Christ as our Husband. The couch is a bed for the lover and her Husband. So now she gains Christ not only as a bundle of myrrh and as a cluster of henna flowers but also as a Husband.
We gain and enjoy Christ as our Husband in the divine life as the couch, in Christ in His resurrection as the beams, and in Christ in His death as the rafters for our shelter. Verse 17 says, “The beams of our house are cedars; / Our rafters are cypresses.” The cedars from Lebanon signifies Christ in His resurrection. Cypress in typology signifies death. The Jewish people planted cypress beside their graves. The couple’s bed signifies the life-giving Spirit, the cedar beams of their house signify Christ’s resurrection, and the cypress rafters signify His death. Again we see Christ’s death, Christ’s resurrection, and Christ’s Spirit. All of this is in our spirit.
Second Timothy 4:22 says, “The Lord be with your spirit.” He is with us in our spirit, and with Him is the life-giving Spirit, the refreshing resurrection, and the terminating death. As long as we have Christ, we have the life-giving Spirit, the refreshing resurrection, and the terminating death. The way to gain Christ is to experience Him in His death and in His resurrection and to stay in His Spirit. His Spirit is the place for us to stay.
The lover also gains and enjoys Christ as an apple tree, rich in fruit and shade (S. S. 2:3). As the apple tree, Christ is the bountiful supply of life to her with shade overshadowing her (2 Cor. 12:9). Christ is both our overshadowing grace and our supplying grace.
In the banqueting house Christ sustains His lover with raisin cakes for nourishment and apples for the supply of life (S. S. 2:5). The raisin cakes signify Christ in His death. The grape in the New Testament is related to Christ’s death because the juice of the grape signifies His shed blood. The dried grapes are raisins for our nourishment. Christ in His death is signified by the raisin, and Christ in His resurrection is signified by the fresh apples. We can be nourished by experiencing Christ as the crucified One, as the raisin. We can be refreshed by experiencing Christ in His resurrection, as the refreshing apples. Both raisin cakes and apples are for the healing of the lover’s sickness of love in longing after her Beloved.
Christ gains His lover as a companion in love (1:12), as the wife (2:6), and as a lily, signifying one who lives by His life in trusting in God (v. 2). He enjoys the fragrance of His companion in love spreading forth as spikenard (1:12b). He also enjoys His lover as His wife in His embracing (2:6) and as a lily expressing Him in the filthy and unbelieving world (v. 2). When we live the lily life, trusting Him and looking unto God with a single eye, the dove’s eyes, that is a joy to Christ and His boast.
The lover’s gain and enjoyment of Christ, and Christ’s gain and enjoyment of His lover, result in the mutual satisfaction and rest of Christ and His lover in the churches. We need to consider the difference between rest and satisfaction. The lover asked the Lord where He pastured His flock for satisfaction and where He made it lie down at noon for rest (1:7). Rest concerns the environment, the situation, and the condition. Sometimes our environment, condition, and circumstances do not allow us rest. If there is no problem or disturbance, we have rest. But on that day of rest we may be short of food. We need something to nourish and refresh us to satisfy us. Satisfaction comes from the supply, whereas rest comes from the environment, condition, and circumstances. When the environment is all right, we have rest. When the food supply is sufficient, we have satisfaction.
Christ and His lover have mutual satisfaction and rest in their mutual enjoyment of all that they are respectively. The lover has her gain and enjoyment, and the Beloved, Christ, has His gain and enjoyment. When both are put together, there is mutual satisfaction and rest, especially their mutual satisfaction and rest in their bridal love and marriage life (vv. 16-17; 2:6). If a couple goes on a honeymoon and their car breaks down, all the restaurants are closed, and all the hotels are full, they cannot have rest and satisfaction. The normal church life is not like this. In the normal, proper church life, we always have both rest and satisfaction. If the church is abnormal, there is suffering with no rest or satisfaction. In these recent years we can testify that we are full of rest and satisfaction. There has been no turmoil among us, and the life supply has never been short.
The initial result of the mutual gain and enjoyment of Christ and His lover is a feast, and the consummate result is the banqueting in the banqueting house, the church life (v. 4a). In the church life as the banqueting house, Christ’s love-banner spreads over His lover (v. 4b). This love-banner is an exhibition of Christ’s victory. Christ’s victory is all-conquering. The end of Romans 8 says that because of God’s unchanging love for us and the fact that Christ has accomplished everything on our behalf, neither tribulation nor persecution can suppress or defeat us; rather, in all these things we more than overcome and conquer through Him who loved us (vv. 31-39).
We are more than conquerors because of God’s love in Christ. God’s love in Christ is a banner spreading over us, displaying, exhibiting, that we who are loved by God are always more than conquerors. If God were not in Christ, there would be no judicial guarantee. But in Christ everything is guaranteed by His death fulfilling all the legal requirements. That is His judicial redemption. In today’s church life there is a banner of the everlasting love of God that is in Christ.
In the church life as the banqueting house, Christ’s bread of life nourishes His lover, and His rich supply of life refreshes her (S. S. 2:5). In the church life we always have the adequate nourishment and refreshment. We also have a love that conquers everything if we live in this love. This is the mutual gain and enjoyment between Christ and His lover in the churches.
