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Scripture Reading: S. S. 5:2-6, 8, 16; 6:1-6; Phil. 3:10; Col. 1:24
The Song of Songs is really a wonderful book. Again we must say that our intention is not merely to understand this book. That means nothing. What we must see are all the turning points in life so that we may grow up for God’s eternal purpose, the corporate building. Our main emphasis in all these messages is life and building. Life is for building, and building issues out of life. We must see the turns in life to have the maturity. The maturity in life will then produce the building.
Though we have no intention to merely understand this book, we still need to be familiar with all the terms, expressions, illustrations, and figures. This is a poetic writing, and in such a writing, these figures are important. We are not for the mere knowledge of the Bible, but we are for knowing all the turns in life. Therefore, I feel that we need a review of all the figures we have covered thus far.
This book shows us that the spiritual growth in life begins with seeking the Lord. Our seeking is always the result of our being attracted and drawn by the Lord. Whenever the Lord shows Himself to us, spontaneously we will be drawn to seek after Him. The seeking in this book is in a way of love. When we are attracted by the Lord, we start to seek Him by loving Him. After the seeking, there is the finding, which brings us into the real fellowship with the Lord. The seeking brings the finding, and the finding brings the fellowship.
In the first chapter of this book, the seeking one was brought into the inner chamber of the King. She was even sitting at the King’s table. This indicates an intimate and intensified fellowship with the Lord. It is by fellowship with the Lord that we begin to appreciate Him. The first step in our experience is not to enjoy the Lord directly but to appreciate Him. Here the seeking one began to appreciate the Lord as a bundle of myrrh and a cluster of henna flowers. These were all appreciations of the Lord. She truly appreciated His sweetness, His fairness, and His beauty.
In the last verse of chapter 1, she entered into a further and deeper fellowship with the Lord: “The beams of our house are cedars; / Our rafters are cypresses.” The cedar signifies resurrection, and the rafters of cypresses signify the death of Christ. By this she came into a closer fellowship with the Lord.
By all these appreciations of the Lord she entered into the first step of transformation. She was likened by the Lord to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots. She still had her natural strength, and she was carrying something worldly. But gradually her eyes were changed to doves’ eyes. Then, her concept was radically changed by more appreciation of the Lord. The more we appreciate the Lord’s sweetness and fairness, the more our mind will be renewed. We will lose the view of our natural birth and begin to have the insight of the Spirit.
By the closer and deeper fellowship with the Lord mentioned in the last verse of chapter 1, she became a lily trusting only in God. A mare is full of its own strength, but a lily has no strength in which to trust. The natural strength was lost; she realized that to go on with the Lord she must drop all her natural power to do things for Him. She began to put her trust in God; this is the living of the lily. She became even as one of the little lilies growing in the field, trusting in God’s care. She did not live by her own labor and toil but by trusting in God. This is real transformation.
After the seeking one became a lily, she began to enjoy the Lord. At first, she appreciated the Lord as a bundle of myrrh and as a cluster of henna flowers, but at that time she had not yet begun to enjoy the Lord. The enjoyment began after she was transformed into a lily. After becoming a lily, she started to enjoy the Lord’s fruit, which was sweet to her taste. Then, she not only appreciated the Lord but also enjoyed the Lord by eating of His fruit. After this, she was brought into the banqueting house, the house of wine, to have a further enjoyment of eating and drinking the Lord. Before that time, she only had a kind of appreciation of the Lord. The riches of the Lord had not yet been deposited into her. But when she started to enjoy the Lord, she began to take something of the Lord into her. By eating and drinking of the Lord, some of the elements of the Lord were wrought into her. Hence, by eating, drinking, and enjoying the Lord, the third step of transformation was wrought into the seeking one. She became a dove. A dove in the Bible signifies the Holy Spirit. As a dove, she lived as the Spirit, behaved as the Spirit, and had the appearance of the Spirit. As a dove, she became the expression of the Spirit. It was not only by appreciating the Lord but by taking the Lord Himself into her in a way of enjoyment that some of the Lord’s very element entered into her and caused her to be transformed substantially. She was no longer a mare or a lily but a dove, the expression of the life-giving Spirit.
All her transformation was due to her appreciation and enjoyment of the Lord through the experiences of the Lord’s death and resurrection. Many figures, such as the myrrh, the clefts of the rock, and the covert of the precipice are pictures of the Lord’s death and resurrection. While she was appreciating and enjoying the Lord, she experienced the Lord’s death and resurrection. We cannot partake of the Lord Himself without participating in His death and resurrection, because these are elements of His very being. If we enjoy Him, surely we will participate in His death and resurrection. The more we partake of the Lord, the more we take His death into us. The more we enjoy Him, the more we take in His resurrection.
The Lord today is just like an all-inclusive dose. In such a dose are all the ingredients and elements that are needed. There are the killing elements, and there are the nourishing elements. The Lord’s death is the killing element, and His resurrection is the nourishing element. When we enjoy the Lord, we enjoy all the ingredients of such an all-inclusive One. The more we take the Lord in, the more the killing elements get into us. At the same time, we also obtain the nourishing elements of His resurrection. Hallelujah! As the Lord’s element gets into us, He kills all the negative items and nourishes us with all the positive elements. This results in transformation. The mare’s eyes were changed into doves’ eyes, and even the mare was changed into a lily. Then the lily was transformed into a dove, and she stayed in the clefts of the rock and in the covert of the precipice. She stayed in the Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension.
Then she came out of her spiritual wilderness, which was just her will. She came out like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and all the fragrant powders of the merchant. In the foregoing pictures, she had some kind of personality, but now as pillars she has no personality. She was dealt with by the Lord to such an extent that her personality was gone.
In our spiritual life, the problem is always with our personality. Every person has a strong personality. Dealing with things is no problem, because things have no personality. But dealing with people is always a problem because of the differences in personality. The Lord must deal with our personality because it conflicts with His. In the last four figures of the first group, however, there was no personality. The seeking one had come out of her will, and her personality had been thoroughly dealt with. There was no personality in the pillars, the bed, the palanquin, or the crown. Hallelujah!
Eight figures constitute the first group: the mare, the doves’ eyes, the lily, the dove, the pillars, the bed, the palanquin, and the crown. Between the first four figures, many things occur. The appreciation and the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus cause transformation from one figure to the next. But between the last four figures nothing seems to be taking place. The pillars, the bed, the palanquin, and the crown all seem to be alike. Once we attain to the stage of losing our personality, we will be all four of these figures at the same time.
Who then is our personality? Hallelujah! We can see this clearly in the figure of the palanquin. The palanquin itself has no personality, but within the palanquin there is a person. This person is the personality of the palanquin. His will is the palanquin’s will. His emotion is the palanquin’s emotion. His mind is the palanquin’s mind. The palanquin itself does not have any personality, but it contains the living person of the King within it. These figures speak more to us than a number of messages on how to be spiritual. If we simply look at these pictures, we are clear. When we come out of the wilderness of our will, we become the pillars, the bed, the palanquin, and the crown. We become the Lord’s boast and glory, and He becomes our full and complete personality.
In the beginning, the seeking one’s emotion was touched by the Lord (1:2-4). Then gradually, her mind was renewed (v. 15). Eventually, her will was subdued (3:6). Her whole being was transformed. She became so one with the Lord within, that she became the outward expression of the Lord. This was seen in both the palanquin and the crown. The Lord was in the palanquin, and He was under the crown. Therefore, she was described as being Solomon with the crown. The two became one. This was really the highest attainment of spirituality.
However, that is only the first half of the book, showing only the first half of the poetic portrayal of our spiritual experiences. At that point she still needed the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. This means that even with such a high attainment, her day had not yet dawned; some shadows still existed. She was not content with what she had attained. She realized that she needed more of the Lord’s death and resurrection; she must stay there. By staying at the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense, she was transferred to the mountaintop of Lebanon, which is the mountaintop of the Lord’s ascension. This is always true whenever we experience the Lord’s death and resurrection.
To be transformed into the palanquin and the crown is a high attainment, yet the peak of the mountaintop of the Lord’s ascension is even higher. But then the Lord came to call her to the next turn. The first turn was mostly made by herself. She realized that she needed the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense, and the second turn was made by the experience of the Lord’s death and resurrection. Then the Lord came to help her make the third turn. He called her to leave her highest attainment, to leave the mountaintop of Lebanon, and to go down to the valley to be a garden.
By this time she had enjoyed the Lord richly, but she had never produced anything for the Lord’s enjoyment. She had satisfaction, but she had not produced anything for the Lord and for others. She must become a garden to grow out something for the Lord and for His people. Hence, she did become a garden producing all the things she enjoyed of the Lord in the past. She enjoyed myrrh; now she grows myrrh. She enjoyed frankincense and the henna flower; now she grows frankincense and the henna flower. She enjoyed all of the fragrant powders of the merchant; now she grows all the spices for making the powders. Whatever she had enjoyed, she now grows. In her enjoyment the Lord entered into her, and now in her growth the Lord comes out of her. The Lord firstly wrought Himself into her, and now He is producing Himself out of her.
This is not mere doctrine; it is the real experience of the spiritual life. So many will tell you that this is exactly what they have been experiencing of the Lord. We all must be such a garden to the Lord, growing out all that we have enjoyed of Him. On the day we were saved, we became, in a sense, a garden, producing something for the Lord and for others. But that was not so adequate. We have to grow, step by step, stage by stage, until we reach the stage of being a garden. In a sense we have been a garden, but we are not in the stage of a garden. We must go on until we arrive at the stage of being a garden.
After the seeking one reached the stage of a garden, according to the poetry, she became contented again. She was so satisfied with her spiritual attainment that it created a kind of discrepancy between her and the Lord. Every time we are contented with our spiritual attainment, this satisfaction becomes a discrepancy between us and the Lord. We are satisfied, but the Lord would have us go on. We must not stay with what we have attained. It is wonderful to be a crown, but do not stay there. It is marvelous to be on the top of Lebanon, but do not stay there. It is splendid to come down and become a garden, but do not stay there. Once we are content, we lose the presence of the Lord.
Because of her contentment, the seeking one has a repetition of the experience in chapter 2. She is within, and He is without. But this time the situation is much different. She says, “I sleep, but my heart is awake.” This is a fact; by this time she is really resting from all her activity. This is a real improvement in her spiritual life. We are always wanting to do too many things. But the more we grow in the Lord, the more we give up natural activity; we rest from all our activities. Outwardly we sleep, but inwardly we are living! We are very much on the alert for the Lord’s presence and for His voice. We can hear the Lord immediately whenever He speaks, and we can realize whether His presence is with us or not. It is by this that she discovers a discrepancy between her and the Lord.
When we are away from the Lord, He will always call us back to Him. When we come back to Him, we become exceedingly active to do many things for Him. But gradually, especially as we get into the church life, all our activities will be slain. Eventually, we will simply say, “I sleep.” There are no more activities. But we are not dead! We are very living within!
Many times those outside of the church condemn us by saying that the church life stops many good activities. So many missionaries, after contacting the church, ceased going to the mission field. All the denominations encourage Christians to go to the mission field. But the proper church life stops them from going. This is true. So many missionaries, pastors, and Christian workers have become captured by the church life from all their natural activities. The more we stay in the church, the more we are dead to our activity. Then we rest from all our activities outwardly. But inwardly we are exceedingly living, always listening for the voice of the Lord.
When we are active, the Lord will tell us to be quiet. But when we become quiet, resting from all our activities, the Lord will say, “Don’t be so quiet. I’m still under the dew and the drops of night.” He is still working and suffering to fulfill God’s purpose. In a sense, He has accomplished everything and has ascended to the heavens where He sits at the right hand of God. But in another sense, He is still working and suffering to build His corporate Body. The Lord shows the seeking one that while she is resting, He is still working. This reveals to her the discrepancy between her and the Lord.
This is a real picture of the incarnation. The Lord was God, but He became a man. As God, it was not necessary for Him to be under the dew to suffer in the night. But He became a “man of sorrows,” continually suffering for God’s purpose. The Lord was asking her to relinquish all her spiritual attainment and to suffer with Him for God’s purpose. Her reply was, “I have put off my garment; / How can I put it on again? / I have washed my feet; / How can I dirty them again?” This poetry shows how she had put off all her natural life and washed away all her defilements from the world. She was so spiritual, so undefiled, so pure, and so holy. How could she go back?
Paul said in Philippians 3:10 that he wanted to know the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. This means that Paul desired participation in His sufferings. If the Lord had stayed in the heavens, He would never have been a man who suffered on the earth. Then it would have been impossible to produce the church, the Body of Christ. The Body is produced through the sufferings of Christ. Christ suffered not only for our redemption but also for the producing of the Body. But the producing of the Body has not yet been completed. There is a lack in the afflictions of Christ. Therefore Paul said, “I now rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His Body, which is the church” (Col. 1:24). Paul filled up the lack of the afflictions of Christ for the Body’s sake. But do not think that the Body of Christ has been completed. Even today, we must complete the Body by suffering the same kind of afflictions the Lord Jesus suffered as a man.
Paul was very religious before he was saved. Then he was saved and became so spiritual. I would say that he even reached the highest attainment of spirituality. But he did not stay there. Apparently, he lost all his spirituality to suffer for the Body of Christ. Today there are many so-called servants of the Lord who have never touched any secular job or worldly business. Once they begin to serve the Lord, they would never go back to any kind of business. But have you realized that Paul was in the tentmaking business even after he reached such a high attainment of spirituality? He was not making tents for his own use. He was making them to sell to others. Paul might have received criticism for this, which would have been a suffering to him. After reaching such a high attainment in spirituality, he continued to make and sell tents! But he was filling up the lack of the afflictions of Christ for His Body’s sake.
We cannot participate in Christ’s suffering for redemption. But we must take part in the sufferings of Christ for the producing of the Body. Consider further the situation of the apostle Paul. He was a Pharisee in the Jewish religion, a position highly respected and honored by many people. But he left it and became a Christian. Moreover, he attained to the mountaintop of spirituality. Not only were the Judaizers not building up the Body of Christ, but also many so-called Christian workers were not doing the proper things to produce and build the Body of Christ. Paul was the only one in the Gentile world willing to suffer for the Lord’s Body. He was criticized and opposed; some even tried to kill him. He suffered these things to fill up the lack of Christ’s afflictions for His Body’s sake.
Now let us look at today’s situation. Christianity is just like Judaism. It is respected and honored, yet it does not care for the Body of Christ. Many so-called free preachers have left the denominations, but they only care for their own ministry; they care little for the Body of Christ. Hence, they do not suffer for the sake of the Body.
Because the Lord has burdened us for the Body, we cannot avoid suffering. We are forced to take a special standing, a standing which is absolutely different from Christianity and the free groups. Of course, this causes much criticism and opposition to come to us. But this is the suffering for producing the Body.
We may think that we love the Lord, but when we begin to suffer for His Body’s sake, the love between us and the Lord will become exceedingly sweet. We will be sick with love, and we will tell others that our Lord Jesus is altogether lovely. We will realize more of His love and more of His loveliness. We will learn that no matter how we feel, the Lord is always within us. Whether we sense His presence or not, He is still there. Through these experiences, we will become a city as God’s dwelling place, God’s habitation, and also an army to stand against God’s enemy. This will be the fulfillment of God’s purpose in us.
