Search
Scripture Reading: S. S. 7:1, 4-8, 10-13
We have seen that the seeking one in the Song of Songs reached several attainments. First, she attained full satisfaction for herself. Then as a crown, she satisfied the Lord. Finally, she became a garden to satisfy the Lord and the Lord’s people. In today’s Christianity, nearly everyone would say that nothing else is needed. Our own need is taken care of, and we are taking care of others’ needs. Seemingly, nothing else is required, but where is the fulfillment of God’s purpose, the building up of the Body, the building up of the city?
Today nearly all Christians care only for their own needs, while some of the more improved Christians care for the needs of others. This might be considered the highest goal of today’s Christian work. But all of this cannot reach God’s goal, the building up of the Body. Almost no one cares for God’s building. In these last ten years, many have begun to talk about the Body life and the Body ministry, but hardly anyone really understands what the Body is. The Body is a building; it is not a heaping up of materials.
Regardless of how much we undertake for our own satisfaction and how much we help others to be satisfied, we can only reach so far. God’s purpose still is not fulfilled. This is why, after all the attainments of the seeking one, yet another step remains: that is, to care for God’s eternal purpose, the building up of the Body, which is the building up of the city. It is not simply a matter of our being satisfied or of satisfying others but of the completing of the eternal purpose of God.
How could the building up of the Body be accomplished? With the Lord’s suffering, there are two aspects. One is for the accomplishment of redemption. The Lord Jesus suffered on the cross to accomplish redemption for us. This has been easily seen by all Christians. But there is another aspect of the Lord’s suffering: His suffering for the formation and the building up of the Body. Most Christians today are completely ignorant regarding this very important aspect of the Lord’s suffering. This is why Paul in Colossians 1:24 says, “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.” Paul says that he filled up the lack of the sufferings of Christ. The Lord’s suffering for redemption has no lack. To say that would be heresy. For redemption, the Lord’s suffering has been completed and is altogether sufficient. But His suffering for the producing, forming, and building up of the Body has a big lack. This is why Paul tells us that his suffering was a filling up of the lack of the Lord’s suffering. We cannot suffer for the accomplishment of redemption, but we all must suffer for the building up of the Body.
If you are one who is simply seeking spirituality for your personal satisfaction, you will not suffer much. Rather, all the people of God will appreciate you and speak well of you because you are seeking spirituality. If you would go further to meet the need of others, you would be even more admired. All the religious people would never give you any trouble. But once you begin to see the need for the building up of the Body and to give yourself to this, you will suffer. Most of the suffering will not come from the world but from Christianity.
The Lord Jesus suffered for the producing of the Body, not from the Gentile world but from the Jewish religious world. Paul and the other apostles suffered very little from the Gentiles, but they suffered very much from the Jewish religion and even to some extent from the Christian religion. Philippians 1 shows us that even some Christian preachers persecuted him. That was simply because Paul was for the building up of the Body.
Today it is exactly the same. If we would seek just to be spiritual and to care for others, not seeking to care for the Body, all Christianity would be happy with us. They would welcome us, invite us, and make a great name for us. We could become a famous preacher, pastor, or missionary. But once we see the vision of the Body and forget about all our individual seeking and caring for others in order to build up the Body, all Christianity will rise up against us. We must suffer to fill up what is lacking of the suffering of Christ for His Body’s sake.
Even after the seeking one in the Song of Songs has reached the fourth attainment of being a garden, the Body still has not been attended to. There has been no building up of the city. She needs a further step to fulfill God’s eternal purpose of building up the Body. If we would take this further step, surely we must share in the sufferings of Christ. This is why the apostle Paul used the term the fellowship of His sufferings in Philippians 3:10. We must share and participate in His sufferings, not for redemption, for that has already been accomplished, but for the building up of the Body, which has not yet been fully accomplished. We all must participate in the fellowship of His sufferings so that we may be conformed to His death for His Body’s sake.
Christianity will not condemn us for our personal spirituality. They will not condemn us for our preaching the gospel to others and helping others to know the Lord. None of this would offend them. But when we go on to care for the ground of the church for the building up of the Body, they will be thoroughly offended. Just this one phrase, one city, one church, offends them all and will stir up all Christianity to oppose us. They would say, “What? Are you the church and we are not?” But what can we do? Can we only care for our personal spirituality, go to the mission field, set up a seminary to teach others, or teach some Bible study classes? What shall we do? If we would care for the Body, all our dear friends will become our enemies. They will do this not because we are heretical or because we are wrong in seeking spirituality and preaching the gospel. They will do it simply because we are for the building up of the one, unique Body.
Finally, in the consummate attainment, the Lord likened the seeking one to six things: the city, the army, the dawn, the moon, the sun, and the dance of two camps. Now she is full of light, and there are no more shadows. Her day has fully dawned. She is a builded city for the Lord and a strong army to the enemy. She even appears as the dawn, the moon, and the sun, as well as celebrating the victory by the dance of two camps. She has really reached the final attainment.
Now we come to the Lord’s final appraisal of the seeking one. Since she has reached the consummate attainment, she is now ready to work for the Lord. It is not a work for the Lord but a work with the Lord. She is now fully equipped and fully qualified to care for the Lord’s work. This brings the Lord’s last appraisal concerning her. All the aspects of this appraisal are related to her qualifications for the Lord’s work.
The Lord first of all mentions something about her footsteps: “How beautiful are your footsteps in sandals, / O prince’s daughter!” (S. S. 7:1). Footsteps indicates action that has already taken place. It is not a matter of the beauty of her feet but of her footsteps. This is the beauty of her action and her move. Her move is not with bare feet but with shoes! From Ephesians 6 we see that the shoes signify the preaching of the full gospel, including the preaching of the church life. The shoes not only give beauty to the feet but also keep the feet from the defilement of the earth. If we put our bare feet on the earth, they will become dirty. But if we have shoes on our feet, our feet are covered, protected, and separated from the earth, though they are so near to the earth. Hence, wherever we go — to the office, the factory, the school, or the store — we must wear our gospel shoes. The preaching of the gospel will protect us and keep us from becoming defiled through contact with the earth. When we arrive at a new job, go to a new school, or move to a new location, we must immediately let the people around us know that we wear the shoes of the gospel. If from the first day we tell them that they need Jesus, not one of them will ask us to go to the movies the next day. The shoes of the gospel will separate us from this world. The preaching of the full gospel always leaves a footstep that is beautiful in the eyes of the Lord.
The second thing that the Lord mentions are the jewels: “Your rounded thighs are like jewels, / The work of the hands of a skilled artist” (S. S. 7:1). Jewels are precious gems that have been transformed. They were not originally in that state. This shows that she has been transformed by the skilled artist who is God Himself. Her thighs like jewels represent her standing power and stability. Without stability, we are not qualified to touch the work of the Lord. If we are going to work with the Lord, we need the stability of transformation.
Then the Lord mentions her neck again: “Your neck is like a tower of ivory” (v. 4). In chapter 4 her neck was depicted as the tower of David, but here it is described as a tower of ivory. The tower of David was for fighting, but the tower of ivory means that her neck is full of resurrection life. Ivory in typology signifies the Lord’s resurrection life. Now her neck is not only full of submission for fighting the spiritual warfare, but it is also full of the resurrection life. Her neck is a tower ministering life in resurrection.
Next, the Lord speaks of her eyes: “Your eyes, like the pools in Heshbon / By the gate of Bath-rabbim” (7:4). In chapter 1 her eyes were likened to doves’ eyes, but now her eyes are likened to pools. We know that doves’ eyes are very small, but pools are much larger and have a much broader scope. How much area can the doves’ eyes cover compared with pools? Now she has two large eyes, as big as pools. Such an enlarged vision is really wonderful! The doves’ eyes are spiritual, but the eyes like pools are enlarged and broadened to cover the whole universe.
Some seemingly spiritual people have the eyes of an ant. Their eyes are even smaller than the eyes of a dove. They cannot see anything except their work, their mission field, their little group, their “church.” But this seeking one can now see the whole universe. There is no limitation to her sight. We all need such a broadened vision. Her sight has been enlarged to the size of pools. This is really meaningful. Furthermore, these two pools are located by the gate. A gate is for coming in and going out. This is the communication of fellowship. If our eyes are as small as the ant’s, it is really difficult for us to have fellowship with anyone. Our fellowship depends upon our broadened sight.
Another matter concerning the pools is that they always give some reflection. There is light in her sight. To care for the Lord’s work we need such a broadened sight full of light. Otherwise, we are either short-sighted, narrow-sighted, or even blind. We must become so enlarged in our vision that we can see the whole universe. We not only care for the Lord’s work where we are, but we also care for the Lord’s interests in the whole universe.
Following the eyes, the Lord appraises her nose: “Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, / Which faces Damascus” (v. 4). The Lord has never mentioned anything about her nose until now. Her nose is like the tower of Lebanon. We know that a tower is something elevated, and Lebanon means ascension. Therefore, her nose is elevated by the Lord’s ascension. The function of a nose is to smell. There are many things that we cannot see, touch, or hear, but we can smell them. The one who works with the Lord cannot be cheated. He does not care for what you say; he cares for how you smell. He does not care for things according to the outward appearance; he cares for the inward scent. You may tell him that everything is fine, but immediately he senses something wrong, something not genuine, and something not in harmony with the Lord. Perhaps he could not say exactly what is wrong, but he knows that something is indeed wrong, because he has a nose like a tower. This is the safeguard of the Lord’s work. It is really difficult to cheat one who has reached such an attainment. You may tell the truth, or you may tell him a lie. It makes no difference; it is still the same. It is not a matter of outward appearance but a matter of smell. For the safeguard of the Lord’s work, we need such a nose like the tower of Lebanon.
Then the Lord comes again to her hair: “Your head upon you is like Carmel, / And the locks of your head like purple. / The king is fettered by your tresses” (v. 5). This time the Lord does not use the word hair. It is not the natural hair but the locks. A lock is a bundle of hair that has been dealt with, plaited and bound together. As we have already seen, this signifies her submission. Her will is fully dealt with, fully bound, and fully submitted to the Lord. With the locks are the beautiful tresses. It is the beauty of the tresses that captures the Lord. The king is fettered by her tresses. The Lord has become a captive to her submission. Her submission is so high, with the color of purple, that it brings in the Lord’s kingship and authority.
In today’s Christianity, you simply cannot see the Lord’s headship, kingship, and authority. But, if we mean business with the Lord, we will have the color of purple in our submission to the Lord. The Lord’s kingship is revealed in this way. It is the beauty of her submission that captures the Lord! The beauty of her submission “fetters” the king. The king was put in fetters by her submission. This is the real qualification for working with the Lord. If our natural life has not been subdued, if our hair has never been dealt with to be plaited and bound, then we are not qualified to touch the Lord’s work. Spontaneously, there will be some amount of rebellion to the Lord. But with this one there is the submission to the uttermost, and the beauty of her submission holds the Lord as a captive. Marvelous!
The Lord goes on to mention something about her breasts: “This your stature is like a palm tree, / And your breasts are like the clusters” (v. 7). In chapter 4 her breasts were likened to fawns that were feeding. This meant that her faith and love were working to take something in for her own nourishment. But now her breasts have become clusters of grapes, not for her nourishment but for others. She is so full of life that she does not care much for her own needs. She mainly cares for others’ needs. Eventually, she has a stature that is likened to a palm tree. This is the same as that which is mentioned in Ephesians 4:13. She has the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. She not only has all the other aspects, but she has also a full stature.
Now she is fully qualified to take care of the work of the Lord. In Song of Songs 4 it was the Lord who said to her, “Come with me.” But now it is she who initiates the move with the Lord: “Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the fields; / Let us lodge in the villages. / Let us rise up early for the vineyards; / Let us see if the vine has budded, / If the blossom is open, / If the pomegranates are in bloom; / There will I give you my love” (S. S. 7:11-12). She initiates the work, and the Lord follows. The fields are the world in a general way, the villages are the local churches, and all the gardens are the different saints.
The problem is that we are all for our own places. We may all be for Jerusalem, but Judah is for Judah, and Benjamin is still for Benjamin. But let us go forth into the fields and lodge in the villages and look at all the gardens. We should not be shortsighted but have a broadened vision. We should be for all the churches in all the world. Hallelujah for all the churches throughout the world! Let us go forth into the fields and lodge in all the villages and visit all the gardens.
