Search
Scripture Reading: S. S. 8:1, 5-10, 13-14; Rom. 8:21-23; 2 Cor. 11:2; Deut. 4:24
In the last chapter we saw how the seeking one took the initiative to work with the Lord. First, she asked the Lord to go with her into the fields. Then, she asked the Lord to go with her to lodge in the villages.
Again, she asked the Lord to go with her to visit the vineyards to see all the blooming and budding plants. She worked not only by taking the initiative but also, in type, by covering the whole earth with all the local churches. To go into the fields means to go to the earth. To lodge in all the villages means to lodge in all the local churches. To care for the budding and blooming plants is to care for all the individual believers.
If we are really qualified to work in the Lord and with the Lord, our scope and our sight will be widely broadened. We will never have the ant’s eyes or even the doves’ eyes anymore. Our eyes will be like pools with a broadened scope of the Lord’s work. We will no longer simply care for the Lord’s work where we are but will have a wider vision to cover all His work. Let us go into the fields. Let us lodge in all the villages, and let us visit every vineyard to see how the buds come forth. We need a heart that covers all the interests of the Lord in the entire earth.
Though chapter 7 shows one who seems so qualified to work together with the Lord, there is still a further need. No matter how mature the seeking one has become, she still is in the old creation; she still lives in the flesh. She is not absolutely the same as the Lord. Hence, there is the need of the redemption of the body, the last step of the experience of the Christian life. We must be fully transfigured to the image of Christ even in our body. Her spirit has been regenerated, and her soul has been fully transformed, but her body is not the same as the Lord’s. There is still some element of weakness that others could despise. No matter how much maturity she has in her spirit and soul, she still lacks something in her body. She needs to be transfigured.
Most Christians today have a strange concept concerning the rapture. They think that it will come upon us as an accident. But the rapture is a process. We must be processed into the rapture. In Revelation 14 there are the firstfruits and then the harvest. This shows us that the rapture has something to do with maturity or ripeness. The rapture cannot come suddenly. It is the final step of a process. It is just like a crop in the field; it cannot be ripe all at once. The ripening is a process by growth. The crop continues to grow, and as it grows, it becomes ripe. The ripening stage does not come as an accident, but is the final consummation of the process.
In Revelation 3:3 the Lord comes as a thief in the night. We know that a thief does not steal worthless things. He only takes the treasures. As long as we are untransformed, we can be assured that the Thief will never come to visit us. The Lord Jesus will not come as a gentleman to any of His people; He will come as a thief to steal the precious things; He will come as the Bridegroom to take the bride. A bride cannot be produced overnight. The last chapter of the Song of Songs mentions a little sister who has not yet grown up. Her faith and her love have not been expressed. Surely, she could not be a bride. She needs to grow unto maturity so that she may be ripened for the Lord’s coming.
Chapter 8 of the Song of Songs reveals this final stage of our Christian experience. The seeking one expresses it in this way: “Oh that you were like a brother to me” (v. 1). This means that she expects the Lord to become the same as she is. Of course, some may argue that the New Testament says that we will be the same as the Lord. But to say that one day we will be like Jesus is not so deep as to say that one day Jesus will be like us. But whether we are like Him or He is like us, we will be the same. The Lord Jesus will be the same as we are! But, of course, He will not be the same as we are today. He will be the same as we shall be when we are fully transfigured.
Some day we will be able to tell all the world to look at us and to look at Jesus. He has the human nature, and we do too. He has the divine nature, and we do too. He is so glorious, and we are so shining. We have His nature, and He has ours. We are like Him, and He is like us. “Oh that you were like a brother to me.” This is a poetic expression of the expectation of the seeking one to be transfigured. One day she will be transfigured to His likeness, and He will be the same as she is. He will be her real brother, with the same nature, with the same life, and from the same source.
Then she says something that is very meaningful: “If I found you outside, I would kiss you, / And none would despise me” (v. 1). To find you “outside” means outside of this body. Now we are still under the bondage of the old creation. According to Romans 8:21-23, the whole creation is groaning under slavery. Even those who have the Spirit as a foretaste are groaning for the release of this body. How we long to find the Lord outside. Even while we are fellowshipping with the Lord in our spirit, we are still in this troublesome flesh. We may say that we are sitting in the heavenlies, but we are still in the flesh. How much we long to be outside! Today we are meeting the Lord in the flesh, but we expect one day to meet Him outside of the flesh. Then we will kiss Him.
To find the Lord outside is the expectation of such a mature one in the Lord as the seeking one has now become. We can be assured that when we are as mature as she is in chapter 8 of Song of Songs, we will have no other expectation. The only expectation we will have is that we and the Lord will be exactly the same. Then, no one can despise us because of this body.
In our old nature, in our flesh, in this body, there is a real shortage. In my whole Christian life, I have never seen anyone who had no shortage for others to despise. “Oh that you were like a brother to me,... / If I found you outside, I would kiss you, / And none would despise me.” All the factors that cause others to despise us will be swallowed up by our transfiguration. Today, in our flesh, there is a shortage in our natural makeup, no matter who we are. But one day this lack will be swallowed up. The transfiguration of life in our body will take care of all our shortage. Hallelujah!
At this point, someone asks again about the seeking one coming up from the wilderness. “Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, / Leaning on her beloved?” (v. 5). By this, we see that there are two wildernesses. We have seen, in chapter 3, the wilderness of our will. Here in chapter 8, we have the physical wilderness of the world. All the seeking Christians are going out of this world. I do not believe that anyone who is really seeking the Lord senses that he is a settler on the earth. We are not settlers in this world; we are pilgrims passing through.
No matter how long we live in Los Angeles, we are passing through Los Angeles. This earth to us is just a wilderness, and we are passing through. Here the seeking one is going out of the wilderness leaning on the Lord Jesus. In chapter 3 she was going out of that psychological wilderness as a pillar by herself. But now she is going out of the physical wilderness leaning on the Lord Jesus. This poetry depicts that as she is going out, she is one with the Lord Jesus.
We know that while we are waiting for the rapture, we are waiting for His coming. But this verse shows us that the Lord is not coming but going out with her. While she is going out of the world, she is leaning on the Lord. This clearly means that the Lord is going out of this world with her. We can well ask, “Is the Lord coming or going?” This is really difficult for our mind to comprehend.
We are waiting for His coming, yet He is going out with us. I can tell you that if He is not going out with us, we can never be waiting properly for His coming. If we would be one who is sincerely waiting for His coming, surely we need Him to go with us. He goes with us to meet Himself. He goes with us for His coming back.
We need not ask how this will happen. We know by our experience. While we are waiting for His coming, we are not going out of this world by ourselves. If we are, we will never go out! If, on the other hand, we are those who are really waiting for His coming, we will deeply sense that we are going out of this world leaning on Him. “O Lord Jesus, day by day I am going out with You, and You are going out with me for Your coming back.” It may not appeal logically to our mind, but it is a fact.
The Lord Jesus is a wonderful person. He is going out with us, yet He is also coming. He told Nicodemus that while He was on the earth, He was still in heaven (John 3:13). He came from heaven, and then He was on the earth; yet, while He was on earth, He was still in heaven. All those who are really waiting for His coming are one with Him. Therefore, they are going out of this world, not by themselves but by Him. As we are going with Him, we realize that the “going-out” strength is not ours. We do not have the strength to go out. The going-out strength is simply Jesus. We lean on Him, and in a sense He bears us.
When the question is asked concerning the one going out of the wilderness, the Lord Jesus answers: “Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, / Leaning on her beloved? / I awakened you under the apple tree: / There your mother was in labor with you; / There she was in labor and brought you forth” (S. S. 8:5). The Lord answers that she is the one He awakened under the apple tree. We know from chapter 2 that the apple tree is the lovely and nourishing Christ. It was there that He regenerated her.
Who is this one? This one is simply a sinner, regenerated by God’s grace in Christ. We should never consider that we are so high or wonderful. We must always realize that regardless of how mature we are, we are simply saved sinners. We are just under the lovely and nourishing Christ, regenerated by the grace and life of God. We should never forget what we were in the past. Before regeneration we were a fallen, corrupted, and deadened sinner. But one day God put us under the apple tree; He put us under the nourishing Christ and regenerated us.
No matter what position we may have in the church or how mature we are, we should never boast of it. Rather, we should always remember what we were. Our estate is still just a sinner saved by grace; this is all we are. For such an impression to be given in chapter 8 is very meaningful. If it had been given in chapter 1, it would not have been so significant. But here at the very consummation of her Christian life, the Lord reminds her that even now she is nothing. She is just a sinner saved by the grace of Christ. This is the answer the Lord gives concerning the seeking one.
Following the Lord’s answer, the seeking one prays a prayer. I do believe that none of us have ever heard such a prayer. “Set me as a seal on your heart, / As a seal on your arm; / For love is as strong as death, / Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol” (v. 6). We know that the heart signifies love, and the arm signifies power and strength. Therefore, this prayer indicates that she does not have any confidence in herself. She trusts in the Lord’s loving heart and the Lord’s mighty arm. She is praying in this way, “O Lord, keep me in Your loving heart, and preserve me by Your mighty arm. I have no trust in myself. Even though I am so matured, yet I am still in this flesh while I am going out of this world. Without Your keeping power and Your preserving love, I still may fall. So, Lord, keep me as a seal on Your heart and on Your arm.”
This prayer indicates that she still realizes she is not trustworthy. She has no trust in herself. What a prayer this is! She is such a mature one, and yet she does not have any self-confidence. Her trust is fully in the Lord’s love and might.
In her prayer, the seeking one says that the love of the Lord is as strong as death. Most Christians do not like to use a negative term to illustrate something of the Lord, as the Bible does here. If we had written the Bible, we would never have used the term thief to describe the Lord when He comes back. Not only good things but also some negative things illustrate the Lord Jesus. How negative death is! Yet there is nothing that describes the strength of the Lord’s love as death does. Death is the strongest power in the universe, outside of God. When death visits a person, nothing can reject it. We cannot tell death that we are too busy and to wait for another three years. Praise the Lord, His love is as strong as death! When the love of the Lord touches us, we cannot say that we are too busy. His love will simply capture us! All the seekers of the Lord Jesus have been captured by His love. It is as strong as death.
Then she says that the Lord’s jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Sheol is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word Hades, where the dead are kept. Sheol is not the consummation of hell. The consummation of hell will be the lake of fire. But before that consummation, there is a place in this universe called Sheol that holds the dead. Nothing is as cruel as Sheol; it receives the dead without mercy. Though you love your dear wife, if Sheol comes to take her away from you, it has no mercy; it is so cruel. This describes the jealousy of our God. He is not only a loving God but also a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24 says, “Jehovah your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
This means that we have no trust in ourselves or in what we can be. Therefore, we ask the Lord to put us as a seal on His heart and on His arm. We put our trust in His love and strength, for His love is as strong as death and very jealous. He would not allow our loved ones or anything else to keep us from Him. His jealousy is as Sheol. We should never trust in our love; our love is not trustworthy, and our love is not strong. Our love is always merciful and not so jealous. If we depend upon our love, two tears from our wife will turn us aside. But the love of Jesus has a terrible jealousy. He does not care, it seems, for the wife’s tears or the husband’s sympathy. The more the tears, the more He will take away her husband for Himself. He is jealous for Himself. He is a jealous God.
Then the prayer of the seeking one continues in this way: “Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol; / Its flashes are the flashes of fire, / A flame of Jehovah” (S. S. 8:6). With this love and with this jealousy is a flashing fire. We have already seen that God is not only a jealous God but also a consuming God. “Jehovah your God is a consuming fire.” These two go together: the consuming God and the jealous God, the consuming fire and the jealousy.
Chapter 8 of the Song of Songs reminds us that even when we become so matured, we are only sinners saved by grace. We should never trust in ourselves, but put our trust in the jealous love of the Lord. Then we will be fully kept and preserved. We will never be carried away from the Lord. Otherwise, no matter how strong we are, we could be stolen away from the Lord by other things.
At this point in chapter 8, it seems that the Lord and the seeking one have fellowship together. “We have a little sister, / And she has no breasts: / What shall we do for our sister / On the day when she is spoken for? / If she is a wall, / We will build on her a battlement of silver; / And if she is a door, / We will enclose her with boards of cedar” (vv. 8-9). We have seen that in this book the two breasts are always symbols of faith and love. This means that here is a younger Christian whose faith and love have not yet matured. What shall we do with her?
In all the previous chapters, the most the seeking one did was to feed others, giving them something to eat and to drink. But in this chapter it is not simply a matter of feeding and nourishing but also a matter of building up. This chapter does not say what we should do with her if she is hungry or thirsty, but that if she is a wall, we will build upon her, or if she is a door, we will build with her. Her words with the Lord have gone on from the feeding and nourishing aspect to the building aspect. This is a real improvement.
What does it mean to be a wall? This means a separation from the world unto God. It means a separation between the holy things and the unholy things. If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver. This means that something is built up with the Lord’s redemption. A battlement refers to the high towers on the walls used for fighting. An ordinary wall has no battlement, and therefore is not useful for warfare. This means that if this younger Christian is separated from the world unto the Lord, we will build upon her a tower for battle with all the aspects of Christ’s redemption. We will build upon her item after item, aspect after aspect of the Lord’s redemption so that she may fight the battle. Then she will not only be a wall but a wall with a battlement.
The seeking one knows how to build this younger Christian not only if she is a wall but also if she is a door. A door in the Bible mainly signifies the experience of coming into the Lord’s grace or coming into God Himself. Hence, if this younger Christian is a door through whom people may enter into the grace of God or God Himself, she must be built up with boards of cedar. Cedar, in typology, indicates the resurrected, ascended, glorified, and honored humanity of Jesus. If this young Christian is a door, she needs to be built up with such a humanity.
Now the seeking one knows not only how to nourish and feed others but also how to build them up. Furthermore, she knows what to build upon each person. She is unlike today’s Christians, who try to help others but do not know whether the person they are helping is a wall or a door. All they know how to do is give them lectures, sermons, and Bible studies. The Lord’s recovery, on the other hand, requires some experienced ones who know the Lord’s building and who know how to build up others with proper materials. The wall needs a battlement, and the door requires boards of cedar. This is not merely a doctrine. This is the need among us in the Lord’s recovery. Therefore, we must pray, “Lord, if I am a wall, build a battlement upon me. If I am a door, enclose me with the boards of cedar. How I need Your full redemption to equip me and Your all-inclusive humanity to enclose me.”
The last point in this book is in the very last verse: “Make haste, my beloved, / And be like a gazelle or a young hart / Upon the mountains of spices” (v. 14). As we have mentioned, this book is an extract of the entire Bible. It is a condensation of the Bible in eight short chapters. At the end of the Bible the Lord says, “I come quickly” (Rev. 22:20). To make haste means to come quickly. “Make haste, my beloved” means “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” The Lord is coming upon the mountains of spices. This is quite meaningful, for we have seen that in the Song of Songs the spices are the different aspects of the Lord Jesus experienced by us and even grown out from us. Soon, all our experiences of the Lord will be piled up like mountains. Then the Lord Jesus will come to meet us there. This will bring in the kingdom, and the kingdom will be composed of mountains of spices.
