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Scripture Reading: S. S. 1:11; 3:6, 9-10; 4:4a, 6, 12-16; 5:1; 6:2, 4
We must keep in mind that the theme of all these chapters on the Song of Songs is life and building. It is not only a matter of life but also of building. In the above verses we see something of building. “We will make you plaits of gold / With studs of silver” (1:11). This verse follows the one in which the Lord calls His seeking one “a mare among Pharoah’s chariots.” As we have mentioned, a mare is something natural, something of birth. There is absolutely nothing of building related to a mare. Therefore, the Lord promises to work on her with gold and silver. Both of these materials are not natural to her. They must be built into her. Here we have the implication that the Lord is going to build something upon her.
All the books in the Scriptures were inspired by God Himself. We see this clearly in the Song of Songs. Not one human being could compose such poetry with all the spiritual applications found in this book. If we did not have the experience and the light from the Lord, even though we were scholars in the language and poetry of this book, I do not believe we could see the real significance here. The real significance is in the matter of building.
From 1:11 we must go to 3:9-10, the verses concerning the palanquin. We have seen that it is built up with wood, silver, gold, and purple, plus the interior decoration. The palanquin has gold as the base, just as the New Jerusalem does. In the New Jerusalem the main part of the city is gold (Rev. 21:18). In that city is the throne for Christ the King. This is just like the palanquin, in which there is a purple seat, signifying the kingship of the Lord. All these materials are for building. The palanquin is not natural; it has been built up with all these materials.
Chapter 4 says that her neck is like the tower of David. A tower is a high building, and this building is for an armory. By this time, it is clear that the seeking one already has a certain amount of building. Life comes first, and building follows. Life is for building, and building is the issue of life.
After this, the seeking one continues to improve. This is seen in 4:12-14: “A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, / A spring shut up, a fountain sealed. / Your shoots are an orchard [paradise] of pomegranates / With choicest fruit; / Henna with spikenard, / Spikenard and saffron; / Calamus and cinnamon, / With all the trees of frankincense; / Myrrh and aloes, / With all the chief spices.” Now the seeking one is likened by the Lord to a garden. She is not only a palanquin but also a garden. The purpose of this garden is mainly for the growth of certain things.
This corresponds with 1 Corinthians 3:9, which says that we are God’s cultivated land, God’s building. God’s cultivated land is equal to the garden. Growing is for building. What is grown on the farm is for the building of God’s house. The seeking one has become not only a palanquin in which Christ can move but also a garden to grow so many spices. Eventually, it says this garden is “a paradise” (See footnote 1 on S. S. 4:13, Recovery Version).
Whatever grows in this garden is for the Lord’s satisfaction and enjoyment. The Song of Songs begins with eating, drinking, and enjoyment on the seeker’s side, but now the enjoyment is for the Lord. In chapters 1 and 2 the seeker is eating the fruit of the apple tree and drinking the wine in the banqueting house. But now, the Lord is eating the fruits of the garden and drinking the wine and milk for His enjoyment. “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; / I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; / I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; / I have drunk my wine with my milk” (5:1).
In chapter 6 we see the last figure used by the Lord to describe the seeker. “You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners” (v. 4). So we have the garden and the city. Tirzah was the ancient capital of the king (1 Kings 14:17; 16:17-18), and Jerusalem is the holy city of God (Psa. 48:1-2). Therefore, the last figure is really something of building. Now we have ten figures — the first eight, and now the garden and the city.
Besides these ten figures, there are two more: the spring and the fountain. However, for the present we would like to put these two aside. It is clear, in any case, that the Lord Jesus mainly used these ten figures to describe this seeking one. We have become quite familiar with the first eight; now we must see the last two.
The garden and the city include the whole Bible from beginning to end. The Bible begins with a garden, and it ends with a city. In the first two chapters of the Bible, there is a garden; in the last two chapters, there is a city. In the Song of Songs, the garden and the city are the very person of the seeking one. She fully corresponds now to the standard of God’s eternal will. The Bible reveals that God’s eternal will is firstly a garden and ultimately a city. This is why this book is so marvelous. The seeker of the Lord in this book becomes these very things — a garden and a city. For this reason we say that the Song of Songs covers the entire Bible. It takes the whole Bible to describe the seeker because the Bible starts with the garden and concludes with the city. Now she is the garden and the city. But this is not all. The name of the garden is Paradise, and the name of the city is Jerusalem. This proves the divine inspiration of the Bible. No human mind could compose a book that fits so well in today’s church life. How did Solomon learn all these things? Who told him about life and building? Yet he wrote it all twenty-five hundred years ago. Praise the Lord that He has opened this book to us!
Almost all the teaching and edification given in Christianity is for the individual. Everyone is trying to be individually spiritual, and most of the Bible teachers are doing their best to help others to be spiritual in an individual way. But the whole Bible shows us that our spirituality should not be only individualistic. All our spirituality must be for the building. Some of the brothers in the church are carpenters who have helped to build houses and buildings. They know that each individual piece of material is not for itself; every piece is for the corporate building. I never heard anything in Christianity about the corporate building. But I did hear a great deal about this matter from Brother Watchman Nee. For more than three years, from 1939 to 1942, he spoke all the time on the matter of building. At that time the Lord opened up to us the first two chapters and the last two chapters of the Bible. The building in the Bible became so clear to us. But today a message is rarely heard in Christianity about our need to be built up into a corporate Body. May the Lord grant us doves’ eyes so that we will have spiritual perception to see that spirituality is not merely for individuals. Spirituality is for the building up of the corporate city.
The progression to the building is clearly seen in these ten figures. First, there is the mare, then the doves’ eyes, the lily, and the dove. After a period of time there are the pillars of smoke. This figure of the pillars indicates building. Then from the pillars we go to the bed and the palanquin. The palanquin is built up with certain materials. Then, comes the crown. All these first eight figures are one group in the first section of this book. The conclusion for this group of figures is the palanquin for the Lord’s move and the crown for the Lord’s glory. It is really wonderful and marvelous! It seems that the seeking one has reached the peak and that nothing else is needed. If I were the writer of this book, I would probably have closed the book here. It seems good enough to have the palanquin and the crown. But if this is all we have, it is merely individual spirituality, holiness, and maturity in life. Everything is for individuals.
We must realize that this book is divided into two sections. The first eight figures in the first section describe and illustrate the seeking one up to the crown. In the second section, two more figures are used by the Lord to describe this wonderful person: a garden and a city. This is wonderful! If we only had the figures from the mare to the crown, we would have only some pieces and parts of the Scriptures; we would not have the whole Bible. But when we come to the last section of the book, this wonderful seeker becomes the garden and the city. Now she fits into the entire Bible; we can apply the whole Bible to her from the beginning to the end. We can see her in the garden in Genesis 1 and 2, and we can also see her in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and 22. She is both the garden and the city. It is not just a personal, individualistic matter; it is a corporate matter. A garden is for growing, and a city is something built up.
For us to be the palanquin and the crown of the Lord is indeed wonderful. But we must go on to be the garden. We must grow all the spices, which are the attributes of Christ, the sweet aspects of the Lord’s person. The calamus, the cinnamon, the aloes, the myrrh and frankincense, the pomegranate and the henna flower are all different aspects of the Lord’s person and work. In the first part of this book, the Lord Jesus was the henna flower to the seeking one. She said, “My beloved is to me a cluster of henna flowers.” But now she grows henna flowers for the Lord. He was the henna flower to her, and now she grows the henna flowers to Him. He was her enjoyment, but now what He is has been wrought into her, and she is growing it back to Him for His enjoyment. This is really wonderful! And whatever grows out of this garden is the material for the building up of the city. The growing is for the building. We are God’s cultivated land to grow the materials for the building up of God’s house. This is why we are both the garden and the city. We must grow all the materials for the building up of the city. So the entire book is on life and building. At the end, the seeker becomes a city. This is the last figure used by the Lord to describe His bride. The city, New Jerusalem, is called the bride of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9).
Now we need to go back to see a few points about the improvement, the progress, and the growth of the seeking one. In chapter 2 she said, “Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away.” We know that this really happened. She did have a dawn, and it seemed that all her shadows fled away. She attained to such a place that she became the palanquin and crown to the Lord. But still, in the following chapters, she said the same thing again. “Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away, / I, for my part, will go to the mountain of myrrh / And to the hill of frankincense” (4:6). Regardless of how much we appreciate her as the palanquin and the crown, she herself still realized the existence of some darkness, for shadows were still there. In a sense the day had dawned, but in another sense it had not dawned yet. This is proof that the palanquin and crown are not the consummation of the Christian life. The Christian life must go on to obtain the building. The building is the ultimate issue of all spiritual experiences. However high our experiences are, as long as we have not reached the building, we are still falling short. This is why she still is conscious of some shadows in her life.
What then shall she do? She says that she will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. The myrrh and the frankincense had transformed her from her natural state into the palanquin and crown of Christ, and she realizes that they will also take her on. This time, however, she needs to enjoy not just a little myrrh but a mountain of myrrh. It is not a small amount of frankincense but a hill. This is her realization of how much she has experienced the death and resurrection of Christ. But she realizes she still needs more; she needs even to abide in the death of Christ and in the resurrection of Christ. The death of Christ must be a mountain to her, and the resurrection of Christ must be a hill to her. It is not a small amount but a mountain and a hill. She realizes that she must go there to stay. This was the way she was wrought into the building. In 3:6 she was perfumed with the myrrh and frankincense, but in 4:6 she is going to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. When we compare 3:6 with 4:6, we can see the difference. She has come up from the wilderness by being perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, but she still feels that some shadows have not yet fled away. So she goes to the mountain of myrrh and remains there. She goes to the hill of frankincense and dwells there until the day dawns and all the shadows flee away. By staying at the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense, something of God’s building is thoroughly wrought into her, and she is fully wrought into God’s building. In this way she becomes the garden and then the city.
It is at this stage that the Lord likens her to a garden, and she herself realizes that she is a garden. She invites the Lord Jesus to come to her as to a garden, and He does. “Let my beloved come into his garden / And eat his choicest fruit” (4:16). “I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride” (5:1). The Lord Jesus comes to her as His garden and enjoys the choicest fruit. Now she is not only a palanquin for the Lord’s move and a crown for the Lord’s boasting but also a garden to grow something for the Lord’s satisfaction. All the spices that are grown in the garden are for the Lord’s satisfaction and are the materials for building the city.
In this book there are many seekings, many findings, and many satisfactions. At least four or five times the seeking one begins again to seek for the Lord. She finds what she is seeking, and she is satisfied. Each satisfaction enlarges her and creates further seeking. She becomes the palanquin and the crown, and in a sense is fully satisfied. Suppose you were to reach such a stage as to become the palanquin and crown to the Lord Jesus. I am sure that you would shout, “Hallelujah! This is the fullest satisfaction!” But there is still something further and better. We must go on from the crown to grow something for Him as a garden. Then the Lord will find something in us for His enjoyment and His satisfaction. It is not only a matter of being a boast to Him as a crown; we must grow something for the Lord Jesus to eat and enjoy. In other words, we must produce some materials for the building. We are God’s cultivated land, and we are God’s building. We are the garden, and we are the city. The building of the city comes out of the garden.
When the seeking one becomes the city, she is also an army. We mentioned that the tenth figure is the last one, but there is also the eleventh. This is the army. “You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners.” Why do I say that the tenth is the last, yet there is still the eleventh? It is because the tenth is the eleventh, and the eleventh is the tenth. When we become a city to the Lord, we are an army to the enemy. It is not just an armory as in the past (4:4). An armory is defensive, but the army is offensive. It is not just a matter of defending the kingdom but also of fighting for the kingdom. She is so beautiful to the Lord, even as beautiful as Jerusalem. But to the enemy, she is as terrible as an army with banners. We all know that an army with banners means victory. She is not without banners. This means that she has won the victory already. No wonder she is so terrible to the enemy!
First, there was the armory for the defensive warfare. But now the seeking one has become an army marching in triumphant victory. The Hebrew word army in this verse is in the plural, so some versions say that she is the hosts, the troops. It is not just one troop but the many troops with banners. She has become such a marvelous fighting army as troops with the victory banners. We can never separate the building from the spiritual warfare. Wherever the building is, there is the battle. We all remember the account in Nehemiah: with one hand the people did the building work, and with the other hand they held the weapons for battle (4:17). While they were building, they were fighting. Fighting always accompanies the building, and the building always brings in the victory in the battle. This is the consummation of the Christian life. This is the uttermost completion that the seeking one of the Lord can attain. She is now a city as an army.
In Ezekiel 37:2-10 we read the same thing. All the dry bones, after being inbreathed with life, came alive to be built into the habitation of God. And at the same time they were formed into an army. The building is always an army. Without an enemy, there is no need to build a city. In human history, the city came into existence because of the attacks of the enemies. The city is God’s dwelling place, but it is also the fighting army to the enemy.
Today’s Christianity is very lacking in all these matters. This is why the Lord has still not come back. How can He return without all these things being recovered and accomplished among His people on earth? This is what the Lord is doing in His recovery, and this is why we say that this is not the recovery of doctrine. It is the recovery of life and building. This is His work, which He started in Genesis 1. The enemy has done his best to frustrate it, but the enemy cannot stop the Lord’s recovery. Today the Lord is going to recover life and building!
A real warfare is being waged today for the Lord’s recovery. Some may think that they have been called for this or for that. But these are just the traditional things. We all have been called for the Lord’s recovery. May the Lord have mercy on us that we may see His divine work of recovery and what is missing in today’s Christianity.
To love the Lord Jesus does not mean to work for Him. Working for Him means nothing to the Lord Jesus. If you do not believe this today, some day you will believe it. But that day will be too late. It is not that we work for Him but that He works on us. We must not be merely His workers but His work (Eph. 2:10). We must take in the Lord so that He may perfume us and transform us. Then we will progress from one figure to another and will arrive at the stage of the palanquin and the crown. But we still need to go on to the garden and the city. May the Lord be merciful to us and take us all the way! Life and building are the two main items of the Lord’s recovery. This is why we must attain to the garden and the city.
