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Scripture Reading: S.S. 1:9-17; 2:1-7
In 1:2-4a we see that the lover of Christ yearned for Christ, sought Him, and was attracted by His love and drawn by Him in His sweetness to run after Him. Christ is pleasant, sweet, and full of fragrance as ointment. Furthermore, His love is cheering, better than wine. All the lovers of Christ are attracted and constrained by His love (2 Cor. 5:14).
In Song of Songs 1:4b-8 the Beloved answered His lover's yearning and seeking and brought her into the inner chamber (her spirit) to have intimate fellowship. That fellowship led the lover of Christ to enter into the church life, signified by the flock (v. 8; John 10:16). After the lovers of Christ enter into the church life, they begin to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. Apart from the church life we cannot be transformed. The church life is a very important means used by the Holy Spirit to transform us. The Holy Spirit is transforming us with the saints in the church.
The lover of Christ is transformed by the remaking of the Spirit (S.S. 1:9-16a; 2:1-3a). The Spirit is the compound, all-inclusive, sevenfold intensified, life-giving, and indwelling Spirit, who is the consummation of the consummated Triune God. This Spirit is actually God Himself doing the work of transformation by remaking us. Transformation involves a metabolic process by which the Spirit remakes us. This metabolic transformation is now going on within us in the church life.
The lover of Christ is transformed from a strong natural person (a mare among Pharaoh's chariots — 1:9) into a person who lives a life not relying upon herself but trusting in Him (lily — 2:1-2; Matt. 6:28) and looking to Him with a single eye (eyes like doves — S.S. 1:15b; Matt. 10:16). At the beginning, the lover of Christ is strong naturally, like a mare among Pharaoh's chariots, but gradually she is transformed into a lily, one who is no longer full of natural strength but is full of life. Such a transformed one now looks to the Lord with a single eye. Her one goal, her one object, is the One whom she loves.
"Your cheeks are lovely with plaits of ornaments,/Your neck with strings of jewels" (S.S. 1:10). Here the Beloved appreciates her loveliness in submission to Him (cheeks lovely with plaits of ornaments) and her beauty in obedience to the transforming Spirit (neck with strings of jewels). The expression of this lover of Christ is full of submission followed by obedience. When we submit to the Lord, we will surely obey Him.
"We will make you plaits of gold/With studs of silver" (v. 11). The transforming Spirit and the lover's companions (we) will adorn her with the constitution of the life of God (plaits of gold) by the redeeming work of Christ (studs of silver). God's nature and Christ's redemption are put together by the Spirit and the companions to be her adornment. The Spirit transforms us, but the Spirit needs our companions to be His helpers. If we realize this, we will praise the Lord Spirit that He has given us many companions to be His helpers in transforming us.
"While the king was at his table,/My spikenard gave forth its fragrance" (v. 12). At the table where Christ is feasting with His lover (the king at his table), her love (spikenard) toward Him spreads forth its fragrance (cf. John 12:1-3). In the church life the small groups are often a feast with the Lord as the invisible guest. In the built-up vital groups, the lovers of Christ spontaneously spread their pleasant fragrance toward Christ.
"My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh/That lies at night between my breasts./My beloved is to me a cluster of henna flowers/In the vineyards of En-gedi" (S.S. 1:13-14). In these verses we see that she enjoys Him privately (at night) in His death (a bundle of myrrh) in her embracing with love and faith (breasts — 1 Tim. 1:14; 1 Thes. 5:8). Every lover of Christ is full of faith and love and embraces Him with faith and love. Furthermore, she enjoys Him publicly in His resurrection (a cluster of henna flowers) in the churches (vineyards) of Christ as the fountain of redemption (En-gedi — "the fountain of the lamb"). In the churches Christ grows as clusters of henna flowers. In the churches there is also a fountain of redemption. The church is continually watered by the fountain of Christ's redemption. From this we see that a major part of our spiritual life is related to the church life.
"Oh, you are beautiful, my love!/Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes are like doves" (S.S. 1:15). He appreciates her beauty in looking to Him with a single eye by the Spirit (eyes like doves — v. 15). The first striking aspect of our beauty in the sight of the Lord Jesus is our single eye toward Him. By the Spirit we look to Him with a single eye.
The Beloved and the lover appreciate each other. "Oh, you are beautiful, my beloved; indeed, pleasant!" (v. 16a). In this verse she appreciates His beauty in His pleasantness.
"I am a rose of Sharon,/A lily of the valleys" (2:1). The word for rose in this verse refers to a wild rose, despised in the land of Judea. Here the lover humbly realizes that she is but a small person, living on the one hand a pretty but despised life (rose) in the common world (Sharon, meaning "plain"), and on the other hand a pure and trusting life (lily) in the low place (valleys). This was her humble recognition and realization regarding herself.
"As a lily among thorns,/So is my love among the daughters" (v. 2). Here He appreciates her as His love (Shulammite) among the world-loving adulteresses (daughters — James 4:4) who lives a pure and trusting life (lily) among the filthy and unbelieving people (thorns).
"As the apple tree among the trees of the wood,/So is my beloved among the sons" (S.S. 2:3a). Here she appreciates Him as the source of rich provision (apple tree) who supplies her in a timely way. The lover and the Beloved both have beauty, and they appreciate the beauty in each other. This shows us that transformation produces a mutual appreciation between Christ and His lover.
The lover is satisfied with the rest and enjoyment in Christ (1:16b-17; 2:3b-7). Satisfaction requires two things — rest and enjoyment. First, we need to rest and then, as we are at rest, we have some enjoyment. The issue of this rest and enjoyment is satisfaction.
She is satisfied with her rest in His feeding life (green) as the resting place in the night (couch) in His embracing (2:6) and in His death (cypresses) and His resurrection (cedars) as the shelter (beams and rafters — 1:16b-17). In typology, in figure, a cypress tree signifies Christ's death, and a cedar tree signifies Christ's resurrection, in which His humanity is high and uplifted. Christ's death and resurrection are a shelter with beams and rafters.
"In his shade I delighted and sat down,/And his fruit was sweet to my taste" (2:3b). This reveals that she is satisfied also with her delighting in resting under Him as an overshadowing canopy in the day (shade — Isa. 4:5-6; 2 Cor. 12:9) and her tasting of Him as the sweet, timely supply (sweet fruit).
"He brought me into the banqueting house,/And his banner over me was love./Sustain me with raisin cakes,/Refresh me with apples,/For I am sick with love" (S.S. 2:4-5). Here the lover is satisfied with triumphant love (banner of love) spread over her in the enjoyable church life (banqueting house), in which she is sustained with Him, Christ, as bread of life (John 6:35 — raisin cakes) and refreshed with Him as fruit of life (Rev. 2:7; 22:2 — apples) to heal her lovesickness. Christ sustains us with Himself as bread and refreshes us with Himself as fruit.
"I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,/By the gazelles or by the hinds of the fields,/Not to rouse up or awaken my love/Until she pleases" (S.S. 2:7). Here we see that He takes care of her rest in Him.
He considers her one easily stirred up (gazelles or hinds of the fields). Every lover of Christ is a person who can easily be stirred up.
He solemnly charges (adjure) the meddling believers (daughters of Jerusalem). Among the saints in the church life, there are a number of meddling brothers and sisters. They care about the things of others and not about their own need to love the Lord and to grow in the divine life. Such meddling ones are signified by the daughters of Jerusalem.
His charge is that no one awaken her from her present experience of Christ in resting in Him. In her Christian life she has reached the goal of resting in and experiencing Christ and being satisfied in the church life. Temporarily, Christ agrees with her situation and does not want anyone to awaken her. This is the end of the first stage of the Christian life of a lover of Christ.
Many of us can testify from experience that this truly is the situation. At this point we can say, "I am resting in Christ and I am enjoying Christ. I am covered by Him and I am in Him. His life is my couch, and His death and resurrection are the rafters which cover me. Here in the church life Christ's love is the banner spread over me. I am satisfied."
He allows her to remain at rest until she feels pleasant in her second pursuit after Him (she pleases). As we will see when we come to the next section, Christ does not intend that His lover stay in this first stage. She needs to enter into the second stage of the Christian life of a lover of Christ — the stage of experiencing the cross of Christ for the breaking of the self. The lover of Christ should not stay in the self, allowing the self to become the center, but should experience the breaking of the self by the cross.
