Scripture Reading: S.S. 4:7-15; Heb. 4:12; 1 Thes. 5:23; 2 Cor. 4:16
In this message I would like to give a word about living in ascension by discerning the spirit from the soul.
In Song of Songs 4:7-8 the Lord calls His lover to live in ascension as a new creation in resurrection. The new creation is only that which is in ascension in resurrection. Without resurrection, there cannot be a new creation.
“You are altogether beautiful, my love, / And there is no blemish in you” (v. 7). Here the Lord expresses His appreciation of His lover to prepare her to receive His call to live in ascension.
“Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; / With me from Lebanon come” (v. 8a). Lebanon is a high mountain, signifying resurrection. In 2:9 the lover was in “our wall” of the introspective self. The wall is down in the self. Her introspection had built a wall which separated her from the Lord. Now He calls her to come with Him to a high mountain, which is the top of resurrection — ascension. Christ died, rose, and then ascended. First we experience resurrection, then ascension.
“Look from the top of Amana, / From the top of Senir and Hermon, / From the lions’ dens, / From the leopards’ mountains” (v. 8b). We have pointed out that Amana means “truth.” Hence, this is the peak of revelation. Senir means “soft armor.” Soft armor indicates that the fighting is over and the victory has been gained. Hermon means “destruction.” The enemy has been destroyed. In Christ’s ascension is His victory. There is no more fighting, for the enemy has been destroyed and the armor has become soft. Furthermore, the truth is here. The truth refers to the reality of the Triune God — all that God is, all that Christ is, and all that the Spirit is. This is ascension.
Verse 8 speaks of looking from the lions’ dens and from the leopards’ mountains. The victory has been gained, but the lions and the leopards, which signify Satan and his evil forces, are still there. These evil powers are also in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). Christ calls His lover to look from this, indicating that we must have our living in ascension.
In our daily lives we should not live in our “wall,” down on the earth, nor should we live in our “den.” We should not live in seclusion. We have been resurrected and are now in ascension; the war is over, and victory has been gained. However, all the enemies are still there, and thus we need to be watchful.
To live in ascension requires that we discern our spirit from our soul. This is according to our experience.
We are of three parts. We have a spirit, a soul (the self), and a body (1 Thes. 5:23). God’s economy in saving us is first to regenerate our dead spirit by imparting Himself into it as the divine element, making our spirit new. However, our soul is still old. Hence, after we have been regenerated, our soul needs to be transformed. The transformation of the soul is a gradual process that takes place step by step. Our body is also old. Therefore, the body, the outer man, needs to be consumed day by day, while the inner man is being renewed (2 Cor. 4:16). This renewing will go on and on until it reaches its peak with the transfiguration of our body, that is, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21).
As saved persons we all have two men. The new man is in our spirit, and the old man is in our soul. Regardless of whether it is good or bad, right or wrong, whatever we do, if we do it in our soul, we are living by the old man. For instance, you may love a certain brother and want to help him. But if you love him and help him not in your spirit but in your soul, you are living in your self, the old man. This is to do a good thing in the old man. Before doing anything — in this case helping a brother — we must first pray to contact the Lord in our spirit, asking Him what He feels about what we intend to do. Then in our spirit we may have the sense that the Lord is happy. This is an indication that the Lord wants us to do this particular thing. Then we should proceed to do it in our spirit. This is to live in the spirit.
If we do things by the old man in the soul or in the self, we are living on the earth. The things we do may be good, but we are nevertheless on the earth because we are living in the soul. Today there are many good people who are doing good things, but these people are all living in the soul. As lovers of Christ, we need to realize that our old man, including our soul, has been crucified (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20a). It is no longer “I” who live, but another man — Christ — lives in me (Gal. 2:20b). When we live by this other man, we are the new man, for we are living in the spirit, not in the soul.
Our spirit is connected to the heavens by God as the Spirit. In spirit we are therefore in the heavens, in ascension. To live in ascension requires that we live, act, move, and do everything in our spirit. Thus, we must learn how to discern our spirit. If we do not know our spirit, if we do not know how to discern our spirit from our soul, we cannot be a spiritual person. When we live in our spirit, we are in ascension as the new creation in resurrection. We are a new person living in a new universe.
We should not think that discerning the spirit from the soul is something that is too difficult for us to learn. We all can learn how to do this if we practice one thing: We should always inquire of the Lord: “Lord, is this the old man, the soul, the old `I’ only, or You with me?” If we sense that we are alone in the old “I,” then we are in the soul, in the old man. If we sense that we are one with the Lord and that He is with us, then we are in the spirit. If we have proper fellowship with the Lord, inquiring of Him before doing things, then in our spirit we will have a deep sense of the Lord’s feeling. We will know whether He is happy or not. This is to discern the soul from the spirit to live in ascension. May we all learn to have this most important practice in our daily living.
