2022-5丨General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

Message Two Song of Songs—the Progressive Experience of an Individual Believer's Loving Fellowship with Christ for the Preparation of the Bride of Christ

D. In the fourth stage of Song of Songs, the lover of Christ is called more strongly to live within the veil through the cross after resurrection—5:2--6:13:

S.S. 5:2 I sleep, but my heart is awake. / A sound! My beloved is knocking. / Open to me, my sister, my love, / My dove, my perfect one; / For my head is drenched with dew, / My locks with the drops of night.

S.S. 5:3 I have put off my garment; / How can I put it on again? / I have washed my feet; / How can I dirty them again?

S.S. 5:4 My beloved put his hand into the opening of the door, / And my inner parts yearned for him.

S.S. 5:5 I rose up to open to my beloved; / And my hands dripped with myrrh, / My fingers with liquid myrrh, / Upon the handles of the bolt.

S.S. 5:6 I opened to my beloved, / But my beloved had withdrawn; he was gone. / My soul failed when he spoke; / I sought him, but found him not; / I called him—he answered me not.

S.S. 5:7 The watchmen who go about the city found me. / They struck me; they wounded me; / The keepers of the walls took my veil from me.

S.S. 5:8 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, / If you find my beloved, / What shall you tell him? / That I am sick with love.

S.S. 5:9 What is your beloved more than some other's beloved, / O you most beautiful among women? / What is your beloved more than some other's beloved, / That you adjure us so?

S.S. 5:10 My beloved is dazzling white yet ruddy, / Distinguished among ten thousand.

S.S. 5:11 His head is the finest gold; / His locks are wavy, / As black as a raven.

S.S. 5:12 His eyes are like doves / Beside the streams of water, / Bathed in milk, / Fitly set.

S.S. 5:13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices, / Mounds of sweetly fragrant herbs; / His lips are lilies, / Dripping with liquid myrrh.

S.S. 5:14 His hands are tubes of gold, / Set with beryl; / His belly is an ivory work, / Overlaid with sapphires.

S.S. 5:15 His legs are pillars of white marble, / Set upon bases of gold; / His appearance is like Lebanon, / As excellent as the cedars.

S.S. 5:16 His mouth is sweetness itself, / And he is altogether desirable. / This is my beloved, and this is my friend, / O daughters of Jerusalem.

S.S. 6:1 Where has your beloved gone, / O you most beautiful among women? / Where has your beloved turned, / That we may seek him with you?

S.S. 6:2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, / To the beds of spices, / To feed in the gardens / And gather lilies.

S.S. 6:3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; / He pastures his flock among the lilies.

S.S. 6:4 You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners.

S.S. 6:5 Turn your eyes away from me, / For they overwhelm me. / Your hair is like a flock of goats / That repose on Mount Gilead.

S.S. 6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes / That have come up from the washing, / All of which have borne twins, / And none of them is bereaved of her young.

S.S. 6:7 Your cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate / Behind your veil.

S.S. 6:8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines / And virgins without number.

S.S. 6:9 My dove, my perfect one, is but one; / She is the only one of her mother; / She is the choice one of her who bore her. / The daughters saw her, and they called her blessed; / The queens and the concubines, / They also praised her.

S.S. 6:10 Who is this woman who looks forth like the dawn, / As beautiful as the moon, / As clear as the sun, / As terrible as an army with banners?

S.S. 6:11 I went down to the orchard of nuts / To see the freshness of the valley, / To see whether the vine had budded, / Whether the pomegranates were in bloom.

S.S. 6:12 Before I was aware, / My soul set me among the chariots of my noble people.

S.S. 6:13 Return, return, O Shulammite; / Return, return, that we may gaze at you. / Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, / As upon the dance of two camps?

1. By living within the veil, the lover of Christ is transformed into the heavenly bodies; she looks forth like the dawn, she is as beautiful as the moon, and she is as clear as the sun—v. 10:

S.S. 6:10 Who is this woman who looks forth like the dawn, / As beautiful as the moon, / As clear as the sun, / As terrible as an army with banners?

a. The path of the overcomers is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until the full day—Prov. 4:18; John 1:5.

Prov. 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, / Which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

John 1:5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

b. The light of dawn, the sunrise, signifies both Christ in His coming and our being revived every morning; the Christian life is like the dawning of the sun—Luke 1:78; Prov. 4:18; Psa. 110:3; Judg. 5:31.

Luke 1:78 Because of the merciful compassions of our God, in which the rising sun will visit us from on high,

Prov. 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, / Which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.

Psa. 110:3 Your people will offer themselves willingly / In the day of Your warfare, / In the splendor of their consecration. / Your young men will be to You / Like the dew from the womb of the dawn.

Judg. 5:31 May all Your enemies so perish, O Jehovah. / But may those who love Him be like the sun / When it rises in its might. And the land had rest forty years.

2. In the maturity of Christ's life, the lover of Christ becomes the Shulammite (the feminine form of “Solomon”), signifying that she has become the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function (but not in the Godhead) as the reproduction and duplication of Christ to match Him for their marriage—S. S. 6:13; 2 Cor. 3:18.

S.S. 6:13 Return, return, O Shulammite; / Return, return, that we may gaze at you. / Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, / As upon the dance of two camps?

2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

3. The Shulammite is likened to the dance of two camps, or two armies (Heb. mahanaim), in the sight of God; after Jacob saw the angels of God, the two armies of God, he named the place where he was Mahanaim and divided his wives, children, and possessions into “two armies”—S. S. 6:13; Gen. 32:1-2:

S.S. 6:13 Return, return, O Shulammite; / Return, return, that we may gaze at you. / Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, / As upon the dance of two camps?

Gen. 32:1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

Gen. 32:2 And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God's camp. So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

a. The spiritual significance of the two armies is the strong testimony that we more than conquer, we “super-overcome,” through Him who loved us, according to the principle of the Body of Christ—Rom. 8:37; 12:5.

Rom. 8:37 But in all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us.

Rom. 12:5 So we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

b. God does not want those who are strong in themselves; He wants only the feeble ones, the weaker ones, the women and children; those who are counted worthy to be overcomers will be the weaker ones who depend on the Lord—1 Cor. 1:26-28; 2 Cor. 1:8-9; 12:9-10; 13:3-5.

1 Cor. 1:26 For consider your calling, brothers, that there are not many wise according to flesh, not many powerful, not many wellborn.

1 Cor. 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world that He might shame those who are wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world that He might shame the things that are strong,

1 Cor. 1:28 And the lowborn things of the world and the despised things God has chosen, things which are not, that He might bring to nought the things which are,

2 Cor. 1:8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were excessively burdened, beyond our power, so that we despaired even of living.

2 Cor. 1:9 Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead;

2 Cor. 12:9 And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.

2 Cor. 12:10 Therefore I am well pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses, on behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am powerful.

2 Cor. 13:3 Since you seek a proof of the Christ who is speaking in me, who is not weak unto you but is powerful in you.

2 Cor. 13:4 For indeed He was crucified out of weakness, but He lives by the power of God. For indeed we are weak in Him, but we will live together with Him by the power of God directed toward you.

2 Cor. 13:5 Test yourselves whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves. Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are disapproved?

Morning Nourishment

S. S. 6:10 Who is this woman who looks forth like the dawn, as beautiful as the moon, as clear as the sun, as terrible as an army with banners?

13 Return, return, O Shulammite; return, return, that we may gaze at you. Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, as upon the dance of two camps?

Through her living in the ascension of Christ and further living within the veil, experiencing the cross of Christ more strongly, the lover of Christ is transformed into the heavenly bodies.

The overcoming believers can be luminaries as the moon reflecting the light of the sun in the church age (Phil. 2:15). The overcoming believers will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom age (Matt. 13:43; Dan. 12:3). The people of God who produce the overcomers (the man-child) are clothed with the sun and have the moon underneath their feet (Rev. 12:1, 5). The woman in Revelation 12 signifies the aggregate of God’s people on earth. This woman is the mother of the man-child, the overcomers. She is shining with the sun, the moon, and the stars. This view conveys the thought that God’s chosen people should be heavenly and should shine brightly. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song of Songs,” p. 341)

In Song of Songs 6:13...the Shulammite is likened to two armies, or camps, dancing. This phrase two armies in Hebrew is Mahanaim. This is not a common word; it is a historical name from the Old Testament in Genesis 32:2. Jacob decided to go back to his fathers’ land... By that time he had four wives and many children, servants, flocks, and herds...Jacob was returning with the fear that Esau still wanted to kill him. As he journeyed with his family, there were no strong ones with him. There were only feeble ones, women and children...On the way “the angels of God met him,” and Jacob said, “This is God’s camp.” So he “called the name of that place Mahanaim” (vv. 1-2).

After he saw the two armies of God, Jacob did a marvelous thing. He divided his wives, children, and the rest of his possessions into two groups, or “two armies.”...This is full of spiritual significance...This means that we are more than conquerors. It also signifies a strong testimony. God does not want “giants.” He wants only the feeble ones, the weaker ones, the women and children. They can become His armies because the fighting is not in their hands but in His hands. Those who are counted as overcomers will be the weaker ones, the ones who wept with tears, saying, “Lord, I cannot make it. Thank You for releasing all these high-peak truths unveiling to us what we should be. We should be in the Holy of Holies, living within the veil. We should be in oneness with You. You are our dwelling place, and we are Your dweller. I want to attain to this, but I cannot do anything. I am just a little one, a feeble one.”

An army indicates the principle of the Body. Both Tirzah and Jerusalem are buildings, not single pieces of stone...We should humble ourselves and admit that we are nothing... We can say, “Praise You, Lord...What a joy that You do everything and have done everything for me!”

All the overcomers must be one with God and must be Christ... As a counterpart of Solomon, [the Shulammite] has become the same as Solomon in life, in nature, in expression, and in function for the carrying out of God’s economy. In these four things—life, nature, expression, and function—we become the same as God and Christ but not in Their Godhead. To say that we are the same as God in His Godhead is a great blasphemy, but if we say that we cannot be the same as God in life, nature, expression, and function, this is unbelief. The Bible tells us again and again that God wants to be one with us and to make us one with Him. This is God’s intention. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song of Songs,” pp. 347-349)