Message Four

The New Jerusalem—
the Consummate Shulammite

Scripture Reading: S. S. 6:13; 7:11-12; 8:5-6, 13-14;
Rev. 21:2, 9-10; 22:17a

1. Ultimately, we are conformed to be the wonderful Shulammite, who, as the duplication of Solomon, is the greatest and ultimate figure of the New Jerusalem as the counterpart of Christ—S. S. 6:13; Rev. 21:2, 9-10; 22:17a:
   1. Shulammite is the feminine form of Solomon, indicating that now the overcomers have become the same as Christ in life, in nature, in expression, and in function but not in the Godhead for the carrying out of God’s economy:
      1. Just as King Solomon became a country man to court a country girl in order to make her his queen, his duplication, God in Christ became a man to court man in order to make man God in life, nature, expression, and function but not in the Godhead to be Christ’s bride—Matt. 9:15; Rev. 19:7; cf. Psa. 45:1-3, 9, 13-14.
      2. The Bible reveals that God became a man to court us and that now He wants us to court Him by our becoming divine for His expression through our personal, affectionate, private, and spiritual relationship with Him—Eccl. 1:2; S. S. 1:1-8; cf. 2 Cor. 2:10; Exo. 3:11; Rom. 8:4, 6; 1 Cor. 2:15.
   2. The Shulammite is like two camps, or armies, in the sight of God—S. S. 6:13:
      1. The phrase two armies in Hebrew is Mahanaim.
      2. When Jacob was on the way to confront Esau, the angels of God met him, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim—Gen. 32:1-2.
      3. After he saw the two armies of God, Jacob divided his wives, children, and possessions into two groups or “two armies,” indicating that we are more than conquerors and that we bear a strong testimony— v. 7.
      4. It also indicates that God does not want “giants,” but only the feeble ones, the weaker ones, the women and children—2 Cor. 11:29; Rom. 9:16.
      5. All who are strong in themselves will be disqualified; those who are counted as the overcomers will be the weaker ones, who utterly depend on the Lord in the principle of the Body—Rev. 3:8; 1 Pet. 5:5; Deut. 32:30; Eccl. 4:9-12; Rom. 16:20.
2. Eventually, Christ’s lovers who are becoming His duplication need to share in His work (2 Cor. 6:1a) by being equipped with all the attributes of the divine life to be expressed in their human virtues:
   1. Actually, to work with Christ we must be Christ; Paul was a real Shulammite because he lived Christ—Phil. 1:21a.
   2. The Spirit, esteeming the Shulammite as one of the royal household, reviews her virtues, presenting a beautiful portrait of the lovely lover of Christ from her feet to her head as an expression of Christ, whom she loves—Rom. 5:17:
      1. “How beautiful are your footsteps in sandals, / O prince’s daughter!” (S. S. 7:1a)—this signifies the beauty of her action and her move in the preaching of the full gospel with its power to separate her from the defiling world—Rom. 10:14-15; Eph. 6:15.
      2. “Your rounded thighs are like jewels, / The work of the hands of a skilled artist” (S. S. 7:1b; cf. Gen. 32:25)—this signifies her standing power and stability through the skillful transforming work of God the Spirit—2 Cor. 3:18.
      3. “Your neck is like a tower of ivory” (S. S. 7:4a; cf. 4:4)—this signifies her submissive will wrought by the Spirit’s transformation with the resurrection life through sufferings for the carrying out of God’s will—1 Kings 10:18; Col. 1:24.
      4. “Your eyes, like the pools in Heshbon / By the gate of Bath-rabbim” (S. S. 7:4b; cf. 1:15)—this signifies that her heart is open to the light, clean, full of rest, and accessible and that her spiritual sight has been broadened and enlarged to see the Lord’s interests in the whole universe—Matt. 5:8.
      5. “Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, / Which faces Damascus” (S. S. 7:4c; cf. Lev. 21:18)—this signifies her spiritual sense of high and sharp discernment.
      6. “Your head upon you is like Carmel, / And the locks of your head like purple. / The king is fettered by your tresses” (S. S. 7:5)—this signifies that her thoughts and intentions are strong for God (cf. 1 Kings 18:19-39) and that the Lord has become a captive to her beautiful submission, which brings in the Lord’s kingship and authority.
   3. The Shulammite works as Solomon’s counterpart to carry out with her Beloved the work that is for the entire world by sojourning from one place to another— S. S. 7:11; Rev. 14:4.
   4. She and her Beloved work diligently not for herself but in the churches, for others to bud, blossom, and bloom, in which she renders her love to her Beloved—S. S. 7:12; cf. 1:6b.
3. Because the Christ-seeker’s heart is fully possessed by Him, she has become mature in the divine life and is filled with a hope to be raptured—S. S. 8:13-14; Psa. 73:25:
   1. She is passing through the process of coming out of the earthly wilderness to be raptured by leaning on her Beloved, trusting in the Lord helplessly until the wilderness journey is over—S. S. 8:5a; Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5-6, 13.
   2. She realizes that whether she can endure to the end does not depend on her own endurance, but on the Lord’s preservation, so she asks the Lord to set her as a seal on His heart, the place of His keeping love, and on His arm, the place of His preserving power—S. S. 8:6-7.
   3. She asks the Lord, the One who dwells in the believers as His gardens, to let her hear His voice—v. 13; cf. 2:14:
      1. Our lives (to become the New Jerusalem) depend on the Lord’s words, and our work (to build the New Jerusalem) depends on His commands—1 Sam. 3:9-10; Luke 10:39, 42; Rev. 1:20; John 1:1; cf. Rev. 21:2.
      2. The life of the believers hinges totally on the Lord’s speaking—Eph. 5:26.
   4. The lover prays that He would make haste to come back in the power of His resurrection to set up His sweet and beautiful kingdom which will fill the whole earth—S. S. 8:14; 2:8-9; Rev. 11:15; Dan. 2:35.