Song of Songs 1:4b-8 shows the fellowship in the mingled spirit of Christ’s lovers (2 Cor. 13:14; Rom. 8:4b). This fellowship is in the joy of Christ’s lover with her companions, in their extolling His unrivaled love (S.S. 1:4c). She and her companions extol the Lord’s love, but this seeker stands out. She says, “I am black but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, / Like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon” (v. 5). Kedar is a place in Arabia. The black tents of Kedar were dried up by the sun, but the lovely curtains of Solomon were within the king‘s home. She was black because of the scorching sun: “Do not look at me, because I am black, / Because the sun has scorched me” (v. 6a). In her fellowship with the Lord, she was enlightened to see that she was a sinner in Adam (black) but that she has been justified in Christ (lovely). She stands out among her companions as one who is pleasant to God and man. She wants the Lord Himself, whereas the others are satisfied in a general way. She was enlightened to see that although she is sinful in Adam, she is beautiful in Christ in the eyes of God.
Then the seeker said, “My mother’s sons were angry with me; / They made me keeper of the vineyards, / But my own vineyard I have not kept. / Tell me, you whom my soul loves, Where do you pasture your flock? / Where do you make it lie down at noon? / For why should I be like one who is veiled / Beside the flocks of your companions?” (vv. 6b-7). “My mother’s sons” signifies the denominational brothers who persecute the seeking one. Noon is the time when the sun is at its highest, a scorching time. The seeker wanted to know where the Lord makes His flock lie down at noon. At the time of hardships, she needed someone to shepherd her. She was telling the Lord, “Lord, I want to have You. I don’t want to miss You. I want to enjoy Your presence. Bring me to where You shepherd Your flock at noon, so that I can be under Your shelter to have rest and satisfaction.” Christ’s presence has two issues. If you have Christ’s presence, you have Christ’s rest and satisfaction.
The seeker received the revelation concerning how to enter the church life. The seeker realized that she was separated from Christ’s flock by the denominational people and that she needed Christ’s feeding and rest with satisfaction (vv. 6b-7; John 10:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2). Christ led us into our spirit and in our spirit, in fellowship with Him, He directed us to the church life. She was instructed by Christ to leave the place where she was kept away from the church and go forth on the footsteps of the flock (S.S. 1:8a). The flock is the church in the proper sense according to the apostles’ teaching in the New Testament. The footsteps of the flock have laid a line showing us the proper way to follow the Lord in His recovery.
In the Lord’s care for His seeker, the Lord was very wise. She was seeking after the Lord for her own satisfaction. That was her concern. But the Lord’s concern with His saved sinners is not just for their satisfaction but for God’s eternal economy. Thus, the concerns are different. Our concern is very low, personal, but the Lord’s concern is God’s economy. God’s economy is to save sinners to gain the churches, so that the essence of these churches can become the organic Body of Christ for the consummation of the New Jerusalem. The Lord’s intention in saving us is for us to be in the church so that we can be built up in the Body of Christ and be in the consummation of God’s economy, the New Jerusalem.
Many do not even like to talk about the church because of all the complications and confusion with the denominations. The seeker says that her mother’s sons were angry with her. The mother signifies grace as the one who begot the seeker and her brothers (cf. Gal. 4:26). Her brothers born of the same grace persecuted her and pressed her to work in the vineyards while she neglected her own vineyard. Verse 7 speaks of the flocks of the Lord’s companions. These flocks turn the seeker away from the Lord’s presence. As a result the seeker says to the Lord, “Where do you pasture your flock? / Where do you make it lie down at noon?” The companions are the Lord’s companions, but their flocks are not His flock. Their flocks carried the seeker away from Christ Himself and from His feeding and shepherding.
All the founders of the denominations are Christ’s companions, His friends. But the so-called churches set up by them are not the church in the proper sense according to the apostles’ teaching in the New Testament. Many missionaries who went to China were the genuine companions of Christ, but they set up their own denominations. Hudson Taylor established the church of the China Inland Mission. A. B. Simpson established churches of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. They were Christ’s companions who went out for Christ, but not to set up the churches of Christ. They were very good with respect to Christ, but they did something wrong with respect to the church life, because they set up their own flocks. Such companions of the Lord were positive, but unintentionally they established flocks which separated Christ’s real seekers from His presence with His shepherding and feeding.
Today there are many so-called churches, but to what extent are they really for Christ? The Catholic Church is condemned by Christ Himself. He called the Catholic Church “the great harlot” (Rev. 17:1). But even that Catholic Church who is a great harlot has brought some to the Lord. People were saved through them. Among the Catholics there are a good number of nuns who are very devoted. All the so-called Christian churches built up by Christ’s companions bring people to Christ, but only to a certain extent. Some bring people to Christ to a very small extent. Others bring people to Christ to a great extent like A. B. Simpson’s churches. Although they were very spiritual, they were still not up to the Lord’s standard according to the apostles’ teaching in the New Testament.
Our experience was that the more we stayed in the denominations, the more we lost the Lord’s presence. We left the denominations because we lost the presence of Christ. In the hardships, at noontime, we did not enjoy the shepherding of Christ. Christ was not with us, so we did not have rest and satisfaction. One day we met the Lord’s recovery and found out that, although it was not perfect, it was the highest place. The church is the place where Christ pastures, shepherds and feeds, His saints. We left the denominations because we had no rest, no satisfaction, and no real enjoyment of Christ. We may have been saved in a denomination, and that denomination may have helped us, taught us, and built us up to know Christ to a certain extent, but it was also that denomination which hindered us from going on to enjoy Christ with His rest and satisfaction. In today’s confusion of the divisions in Christianity, we should realize where to go. All of the Lord’s seekers should follow the footsteps of His flock.
The Lord instructed His seeker to follow the footsteps of the flock, which are the footsteps of all the faithful Christ-seekers throughout the centuries. After I decided to serve the Lord with my full-time, I went to Shanghai to stay with Brother Nee, and he received me as his guest for four and a half months. At that time we did not have much work to do, so I went to him like a student to a professor. He took the chance to perfect me, to tell me the stories of the history of the church with the Lord’s seekers beginning from the church fathers and going on throughout the centuries. From those footsteps we found out the way to follow Christ.
The Lord also told the seeker to pasture her young goats by the shepherds’ tents (S.S. 1:8b). The shepherds here, of course, are the positive ones. In Christ’s proper church life, there are shepherds helping others to know Christ, to enjoy Christ, and to receive the rest and satisfaction from Christ to the highest extent. The Lord charged His seeker not only to be in the place where He shepherds His flock but also to bring her small spiritual children to the shepherds’ tents, the dwelling place of the Lord’s shepherds, where they shepherd others to know Him. These tents are the churches in the proper sense. We must have our spiritual children stay in the places where these shepherds are; this is the best blessing to our children. Though the lover of Christ is seeking after Christ for her own satisfaction and rest, Christ, in answering her request and instructing her how to seek after Him, charges her to take care of her spiritual children, the members of the Body of Christ.