The lover’s gain and enjoyment of Christ, and Christ’s gain and enjoyment of His lover result in the mutual satisfaction and rest of Christ and His lover in the churches. We need to consider the difference between rest and satisfaction. The lover asked the Lord where He pastured His flock for satisfaction and where He made it lie down at noon for rest (1:7). Rest concerns the environment, the situation, and the condition. Sometimes our environment, condition, and circumstances do not allow us rest. If there is no problem or disturbance, we have rest. But on that day of rest, we may be short of food. We need something to nourish and refresh us to satisfy us. Satisfaction comes from the supply, whereas rest comes from the environment, condition, and circumstances. When the environment is all right, we have rest. When the food supply is sufficient, we have satisfaction.
Christ and His lover have mutual satisfaction and rest in their mutual enjoyment of all that they are respectively. The lover has her gain and enjoyment, and the Beloved, Christ, has His gain and enjoyment. When both are put together, there is mutual satisfaction and rest, especially their mutual satisfaction and rest in their bridal love and marriage life (1:16-17; 2:6). If a couple goes on a honeymoon and their car breaks down, all the restaurants are closed, and all the hotels are full, they cannot have rest and satisfaction. The normal church life is not like this. In the normal, proper church life, we always have both rest and satisfaction. If the church is abnormal, there is suffering with no rest or satisfaction. In these recent years we can testify that we are full of rest and satisfaction. There has been no turmoil among us and the life supply has never been short.
The initial result of the mutual gain and enjoyment of Christ and His lover is a feast, and the consummate result is the banqueting in the banqueting house, the church life (2:4a). In the church life as the banqueting house, Christ’s love-banner spreads over His lover (2:4b). This love-banner is an exhibition of Christ’s victory. Christ’s victory is all-conquering. The end of Romans 8 tells us that because of God’s unchanging love for us and the fact that Christ has accomplished everything on our behalf, neither tribulation nor persecution can suppress or defeat us; rather, in all these things we more than overcome and conquer through Him who loved us (vv. 31-39).
We are more than conquerors because of God’s love in Christ. God’s love in Christ is a banner spreading over us, displaying, exhibiting, that we who are loved by God are always more than conquerors. If God were not in Christ, there would be no judicial guarantee. But in Christ everything is guaranteed by His death fulfilling all the legal requirements. That is His judicial redemption. In today’s church life, there is a banner of the everlasting love of God which is in Christ.
In the church life as the banqueting house, Christ’s bread of life nourishes His lover, and His rich supply of life refreshes her (S.S. 2:5). In the church life, we always have the adequate nourishment and refreshment. We also have a love that conquers everything if we live in this love. This is the mutual gain and enjoyment between Christ and His lover in the churches.