"Flowers appear on the earth;/The time of singing has come,/And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. /The fig tree has ripened its figs,/And the vines are in blossom—they give forth their fragrance" (vv. 12-13a). Here "flowers," "singing," "voice of the turtledove," "blossom," and "fragrance" indicate the flourishing riches of Christ's resurrection. All these are signs of resurrection. When we sing, we are in resurrection. Whenever our mouth is closed, we are in winter.
"Rise up, my love,/My beauty, and come away" (v. 13b). This repeated word indicates Christ's eagerness in asking His lover to get away from her introspection of the self to be with Him. However, it is not easy for one to come out of introspection. It is very difficult to help a brother or sister who is introspective. Sometimes it takes a year or more before such a one can be helped to get away from the introspection of the self.
In verses 14 and 15 the lover is called to be in oneness with the cross. Whereas in the New Testament we have a clear word concerning the cross, in Song of Songs the cross is signified by figures of speech.
"My dove, in the clefts of the rock,/In the covert of the precipice,/Let me see your countenance,/Let me hear your voice;/For your voice is sweet,/And your countenance is lovely" (v. 14). Here Christ, considering her His simple lover (My dove), wants to see His lover's lovely countenance and hear her sweet voice in her oneness, union, with the cross (the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice). Here we see Christ's call for His lover to be in oneness with the cross. This point on the cross is the central stress in this section on deliverance from the self.
If I had been the lover, I might have said, "My beloved, I cannot get to the clefts of the rock. The clefts are too high and the way is too rugged. I do not have enough power to go there." But here Christ was indicating to His lover that she could enter into the experience of the cross by the power of His resurrection.
The objective cross must become our subjective experience. We need to get into the cross and the cross must get into us. In this way we and the cross become one. Our oneness with the cross is our salvation. To be delivered from the self means to be saved from the self through becoming one with the cross. Every day we should be conformed to Christ's death by the power of His resurrection (Phil. 3:10). Without the oneness with the cross, we cannot be delivered from the self. I appreciate the chorus of the hymn which says, "Through the Cross, O Lord, I pray,/Put my soul-life all away;/Make me any price to pay,/Full anointing to receive" (Hymns, #279). We need to be willing to pay the price to enter into the subjective experience of the cross.