The lover of Christ is also “terrible as an army with banners” lifted up as a sign of victory (v. 4b)
This praise of her Beloved indicates that her becoming the heavenly sanctuary and the heavenly Jerusalem is due to her victory over the enemies. Only by being an overcomer, one who overcomes the enemies, can we live within the veil.
Previously the lover was likened to a mare, a horse among Pharaoh’s chariots, a rose in Sharon, a lily in the valleys and among thorns, a dove, a pillar of smoke, a bed, a palanquin, a garden, and a fountain with a spring, but now she is likened to the heavenly dwelling of God and the heavenly Jerusalem, indicating her maturity in life for God’s building.
For the building of the Body of Christ, we need the maturity of life. Ephesians 4:12-16, which speaks of the building up of the Body, tells us that we need growth to reach maturity so that the Body of Christ can be built up. To build up the church in a general way requires only the capacity to manage, arrange, and take care of things. This is not something organic but something organized according to human management. However, the building up of the Body has nothing to do with our ability to organize, manage, and arrange things. The Body of Christ is an organism, not an organization. The building up of this organism depends on growth and the maturity in life. The building of the Body is organic.
To build up the Body organically, we need to mature. This is the reason that we are now stressing the building up of the Body much more than the building up of the church. First Timothy is a book on the church as the house of God (3:15). There is nothing in this book on the building of the Body of Christ. First Timothy 3 speaks of the arrangement of elders and deacons in their service, but Ephesians does not speak of elders and deacons. Instead, it speaks of members growing. First, we need to grow, and then we can perfect others. This perfecting is according to 2 Corinthians 13, in which Christ is living and growing in us (v. 5) and we are enjoying the Triune God in the Father’s love, the Son’s grace, and the Spirit’s fellowship (v. 14). This is the building up of the Body, not the building up of the church as a kind of organization. This building, for which we need the maturity in life, is unique. It is the organic Body of Christ, which will consummate the organic New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
“Turn your eyes away from me, / For they overcome me” (S. S. 6:5a). This is the Lord’s word of seeming rejection (cf. Mark 7:25-27; John 11:5-7; Exo. 32:10; Gen. 32:26), but actually it is the word inviting her expression of her overcoming love to Him. Such a rejection is actually a kind of welcoming. When the Lord says, “Turn your eyes away from Me,” He is really saying that we should put our eyes on Him all the time. When we love someone, we want that person to look at us all the time. The Beloved’s words are words that invite the lover’s expression of her overcoming love to Him.
“Your hair is like a flock of goats / That repose on Mount Gilead” (S. S. 6:5b). The meaning here is the same as that in 4:1b.
“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” (6:6). The meaning here is the same as that in 4:2.
“Your cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate / Behind your veil” (6:7). The meaning here is the same as that in 4:3b.