The Song of Songs is really a wonderful book. Again we must say that our intention is not merely to understand this book. That means nothing. What we must see are all the turning points in life that we may grow up for God’s eternal purpose, the corporate building. Our main emphasis in all these messages is life and building. Life is for building, and building issues out of life. We must see the turns in life to have the maturity. The maturity in life will then produce the building.
Though we have no intention to merely understand this book, yet we still need to be familiar with all the terms, expressions, illustrations, and figures. This is a poetic writing, and in such a writing these figures are important. We are not for the mere knowledge of the Bible, but we are for knowing all the turns in life. Therefore, I feel we need a review of all the figures we have covered thus far.
This book shows us that the spiritual growth in life begins with seeking the Lord. Our seeking is always the result of our being attracted and drawn by the Lord. Whenever the Lord shows Himself to us, spontaneously we will be drawn to seek after Him. The seeking in this book is in a way of love. When we are attracted by the Lord, we start to seek Him by loving Him. After the seeking, there is the finding, which brings us into the real fellowship with the Lord. The seeking brings the finding, and the finding brings the fellowship.
In the first chapter of this book, the seeking one was brought into the inner chamber of the King. She was even sitting at the King’s table. This indicates an intimate and intensified fellowship with the Lord. It is by fellowship with the Lord that we begin to appreciate Him. The first step in our experience is not to enjoy the Lord directly, but to appreciate Him. Here the seeking one began to appreciate the Lord as a bundle of myrrh and a cluster of henna flowers. These were all appreciations of the Lord. She truly appreciated His sweetness, His fairness, and His beauty.
In the last verse of chapter one, she entered into a further and deeper fellowship with the Lord: “The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.” The cedar signifies resurrection, and the rafters of fir signify the death of Christ. By this she came into a closer fellowship with the Lord.
By all these appreciations of the Lord she entered into the first step of transformation. She was likened by the Lord to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariot. She still had her natural strength, and she was carrying something worldly. But gradually her eyes were changed to doves’ eyes. Then, her concept was radically changed by more appreciation of the Lord. The more we appreciate the Lord’s sweetness and fairness, the more our mind will be renewed. We will lose the view of our natural birth and begin to have the insight of the Spirit.
By the closer and deeper fellowship with the Lord mentioned in the last verse of chapter one, she became a lily trusting only in God. A horse is full of its own strength, but a lily has no strength in which to trust. The natural strength was lost; she realized that to go on with the Lord she must drop all her natural power to do things for Him. She began to put her trust in God; this is the living of the lily. She became even as one of the little lilies growing in the field, trusting in God’s care. She did not live by her own labor and toil, but by trusting in God. This is real transformation.
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