We have seen that the seeking one in the Song of Songs reached several attainments. First, she attained full satisfaction for herself. Then as a crown, she satisfied the Lord. Finally, she became a garden to satisfy the Lord and the Lord’s people. In today’s Christianity, nearly everyone would say that nothing else is needed. Our own need is taken care of, and we are taking care of others’ needs. Seemingly, nothing else is required, but where is the fulfillment of God’s purpose, the building up of the Body, the building up of the city?
Today, nearly all Christians care only for their own needs, while some of the more improved Christians care for the needs of others. This might be considered the highest goal of today’s Christian work. But all of this cannot reach God’s goal, the building up of the Body. Almost no one cares for God’s building. In these last ten years, many have begun to talk about the Body life and the Body ministry, but hardly anyone really understands what the Body is. The Body is a building; it is not a heaping up of materials.
Regardless of how much we undertake for our own satisfaction and how much we help others to be satisfied, we can only reach so far. God’s purpose still is not fulfilled. This is why, after all the attainments of the seeking one, yet another step remains: that is, to care for God’s eternal purpose, the building up of the Body, which is the building up of the city. It is not simply a matter of our being satisfied or of satisfying others, but of the completing of the eternal purpose of God.
How could the building up of the Body be accomplished? With the Lord’s suffering, there are two aspects. One is for the accomplishment of redemption. The Lord Jesus suffered on the cross to accomplish redemption for us. This has been easily seen by all Christians. But there is another aspect of the Lord’s suffering: His suffering for the formation and the building up of the Body. Most Christians today are completely ignorant regarding this very important aspect of the Lord’s suffering. This is why Paul in Colossians 1:24 says, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.” Paul says that he fills up the lack of the sufferings of Christ. The Lord’s suffering for redemption has no lack. To say that would be heresy. For redemption, the Lord’s suffering has been completed and is altogether sufficient. But His suffering for the producing, forming, and building up of the Body has a big lack. This is why Paul told us that his suffering was a filling up of the lack of the Lord’s suffering. We cannot suffer for the accomplishment of redemption, but we all must suffer for the building up of the Body.
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