THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Books of Poetry
Message Nine—Song of Songs (1)
Scripture Reading: S. S. 1:2-4, 12-14; 2:14-15; 4:7-8, 12-15; 6:4, 10, 13
I. The Bible is a romance, in the most pure and the most holy sense, of a universal couple—God in Christ as the Bridegroom and God’s redeemed people as the bride—John 3:29; Matt. 25:6; Rev. 19:7; 21:2; 22:17: (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
A. The Bible is the entire revelation of this divine romance, and Song of Songs is an abridged form of this romance. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
B. The subject of Song of Songs is the history of love in an excellent marriage, revealing the progressive experience of an individual believer’s loving fellowship with Christ—S. S. 1:2. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
C. Song of Songs is a marvelous and vivid portrait, in poetic form, of the bridal love between Christ as the Bridegroom and His lovers as His bride. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
D. We need to learn the language of the divine romance—1:12-14; 5:10-16. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
II. In Song of Songs the lover of Christ overcomes in stages—S. S. 1:2—6:13: (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
A. In the first stage of this book, she overcomes the attraction of the world by being captivated by Christ—1:2-4a. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
B. In the second stage the lover of Christ overcomes the self, which secluded her from the presence of Christ, by becoming one with the cross of Christ—2:8—3:5. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
C. In the third stage the lover of Christ overcomes the old creation (the physical things) by living in the ascension of Christ in resurrection after her self has been dealt with by the cross—3:6—5:1. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
D. In the fourth stage the lover of Christ overcomes the flesh, the natural man, the old man, by living within the veil; this requires a deeper experience of the cross—5:2—6:13. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
III. God created us for the accomplishment of His eternal economy in His own image with the intention that we could become Him in life and nature but not in the Godhead; for this purpose He created us with a spirit to receive Him, a seeking heart for Himself so that He could be our satisfaction—S. S. 1:2-4: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
A. An overcomer should be attracted by Christ and even captivated by Him to give up the world to follow Him—Matt. 4:18-22; 16:24. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
B. The yearning to be kissed by Christ is a response to His cheering love and to His charming name—S. S. 1:2. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
C. We need to love the Lord in a personal and affectionate way. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
IV. “The king has brought me into his chambers—We will be glad and rejoice in you; We will extol your love more than wine”—S. S. 1:4b:
A. Our regenerated spirit as Christ’s dwelling place, which is mingled with and indwelt by Christ as the life-dispensing Spirit, becomes His inner chambers, His practical Holy of Holies, for our participation in and enjoyment of Him as the consummated Triune God—John 3:6; 1Cor. 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22; Heb. 4:16; 10:19. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 1:4, footnote 2)
B. The fellowship of Christ and His lover in her mingled spirit—S. S. 1:4b-5: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 1:4, footnote 3)
1. In the joy of Christ’s lover with her companions, in their extolling of His unrivaled love. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 1:4, footnote 3)
2. The lover of Christ is enlightened to see that she is a sinner in Adam, but she has been justified in Christ. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 1:5, footnote 1)
C. Christ led us into our spirit and in our spirit, in fellowship with Him, He directed us to the church life—S. S. 1:6b-8: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 2)
1. The seeker realized that she was separated from Christ’s flock by the denominational people and that she needed Christ’s feeding and rest with satisfaction—S. S. 1:6b-7; John 10:16; Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:2. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 2)
2. She was instructed by Christ to leave the place where she was kept away from the church and go forth on the footsteps of the flock—S. S. 1:8. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 2)
V. In the church life the transforming of Christ’s lover is carried out by the transforming Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God with the coordination of the lover’s companions, the gifted members in the Body of Christ who do the work of perfecting the saints—1:9, 10, 15; 2:1-2; Eph. 4:11-12: (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 1:11, footnote 1)
A. The seeker’s transformation in Song of Songs is carried out by the transforming Spirit; the strings of jewels are a sign of the transforming Spirit—2 Cor. 3:18: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 3)
1. The seeker in Song of Songs was likened by the Lord to a horse in Egypt, signifying the world; she is full of natural strength with a strong character, worldly, satanic, and for the world’s purpose. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 3)
2. The seeker being transformed into a lily signifies that she is now living a life trusting in God, not in her natural strength; she is also looking unto God with a single eye (eyes of doves), implying that she must also be a dove looking to God by focusing her eyes on one single goal—1:15b. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 3)
B. The perfected ones help the seeker to know God in His nature and to experience Christ in His death, resurrection, and ascension. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 3)
C. We need to impress them that in the proper church life we pay our attention fully to the Triune God: God the Father as the divine nature and life, God the Son as the divine element, and God the Spirit as the transforming One in His divine essence; this is to minister the Triune God to them. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 3)
VI. 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—1:12—2:7: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 4)
A. The lover gained Christ as a bundle of myrrh, signifying Christ’s sweet death for her, and as a cluster of henna flowers, signifying Christ in His resurrection in the churches built upon the fountain of His redemption—S.S. 1:13, 14, 16; 2:3, 5; 2 Cor. 12:9. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 4)
B. He enjoys the fragrance of His companion in love spreading forth as spikenard; He also enjoys His lover as His wife in His embracing and as a lily expressing Him in the filthy and unbelieving world—1:12b; 2:2. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 4)
C. 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—1:12; 2:4. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 4)
D. The church life is a mingling of divinity with humanity; as the Spirit glorifies the Son with the Father, the Triune God is wrought into and mingled with the believers. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 4)
VII. Christ calls for His lover to be in oneness with the cross; only the cross of Christ can deliver her from the situation caused by introspection—2:9; Heb. 12:2: (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
A. Christ wants to see His lover’s lovely countenance and hear her sweet voice in her oneness, union, with the cross, signified here by the clefts of the rock and the covert of the precipice—2:14; Luke 9:23. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 2:14, footnote 1)
B. Christ wants His seeker to remain in the cross, in a crucified condition, continually—Gal. 2:20a; 1 Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor. 4:10-11. (The Overcoming Life As Portrayed In Song Of Songs, msg. 1)
VIII. In order to empower and encourage His lover to rise up and come away from her low situation in her introspection of the self, Christ empowers her by showing her the power of His resurrection (vv. 8-9a), and He encourages her by the flourishing riches of His resurrection—2:8-13: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
A. Christ encourages His seeker by the flourishing riches of His resurrection—2:11-13: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
1. The dormant days (winter) are past and the trials (rain) are over and gone. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
2. The life in all appearances is blossoming; the time of praising—singing—has come; the fruit tree has ripened in its fruits, and the vines are in blossom, giving forth their fragrance; this is a portrait of the riches of Christ’s resurrection. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
B. Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, is resurrection before His death; John 11:25 indicates that the entirety of the Triune God is resurrection in the universe—John 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:45b: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
1. The resurrected Christ became the life-giving Spirit as the reality of His resurrection; this life-giving Spirit indwells our spirit—Rom. 8:11; Eph. 2:22. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
2. In order to experience the life-giving Spirit as the reality of resurrection in our spirit, we have to discern our spirit from our soul—Heb. 4:12. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
3. It is in such a mingled spirit that we participate in and experience the resurrection of Christ, the reality of which is the all-inclusive, life-giving, compound Spirit, the consummation of the processed and consummated Triune God—1 Cor. 15:45b; Rom. 8:11. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 6)
Ⅸ. Christ’s espousal was linked to God in His moving for the accomplishment of His economy and united with Christ—S. S. 3:6-11: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 7)
A. The lover of Christ becomes a new creation by her complete union with Christ; as such a person, she is worthy of God’s economy and is qualified to move with God, in union with Christ for the accomplishing of His economy—cf. 2 Cor. 2:14; 5:17: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 7)
1. The lover of Christ, as an overcoming representative of God’s elect, comes from Egypt, the world (wilderness), like persons in the unshakable power of the Spirit (pillars of smoke)—Exo. 14:19; Rev. 3:12. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 3:6, footnote 2)
2. Perfumed with the sweet death and fragrant resurrection of Christ (myrrh and frankincense) and with all the fragrant riches of Christ as a merchant. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 3:6, footnote 2)
3. Although we, the believers in Christ, are on earth, when we are in our spirit, we are joined to the ascended Christ in the heavens; to live in ascension requires that we live, act, move, and do everything in our spirit—Heb. 10:19; Rom. 8:4. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, S.S. 3:6, footnote 1)
B. The lover of Christ united with Christ in His three prominent attainments—S. S. 3:7-11; Rev. 19:7: (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 7)
1. His marvelous victory over all the enemies of God in the church age, signified by a bed in the night with sixty mighty men during the war; she is the bed and Christ is the sleeper in the bed; this implies the union, the oneness, of the lover with Christ. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 7)
2. His glorious triumph in His kingdom, signified by the palanquin in the day in the triumphant glory. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 7)
3. In His espousal and marriage life; His espousal began from the time of incarnation, when incarnation as His mother crowned Him with His humanity, and goes through the church age in which all His believers are espoused to Him as virgins; Christ’s espousal and marriage life cover the church age, the kingdom age, and the eternal age—2 Cor. 11:2. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 7)
C. Today we should be people linked to God in His moving in union with Christ and eventually united with Christ in His victory over the enemies in His celebration in the kingdom age and in His eternal marriage life, that is, the New Jerusalem. (Crystallization-Study of Song Of Songs, msg. 7)