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:
A
The Bible is the entire revelation of this divine romance, and Song of Songs is an abridged form of this romance.
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 fellow-ship with Christ—S. S. 1:2.
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.
D
We need to learn the language of the divine romance—1:12-14; 5:10-16.
Ⅱ
The Lord needs the overcomers to carry out the economy of God to have the Body, which consummates the New Jerusalem—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9; 1:22-23; Rev. 2:7b; 3:12, 21; 21:2:
A
The principle of the overcomers is that the overcomers take the position which the whole church should take and do the work of the church; the work of the overcomers is for the whole church, and the whole church receives the blessing of this work—Matt. 16:18.
B
The overcomers see the Body, know the Body, care for the Body, and live in the Body, through the Body, and for the Body—Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12, 18, 24b-27; Eph. 2:16; 4:4, 16; Col. 2:19.
C
The overcomers care for God's interests above everything, including their necessities—Matt. 6:33; Col. 1:24.
D
The overcomers overcome anything that is against Christ or that replaces Christ—1 John 2:18, 22; Phil. 3:7-11.
E
The overcomers resolve to deny themselves and to pay the price required by the Lord to be overcomers for the Lord, for the recovery, and for the Body— Matt. 16:24; Rev. 12:11; 3:18.
Ⅲ
We more than overcome through Him who loved us—Rom. 8:37-39:
A
We are more than conquerors because of God's love in Christ—v. 37.
B
In the church life as the banqueting house, Christ's love-banner spreads over His lover—S. S. 2:4:
１
God's love in Christ is a banner spreading over us, displaying, exhibiting, that we who are loved by God are always more than conquerors.
２
In the church life we have a love that conquers everything; we need to live in this love—Rom. 8:38-39; 1 Cor. 2:9; John 15:12; 13:34-35; 1 John 4:7, 19.
Ⅳ
In Song of Songs the lover of Christ overcomes in stages:
A
In the first stage of this book (1:2—2:7), she overcomes the attraction of the world by being captivated by Christ—1:2-4a:
１
An overcomer should be attracted by Christ and even captivated by Him to give up the world to follow Him—Matt. 4:18-22; 16:24-26.
２
The yearning to be kissed by Christ is a response to His cheering love and to His charming name—S. S. 1:2-3.
３
We need to love the Lord in a personal and affectionate way—v. 2.
４
The lover rests in and experiences Christ and is satisfied in the church life—1:12—2:7.
B
In the second stage (2:8—3:5) the lover of Christ overcomes the self, which secluded her from the presence of Christ, by becoming one with the cross of Christ:
１
In 2:14 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
Christ wants His seeker to remain in the cross, in a crucified condition, continually—Luke 9:23; Gal. 2:20a; 1 Cor. 15:31; 2 Cor. 4:10-11.
３
It is by the power of Christ's resurrection that the lover of Christ deter-mines to take the cross by denying the self and is enabled to be conformed to the death of Christ by being one with the cross—S. S. 2:8-9a, 11-13; Phil. 3:10.
４
If we are unwilling to be crucified and we remain in our peculiarity, this "little fox" will destroy our experience of Christ's resurrection—S. S. 2:15.
C
In the third stage (3:6—5:1) 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:
１
She becomes a new creation by her complete union with Christ, and thus she is an overcoming representative of God's elect—3:6.
２
She is the victory of the overcoming Christ, full of the power of the over-comers; these overcomers are experts in war—v. 7.
３
The fountain and the spring stream out from the overcomers, flowing out from what they are and from where they are—4:15.
D
In the fourth stage (5:2—6:13) 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:
１
When the overcoming lover of Christ becomes one with God to be God's dwelling place, in the eyes of God she is as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem; however, to the enemy she is as terrible as an army with banners—6:4.
２
Those who are counted worthy to be overcomers will be the weaker ones who depend on the Lord—v. 13; cf. Rev. 3:8; Rom. 9:16; Gal. 2:20.