Scripture Reading: S. S. 2:8-14; Matt. 3:13-17; 21:32; 16:24
Ⅰ
After the Lord's seeker has some success in pursuing Christ for her satis-faction, she falls into introspection, which becomes a seclusion as a wall that keeps her away from the presence of Christ—S. S. 2:9:
A
Introspection is to examine the self by looking into and analyzing the self; the self is constituted with introspection—cf. 1 Cor. 4:3-4.
B
We must look away unto Jesus; our self is not worthy to look at—Heb. 12:1-2a; John 3:14-15; 12:31-32; Num. 21:4-9:
１
The Lord's seeker is disappointed by her introspection, but the Lord is calling her into the springtime—S. S. 2:10; cf. Heb. 3:7-8; John 8:58.
２
When she looks into herself, it is the winter of dormancy; when she looks away to the resurrected Christ, she enters into the stage of spring, the stage of resurrection—S. S. 2:10-13.
Ⅱ
We are delivered from the self through the oneness with the cross by Christ's resurrection power through His fellowship—v. 14:
A
Christ wants His seeker, His dove, to remain in a crucified condition con-tinually, that is, to remain in Him as "the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the precipice," the secret of the steep places—v. 14; Gal. 2:20.
B
Our being crucified is not by our natural life or strength but by the power of resurrection, by the presence of the mountain-leaping and hill-skipping Christ, "the hind of the dawn"—Psa. 22 title; Prov. 4:18.
Ⅲ
We must die daily, take up our cross daily, being conformed to Christ's death by the Spirit as the power and riches of His resurrection for the sake of His Body—1 Cor. 15:31, 36; Luke 9:23; Phil. 3:10; cf. Hosea 6:1-3:
A
We must take the way of righteousness by entering into the vision and ministry of the age, recognizing that we are good for nothing but death and burial so that we may enjoy the open heavens, the descending Spirit of God, and the speaking of the Father—Matt. 3:13-17; 21:32; cf. Ezek. 3:1-3.
B
We must enjoy the precious death of Christ with its sweet effectiveness and the precious resurrection of Christ with its repelling power in Christ as the compound Spirit for the church life—Exo. 30:23-25; Rom. 14:17-18; cf. Phil. 1:19-21; 2:13; 3:10; 4:11-13.
C
We must take up the cross, which means to take up the will of God; the cross is God's will, and God's will is our food—Matt. 26:39; Heb. 10:5-10; John 4:34:
１
The one church is God's will, and every brother and sister in the church is God's will; thus, to bear the cross is to bear the church and to bear all of the saints so that we would have the genuine oneness—Eph. 4:1-3; 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:2.
２
The oneness in the divine glory is realized when the self is fully denied and we are Body-centered, not self-centered—John 17:21-23; 1 Cor. 12:24-25.
３
The cross as the will of God in our outward environment and as the killing of Jesus in our inward being work together to kill our natural man and remodel us with the God of resurrection—2 Cor. 4:10-12; 12:7-10; 13:3-4.
４
To take up the cross for the Body is to let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our hearts, take the forgiving Lord as our life, receive the Lord's believers, and turn away from those who cause divisions and spread death—Col. 3:12-15; Prov. 25:15, 20, 26; Rom. 15:7; 16:17; Num. 6:6-7; Lev. 5:2.
D
We must enjoy the crucified and resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit to be the solution to all the problems in the church life—1 Cor. 1:9; 2:2; 15:45b, 58.
E
We must eat the crucified and resurrected Christ as the tree of life, taking Him as our daily "antibiotic"—Rev. 2:7; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18; John 6:57.
F
We must enjoy the crucified, limited Jesus as the land of wheat and the resurrected, unlimited Christ as the land of barley—Deut. 8:8; John 12:24; 6:9.
G
We must enjoy the crucified Christ as our spiritual rock by drinking of Him and flowing Him out as the water of life in resurrection to save us from the iniquity of the sanctuary—1 Cor. 10:4; John 19:34; Exo. 17:6; Num. 20:8; 18:1; Jer. 2:13; John 7:37-39; Ezek. 47:1; Rev. 22:1.
H
We must take the crucified and resurrected Christ as our dwelling place, our hiding place, the secret place of the Most High—S. S. 2:14; Psa. 90:1; 91:1; 31:20; 83:3; Isa. 32:2; Exo. 33:22; cf. Matt. 6:6; John 14:23.
I
We need to live a pure and simple life of trusting in God in the midst of an intermixed and complicated situation—S. S. 2:2; 1 Kings 7:17-20; Matt. 6:28.
J
We must continually exercise our spirit to deny the self, which is both the embodiment of Satan and the soul declaring independence from God—Rom. 1:9; Matt. 16:22-24.
K
We must follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus, who lived a crucified life to express the divine life, living out the divine attributes as His human virtues; to follow Him as our model intrinsically is to bear in our body the brands of Jesus by the grace of Christ—John 5:30; 1 Pet. 2:21; Gal. 6:17-18.
L
We must serve by the Spirit of God for the glory of God and have no confidence in ourselves—Phil. 3:3; 1 Thes. 3:13; 2 Cor. 4:5; 1 Cor. 10:31; cf. Prov. 25:28; 28:25-26; 29:23.
M
We must see a vision of the crucified Christ and apply the cross of Christ to our bitter situations and our bitter being to enjoy the resurrected Christ as our Healer and healing power—Exo. 15:22-27; 1 Pet. 2:24; Rev. 2:7; Matt. 9:12.
N
We must "switch on" the law of the killing and resurrecting Spirit of life, keeping ourselves in constant contact and touch with the Lord, to remain in the divine dispensing for the divine economy—Rom. 8:2, 10, 6, 11, 13.