Scripture Reading: S. S. 2:14-15; Rom. 6:6; Matt. 16:24; Phil. 3:10; Eph. 2:16; Psa. 43:4a
Ⅰ
"My dove, in the clefts of the rock, / In the covert of the precipice, / Let me see your countenance, / Let me hear your voice; / For your voice is sweet, / And your countenance is lovely"—S. S. 2:14:
A
Christ wants His lover to remain in the cross, that is, to stay in "the clefts of the rock" and in "the covert of the precipice"—v. 14a:
１
In the New Testament, the primary meaning of the cross is not to suffer but to be put to death—2 Cor. 4:10-12; Hymns, #622.
２
Christ wants us to remain in a crucified condition all the time—Phil. 3:10.
B
The work of the cross in dealing with the self has three aspects:
１
We need to have the revelation that our old man was crucified with Christ— Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:14.
２
We need to recognize, realize, and accept the accomplished fact that we have already been crucified—Rom. 6:11; Gal. 2:20.
３
We need to apply to ourselves the death of Christ that He has accomplished and that we have recognized; this is the correct meaning of bearing the cross—Matt. 16:24; Gal. 5:24:
ａ
The application must be carried out in the Spirit and by the Spirit—Rom. 8:13.
ｂ
When we are living and walking in the Spirit, the Spirit applies the death of Christ to us—Gal. 5:16, 25.
C
To be conformed to Christ's death is to take Christ's death as the mold of our life—Phil. 3:10:
１
God has put us into the mold of Christ's death, and day by day God is molding us to be conformed to this death—Rom. 6:3-4.
２
Our life should be conformed to such a mold—dying to our human life in order to live the divine life—Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 4:10-11.
３
If we allow our circumstances to press us into this mold, our daily life will be molded into the form of Christ's death—Rom. 8:28-29.
Ⅱ
"Catch the foxes for us, / The little foxes, / That ruin the vineyards / While our vineyards are in blossom"—S. S. 2:15:
A
Christ calls His lover to be aware of her peculiarities, habit, and introspection (little foxes) which ruin the resurrection for His lover (our vineyards in blossom).
B
Our natural man is biased and warped and is expressed mainly in our peculiarity—Acts 13:13; 3 John 9-10:
１
Peculiarity is the ultimate expression of our natural being, the last and final expression of our natural life.
２
Peculiarity is the strongest controller and director of our being—cf. Prov. 21:1.
３
Our peculiarity is a hidden factor within us that frustrates us from experiencing Christ and living Christ—cf. Phil. 1:19-21a.
４
The ground within us for Christ has been subtly and hiddenly usurped and possessed by our peculiarity; thus, peculiarity is a terrible antichrist in our being—cf. Eph. 3:16-17a.
５
The divisive factor within us is our peculiarity; it is the root of all outward division—Acts 15:36-39.
C
We are delivered from peculiarity by the cross; whenever we are willing to have our self with our peculiarity crucified, resurrection will follow—Matt. 16:24; S. S. 2:11-13.
Ⅲ
We are "in one Body…through the cross"—Eph. 2:16:
A
The Body is versus the self; the enemy of the Body is the self—Col. 2:18-19, 23:
１
The hindrance to seeing the vision of the Body and to practicing the Body is the self—vv. 18, 23.
２
The greatest frustration to the building up of the Body is the self—Matt. 16:18, 24.
３
If we would be built up in the Body, the self must be condemned, denied, rejected, and renounced—Luke 9:23-24.
B
The work of the cross consummates with the Body and ushers us into the Body— Eph. 2:16; Rom. 6:6; 8:13; 12:4-5:
１
The cross brings us into the Body, and it operates in the sphere of the Body; the Body becomes the realm in which the cross works—Eph. 2:16.
２
The restriction of the Body will take away our freedom and drive us to the cross.
３
Only when our self has been utterly dealt with by the cross are we able to touch the reality of the life of the Body and come to know the Body—Matt. 16:24-25; Rom. 8:13; 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 1:18, 23; 2:2; 12:12, 27.
Ⅳ
"I will go to the altar of God, / To God my exceeding joy"—Psa. 43:4a:
A
The altar, the cross, is the center of the universe—Ezek. 43:13-27.
B
Since the cross occupies a central place in our relationship with God, we cannot avoid it; we all need to come to the point where we know and accept the cross— Gal. 6:14; Matt. 16:24.
C
Although we meet the cross everywhere in our Christian life, we experience the cross in a particular way when we come to the altar at the center of God's building—Eph. 2:15, 21-22.
D
Through the experience of the cross, we are brought into the reality of the church life—Matt. 16:18, 24.