Scripture Reading: Eph. 2:21; 4:15-16; Col. 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:6-7; S. S. 6:4, 13
Ⅰ
Christ, the Son of David and the greater Solomon, builds the church as the temple of God through the believers' growth in the divine life and their being joined together in the divine life—Eph. 2:21; 4:15-16; Col. 2:19:
A
In Christ, who is the cornerstone, all the building is fitted together and is growing into a holy temple in the Lord—Eph. 2:21:
１
To be fitted together is to be made suitable for the condition and situation of the building.
２
Since the building is living (1 Pet. 2:5), it is growing; it grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
３
The actual building up of the church is by the believers' growth in life— Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21; 4:15-16:
ａ
The building of the church as the temple of God is by the believers' growth in life; the growth in life is the building—1 Cor. 3:6-9, 16-17; Eph. 4:15-16.
ｂ
When we grow in the divine life and when we are joined together in the divine life, we are in the building—2:21.
４
The entire building of God's house, God's sanctuary, is in Christ the Lord—v. 21.
B
Ephesians 4:16 and Colossians 2:19 speak of the growth of the Body:
１
To grow is to have Christ added into us—1 Cor. 3:6-7; Gal. 4:19.
２
The growth of the Body depends on what comes out of Christ as the Head— Eph. 4:15-16:
ａ
When the Body is supplied by holding the Head, the Body grows with the growth of God—Col. 2:19.
ｂ
The Body grows out from the Head, for all the supply comes from the Head—Eph. 4:15.
３
The growth of the Body depends on the growth of God, the addition of God, the increase of God, within us—Col. 2:19:
ａ
God gives the growth by giving Himself to us in a subjective way.
ｂ
The more that God is added into us, the more growth He gives to us; this is the way God gives the growth—1 Cor. 3:6-7.
Ⅱ
In Song of Songs we see a believer's growth in life for God's building:
A
Because the seeker loved the Beloved so much, she experienced continual change and progress in her growth in life:
１
"I compare you, my love, / To a mare among Pharaoh's chariots"—1:9.
２
"Your eyes are like doves"—v. 15c.
３
"As a lily among thorns, / So is my love among the daughters"—2:2.
４
"My dove, in the clefts of the rock"—v. 14a.
５
"Who is she who comes up from the wilderness / Like pillars of smoke"— 3:6a.
６
"There is Solomon's bed"—v. 7a.
７
"King Solomon made himself a palanquin"—v. 9a.
８
"Look at King Solomon with the crown"—v. 11a.
９
"A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, / A spring shut up, a fountain sealed"—4:12.
10
"You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem"—6:4a.
11
"Who is this woman who looks forth like the dawn, / As beautiful as the moon, / As clear as the sun, / As terrible as an army with banners?"—v. 10.
12
"Return, return, O Shulammite; / Return, return, that we may gaze at you. / Why should you gaze at the Shulammite, / As upon the dance of two camps?"—v. 13.
B
Through her living in Christ's ascension as the new creation in resurrection, the lover of Christ becomes mature in the riches of the life of Christ so that she becomes the building of God and its safeguard, the holy city—v. 4a; cf. Gen. 2:8-12, 18-24:
１
We become God's dwelling place, His sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, by participating in the four stages of the divine romance revealed in Song of Songs—1:2-3; 2:14; 4:8; 6:4; Rev. 21:9-10, 16.
２
To become the sanctuary of God is to be built up (related to the building up of the Body of Christ) in the growth in the life of Christ with its unsearchable riches unto maturity—Eph. 4:12-16:
ａ
In the Old Testament the building of God is typified by Tirzah and Jerusalem; in the New Testament this building is the organic Body of Christ—v. 16.
ｂ
Ultimately, the building up of the organic Body of Christ, which is also Christ's wife (5:25-32), will consummate the New Jerusalem, the holy city as the consummation of the Holy of Holies—Rev. 21:2-3, 16, 22.
３
Through the dealing of the cross, we become the sanctuary of God; this sanctuary is the Holy of Holies, which is God Himself—S. S. 6:4a:
ａ
When we enter into the Holy of Holies, we enter into God and become the sanctuary, becoming God in life and nature—Heb. 10:19-20.
ｂ
For God to make us His duplication means that He makes us His dwelling place, His Holy of Holies—John 14:23; Eph. 3:17a; Rev. 21:16.