Scripture Reading: Rom. 5:5; 8:35, 39; 15:30; Eph. 3:14-19;S.S. 1:2-3; 3:6; 4:7, 15; 6:4
Ⅰ
In the Bible there is an intrinsic relationship between the divine love and the divine dispensing; we love the Lord according to the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity as love—Rom. 5:5; 8:35, 39; 15:30.
Ⅱ
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
Throughout the centuries, God has had a romance with man; He created man with the purpose of having a counterpart—v. 17.
B
God is a lover, and He created man in the image of Himself as a lover; this means that He created man so that man would love Him—Mark 12:30; Eph. 3:14-19.
C
The entire Bible is a divine romance, and Song of Songs is an abridged form of this romance—1:2-3; 8:14:
１
The Bible is a romantic book, and our relationship with the Lord should become more and more romantic—S. S. 4:7.
２
If there is no romance between us and the Lord Jesus, then we are religious Christians, not romantic Christians—1:2-3.
３
As a whole, the Bible is a word of the divine courtship; in the Bible we see that God is seeking our love—2 Cor. 11:2.
D
It is the love in God that gives Him the yearning to unite, mingle, and incorporate with us, and it is the same love in us that gives us the yearn-ing to unite, mingle, and incorporate with Him—1 John 4:8, 16, 19.
E
If we would keep God's courting word, we need a responsive, affectionate love for Him; this kind of responsive, affectionate love is depicted in Song of Songs, where we have a portrait of the love between the Beloved and His love—1:2-4; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; John 14:21, 23:
１
The subject of Song of Songs is the history of love in an excellent marriage, revealing the progressive experience of an individual be-liever's loving fellowship with Christ—1:2.
２
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—2:4; 6:3; 7:11-12; 8:5-6, 14.
Ⅲ
In Song of Songs we see the relationship between the experience of the divine dispensing and living in the divine romance:
A
If we really love the Lord, we will surely have the growth and transfor-mation in life—2 Cor. 5:14-15; 3:18.
B
Because the seeking one in Song of Songs loves her beloved so much, she experiences the divine dispensing, and there is a continual change in her growth in life—1:9, 15; 2:2, 14; 3:6-7; 4:7, 12-15; 6:4, 10, 13:
１
"Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! / For your love is better than wine. / Your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance; / Your name is like ointment poured forth"—1:2-3.
２
"The king has brought me into his chambers"—v. 4b.
３
"While the king was at his table, / My spikenard gave forth its fragrance"—v. 12.
４
"Who is she who comes up from the wilderness / Like pillars of smoke, / Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, / With all the fragrant powders of the merchant"—3:6.
５
"You are altogether beautiful, my love, / And there is no blemish in you"—4:7.
６
"A fountain in gardens, / A well of living water, / And streams from Lebanon"—v. 15.
７
"You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners"—6:4.
８
"Return, return, O Shulammite"—v. 13a.
Ⅳ
Whatever one loves, his whole heart, even his whole being, is set on and occupied and possessed by—1 Tim. 6:10-11; 2 Tim. 3:2-4; 4:8, 10a; Titus 1:8:
A
"To love God means to set our entire being—spirit, soul, and body, with the heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30)—absolutely on Him, that is, to let our entire being be occupied by Him and lost in Him, so that He becomes everything to us and we are one with Him practically in our daily life" (footnote 3 on 1 Cor. 2:9).
B
To love the Lord Jesus is to appreciate Him, to direct our being toward Him, to open to Him, to enjoy Him, to give Him the first place, to be one with Him, to live Him, and to become Him—Matt. 26:6-13; 2 Cor. 3:16; Mark 12:30; Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:20-21; Hymns, #477, stanza 2.
C
"To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love Him with the first love, the best love. In order to give Him the preeminence, we must be willing to be adjusted, to be broken, to be made nothing, so that the Lord can have a way in us, through us, and among us for the building up of His organic Body" (Fellowship concerning the Urgent Need of the Vital Groups, p. 111).