This is Monday evening, September 2, 1974, in Richmond, Virginia. The ministry is given through Brother Stephen Cohen.
We return to the Song of Songs—Song of Solomon.
We begin with the second verse: Song of Songs 5:2-8.
I was asleep, but my heart waked:
It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying,
Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled;
For my head is filled with dew,
My locks with the drops of the night.
I have put off my garment; how shall I put it on?
I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door,
And my heart was moved for him.
I rose up to open to my beloved;
And my hands dropped with myrrh,
And my fingers with liquid myrrh,
Upon the handles of the bolt.
I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone.
My soul had failed me when he spake:
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
The watchmen that go about the city found me;
They smote me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
If ye find my beloved,
That ye tell him, that I am sick from love.
Then we turn to Song of Songs 7:10.
I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is toward me.
Song of Songs 8:5-7:
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?
Under the apple-tree I awakened thee:
There thy mother was in travail with thee;
There was she in travail that brought thee forth.
Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
As a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death;
Jealousy is cruel as Sheol;
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,
A very flame of the Lord.
Many waters cannot quench love,
Neither can floods drown it:
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
He would utterly be contemned.
And Song of Songs 8:14:
Make haste, my beloved,
And be thou like to a roe or to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices.
We mentioned before that the Song of Songs is a song of love—the love between the virgin and her beloved. It typifies the love story of a believer with the Lord.
Truthfully, our whole relationship with the Lord is a relationship of love. As we grow in the Lord, we grow in love; and only when we grow in love do we grow in the Lord, and nothing else.
In this Song of Songs, we find there are three different movements.
The first movement is from the moment that the virgin receives the forgiving love of God in Christ to the time when she comes into a closer union with the Lord in His death. That is the first movement.
The first movement is summed up by this phrase: “My beloved is mine, and I am His.”
Then you find the Lord allows her to rest for a while. After she has rested for a while, the Lord begins to call her to go forward—from the call to resurrection and ascension until she answers and responds to that call.
We find the second movement, and the second movement is summarized by another phrase: “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.”
This evening, we would like to go on to the third movement. Here you find a believer who has not only received the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, but he has entered into an experiential union with the Lord in His death, in His resurrection, and in His ascension.
Now, we would think that after a believer has experienced the Lord in such a way, then his union with the Lord is complete. We would think that there is nothing more left.
But as we read the letter to the Ephesians and to the Philippians, we find with Paul that, after he had known the Lord on the road to Damascus, his whole passion toward the Lord—even at the time when he wrote the letter to the Philippians—was to know Him and the power of His resurrection.
But that is not all. To know Him and to know the power of His resurrection—and yet Paul continues by saying, “And the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means I may attain unto the out-resurrection from among the dead.”
So, brothers and sisters, you find in the pursuit after love, in the pursuit after Christ, even after one has entered into union with the Lord in His death, resurrection, and ascension—even after he has experienced death toward the world and toward the self, even after he has experienced the risen life of the Lord, even after he has experienced the victory of Christ—there is something more that the Lord is calling a believer into.
Here you find it begins with, “I was asleep, but my heart waked.”
The Lord allows her to go into sleep. You know, sleep is a natural way to recover. After you have probably labored through the day, you have had enough, and then you go to sleep as a way to recover, to be fresh once again.
In a sense, after we have experienced the Lord in a way, you find yourself full. We have to go to sleep, as it were, so that we may be refreshed for another day.
But even though the virgin is asleep, her heart is awake. Now, how can a person be asleep—sound asleep—and yet her heart is awake? Well, it is possible. Look at the mother.
The mothers, in the night, they go to sleep and really sleep, but their hearts are awake. If the baby should cry, she will hear it.
Spiritually speaking, this is true. When a soul has entered into such a union with the Lord, even when she is asleep, her heart is still open to the Lord, and she hears the voice of the Beloved.
Notice what the Lord says to her: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.”
Here the Lord calls her, “My sister.” Now, brothers and sisters, you know: who are sisters to our Lord?
One day, you remember, our Lord’s mother, brothers, and sisters came to find the Lord. They wanted to see Him, and there was a great crowd there. They could not get to Him, so somebody passed the word to the Lord and said, “Your mother, Your brothers, and Your sisters are outside. They want to see You.”
You remember what our Lord said? He looked around at the multitude and said, “Who is My mother? Who is My brother? Who is My sister?” He who does the will of the Father.
So here you find our Lord Jesus calls this virgin His sister. In other words, she has gone on with the Lord to such a point that she is expected to do all the will of God. She is of a kindred mind with the Lord.
“My sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled.” She has set her heart so singly upon the Lord. She is now, in a sense, by the Lord, set apart for God.
The Lord calls her as such in order to draw her out to follow Him once more.
The Lord says, “For my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
Now, brothers and sisters, this is no doubt a picture of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.
You remember that before our Lord went to the cross, on that night, He took His disciples into the garden—the Garden of Gethsemane. There, the Bible says, His spirit was oppressed and His soul was in agony.
He asked His disciples to pray and watch with Him. He went forward by Himself. He knelt in the garden and He prayed, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; but not My will, but Thy will be done.” He prayed three times there in the garden.
The experience of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane is a great mystery. After two thousand years, we still do not fully understand what that experience was.
We only know one thing: there in that garden, He gave Himself completely to the Father. “Not My will, but Thy will be done. If this is the cup that You want Me to drink, I will take it. But it has to be Your will.”
The conflict in the garden was so intense that you find His perspiration, His sweat, came out like drops of blood. And if an angel had not appeared to strengthen Him, He could very well have died in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The very meaning of the word Gethsemane is “an oil press.” You know, in the Garden of Gethsemane there were many olive trees, and even today you will find many olive trees there.
When I was there, somebody told me that these olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane were all over a thousand years old, and they are still producing olives—really old.
They take these olives, put them in the press, and crush them, and the oil will flow out. The oil will be used as an ointment for the holy purpose of setting apart holy oil for God.
The whole experience of our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane is the giving up of Himself so totally to the Father’s will that He may be a sacrifice for the people.
Here you find the Lord is calling the virgin to follow Him in this experience.
The virgin has already experienced the Lord in His death, in His resurrection, and in His ascension. She has already arrived at a spiritual height, and we would think there is nothing higher than that so far as spiritual life is concerned.
But there is something more. The Lord is now calling her to give up herself completely, to abandon herself completely to the will of the Father; to be completely broken and crushed; nothing for herself; shame and reproach to herself, that the Father’s will may be done and the world may be blessed, may be refreshed.
This is a call into the fellowship of His sufferings.
Brothers and sisters, what is the fellowship of His sufferings? Of course, we know in one sense we can never have fellowship with His sufferings in the sense of His atoning death on the cross.
There He was crucified on the cross. There His blood was shed for the remission of our sins. In this respect, He was alone. Nobody could share that suffering, because it was an atonement. He atoned for the sins of this world. He was alone.
But in another sense, there are His sufferings that He does cause us to share—the fellowship of His sufferings.
What is this fellowship of suffering? It is what Paul says in Colossians: “That I may fill up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church.”
In that sense, we are called into the fellowship of His sufferings. In other words, there is a spiritual ministry that the Lord is calling us to join with Him in. But to enter into spiritual ministry, we have to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings.
You know, 2 Corinthians 4 is strictly speaking not a chapter on spiritual life. Sometimes we speak of 2 Corinthians 4 as a chapter on spiritual life: how can our spiritual life be increased?
“We must bear in our body the dying of Jesus.” If we bear in our body the dying of Jesus, then the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. “Death worketh in us, but life in you.”
Oftentimes we use this as the principle for the increase of our spiritual life. But if you read the topic of that chapter, you find Paul is not speaking of spiritual life; he is speaking of spiritual ministry.
It is the ministry that is in view. Now, what is spiritual ministry? Spiritual ministry is for the purpose of the building up of the body of Christ.
Christ died that a body may be formed, and He suffers for the body. Now He calls those who have grown spiritually to share with Him in that suffering for the body. That is spiritual ministry.
Spiritual ministry is the imparting of the life of Christ. In order that the life of Christ may be imparted to others, the dying of Jesus must work in that person.
This is the calling of the Lord.
In other words, in the past, as she pursued the Lord, the Lord gave Himself to her in such abundance that she had arrived at a very high spiritual state.
But it is for her—it is for her. The subtlety is, even though there has been dealing through the cross of her flesh—“Not I, but Christ”—yet here you find the self. She has arrived at a spiritual height that is her spirituality.
Now the Lord is calling her to lay down even her spirituality, to be completely Christ, to bear shame and reproach, to bear the dying of Jesus in her body—death even to self, self-complacency.
Why is it that the Lord is calling her into that kind of experience? Because the Lord knows that without bearing the dying of Jesus, there can never be the life of Jesus manifested in others.
The demand is so great that the virgin finds it very difficult to respond.
When the Lord said, “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, mine undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night,” why should our Lord Jesus go through the Garden of Gethsemane?
In order that, in the Father’s will, He might give Himself completely to the Father and for us. The Lord is calling us to open the door for Him, that we may go out and experience likewise.
But what is the response of that virgin? Remember, she loves the Lord so much. Remember, she has arrived at such a spiritual height. Yet her answer is, “I have put off my garment; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?”
In other words, she considers her own spirituality. “I have arrived at such a height after so much difficulty and hardship. How can I give up all these and stand naked and be put to shame and contempt, as if I have nothing? I cannot go back. I cannot go back to that.”
“I have been separated from the world. How can I go back to the world? I have left everything behind. How can I put on my garment again?” Self-consideration.
So here you find, even though she has gone through much dealing, yet that self is still there. The Lord is calling her to give up that self.
Well, as she hesitates, she does not really refuse, but she hesitates.
The Lord put His hand through the hole of the door, and of course there she sees the nail-pierced hand. She is stirred. She loves the Lord, so she gets up to open the door, but it is a little bit too late.
The Beloved has gone—has gone.
As she gets up to open the door, the Bible says, “My hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt.” Myrrh always speaks of death.
As she gets up, she begins to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings.
When she opens the door and finds the Beloved has gone, she goes out to find Him. But her experience this time is very different from last time.
Last time, when she went out into the street, she found the watchmen, and she asked the watchmen where the Beloved was. They were very sympathetic to her.
But this time, you find the watchmen found her. They smote her, they wounded her, and the keepers of the wall took away her veil. In other words, here you find she was made naked in spiritual experience.
Some people call this an experience of the dark night of the soul.
You know, when one has experienced the Lord in such an abundant way—knowing His death, His resurrection, and His ascension—we would think that now here is a beautiful soul, so complete, so perfect in Christ, so wonderful. She will be admired by everybody, and surely she will be able to help many people.
But she has to be called into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. That means she must leave herself to the Lord in such a way that she will be stripped naked.
All her virtues, all her gifts, all her grace that she received from the Lord, all her spiritual achievements—all that the Lord has added to her—will be stripped completely. The dying of Jesus will put everything to death.
She is made naked to the point that she asks the daughters of Jerusalem to help her.
You know, in the past the daughters of Jerusalem were way, way behind her. She had gone so far with the Lord. The daughters of Jerusalem, they were just babes in Christ.
Now, when the soul has entered into the fellowship of His sufferings, when self is really completely crucified, as it were—that is the deeper meaning of the cross, the deeper meaning of death—here you find self is completely stripped.
There is nothing in her. She has to turn to these babes in Christ and say, “Help me. Help me. Isn’t there something?”
Of course, these daughters of Jerusalem could not help her. But they did help her. In what sense?
When she turns to these daughters of Jerusalem and says, “Please help me. If you find my Beloved, what will you tell Him? That I am sick from love. I do love Him, but now I am confused. I have lost Him. I have lost everything. I do not know where I am, where I stand. I only know I am sick from love.”
These daughters of Jerusalem, of course, could not understand. They say, “Why do you feel that way? In what way is your Beloved more dear than others?”
In other words, with these daughters of Jerusalem, they find the Lord can be compared with other people or other things—just like Peter said, “Let us build three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
What is it that makes the Lord so unique to you, that He is the only One, that you are so sick from love? “In what way? We do not understand.”
Dear brothers and sisters, it is at this point that you find she begins to tell these daughters of Jerusalem what the Lord is to her.
In other words, it is at the moment when she is stripped of everything, when there is nothing in her, when she is asking help from these babes in Christ, that unknowingly this is the very moment that she imparts Christ to these daughters of Jerusalem.
Oftentimes, brothers and sisters, we think we have something to give. We start to give, but you find there is much of ourselves. We cannot say there is none of Christ there, but there is very much of ourselves.
But when we really are brought to a point that we are willing to die with the Lord to all self-life, to all self, we are nothing for ourselves—not even spirituality. We just want the Lord, the Father’s will, nothing else.
When we are reduced to nothing, we think, now surely there is nothing we can do. But remember, as we bear the dying of Jesus in our body, this is the time that the life of Jesus is manifested in others.
She begins to tell them what the Lord means to her. She has lost Him, but that is the Beloved to her. As she tells of the Lord, she has nothing to tell of herself.
Oh, brothers and sisters, sometimes we have much to tell of ourselves, even our spiritual experience. But now she has nothing to tell of herself. She has only the Lord to tell.
As she tells them what the Lord is, you know what happens? These daughters of Jerusalem say, “Now, if this is the Lord, we want to find Him with you.”
See? Imparting the life of Christ to others.
When you think that you can do something for the Lord, there is much of yourself.
But when you are brought to a point where you think now you have nothing to give, you are stripped of everything, and you just have a heart for the Lord—that is all; you want Him—remember, this is the time that the Lord can use you.
This is the fellowship of His sufferings. The fellowship of His sufferings always fills up that which is lacking for the building up of the body.
Because she is willing to go through this, she has joined with the Lord in the fellowship of His sufferings. Therefore, you find, as you go on, her life has entered behind the veil.
Now she begins to have a life with the Lord behind the veil. There is now no veil between her and the Lord. She is behind the veil with the Lord.
Her whole desire is just one: that the Lord may have everything.
Her experience is summed up in another phrase: “I am my beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.”
“I do not want anything from Him now. I just want Him to be satisfied. That is all.”
Brothers and sisters, we need to be brought into that place where there is nothing of self, but all of Christ; where we desire nothing for ourselves, not even spirituality.
We are willing to let our spiritual fame be shattered. We are willing to ask help from a babe in Christ. There is nothing for us to maintain for ourselves. We just want to satisfy Him. That is all. That is all.
Whatever His will may be, that is it. In other words, it is more than a union in life; it has now become a union in will.
Here you find the union of wills. The result of that union is that there is only one purpose.
What is there left for her? She only desires that she may be taken away from this world, out of her body, that she may be present with the Lord.
But there is one consideration: how about little sister?
You find Paul has the same problem. In writing to the church in Philippi, he said, “There is nothing better for me than to go. I am all ready to go. There is nothing here that I should leave unwilling to go, because to die is gain. I will be with the Lord. That is all I want.”
“But there are you people. There is the work of God that God has entrusted to me, and for your sake I am willing to stay behind a little longer.” You know, that is the feeling at that time, brothers and sisters.
Here you find one who lives just for the Lord—nothing for herself. Even though she desires to be with the Lord, yet if it means that the Father’s will is for her to remain behind to take care of the little sister, she is willing to do that.
Here she begins to share the burden of the Lord with the Lord.
Yet she knows one thing: everything still depends upon the Lord. It is the love of the Lord that sustains her. So her cry unto the Lord is this:
Set me as a seal upon thy heart,
As a seal upon thine arm:
For love is strong as death.
It is the love of Christ that begins the whole story, and now she is still looking to the love of Christ to sustain her to the very end. That is the perseverance of the saints.
The more we know the Lord, the more we know ourselves; the less confidence we have in ourselves, but the more confidence we have in the Lord.
So here you find she has only one desire: that the love of Christ will sustain her. She knows the love of Christ is strong as death.
“Jealousy is cruel as Sheol.” Because the Lord loves her, the Lord is jealous. Jealousy is cruel. Why? Because if there is anything that does not meet His love, He has to deal with it.
He will not allow any impure thing to remain with her, and she welcomes that.
“The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, a very flame of the Lord.” God is a consuming fire, and how she welcomes that, that she may be completely His and forever.
Her last cry is, “Make haste, my Beloved. Come, Lord Jesus, come.”
In other words, she now lives in the spirit of rapture. There is nothing she desires but the Lord, and she is ready to meet the Lord at any time.
But she does not just wait passively, inactive. No. On the one hand, you find she is completely delivered from this world. She is ready to go.
On the other hand, as long as it is the will of God that she shall remain here, she does the will of God in helping the little sister to maturity.
Brothers and sisters, this is what the Lord is calling us to do.
What the Lord has done in your life, remember, it is not for you. It is for the Lord. It is for the church.
But for you to be able to impart Christ to others, you have to give up yourself completely to Him. That is the only way for ministry. The only way for ministry is the imparting of Christ’s life.
When you are weak, you are strong. When you have nothing to give, that is the time you are able to give. It is not you; it will be Christ.
So, brothers and sisters, let us remember this as we go on with the Lord. You know, this love life with the Lord is not selfish at all.
This love life with the Lord is for the building up of the body of Christ.
May the Lord use these words to encourage us, to strengthen us, that we may wait for His return with our hearts toward Him and with our hands doing His will.
Shall we pray?
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou dost give Thyself to us, that we may be able to give Thyself to others.
Lord, deliver us from the subtlety of sin. Deliver us from grasping even spiritual experience for ourselves.
Make us willing to be crushed, to be declined, stripped of ourselves. We have only one desire: that Christ may be imparted to the church.
Oh, Lord, may Thy bride be ready. May Thy return be soon.
We wait for Thee, Lord. There is nothing here that we desire. We desire Thee, Lord, and we desire to do Thy will as long as Thou dost desire that we should be here.
Hear our prayer, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.