Going Beyond Our Present Experience Within
the Song of Solomon
Wade E Taylor
Seeing our Lord as a Heavenly
Bridegroom who seeks the attention and affection of His Bride will give us a
better understanding of the principles that will help us in our desire to
better know Him and grow into spiritual maturity.
As we follow the steps that our Lord
takes in the Song of Solomon in order to draw His Bride to Himself, we too will
be drawn into a closer personal relationship with Him. We will become more
responsive when He comes and knocks upon the door of our heart, and more
submissive to His dealings within our lives, as we identify ourselves with the
reluctant and preoccupied Bride who lives within the pages of the Song of
Songs.
As we meditate upon the experiences
of the Bride in her progress, we should be able to bypass some of the mistakes
she made and more readily submit ourselves to the Lord as He draws us into a
closer, more intimate relationship to Himself. If we will carefully observe the
gradual changes that take place within her, and prayerfully follow her as she
moves, step upon step, upward toward His chambers, we will discover the delight
of joining her in union and communion with Him.
Also, as we consider the necessary
role of the Daughters of Jerusalem in helping, or provoking the Bride to become
all that the Bridegroom desires her to be, we will be able to better appreciate
our relationship to other Christians. We will recognize that their role is
similar to that of the Daughters of Jerusalem in the development of our
spiritual lives.
By being sensitive and responsive to
the promptings of the Holy Spirit concerning our responses to the “Heavenly
Bridegroom,” and to the “Daughters of Jerusalem,” we can quicken the pace of
our spiritual development. If we are not able to do so, the Lord will wait
until we are ready. He will never deal with us, or allow others to “affect” us
beyond that which we can handle It is very important
that we recognize this.
“I charge you, O ye daughters of
As we compare our hesitations in
responding to our heavenly Bridegroom with those of the Bride, we will realize
how far we have strayed from abiding in Him. This will stir us to earnestly
pray as she did, “Draw me,” and to make the commitment that she made, “We will
run after Thee.” This most important prayer, asking the Lord to enlarge our
spiritual hunger and to establish our consecration to follow Him alone, will
release our Heavenly Bridegroom to become active within us and in our
circumstances, to change us into the Bride He longingly desires us to become.
No longer will we view the Lord
merely as the Supreme Power to whom we pray in an attempt to cause Him to do as
we desire. We will begin to know Him experientially as a “Divine Friend” who
personally loves us, and greatly desires our fellowship. As we look forward to
our times of fellowship with Him and begin to respond to His love reaching
toward us, we will feel deep within our being a sense of satisfaction and
fulfillment.
We were created with this ability to
respond to our Lord, and we have built within us a capacity for intimate,
personal communion with Him. Therefore, by divine creative intention, it is not
possible for us to find spiritual satisfaction or fulfillment in anything less
than a developing love relationship with Him.
Three key “testimonies” reveal the
progressive levels of spiritual growth to which the Bride has developed. Each
of these three confessions of her spiritual condition sets the stage for the
intervention of the Lord to draw her further up the “stairs,” to the next
level. Her first testimony relates to her self-importance,
“My Beloved is mine,” (then, as an
after-thought) “and I am His.” Song of Solomon 2:16a.
In her second testimony, some
progress is evident, for a partial change in her priorities has occurred. Now
she is able to put Him first and say,
“I am my Beloved’s” (but adds) “and my Beloved is mine.”
Song of Solomon 6:3a.
Although weakened, an element of
self- centeredness still rules her priorities.
Her third testimony expresses a total
change. The Lord has now become her all in all.
“I am my Beloved's and His desire is toward me.” Song
of Solomon 7:10.
Her self-life has been completely
dealt with and no longer controls either her desires or her actions. Notice the complete reversal of positions in the
progression of these
testimonies which represent her
spiritual condition. In her first confession “My Beloved is mine,” she is
serving the Lord for her own benefit. She admits that she loves the Lord
because He gives her the things she wants.
This reveals a selfish, or a self-serving attitude toward the Lord:
“Because of the savour
of thy good ointments, Thy name is as ointment poured forth,
therefore do the virgins love Thee.”
Song of Solomon 1:3.
Her request, “Stay me with flagons,
comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.” (Song of Solomon 2:5) reveals
that she views the Lord on a far lower plane of experience than He desires for
her. He seeks her fellowship while she seeks that which He can supply to please
her.
In her third testimony, she is able
to say, “I am my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me.” Finally, He has
become the center of her life. Instead of possessing the Lord, she is possessed
by Him. She has left the place of self-centeredness where she had tried to use
the Lord for her own purposes. Now she has submitted her life to Him that she
might live and move in continual fellowship and communion with Him. This has
opened a way of entrance into His “chambers” where she might become a partaker
with Him in the outworking of His plan and purpose for mankind; now and in the
ages to come.
Often, in the beginnings of our
Christian experience we become spiritually satisfied because of the many
blessings that we receive, and we could easily turn aside and rest in these,
and remain in a lower level of identity with our Lord as one of the daughters
of
But as we as respond to the deep
spiritual hunger within us, and ask the Lord to draw us yet closer, we will be
introduced by the Holy Spirit to the Person (Jesus) who gave all of these
“blessings” to us. As we fellowship with Jesus, He will gently correct
(chasten) us in order to lead us beyond our initial experience in which we had
become content with receiving “things” from Him. Now we will find satisfaction
only as we give ourselves unconditionally to Him. As we become one with Him
within His chambers, we will enter into a much deeper realm of purpose and
fulfillment, in which we become the expression of His life in the earth and
have a part with Him in
the building up of others.
During the initial state
of our spiritual life, when our experiences were centered upon receiving from
the Lord, we expressed our appreciation, telling the Lord that we “loved” Him.
This love however, related to, and was the direct result of the blessings we
were receiving. The center of our relationship to the Lord was in our
“getting.” As we grew spiritually, this expression of love took a different
direction. Our “love” for the Lord began to center upon Him as a person, which
resulted in a desire to bring others into the same experience we had received
from Him. Now the center of our relationship to the Lord has changed to
“giving.”
There are three different Greek words
that are used to express this one English word, “love.” The first,
or lowest Greek word for “love” is Eros. This word expresses a one-way love
that moves toward us. It is a love that seeks self gain. It is carnal or
sensual, the lowest form of love. This Greek word for “love” is not used in the
Bible.
The second Greek word for “love” is Phileo. This word expresses the highest type of human love.
This is a “love” that is reciprocated, or a love that responds to love and
flows two ways.
“I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find me.” Proverbs
8:17.
The third, and highest Greek word for
“love” is Agape. This is the word that is used to express divine love, and
speaks of sacrifice.
“For God so loved
the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” John 3:16a.
This word, “Agape” expresses a one
way love. It is an outgoing, selfless, giving, love that looks for nothing in
return.
In the New Testament
there is an illustration of the use of the latter two words for love, Phileo and Agape. John 21:15-18 gives the account of Jesus
restoring Peter, after Peter had
denied Him.
The Lord asked Peter, “Lovest thou Me?” And Peter
replied, “Yea Lord, I love Thee.” Jesus repeated, “Lovest
thou Me?” and Peter said, “Yea Lord, Thou
knowest that I love Thee.” And then, the third time, Jesus
said, “Lovest thou Me?” and
Peter was grieved, and responded, “Yea Lord, Thou knowest
all
things.”
The unfolding of Peter's confession
that led to his grief, is quite different in the expression of the Greek
language than is revealed in English. Peter had previously told the Lord,
“Though I should die with Thee,yet
will I not deny Thee.” But, when Jesus was taken captive and stood before the
high priest to be judged, Peter denied he even knew Him, because he feared for
his own life.
After the resurrection, Jesus came to
Peter and said, “Peter, do you agape Me?” (love Me to the point of death). And Peter responded, “Lord,
I phileo You.” (I am fond of
You.” Before, Peter had said to Jesus, “Lord, I agape You.” (I will die for you). But, when the trial came, Peter
failed. He discovered that he was not all that he thought himself to be. Now,
he could not use the word “Agape” because his experience was less than his
confession Therefore, he had to speak from the level of his experience, so He
said, “Lord, I phileo You.”
Again Jesus said, “Peter, do you
agape Me?” And Peter said, “Lord, You know that I phileo You.” Then, Jesus came down
to the level of Peter's experience and said, “Peter, do you phileo
Me?” At this Peter broke and cried saying, “Lord, You
know all things; You know that I Phileo
You.” Because the Lord condescended to Peter's level of experience, his
resistance to the Lord melted and he rose up into a new level of faith, fully
restored.
We all desire the highest. However, each
of us must start at the lowest, where the Lord first found us, and then begin
to climb, step upon step, toward His chambers, gradually developing the
capacity to enter within and partake of the highest expression of His love.
Thus, the Bride in her first confession revealed her spiritual condition at
that time when she said, “My beloved is mine.” Song of Solomon 2:16a. This
brought her to the lowest (Eros) step on the stairs. She was only capable of
responding selfishly to a one-way love, which flowed toward her.
The Lord began to bring about changes
within her so she would be able to love Him (Phileo)
as a person rather than loving Him (Eros) because of all the things that He was
able to provide for her. After He tenderly corrected her, she was able to say
in her second confession, “I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine.” Song of
Solomon 6:3a. She had progressed upward on the stairs to the “Phileo” level of experience. She was responding to His
love, and began to notice Him as a Person, but was still very interested in all
of the blessings and gifts that were available to her.
Finally, He drew her further up the
stairs toward the level of spiritual maturity where she was able to say “I am
my Beloved's, and His desire is toward me.” Song of Solomon 7:10. Now her love
(Agape) has become an outgoing love with no expectancy of return. The Lord has
become her all in all, and she has entered into an abiding oneness in Him in
which she shares His love (Agape) that reaches out to the world. In undivided submission,
devotion, and rest, she has reached the place in her spiritual growth where she
is able to move with Him in ministry to the needs of others, or abide alone
with Him in intimate communion.
Therefore, He is able to say to her, “Come, My beloved,
let us go forth into the field; let us lodge
in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the
tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give thee My loves.” Song of Solomon 7:11-12.
Suddenly, all of the pain and loss
she had to endure to become His Bride has faded into nothingness. She only sees
the vineyard that is before them.
Together, they will go forth into
this vineyard to minister to others in love, while experiencing new dimensions
of communion together.
“... there will I give thee My loves.”