Message Four
Fighting the Spiritual Warfare through
Living in Christ’s Ascension as the New Creation in
Resurrection to Become Christ’s Duplication and Counterpart
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners—S.S. 6:4
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—S.S. 6:13
Word of Appetizer
Believers ought to be lovable and terrible at the same time.how does it reveal to us in the Song of songs?
Believers today have lost their loveliness before the Lord, and they have lost their terribleness before the enemy and the world. “You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, / As lovely as Jerusalem, / As terrible as an army with banners”. When we become a city to the Lord, we are an army to the enemy. She is so beautiful to the Lord, even as beautiful as Jerusalem. But to the enemy, she is as terrible as an army with banners.
Spiritual Burden
When the overcoming lover of Christ becomes one with God to be God’s dwelling place, in the eyes of God she is as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem; however, to the enemy she is as terrible as an army with banners.
On the day of His wedding, Christ will marry those who have been fighting the battle against God’s enemy for years; that is, Christ will marry the overcomers, who have already overcome the evil one.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory: A thousand bucklers hang on it, all the shields of the mighty men.
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; with me from Lebanon come. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the leopards’ mountains.
When the overcoming lover of Christ becomes one with God to be God’s dwelling place, in the eyes of God she is as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem; however, to the enemy she is as terrible as an army with banners.
In the maturity of Christ’s life, the lover of Christ becomes the Shulammite, signifying that she has become the reproduction and duplication of Christ to match Him for their marriage.
The Experience of Life
S.S. 4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; with me from Lebanon come. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the leopards’ mountains.
In Christ’s ascension is His victory; there is no more fighting, for the enemy has already been defeated, and we wear soft armor to enjoy our victory in Christ; the position of prayer is ascension, that is, a heavenly position.
Practice and Application
God needs a people who are one with Him, a people who are submissive to Him, signified by the plaited hair (S. S. 1:11), and obedient to Him with a flexible will, signified by the neck with strings of jewels (v. 10).
When we consider how to arrive at the highest peak of the divine revelation, we should not trust in ourselves but depend on the Lord as love, power, and mercy to make us vessels of mercy, honor, and glory.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory: A thousand bucklers hang on it, all the shields of the mighty men—S.S. 4:4
Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; with me from Lebanon come. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the leopards’ mountains—S.S. 4:8
I. “Your neck is like the tower of David, / Built for an armory:
II. Christ calls His lover to live with Him in His ascension
The neck signifies the human will under God; the Lord considers the submission of our will a most beautiful thing.
The lover of Christ is beautiful in having a will that is submissive to Christ (neck like the tower of David) and that is rich in the defending power (bucklers and shields of the mighty men).
The experience of Christ’s death and resurrection has brought the seeking one into His ascension, and now she is on the mountaintop of Christ’s ascension and is living in ascension.
Christ asks His lover as His bride to look with Him from His ascension (Lebanon), the highest place of the truth (Amana) and of Christ’s victory in His fighting (Senir, meaning “soft armor, ” and Hermon, meaning “destruction”) and from the heavenly places of the enemies (the lions’ dens and the leopards’ mountains). We wear soft armor to enjoy our victory in Christ; the position of prayer is ascension, that is, a heavenly position.
Key Verses (2)
A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed—S.S. 4:12
You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as terrible as an army with banners—S.S. 6:4
III. Through her living in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection, Christ’s transformed bride becomes a garden
IV. She is as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem; she is as terrible as an army with banners
The lover of Christ is beautiful and comely before the Lord, as solid as the heavenly city and as serene as the sanctuary; at the same time, she displays the glory of her victory before the enemy and the world.
The lovers of Christ should be lovable and terrible at the same time; however, many believers have lost their loveliness before the Lord and their terribleness before the enemy.
The building of God is always an army; when we become a city to the Lord, we are an army to the enemy.The uttermost completion that the seeking lover of Christ can attain is to be a city as an army.
A terrible army signifies that the Lord’s overcomers terrify God’s enemy, Satan.
Key Verses (3)
Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints—Rev. 19:7-8
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—S.S. 6:13
And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s camp. So he called the name of that place Mahanaim—Gen. 32:2
V. On the day of His wedding, Christ will marry those who have been fighting the battle against God’s enemy for years
VI. Shulammite,the reproduction and duplication of Christ to match Him for their marriage
When Christ comes to fight against Antichrist and his army, He will come as the Son of Man, and as the Son of Man, He will need a counterpart to match Him and complete Him; this counterpart will be His bride.
The overcomers who constitute the bride of Christ fight the battle against all the enemies of God and defeat them.
To say that we are the same as God in the Godhead is a great blasphemy, but if we say that we cannot be the same as God in life, nature, expression, and function, this is unbelief; the Bible tells us repeatedly that God’s intention is to be one with us and to make us one with Him.
The Shulammite is likened to the dance of two camps, or two armies (Heb. mahanaim), in the sight of God; after Jacob saw the angels of God, the two armies of God, he named the place where he was Mahanaim and divided his wives, children, and possessions into “two armies”; Those who are counted worthy to be overcomers will be the weaker ones who depend on the Lord.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1. The lover of Christ is beautiful in having a will that is submissive to Christ(S. S. 4:4; Rom. 12:2.)
( Please explain that the more our will is subdued, the more we will be transformed. )
T2. Our will must be subdued; then it will be strong in resurrection.(Eph. 6:10)
(Please explain that an unsubdued will is, on the one hand, stubborn, and on the other hand, weak.)
D2
T1. Christ calls His lover to live with Him in His ascension.(S. S. 2:14; Eph. 1:20)
(Please explain that the experience of Christ’s death and resurrection has brought the seeking one into His ascension)
T2. To be resurrected with Him is to enjoy the resurrected life-giving Christ. (Eph. 2:6)
(Please explain that to be resurrected with Him is to enjoy the resurrected life-giving Christ.)
D3
T1. For Christ’s private enjoyment.(S. S. 4:12)
(Please explain what a garden enclosed, a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed indicate.)
T2. God has no intention that the lovers of Christ possess the heavenly
beauty without possessing a warring nature.
(Please explain that life within the veil is not only a life before the Lord but also a life before the enemy)
D4
T1. The lovers of Christ should be lovable and terrible at the same time.(S. S. 6:4,10)
( Please explain the meaning of believers should be lovable and terrible at the same time. )
T2. The building of God is always an army.(S. S. 6:4; Neh. 4:1-23)
(Please explain that the uttermost completion that the seeking lover of Christ can attain is to be a city as an army.)
D5
T1. When Christ comes to fight against Antichrist and his army, He will come as the Son of Man.(Rev. 14:14; Rev. 19:7-9)
(Please explain that as the Son of Man, He will need a counterpart to complete Him)
T2. The bride requires maturity.(Heb.6:1;Eph. 4:13 )
(Please explain that only when we have reached maturity will He take us to be His bride.)
D6
T1. In the maturity of Christ’s life, the lover of Christ becomes the Shulammite.(S. S. 6:13;Rev.22:20)
(Please explain that signifying that she has become the reproduction and duplication of Christ to match Him for their marriage.)
T2. The Shulammite is likened to the dance of two camps, or two armies in the sight of God.(S. S. 6:13;Gen.32:2)
(Please explain that the spiritual significance of the two armies.)
