The deepest longing in the Lord’s heart is to have a counterpart that would match Him in every way. In the Song of Songs we see how we, sinners and strangers from the promises of God, pass through a process of transformation and maturity to become the duplication of Christ, “the Shulammite”, to match Him in every possible way.
On the one hand, God’s purpose can be accomplished only through a transformed and mature person; on the other hand, we all as His believers and lovers are being transformed and matured to become His counterpart in the divine romance.
The matter of maturity can be seen in many places in the Bible; in the Song of Songs, the process of maturity is seen in all the stages of the divine romance.
The consummation of the process God takes us through in order to make us His counterpart is that we become the same as Christ in life, nature, expression, and function.
Just as Solomon could not marry a country girl unless she passes through a long process in the human romance to become the same as he is to match him, so Christ cannot marry an immature girl composed of the untransformed and immature believers in Christ.
It is God’s intention to make us one with Him to the uttermost, and He desires to have a counterpart, a corporate bride composed of the transformed and matured believers in Christ. In this divine romance, sinners are made sons of God who, through the breaking of their outer man and the subduing of their will, become the same as Christ is in life, nature, expression, and function, but not in His Godhead.
What a glorious destiny awaits us, and what a wonderful future we have in this romantic relationship with the Lord! We are destined to live in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection so that we may become mature in the riches of Christ’s life to be the building of God, the sanctuary of God, the wife of Christ, His counterpart.
No matter what stage we are in the divine romance, we should not throw in the towel or abandon this process but stay in this loving pursuit of Christ by enjoying Him, loving Him, and opening to Him, and He will take us on through transformation unto maturity to make us the same as God in life, nature, expression, and function to match Him as His counterpart.
In the Maturity of Life we Become the Same as Christ in Life, Nature, Expression, and Function
To say that we are the same as God in His 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 again and again that God wants to be one with us and to make us one with Him. This is God’s intention. (Witness Lee, Crystallization-study of Song of Songs, p. 113)
As we trace the matter of being brought to maturity through the Bible, one of the books that speaks about it in a very sweet way is Song of Songs. In this book we see a country girl who is courted by and falls in love with Solomon, the king.
As she pursues him, she is being transformed and matured to become the Shulammite (Song of Songs 6:13), the feminine version of Solomon, one who matches him in every possible way for their marriage.
The romance in Song of Songs portrays our loving relationship and divine romance with Christ: we are the loving pursuers of Christ who pass through various stages of transformation until we become mature in Christ’s life to be the same as Christ in life, nature, expression, and function to match Him for our marriage.
Christ is not only our Savior, Shepherd, Friend, and Comforter, but He is our Beloved, the One we love and pursue in love. In the Lord’s heart there’s a deep longing to have a counterpart to match Him, and as we pray, again and again, Lord, cause the desire of Your heart to become the desire of my heart! we will get a deep longing for our beloved Lord to have His bride, His counterpart.
In the divine romance portrayed in Song of Songs the process of maturity occurs in all the stages until we become the Shulammite, the reproduction of Christ. What Christ longs for is a mature counterpart, one who is transformed and built up to match Him in love.
Just as Eve came out of Adam and was one with Adam to match him in every possible way, and just as the lover in Song of Songs passes through a process of transformation and maturity to become the Shulammite to match Solomon for their marriage, so we as Christ’s loving seekers are undergoing a process of transformation and maturity to match Christ for our marriage life for eternity.
We will become fully one with Christ and we will even become the same as Christ is in life, in nature, in expression, and in function. To say that we become the same as Christ in His Godhead would be blasphemy, but to say that we cannot be the same as Christ in His life, nature, expression, and function is unbelief.
The Bible tells us again and again that God wants us to be one with Him and He wants to make us the same as He is.
Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always (Phil. 4:4). In ourselves, we sigh and complain all the time, but in Christ we are able to do all things – He empowers us (Phil. 4:13). We are branches in Christ, the vine, and we simply need to abide in Him to express Him corporately (John 15:5).
Though we were sinners, we have been regenerated and grafted into Christ, and we are now in a lifelong process of transformation and maturity in life to become the same as Christ in life, nature, expression, and function for the accomplishment of God’s eternal economy.
Lord Jesus, cause the desire of Your heart to become the desire of our heart. Saturate us and permeate us with Your heart’s desire of having a counterpart to match You in every possible way. Lord, take us all the way through the process of transformation and maturity to make us the same as You are in life, nature, expression, and function. Gain a group of overcomers who are mature in the divine life to be the same as Christ, the female version of Christ to match Him as His bride!
Reaching the Mature Stage by the Subduing of our Will
Song of Songs 6:4 You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as terrible as an army with banners.
Song of Songs shows us that the way we reach the mature stage is through the breaking of the outer man and the subduing of our will. In order to have a complete, adequate, and thorough transformation and maturity, there must be the subduing of our will. We don’t know how strong our will is until a situation arises and we utter our will and even force our will on others.
The Lord loves it when our “neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory: a thousand bucklers hang on it, all the shields of the mighty men.” (Song of Songs 4:4) – He wants our will to be submissive to Him, strong in Him and by Him but submissive to God, and on it hanging, the weapons of war against the enemy. When our will is submissive to God, He can defeat His enemy.
He wants us to reach maturity by being a palanquin containing the Lord and giving Him rest and comfort, and then being enlarged to be a city, Jerusalem.
The Beloved’s praising His lover, saying that she is as beautiful as the heavenly sanctuary (Tirzah) and as lovely as the heavenly Jerusalem, indicates that 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 not only a garden to Christ (S.S. 4:12—5:1; 6:2) but also the building of God (cf. Gen. 2:8-12, 18-24; 1 Cor. 3:9-12), the sanctuary of God and its safeguard. (Song of Songs 6:4, footnote 1)
It is beautiful to God when our will is subdued and we are submissive to Him in the divine romance.
Through our living in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection, we as lovers of Christ become mature in the riches of the life of Christ so that we become the building of God, the sanctuary of God (Song of Songs 6:4).
Toward the Lord, we are beautiful and lovely, and toward the enemy we are terrible. We will reach the stage where we work together with the Lord, taking the initiative to go with Him in the vineyards (blending among the churches), there to give Him our love, laboring with Christ not only in our local church but among all the churches.
This is maturity, and in the divine romance we advance from one stage of maturity to another stage of maturity.
We shouldn’t worry where are we in the divine romance; we should simply go on loving the Lord and pursuing Him. The Lord will give us indications on where we are and what we are. He may call us “a horse” – yet beautiful to Him; then, “a lily”, “a dove in the cleft of the rock”….He may be silent for a while, and then we become a pillar joining heaven and earth, a palanquin, a garden, heavenly bodies, the sanctuary of God, and eventually we become Jerusalem and an army, so beautiful to the Lord and so terrifying to the enemy!
Don’t worry where and what are you now in the divine romance: just love the Lord, enjoy Him, trust in Him, don’t be introspective but let Him kiss you and take you on in the divine romance from one stage of maturity to another until you become the same as He is in life and nature!
In this process, your outer man will be broken and your will is subdued, and we become the same as Christ as His duplication, reproduction, and counterpart.
Lord Jesus, keep us in the divine romance enjoying You, loving You, and pursuing You. Save us from introspection or analyzing where we are; just keep us loving and enjoying You! Take us from one stage of maturity to another until we become as beautiful as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, and as terrible as an army with banners. May we be those who live in Christ’s ascension as the new creation in resurrection to be mature in the life of Christ and become the building of God, the sanctuary of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Song of Songs (msgs. 7-8), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (3), week 6 / msg 6, The Process of Maturity.
- Further reading on this topic: recommending Crystallization-study of Song of Songs, msgs. 10-12, and, Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, chs. 11-12 (by Witness Lee)
- Hymns on this topic:
- # Of smoke, a pillar she’s become, / And now, as wand’ring ends, / Her wills to His will are subdued, / What fragrance sweet ascends! (Hymns #1241)
# I open now, / With all my heart. / Lord, more and more possess each part. / Oh Lord, I pray / Subdue my soul. / Until You have the full control. (Song on Being Subdued in our Will)
# An army terrible with banners / Christ’s lovers overcome to be. / Those attracted by His beauty, / Fully trusting in His power. / Her romance is now the dances of two camps. / The Shulamite, His duplication, / His counterpart has now become. / She’s the same in life and nature, / His expression to the full; / Consummated as the New Jerusalem. (Song on the Divine Romance)
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