In our progressive experience of Christ and our loving pursuit of Him in our Christian life, we hope to be raptured, and we come up from the earthly realm by leaning on our Beloved; we lean on our Beloved Lord Jesus, trusting in Him, relying on Him to take us all the way to the end, and having no trust in ourselves.
Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You and we trust in You!
We believers in Christ are those who love the Lord and pursue Him daily in love, for He has laid hold of us and we now want to lay hold of Him.
Like the apostle Paul, we have seen something of His beauty, and He has revealed something of His wonderful self to us, so we cannot but run after Him, seek to gain Him and spend time with Him.
The reason we are Christians is not because we were convinced by someone of how sinful we are and we now believe in Jesus because that’s the logical thing to do, for we want to escape eternal damnation.
Rather, we are Christians because we have been captivated by the Lord Jesus, the most wonderful One.
He has drawn us to Himself, we pursue after Him, and we love Him.
We are now in a divine romance, where He courts us and we court Him. Every day we wake up and tell the Lord that we love Him.
We may tired and not so happy about all the things going on around us, and we may even be sick or not so strong outwardly, but we love the Lord and we give Him our love.
He is the most lovely One. We love to spend time with Him in His word and call His name throughout the day because He constantly supplies us, speaks to us, and shepherds us.
Though we go through experiences that consume our outer man and expose the flesh and the self, we still come back to the Lord, for we want to enjoy Him and be with Him.
He wants to make us the same as He is. He is our “Solomon” and we are becoming His “Shulammite,” for He is making us the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function, but not in the Godhead.
As we love Him and give our love to Him, we will be one with Him to work together with Him in the vineyards, in the local churches, so that the saints may grow in life, bear fruit, and arrive to maturity.
Our work for the Lord and with Him is not something we do individualistically; we do it with Him and in the churches, with the saints, being coordinated with the ones the Lord put us with and in spirit one with the Lord.
We live the church life in the local church where the Lord has placed us, but our work with and for the Lord is in the Body and for the Body, for Him to gain what He is after and be satisfied.
Coming up from the Earthly Realm, we Lean on our Beloved and Hope to be Raptured
In the sixth stage of Song of Songs, as seen in 8:1-14, the lover of Christ is hoping to be raptured, and she is coming up from the wilderness (signifying the earthly realm) by “leaning on her beloved” (v. 5).
The Lord sees her and exclaims, Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?
At this stage, the lover is mature; she is one with her beloved in life, in service, in work, and in the building.
The last stage is that she hopes to be raptured. She is coming up from the wilderness.
This coming up from the wilderness also happened in chapter 3; she is progressing in life and is gradually delivered from the spiritual wilderness.
We are being saved from wandering in the soul, learning to discern between our spirit and our soul.
In chapter 8 coming up from the wilderness is coming up from the flesh, from the earthly realm.
There is a gradual process of coming out of the earthly realm with the flesh until we are raptured.
We aspire for our Beloved to come and rapture us.
As we are walking with the Lord, step by step, we are drawn by heaven, and we become more one with the Lord.
Step by step, we are delivered from the world and are farther and farther away from the world and the flesh.
We really aspire to be raptured or to be martyred for the Lord, for we want to be with our Beloved.
We need to advance in our spiritual experience until we reach the point that we come up from the earthly realm, leaning on our Beloved.
Leaning on our Beloved implies that, like Jacob, the socket of our hip has been touched, and our natural strength has been dealt with by the Lord (Gen. 32:24-25).
We lean on the Lord, for He has touched our natural strength, and we do not rely on our power or zeal to go on with Him.
We only trust in Him, for we’re leaning on our Beloved, the One who can take us on.
Leaning on our Beloved also implies that we find ourselves pressed beyond measure, and this seems to last until the wilderness journey is over (2 Cor. 1:8-9; 12:9-10; 13:3-4).
We realize that we’re mere sinners saved by grace, and in ourselves, we don’t have strength; we are not strong at all but rather, our entire life is a story of grace.
We lean on our Beloved, having no strength at all.
We make ourselves a burden upon our Beloved Lord Jesus, for we don’t have strength at all until the journey through the wilderness is over.
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, as lovers of Christ we need to realize that, no matter how much we have progressed in life, we still are sinners saved by grace, and any strength for us to continue is not of us but of the Lord.
We fully depend on Him; if we have any power, it is not of us but of the Lord. The more advanced we are in the Lord, the more we live a dependent life on the Lord.
We do not become more strong or more independent; rather, we depend on the Lord and live a life of dependence.
We depend on nothing else but the Lord until we are raptured. Only the Lord can prepare us for rapture.
We trust in Him. We depend on Him.
When we recall our original condition, we cannot but be filled with humility.
![This is the time to prepare ourselves for the rapture. By leaning on our Beloved, we constantly leave the world behind and come up again and again until the Lord comes to take us away. “Leaning on her beloved.” [The lover] seems to be powerless and unable to walk. “Leaning on her beloved.” She makes herself a burden for her beloved to carry. “Leaning on her beloved.” It is as if the hollow of her thigh has been touched. “Leaning on her beloved." She seems to find herself pressed beyond measure, and this seems to last until the wilderness journey is over. Only the Lord can prepare us for the rapture. A trusting life is indispensable. We should trust in Him helplessly until the Holy Spirit exclaims, “Who is this who comes…leaning on her beloved?” [SS 8:5]. Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 23, “The Song of Songs,” p. 118](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/This-is-the-time-to-prepare-ourselves-for-the-rapture-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "This is the time to prepare ourselves for the rapture. By leaning on our Beloved, we constantly leave the world behind and come up again and again until the Lord comes to take us away. “Leaning on her beloved.” [The lover] seems to be powerless and unable to walk. “Leaning on her beloved.” She makes herself a burden for her beloved to carry. “Leaning on her beloved.” It is as if the hollow of her thigh has been touched. “Leaning on her beloved.\" She seems to find herself pressed beyond measure, and this seems to last until the wilderness journey is over. Only the Lord can prepare us for the rapture. A trusting life is indispensable. We should trust in Him helplessly until the Holy Spirit exclaims, “Who is this who comes…leaning on her beloved?” [SS 8:5]. Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 23, “The Song of Songs,” p. 118")
We cannot help but consider our emptiness, the vanity of our experience, the undependability of our mind, and the futility of our pursuit.
Our only hope is the Lord.
Whether we can endure to the end doesn’t depend on our own endurance; it depends on the Lord’s preservation.
We lean on our Beloved, for only He can take us on. No spiritual perfection can sustain us until the Lord’s return; everything depends on God’s preserving power.
So we lean on our Beloved. We depend on Him. We depend on His grace and mercy.
We make ourselves a burden to the Lord, and we thrust ourselves upon Him.
We thrust not only our cares, worries, and anxious thoughts on Him but even ourselves, our whole being, fully trusting in Him and not having any trust in ourselves.
The whole world with its pleasures and enticements is fading away, and the flesh also is being left behind.
We are not able to walk unless the Lord walks with us.
We are not able to go on unless we lean on our Beloved.
We love Him, we depend on Him, and though we find ourselves pressed beyond measure, we are leaning on our Beloved in all things.
Lord Jesus, we love You and we lean on You, our Beloved! We come up from the earthly realm and from anything related to the flesh, and we lean on You, hoping to be raptured. We are not able to walk or go on with You; we simply lean on You. Only You can prepare us for rapture. We depend on You. We do not trust in our strength to go on nor do we trust in our zeal to continue in our Christian life. Our hope is to be raptured, and we lean on our Beloved who can carry us all the way through. Oh Lord Jesus, our only hope is in the Lord! Whether we can endure to the end doesn’t depend on our own endurance but on Your preservation. We do not have any strength. We are not strong at all, but we depend on You. Our entire life is a story of grace. We live a life of depending on You. We acknowledge that we are not strong and independent; we depend on You and we rely fully on You. Oh Lord Jesus, our hope is to be raptured! We lean on You, our Beloved Lord Jesus!
We Trust in God’s Preserving Power and His Strong Love, and we Listen to His Voice
The loving seeker asks her Beloved to set her as a seal on His heart of love and as a seal on His arm of strength; she is conscious of her powerlessness and helplessness, and she realizes that everything depends on God’s preserving power (Song of Songs 8:6-7).
As we lean on our Beloved, we realize that our going on and finishing our course depends not on ourselves but on His preserving power.
We simply tell Him to set us as a seal on His heart and as a seal on His arm.
We realize we’re weak and empty, and we’re conscious of our powerlessness.
We simply are a helpless person, and we cannot preserve ourselves.
If we even try to preserve ourselves until His coming, we will only bring shame to the Lord’s name and loss to ourselves.
All our hopes are in the Lord’s love and His power.
We trust in God’s preserving power and His strong love, and we lean on our Beloved.
We dare not speak of our love for the Lord any longer; we dare not speak of our grasping of the Lord any longer, for everything depends on the Lord’s strength and His love.
We realize that the Lord’s love is as strong as death. Just as nothing can shake death, nothing can shake the Lord’s love for us.
Death holds its captives and keeps them firmly, unrelentingly, and unshakably in its hand; in the same way, because the Lord loves us, we will not be shaken, for His love is stronger than death.
Because the Lord loves us, His jealousy will follow; His jealousy is as cruel as Sheol.
Because He loves us and is jealous over us (Exo. 20:5; Exo. 34:14; Deut. 4:24; 6:15; Josh. 24:19; Nahum 1:2; 1 Cor. 10:22; 2 Cor. 11:2),
He will not allow anything to share our heart.
He wants our heart to be fully for Him, focused on Him, and loving only Him.
He is not satisfied with only owning a major part of our heart.
His eyes cannot stand to see those who are the Lord’s being defiled by the world or usurped by other loves.
He is jealous, even from the beginning of time He is jealous. And the apostles are jealous over us with the jealousy of God.
Nothing can withstand His jealousy.
He will remove all hindrances in us and around us until He becomes the unique Lord, the God of all, and the unchallenged King.
He will care for us, He will protect us, and He will preserve our whole being until we see His face.
Because of His love and jealousy for us, many things happen to us not to punish us but to remove anything from us that we love more than Him.
This love that He has for us, many waters cannot quench it nor do floods drown it; if a man gave all the substance of his house for love, it will be utterly despised.
![O you who dwell in the gardens, / [My] companions listen for your voice; / Let me hear [it.] Song of Songs 8:13 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to His word...But there is need of one thing, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38, 42](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/O-you-who-dwell-in-the-gardens-My-companions-listen-for-your-voice-Let-me-hear-it-683x1024.jpg?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "O you who dwell in the gardens, / [My] companions listen for your voice; / Let me hear [it.] Song of Songs 8:13 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord's feet and was listening to His word...But there is need of one thing, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38, 42")
The Lord loves us so much that He sets us as a seal on His heart and as a seal on His arm; we lean on our Beloved and He carries us on.
As lovers of Christ, we ask Him who dwells in the believers as His gardens to let us hear His voice (Song of Songs 8:13).
In the world that we do for the Lord as our Beloved, we need to maintain our fellowship with Him, always listening to Him.
This is one of the main characteristics we should bear before the Lord’s return.
We need to love the Lord, lean on our Beloved, and be hungry and thirsty for the Lord’s speaking.
Our companions listen to the Lord’s voice, and we also want to hear His voice.
As lovers of Christ who express Him as our living outwardly and have Him as our life inwardly, we work for the Lord and with Him, and in the midst of our work for and with Him, we listen to His voice.
Our whole life hinges on the Lord’s speaking. Any day without the Lord’s speaking is in vain.
We do not rely on His speaking to us yesterday; we want to have His speaking today.
We want to be unveiled and cleansed so that we may hear what He is speaking to us today.
We live in an atmosphere of listening to the Lord’s voice, being prayerful before Him and leaning on our Beloved.
Lord Jesus, we love You. Our hope is in Your power and in Your love. Set us as a seal on Your heart of love and on Your arm of strength. We depend on Your strength and love, and we lean on our Beloved. Oh Lord, Your love is as strong as death. We trust in Your love and we know that nothing can shake us because Your love is so strong! Thank You for Your jealousy over us. Gain our whole being completely and remove anything in us that replaces You or causes us to be distracted from You. Dear Lord Jesus, we believe that You will keep us to the end. We believe that You will remove all hindrances until You become the unique Lord, the God of all, and the unchallenged King in us! We trust in You, we lean on our Beloved, and we are assured that You will preserve us until we see Your face! Amen, Lord, we are open to You: speak to us today. Our life depends on Your speaking. We love to hear Your voice. We come to You again and again and we want to maintain our fellowship with You, always listening to You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 23, “The Song of Songs,” sec. 6, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing in Order to Receive the Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness (2024 ICSC), week 4, Loving the Lord’s Appearing by Maintaining Our Love for Him according to the Intrinsic Significance of Song of Songs.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Going out of the world with Jesus, a portion from, Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee.
– The economy of God in Song of Songs, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
– Preparing “Our Camera”—Our Faith—to “Photograph” the Scenery of Grace, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
– Being Perfected in Christian Life to Match New Jerusalem (2), via, New Jerusalem blog.
– Dealt with by God, a portion from, Watchman Nee’s Testimony, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee.
– The Triumphant Ministry (5), From chapter nine of The Ministers in the Lord’s Recovery – Genuine Ministers of the New Covenant, via, Shepherding Words.
– Testimony of Travis Tatum, A Brief Testimony of My Experience in the Church Life, via, Living to Him.
– Testimony for Sister Lee: How she lived and how she died, via, Lamb Follower.
– Quotes from God’s keeping power, via, We are Vessels of Mercy.
– God being the one who keeps us, a portion from, Gospel of God, The (2 volume set), Chapter 16, by Watchman Nee. - Hymns on this topic:
– Trust Him when dark doubts assail thee, / Trust Him when thy strength is small, / Trust Him when to simply trust Him / Seems the hardest thing of all. / Trust Him; He is ever faithful; / Trust Him, for His will is best; / Trust Him, for the heart of Jesus / Is the only place of rest. (Hymns #647 stanzas 5-6)
– Set me, Lord Jesus, / As seal on Thine heart;vJealousy’s cruel as Sheol, / And love’s strong as death, / Jealousy’s cruel as Sheol, / And love’s strong as death. / Much water cannot / Quench love, nor do floods drown it. / All man could give for love is contemned. (Hymns #1154 stanza 4)
– I come to His presence afresh / Ere the night has passed into morning; / And His face I see as it shines on me— / The Lord within is dawning. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And with sweet delight I partake of Him, / My hunger has passed away. (Hymns #554 stanza 1)
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Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 23, “The Song of Songs,” pp. 119-120
Witness Lee, Life-study of Song of Songs, p. 68
may we be those who are leaning our Beloved!
May we constantly leave the world behind, be delivered from the flesh and the self, and lean on the Lord, trusting in Him helplessly.
Our only hope is in the Lord. We cannot endure to the end; we depend on the Lord’s preservation.
Everything depends on God and His preserving power, so we desperately ask Him to set us as a seal on His heart of love and His arm of strength to preserve us to the end!
Praise the Lord! 🙌😃🙋🏼
https://youtu.be/w_cb-EibYNA?si=w30lQT2nbZMGEtnK
Everything depends on God and His preserving power.
We are just weak, empty, helpless & powerless.
Only the Lord Himself can bring us to the point of rapture.
So, while we express Him as our living outwardly, we need the awareness that He indwells us as our life inwardly, and we need to maintain our fellowship with Him, always listening to Him.
Amen.
If we are to enter into glory, we will do so whilst lame and leaning on our beloved.
Brother Christian, Thank you. Your comment is so appreciated. I agree, growth in life is always an inward to outward process. It is always His work. Yesterday we were talking of leaping. Today we speak of limping. (Lol) May our leaning turn to leaping according to His loving will. Amen my brother.
Praise the Lord for a new day in Him.
May we see that only the Lord can prepare us for the rapture.
A trusting life is indispensable.
We should trust in Him helplessly until the Holy Spirit exclaims, “Who is this who comes…leaning on her beloved?”
Hallelujah.
Today we are preparing for and hoping to be raptured!
As lovers of Christ we need to come up from the wilderness – to leave the world behind – leaning on Christ, trusting in Him our beloved, as we realise our weakness, helplessness and powerlessness apart from Him. O Lord!
What a mercy that He would touch the socket of our hip that we would depend on Him.
07/12/24 Loving the Lord’s Appearing by Maintaining Our Love for Him according to the Intrinsic Significance of Song of Songs (Week 4, Day 5)
Finally, after undergoing through the five stages of the progressive experience of her fellowship with the Lord, the lover of Christ finally reached the sixth stage ~ the hope to be raptured at the Lord’s second coming. Song of Songs 8 reveals the lover’s hope to be raptured. The Shulammite was matured in life to the extent that she became Solomon in every aspect and from every view, except for the fact that she still had the flesh.
Song of Songs 8:1 says, “If I found you outside, I would kiss you.” This indicates that the Lord’s seeker longs to be delivered from the bondage of the flesh in order to be closer to the Lord. When she first pursues the Lord, she wants the Lord to kiss her (SS 1:2) so that she might be satisfied by the Lord’s love; here she wants to kiss the Lord so that the Lord might be satisfied by her love.
John 4:19 says, “We love because He first loved us.” We are able to love the Lord and the people around us because He first loved us and put His divine love unto our regenerated spirit. As we continually enjoy Him and fellowship with Him, not only does the divine life grow in us, but also the divine love also increases in us. These growth of life and increase in love are in our soul, thus, renewing our mind to think only of the Lord, recover our love to love only Him, and redirect our will to pursue only Him.
“Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, / Leaning on her beloved?” (SS 8:5a). This is a question from the Holy Spirit as a third party. Here, the wilderness is physical, referring to the world in which we live. At this time, she is leaning on her beloved, indicating that she is relying on the Lord (being continually dependent on Him) and walking with the Lord. Moreover, she is walking out of the world and draws herself to the Lord closer and closer (ready to be raptured from the world unto the Lord’s appearing in His second coming in the first heaven).
Song of Songs 8:6 says, “Set me as a seal on your heart, / As a seal on your arm.” When she hears the Lord say that she is but a sinner redeemed by Christ and regenerated by God’s grace, she immediately utters this prayer. This prayer indicates that everything depends on the Lord’s love. His heart is related to love, and His arm is related to power.
Now she trusts not in herself but in the Lord’s heart and the Lord’s arm, that is, in His love and in His power. She knows that if she trusts in herself, she will eventually fall; she cannot keep herself from stumbling. Only by relying on the Lord’s love and the Lord’s power can she be kept from falling. Therefore, she commits herself to the Lord’s love and the Lord’s power.
Song of Songs 8:6 says, “Love is as strong as death, / Jealously is as cruel as Sheol.” Death is extremely strong. Only God is stronger than death; only the Lord who is resurrection cannot be held by it (Acts 2:24). The Lord’s love is as strong as death; once we are touched by the Lord’s love, nothing can shake us.
Love in the extreme produces jealousy. God is a jealous God; He desires man to love only Him (Exo. 20:5; 2 Cor. 11:2). Just as Sheol is cruel in collecting men’s souls, so also is God in removing everything that competes with Him.
Matthew 28:20 says, “I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.” This refers to His being with us inwardly. First Thessalonians 4:17 says, “We will always be with the Lord.” This refers to our being raptured to be with the Lord outwardly in the future. Similarly, the lover meets the Lord inwardly and is with Him for a long time; in Song of Songs 8, she longs to meet the Lord outwardly to be with Him forever.
[Excerpt from HWMR-Wk. 4 Day 5]
S.S. 8:5-6
Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?…Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as cruel as Sheol; its flashes are the flashes of fire, a flame of Jehovah.
–
HWMRW4D5
“𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥’𝘴 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘏𝘪𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴”
As we are working with Him, we need to maintain our fellowship with Him, always listening to Him.
HWMR – W4D5
Amen, Lord grant us to helplessly lean on You.
Listen to the audio version of this article via,
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FK3RkGL2X4
Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v56nzst-hoping-to-be-raptured-and-leaning-on-our-beloved.html
Song of Songs 8:6 footnote 1 on “seal,” Recovery Version Bible
Amen. Lord we want to be those who lean on You trusting in You to prepare us to be raptured.
What a lovely portion brother. Thank you.
This has especially helped me, as I awoke 3 days ago with a weakness in one knee, causing me to limp and lean. I have been despising this, feeling old and self conscious and have wondered at its origin as there was no incident nor injury.’
But now I am so encouraged. I can lean on my Beloved! We all have limps and weaknesses of some sort. Let us not despair saints. Let us instead thank Him for the opportunity to grow closer by altogether leaning on our precious, loving and powerful One, our intended, our Beloved, our Bridegroom.
Amen saints. Love you all.
We love you Lord Jesus!