As we enjoy and experience Christ in the divine dispensing and remain in the divine romance, we grow unto maturity of Christ’s life and are built up to be the church as the Body of Christ and His bride, and we become the Shulammite, the reproduction and duplication of Christ to match Him for our marriage. Amen!
We believers in Christ are lovers of the Lord, and we need to grow in life unto maturity to be mature in the riches of the life of Christ so that we become the building of God, the sanctuary of God and its safeguard.
For this, we need to live in the Holy of Holies, in the inner chamber of the heavenly sanctuary; we need to live within the veil, experiencing the ascension of Christ through the cross after our experience of resurrection.
This is typified by the experience of the Lord’s loving seeker in Song of Songs; she went through four main stages of experiencing Christ in the divine dispensing in the divine romance.
The first stage was her being attracted and drawn by Christ so that she would pursue Him for her full satisfaction; in this stage, she appreciates the Lord very much.
In the first stage of our experience of Christ in the divine dispensing in the divine romance, we experience growth and transformation from being a mare to having the dove’s eyes, being a lily, and being a dove.
We arrive at a certain stage of spirituality, but we may become distracted by ourselves – we become self-conscious.
We may look into ourselves and introspect, asking ourselves why don’t we enjoy the Lord, why is He not as sweet as He used to be before, and why are we not that intimate with Him.
So we need to advance to the second stage, where the Lord calls us to be delivered from ourselves through our oneness with the cross.
We need to let the cross operate in us and deliver us from our self-introspection.
We need to forget about self-introspection and just be one with Christ who is like a gazelle leaping and skipping on the hills.
The Lord calls us to get out of ourselves, not moan in ourselves, and just come be with Him in His resurrection through the cross.
As we progress in this way, the Lord comes to call us again; He calls us to live in ascension with Him to be as the new creation of God in the resurrection of Christ.
Now we enjoy the Lord and we’re delivered from ourselves.
And we need to ascend even further, for we’re called to live in ascension with Christ; at this point, we can participate in the spiritual warfare.
This is where most Christians would long to be and would also be satisfied to remain here.
But we need to go even further; we need to go on to the fourth stage. In the fourth stage, we are called to live more strongly not just in ascension but also within the veil.
We need to live within the veil in the sanctuary, living through the cross of Christ.
As we read and pray over the book of Song of Songs, we realize that on one hand, we need to advance in our personal pursuit of Christ, but on the other hand, this is not the goal.
What God desires is the building up of the church as the Body of Christ and the bride of Christ.
Arriving at the Maturity of the Life of Christ and being Built up to be the Bride of Christ
So many of the teachings in Christianity focus mainly on the personal side of our salvation, and how we need to experience this and know that in our Christian life; not many emphasize the matter of God’s building, the Body of Christ.
The whole Bible shows us that our spirituality should be not only individualistic but for God’s building.
Every brick, stone, piece of wood, and piece of stone is not to be by itself but to be built into a house or a piece of furniture.
Similarly, God doesn’t want some perfect specimen of Christians who shine on their own for all to admire; He desires to gain a building, a corporate entity.
May the Lord grant us to have the spiritual perception for us to see that spirituality is not merely for individuals but for the corporate building of God.
![For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ, Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:12-13, 15-16](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/For-the-perfecting-of-the-saints-unto-the-work-of-the-ministry-unto-the-building-up-of-the-Body-of-Christ-3-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "For the perfecting of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ, Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ, Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and [through] the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Eph. 4:12-13, 15-16")
On one hand, we need to live within the veil (Song of Songs 6:4-13); we need to experience the Lord’s ascension by living in the heavenly Holy of Holies within the veil through the cross after we have experienced His resurrection.
On the other hand, we become as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem (v. 4; 1 Kings 14:17; Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22).
As we live in the Holy of Holies within the veil, experiencing Christ’a ascension through the cross, we are transformed and built up to be the sanctuary of God and the city of God.
Our Christian experience is progressive; we advance from being someone in the world to being someone trusting in the Lord, focusing singly and simply on Him, relying on Him, being the means for His move during the day and rest at night, being a garden for Him to delight in, and becoming the heavenly New Jerusalem.
As we arrive at the maturity of the life of Christ in our experience of the divine dispensing in the divine romance, we are built up to be the bride of Christ, his counterpart.
For us to build up the Body of Christ, we need the maturity of life. We need to grow into Christ in all things, who is the Head, so that we may be built up together with the saints and function in our measure for the building up of the Body (Eph. 4:12-16).
The building up of the Body has nothing to do with our ability to manage, to arrange things, or to organize things, because the Body is not an organization but an organism.
The building up of the Body of Christ depends on growth and maturity in life; we need to arrive at the maturity of the life of Christ.
For us to build up the Body of Christ, we need to mature in the life of Christ. Building up the Body of Christ is more than just building up the church.
1 Timothy is a book on the church as the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15), and it speaks of things such as the arrangement of elders and deacons in their service.
But Ephesians doesn’t speak of elders and deacons but of members of the Body growing and functioning.
We need to grow in life unto maturity, and then we can perfect others and build up the Body of Christ.
As we arrive at the maturity of the life of Christ, we can be built up together, and we can also perfect others.
Our perfecting is according to 2 Cor. 13, in which Christ is living and growing in us (v. 5) and we’re enjoying the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity (the Father’s love, the Son’s grace, and the Spirit’s fellowship, see v. 14).
As we remain in the divine dispensing and go on with the Lord in the divine romance, we will arrive at the maturity of the life of Christ, and we will build up the Body and will be produced as the bride of Christ.
This building, for which we need maturity in life, is not an organization but something unique – it is the organic Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth.
Our personal experience of Christ is absolutely necessary in this course of pursuing Christ and being built up; however, our personal spirituality is for the Body and in the Body, for the goal is God’s building.
Yes, we need to deal with many things under the Lord’s light and allow Him to shine on the manifestation of our flesh, the natural man, and the self, but the goal is for us to be built up together in the Body.
The ultimate call is for us to live within the veil, to deal with the flesh, so that we can live in the Holy of Holies and be produced as the bride of Christ.
Lord Jesus, keep us advancing in the divine romance under the divine dispensing until we reach the maturity in the life of Christ. Grow in us, Lord, and keep us experiencing You day by day until we become mature and are built up with the saints in the Body of Christ. Amen, Lord, how much we need the maturity of life! How much we need to grow in life and reach maturity so that the Body of Christ may be built up! Grant us the experiences we need so that we would live in the Holy of Holies, in the sanctuary, and we would be built up with the saints in the Body to become the bride of Christ! Amen, Lord, may all our experiences of Christ be in the Body and for the Body. Gain the building up of the Body of Christ so that You may obtain the bride You desire and consummate the New Jerusalem for eternity!
In the Maturity of Christ’s Life we become the Shulammite, the Duplication of Christ to Match Him for our Marriage
In Song of Songs 6:13, we see that, in the maturity of the life of Christ, the lover of Christ becomes the Shulammite; she has become the reproduction and duplication of Christ to match Him for their marriage. Wow!
As we arrive at the maturity of the life of Christ, we become the duplication of Christ, the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function, to be His bride for our marriage. Hallelujah!
In Matt. 25 we see that the Bridegroom is coming, and we are going out to meet Him.
How will we meet Him? Not only as redeemed sinners but as His Shulammite, for He is our Solomon and we are His bride, the female version of Christ, the corporate Shulammite.
We are becoming the same as He is in life and in nature.
Whatever He is, through this love relationship we have with Him, is being dispensed into us, and we become His reproduction, His duplication, to match Him in every way.
At the beginning of our Christian life we were so wild, so different, so incompatible one with the other; however, as we advance in the divine romance and remain under the divine dispensing, we are being inwardly changed in life until we arrive at the maturity of Christ’s life and become His bride.
The Bible tells us repeatedly that God’s intention is to make Himself one with us and to make us one with Him, making us the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead (Rev. 21:2; 22:17).
This is the highest peak of the divine revelation in God’s word.
And day by day we are experiencing this as we open to the Lord and are under His courtship. He is courting us in life, and He is imparting Himself into us moment by moment.
As we remain under His divine dispensing and abide in the divine romance, we are becoming the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead. This is our experience.
We do not claim we become God in His Godhead, but we agree with the Bible that we are becoming like Him to match Him in every possible way for our marriage.
When we consider how to arrive at the high peak of the divine revelation – God becoming man to make man God in life and in nature – we should NOT trust in ourselves.
![Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her That He might sanctify her, cleansing [her] by the washing of the water in the word, That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish. Eph. 5:25-27 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:2 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come!... Rev. 22:17](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Husbands-love-your-wives-even-as-Christ-also-loved-the-church-and-gave-Himself-up-for-her-1-683x1024.webp?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her That He might sanctify her, cleansing [her] by the washing of the water in the word, That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish. Eph. 5:25-27 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:2 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come!... Rev. 22:17")
Rather, we need to depend on the Lord as love, power, and mercy to make us vessels of mercy, honour, and glory (Song of Songs 8:5-6).
Seeing and knowing the high peak of the divine revelation should not puff us up or cause us to be proud; rather, the more we see and pray over this high truth, the more we love the Lord and realize we can’t do it in ourselves.
The more we see that God became man to make us the same as He is in life and in nature, the more we realize that we need Him, for without Him we can’t do this or be this.
We just open to His drawing us, wooing us, and courting us; we open to His transforming work, and we depend on Him in every step.
We even ask Him to set us as a seal on His heart of love, for we can’t attain such a height.
This revelation has come to us, and we will become the same as He is in life and nature, but we can’t do it in ourselves.
He is working this out in us, and we depend on Him; we allow Him to draw us, court us, and transform us, and we come to Him moment by moment to draw all our life from Him.
We tell Him many thousands of times that we love Him, and we allow Him to cause us to advance until we reach maturity in Christ’s life and become the bride of Christ, His very duplication, for Him to be expressed through us and for us to match Him for our marriage.
Lord Jesus, we need You and we love You! Thank You for revealing to us that Your intention is to make us Your duplication, Your bride. We can’t do this in ourselves. We open to Your drawing and Your wooing us. Keep us appreciating You, enjoying You, and experiencing You. Set us as a seal on Your heart of love and as a seal on Your arm of strength. We love You, Lord Jesus. Carry out in each one of us what You want to carry out. We need your mercy and Your grace. We depend on You, dear Lord, and we draw all our life from You. Work Yourself into us. Bring us on to maturity. May we become mature in the life of Christ so that we may be Your duplication, Your reproduction. We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, to remain in the divine romance under the divine dispensing until we become Your bride to match You for our marriage! Oh Lord, Amen, do in us what is in Your heart! Prepare us as Your bride!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother James Lee in the message, and portions from, Life-study of Song of Songs, pp. 47-51 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity for the Divine Economy (2022 Thanksgiving Weekend Conference), week 2, entitled, Experiencing the Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity by Living in the Divine Romance.
- Further reading:
– English – Prophesying Outline TGC Week 2 via, Church in Chennai.
– The New Jerusalem – the Consummation of the Divine Economy according to the High peak of the Divine Revelation, article by Ron Kangas in Affirmation and Critique.
– Song of Songs—the Progressive Experience of an Individual Believer’s Loving Fellowship with Christ for the Preparation of the Bride of Christ – Bird’s-eyeview, via, Church in Kobe.
– Fighting the Spiritual Warfare through Living in Christ’s Ascension as the New Creation in Resurrection to Become Christ’s Duplication and Counterpart, outline via, The Church in Regina.
– Prayer, Week of July 29 – “Let Us Be Brought on to Maturity” – via, the Church in Los Angeles. - Hymns on this topic:
– From the garden comes the city, / All materials thus supplied; / God is satisfied completely, / And the foe is terrified. / “Thou art fair, my love, as Tirzah, / Comely as Jerusalem.” / O Lord Jesus, Hallelujah, / Thou wilt do it all! Amen! (Hymns #1161 stanzas 5-6)
– Set me, Lord Jesus, / As seal on Thine heart; / Jealousy’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 3)
– Fair as the moon, conformed to Him I’d be, / Clear as the sun, unto His stature grown; / For my Beloved, all to please His heart, / For my Beloved, that His life be shown. / Thou art my life, and I Thine image real; / Love in such union is as death most strong, / Ne’er can it be destroyed or e’er replaced / Till Thou on spices mountains come ere long. (Hymns #556 stanzas 7-8)
About aGodMan
After reaching the point where she is called to live in ascension, the seeker of Christ has reached her highest attainment. In her attainment she becomes four wonderful things as the consummation of her transformation: a garden, a sanctuary, the heavenly bodies, and a terrible army with the overcomer, the Shulammite, who is the reproduction of Christ, as the leader. Her becoming a garden is not as high or as deep as her becoming a sanctuary with a safeguard, that is, the holy city, Jerusalem. She becomes such a building, which is God’s dwelling place with a city surrounding it to be its safeguard. Tirzah eventually had a black background because at the division of the kingdom it became the capital city for the kings of Israel, the place of the king’s palace (1 Kings 14:17; 15:21, 33; 16:6, 8-9, 15, 17). But Song of Songs mentions Tirzah in a positive sense as being noted for its beauty [6:4]…Although Tirzah had a black background when the kingdom was divided, the seeker is praised for being as lovely as Tirzah, in a positive sense. Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song of Songs,” p. 333
our spirituality must be for the Body, for the building up of the Body of Christ.
We need to grow in life unto maturity as we remain in the divine romance, so that we may be built up with the saints into the church as the Body of Christ and the bride of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem.
Amen brother
I’ve just seen something amazing this morning
Ephesians 4:15-16 is the building of God as the Body of Christ reaching full stage in life the maturity in life becoming the shulammite, Gods duplication ready for his marriage.
Eph 4:15 shows how the seeking once grow together in life to maturity. In Song of Songs the seeker On the one hand the lord draws us so we rise and seek him and the other aspect is we take initiative to pursue the lord by holding to truth in love. Then After a period we become unsatisfied and therefore have a desire to pursue Him again… unto the growth in life becoming the Bride!
The word holding in Ephesians is also like pursuing …when we pursue something we hold something …. Song of Songs demonstrates to us the seeker pursues the lord at the beginning and other way round the lord draws the seeker in the beginning as she said let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth …. Then in chapter 3 of Song of Songs the seeker continues to pursue the lord … For your love is better than wine your anointing oils have a pleasant fragrance … then in chapter 3 we see the seeker pursuing the lord but the lord does not draw her … I sought him but found him not… this is where the seeker is holding to truth in love with all the members corporately holding Together pursuing the lord…. A journey of transformation by being stitched together and joined together… then in chapter 5 the lord knocks where she says I sleep but my heart is awake A sound my beloved is knocking . This is the lord drawing his shulammite. She is matured and ready for the building up of Gods building becoming the New Jerusalem.
This romantic life is a romantic journey with our beloved!
The feminine form of Solomon, derived from the root meaning peace. The use of this name here indicates that at this point she has become Solomon’s duplication, counterpart, the same as Solomon in life, nature, expression, and function, as Eve was to Adam (Gen. 2:20-23 and notes). This signifies that in the maturity of Christ’s life the lover of Christ becomes the reproduction of Christ, the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function (but not in the Godhead) to match Him for their marriage (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29).
This couple’s becoming one indicates the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem the redeeming God (signified by Solomon) and all His redeemed (signified by the Shulammite) become one — a universal couple (Rev. 21:9-10; 22:17). The New Jerusalem is a mingling of divinity and humanity to express the processed and consummated Triune God in human virtues. Song of Songs 6:13, footnote 1 on, “Shulammite”, Recovery Version Bible
praise the Lord for showing us that our spirituality is not for individuals but for the building up of the body of Christ.
May we grow in life unto maturity as we remain in the divine romance and be build up with other saints into the church as the body of Christ and the bride of Christ, consummation in the New Jerusalem.
Our spirituality, our growth in life is not for us individualistically, but unto the building up, not of the church alone, but the Body of Christ.
This is not organisational but something organic, of life.
Amen brother!
O Lord build up your body through us richly supplied by your love!
Hallelujah!
All our spirituality must be for the building of the body into the holy corporate city.
For this we need a life within the veil so that we will mature in life and have the capability to build.
We need to grow and perfect others, for our God seeks a team of builders.
Only the organic Body of Christ can become the organic New Jeruusalem.
This week it was all about:
Therefore the Bridegroom is preparing the Bride by passing through all the processes from incurrnation to ascension.
In this unique and universal couple, God in Christ is the Bridegroom and God’s redeemed people as a one organic body is the Bride.
Praise to the Lord for this deep revelation of His word.