NO PERSONALITY
Then she came out of her spiritual wilderness, which was just her will. She came out like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense and all the powders of the merchant. In the foregoing pictures, she had some kind of personality, but now as pillars she has no personality. She was dealt with by the Lord to such an extent that her personality was gone.
In our spiritual life, the problem is always with our personality. Every person has a strong personality. Dealing with things is no problem, because things have no personality. But dealing with people is always a problem because of the differences in personality. The Lord must deal with our personality because it conflicts with His. In the last four figures of the first group, however, there was no personality. The seeking one had come out of her will, and her personality had been thoroughly dealt with. There was no personality in the pillars, the couch, the palanquin, or the crown. Hallelujah!
Eight figures constitute the first group: the horses, the doves’ eyes, the lily, the dove, the pillars, the couch, the palanquin, and the crown. Between the first four figures, many things occur. The appreciation and the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus cause transformation from one figure to the next. But between the last four figures nothing seems to be taking place. The pillars, the couch, the palanquin, and the crown all seem to be alike. Once we attain to the stage of losing our personality, we will be all four of these figures at the same time.
Who then is our personality? Hallelujah! We can see this clearly in the figure of the palanquin. The palanquin itself has no personality, but within the palanquin, there is a person. This person is the personality of the palanquin. His will is the palanquin’s will. His emotion is the palanquin’s emotion. His mind is the palanquin’s mind. The palanquin itself does not have any personality, but it contains the living person of the King within it. These figures speak more to us than a number of messages on how to be spiritual. If we simply look at these pictures, we are clear. When we come out of the wilderness of our will, we become the pillars, the couch, the palanquin, and the crown. We become the Lord’s boast and glory, and He becomes our full and complete personality.
In the beginning, the seeking one’s emotion was touched by the Lord (1:2-4). Then gradually, her mind was renewed (1:15). Eventually, her will was subdued (3:6). Her whole being was transformed. She became so one with the Lord within that she became the outward expression of the Lord. This was seen in both the palanquin and the crown. The Lord was in the palanquin, and He was under the crown. Therefore, she was described as being Solomon with the crown. The two became one. This was really the highest attainment of spirituality.
THREE MAIN TURNS
But that is only the first half of the book, showing only the first half of the poetic portrayal of our spiritual experiences. At that point she still needed the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. This means that even with such a high attainment, her day had not yet broken; some shadows still existed. She was not content with what she had attained. She realized that she needed more of the Lord’s death and resurrection; she must stay there. By staying at the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense, she was transferred to the mountaintop of Lebanon, which is the mountaintop of the Lord’s ascension. This is always true whenever we experience the Lord’s death and resurrection.
To be transformed into the palanquin and the crown is a high attainment, yet the peak of the mountaintop of the Lord’s ascension is even higher. But then the Lord came to call her to the next turn. The first turn was mostly made by herself. She realized that she needed the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense, and the second turn was made by the experience of the Lord’s death and resurrection. Then the Lord came to help her make the third turn. He called her to leave her highest attainment, to leave the mountaintop of Lebanon and to go down to the valley to be a garden.
(Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, Chapter 11, by Witness Lee)
