THE EXPECTATION OF TRANSFIGURATION
Chapter eight of the Song of Songs reveals this final stage of our Christian experience. The seeking one expresses it in this way: “O that thou wert as my brother” (8:1). This means that she expects the Lord to become the same as she is. Of course some may argue that the New Testament says that we will be the same as the Lord. But to say that one day we will be like Jesus is not so deep as to say that one day Jesus will be like us. But whether we are like Him or He is like us, we will be the same. The Lord Jesus will be the same as we are! But, of course, He will not be the same as we are today. He will be the same as we shall be when we are fully transfigured.
Some day we will be able to tell all the world to look at us and to look at Jesus. He has the human nature, and we do too. He has the divine nature, and we do too. He is so glorious, and we are so shining. We have His nature, and He has ours. We are like Him, and He is like us. “O that thou wert as my brother.” This is a poetic expression of the expectation of the seeking one to be transfigured. One day she will be transfigured to His likeness, and He will be the same as she is. He will be her real brother, with the same nature, with the same life, and from the same source.
OUTSIDE OF THE BODY
Then she says something that is very meaningful: “When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised” (8:1). “To find thee without” means outside of this body. Now we are still under the bondage of the old creation. According to Romans 8:21-23, the whole creation is groaning under bondage. Even those who have the Spirit as a foretaste are groaning for the release of this body. How we long to find the Lord without. Even while we are fellowshipping with the Lord in our spirit, we are still in this troublesome flesh. We may say that we are sitting in the heavenlies, but we are still in the flesh. How much we long to be without! Today we are meeting the Lord in the flesh, but we expect one day to meet Him outside of the flesh. Then, we will kiss Him.
To find the Lord without is the expectation of such a mature one in the Lord as the seeking one has now become. We can be assured that when we are as mature as she is in chapter eight, we will have no other expectation. The only expectation we will have is that we and the Lord will be exactly the same. Then, no one can despise us because of this body.
In our old nature, in our flesh, in this body, there is a real shortage. In my whole Christian life, I have never seen anyone who had no shortage for others to despise. “O that thou wert as my brother…When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.” All the factors which cause others to despise us will be swallowed up by our transfiguration. Today, in our flesh, there is a shortage in our natural make-up, no matter who we are. But one day this lack will be swallowed up. The transfiguration of life in our body will take care of all our shortage. Hallelujah!
(Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, Chapter 14, by Witness Lee)
