THE WILDERNESS
By the time the seeking one comes out of the wilderness, she has lost her personality. The wilderness, according to my experience, is just our will. To come out of the wilderness is to come out of the will. The wilderness is really the willderness. As long as we are remaining in our will, we are wandering in the wilderness. We could never take a straight path to follow the Lord. Our will becomes a deception to us. Thus, when the seeking one comes out of the wilderness, she comes out of her will. She was like a horse, a lily, and a dove; but now such a strong-willed person has become the pillars.
“Who is this that comes out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke?” The answer is that this is Solomon’s couch. She no longer has a character or a will. We all know that a couch does not have a will. As long as we have a will, we can never be the resting place of Jesus. To try to rest upon anything with a strong will would be dreadful. But it is easy to rest on a bed or a couch, because it has no will. If our couch or bed had a will, it would be impossible for us to rest during the night. But now she has become a couch and a palanquin with no will. And eventually she becomes the crown.
ONE WITH CHRIST
It is quite interesting to see that when the question is asked concerning the one coming out of the wilderness, even the answer shows some improvement. First, she is the couch, then, she is a palanquin, and finally, she is Solomon with a crown. She is not simply something with Solomon, but she is Solomon with something. Who is this one? It is just Christ with a crown. She is not only the couch of Solomon, the palanquin of Solomon, but also Solomon himself with a crown. This proves that now the seeking one is really one with the Lord. She has become Christ with a crown. Only when we are one with Christ, can He boast and glory in us. Praise the Lord, someday when others ask about us, the answer will be about Christ. We will be Christ with His crown.
THE EXTERNAL STRUCTURE AND THE INTERIOR DECORATION
With the palanquin there are two aspects: the exterior structure and the interior decoration. Solomon built a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon. This is the substantial structure. Wood signifies humanity, and Lebanon signifies resurrection and ascension. The humanity of the resurrected and ascended Christ is the wood of Lebanon. Christ can make wild horses into a palanquin with His resurrected and ascended humanity. Hallelujah! A horse is something natural by birth; there is absolutely nothing of building up related to it. It is altogether natural. But the palanquin is not something of birth; it is something built up. And the substantial material used for this building is the humanity of Jesus in resurrection and ascension. The moving vessel of Christ is not of natural birth, but something built with the resurrected and ascended humanity of Christ.
We should not be shallow. We need to see something substantial, solid, real, deep, and yet so practical. How much we must repudiate our old nature and our own humanity! We must learn to take the Lord’s resurrected and ascended humanity as our basic structure, so that we may be built into the moving vessel which contains and expresses Him. Moreover, there is not only the wood of Lebanon, but also the pillars of silver and the golden bottom. Silver signifies the Lord’s redemption, and gold, God’s divine nature. The redemption of Christ is our supporting strength, and the divine nature of God is the very base of our building.
We need to take all of these things in prayer to the Lord that He may bring us into the reality. We must be such a builded structure, not with our natural strength, but with the humanity of Christ, the redemption of Jesus, and the divinity of God.
Solomon made the palanquin himself. It is not that we make it. No one can make such a palanquin except Christ Himself. Throughout the years, the Lord has been working on us with the intention to make a palanquin for Himself. He does not use anything of our natural make-up, but He uses His humanity, His redemption, and the divinity of God.
What is our responsibility? Our responsibility is simply to offer our love to Him. The interior decoration of the palanquin was fitted with love from the daughters of Jerusalem. We must offer our love to the Lord. He does not want anything from us other than our love. “Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me more than these?” (John 21:15). He is always seeking our love, and only our love affords something for the interior decoration of the palanquin. The Lord Jesus made it, but it is decorated with our love. The basic structure is of wood, silver, and gold, but our love is the only thing with which the interior is decorated. The more we love Him, the more we will lose our character and personality. The more we love Him, the more we will lose our will, but the interior of the palanquin will be fully decorated.
(Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
