THE SONG OF SOLOMON V
THE SONG OF SOLOMON V
Life within the Veil of the Most Holy Place
“Terrible as an Army with Banners”
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
November 20, 2007
We have followed the development of the Bride from the Outer Court, through the Pentecostal Realm and into the Most Holy Place. Beginning with Song 4:16, we have her response to the King’s call for her to, “Come up Higher”. Verse sixteen is her response to that “call”.
Song 4:16: “Awake O North Wind; and come, you south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits.” (She is speaking)
The Shulamite responds to his words of love and commitment. She accepts her calling and asks Him to release the flow of the garden within. There is a blow and a flow…no blow, no flow! Here we see the release of the Kingdom as revealed in 4:12-15. She invites Him in His manifest presence. The North and South winds represent those negative and positive circumstances brought by the Spirit (appointed by the King) to develop the fragrance of the garden and cause this new life to flow out to the world. It is the commitment made by Paul in Philippians 1:20: “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”
“Thousands of years have passed since the first garden, but it has been the plan of God to establish this second since the former was defiled. The book of Hebrews tells us plainly His plan is focused on His son. “He takes away the first that he may establish the second.” The first garden was defiled and was abandoned; the second garden will have none of this defilement. In one sentence whole epics are displayed when the Bride issues the invitation, “Let my beloved come into his garden and eat.” If we are the Bride; let me repeat it; IF WE ARE THE BRIDE; dwelling in our hearts is the garden, individually… This is the garden of the heart.” (C. R. Oliver,
Solomon’s Secret)
5:1: “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.” (He is speaking to her.)
“This is his reply to her. From our heart comes the intercession and prayers before the Lord which are ministered further by our Great High Priest. The only work garnered from our worldly trek (which will be in heaven when we arrive) will be our prayers and that part of our life which reveals the Christ. It is the prayers of the saints, preserved in vials, which will be opened to perfume God’s temple. Our High Priest, who is on a first name basis with us, has gleaned from His garden the ingredients He will mix with His intercession for us. Intercession by Jesus will be a mixture of our heartrending prayer and Spirit groanings and utterances…
She (the Bride) who kissed the Rock had honey and milk on her lips, shares His triumph through association…When the disciples sat with the resurrected Jesus in Luke 24:42, and literally ate their last meal with Him, he ate the honeycomb (a fulfillment of Song 5:1). He instructed them:
‘And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before them, and said unto them, THESE ARE THE WORDS which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures…”
Isaiah 7 says, “He will eat honey.” Psalms 10:19 declares the Law, the testimony, the statutes, the commandments, the fear, and the judgments of the Lord are more to be desired than honey and the honeycomb. (Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 55:1)
The Bride now sleeps and rests in the Most Holy Place. A voice is calling her name.
5:2: I sleep, but my heart wakes: It is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, open to me , my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” (Both are speaking)
The four terms of endearment reveal His world-wide vision to harvest the nations! This is His call to the fullness of the suffering of His Cross. We must awake. However, the Bride begins to make excuses.
5:3-6 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: My soul failed when he spoke: I sought Him, but I could not find; I called him, but he gave no answer.
He disturbed her spiritual ease (Amos 6:1). She feels that she has cleansed her walk and that there is nothing else to be dealt with. After all, she had entered the Most Holy Place! “Is it not enough,” she reasoned, “that my life has been dedicated to Him, and that I have been cleansed inwardly? I have dealt with the little foxes!” But He is calling her to walk forth in that Holiness sharing His Dominion. (Phil 2: 1-11). She drew back. Note the two-fold danger: (1) removing the garment and vision. (2) Fear of getting involved or contaminating your Holiness or Revelation. (Phil. 3:10). The door to the outside world, the night, the sinners, the old order, and the problems of others, is shut and bolted. She was shut in with the Lord, and did not plan on every coming out again. We cannot stay on top of the mountain. (Mt. 17)
The Shulamite opens the door to late. “My soul failed when he spoke”. She had failed to go with Him and fellowship His sufferings? Had she failed to watch with Him on this night? She remembered now His call to the mountain of myrrh. When morning came, she had intended to go with Him, but she had gone to sleep. After removing the bolt, she flung open the door. But the King was Gone! He was Gone!
This verse shows the kind of dealing in the Most Holy Place for the Overcomer. She could not find Him, nor would he answer! (Matt. 15: 22-23) Immediately she begins to drink the cup of loneliness and rejection. We see the danger of hesitation and delay in the seasons when He calls. (Eccl. 3:1-8) She had not been ready for His coming, but He leaves his anointing to help her through this time of testing and trial. Here He is the Silent Lord. (Psa. 84: 5-7)
The door stood open wide. Her eyes searched the darkness outside, but no familiar form was there. She stumbles down the darkened street. She calls, but there is no answer. Soon, angry shouts respond to her cries. She is upsetting the “good people” of the city. Then the watchmen of the city come to investigate. They recognize her. What are you doing in the street? People are asleep, and you are disturbing them. It is our job to see to it that nothing bothers them. You are breaking our rules! Do you want this to become another Azusa Street? For the sake of our system and our organized “houses of women,” we must stop you! You have no right to wear a veil. Give it to us! We are going to expose you!” Then the watchmen began to persecute the Bride.
5:7: The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, and they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.” (She is speaking)
This verse portrays the suffering and abuse that the godly must receive at the hands of the Babylonian systems of religion. The watchmen are ministers and leaders of the people. The City is the Church. The Keepers of the wall are those who guard the religious systems. The walls are the systems which are prisons to those who are enslaved by them. The veil is her credentials. This kind of pain and humiliation was even worse than the anger of her mother’s house. (1:6) the harlot system abused her. Then these high ecclesiastical authorities took away her “minister’s license” and excommunicated her. The Father permitted this to happen to Jesus. Also, we can compare David and Job.
I would describe this Dark Night of the Soul as feeling completely abandoned by all earthly love. Knowing that all is well with Heaven, but not understanding why everyone you knew and love abandoned you.
These watchmen want to beat her back from her position in Christ, pressing her to admit the thought that God has laid upon her more than is right. But their persecution was what God used to remove her veil! It is because of the anointing (myrrh) on her hands! They laid bare her anguish to all- compare the three strippings of Joseph: (1) by his jealous half-brothers; (2) by Potiphar’s wife; and (3) by himself at the direction of the Lord, when he shaved his face.
The watchmen drag the Bride’s body outside the gates of the city and leave her to die beside the road that leads to Jericho. They depart and leave her for dead. She struggles to her feet, and goes back in to the city. Soon she meets some of the Daughters of Jerusalem. She stares at her friends. She says to them”
5:8”I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem if you find my beloved, that you tell him, that I am sick of love.” (She is speaking)
5:9: “What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved that you do so charge us?” (The Daughters of Jerusalem are speaking)
This verse shows why the Shulamite is the chosen one of 6: 8-9. That the daughters should even ask such a question reveals their ignorance, immaturity or selfishness, and lack of perception. The Spirit of Antichrist refuses to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. It must invent an alternative – “another beloved”. This is humanism. (11 Thess.2) We are to have no other Gods before His face. This utter devotion to Him is the basis of her authority in Him. For the first time in the Song, the Daughters recognize her to be the Bride. Their minds have been blinded. Ruth will minister to Naomi. The Shulamite begins to minister to the daughters. They are still in the realm of duality and unbelief. But to her, he has no rival.
The Bride begins to describe her husband:
5:10-16“My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the finest gold; his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Behold the Man (Christ Jesus)
Head – His Wisdom (5:11)
Locks – His Vigor (5:11)
Eyes – His insight (5:12)
Cheeks – His flexibility (5:13)
Lips – His worship (5:13)
Hands – His Service (5:14)
Belly – His Motives (5:14)
Legs – His stability (5:15)
Countenance – His vision (5:15)
Mouth – His Ministry (5:16)
He is the radiant and shimmering One. The white is descriptive of His spotlessness and purity. The Daughters have more than one lover or love. The Shulamite has but One. The King is her Glorious Head!
The Gold is a symbol for the divine nature. On His head are many crowns. The Priestly crown and the Victor’s crown! This is power to rule, power to dispense judgment and justice and power to overcome. He head speaks of his purposes refined. The locks are a token of his headship. (1 Cor. 11: 1-15) He is a constant fountain of energy and virtue. Jesus is the lamb with seven eyes (fullness of understanding), which are the seven spirits of God which are sent forth into all the earth. His Holy Ghost-anointed vision sees all things, and yet His eye is single ever glistening with love. The Bride is a company of sons who will wear the coat of Joseph, for the man whose name is the Branch is a full brother. We must arise today with the single eye of Matthew 6: 22-24; only then will we become men and women of perception and understanding.
His was a ministry without prejudice. From his heart flowed the kindest words that men have ever heard. (Jn. 8: 11-12). So the Shulamite had learned that a soft answer turns away wrath. She has come out of the old order and all its rigid legalism. Now she can minister to all men and do it with joy. Like Jesus, we do not need to turn the other cheek, for there is no spirit of revenge or retaliation in us. She has learned how to pray and praise in the Spirit and has built herself up in the power of the Holy Ghost. We are not to be touchy, especially about what we believe, for we know in whom we have believed! We are able to help all men, whether they be unsaved and without the camp, or just newly born within the confines of the Outer Court. We have exchanged our stony hearts for hearts of flesh that the Father can shape at His pleasure.
Song 6:1: Where has your Beloved gone, O you fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him with thee?” (The Daughters of Jerusalem are speaking to her.)
The Shulamite then remembers. He said that he was going down into His garden. He must be in His garden! I now know where His garden is! I am His Garden! He is within me! I am His garden and My Beloved lives within!
6:2-3: – My beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and My beloved is mine. He feeds among the lilies. (She is speaking to them)
Here is the revelation of the indwelling Christ and the union and communion of the Most Holy Place. The Shulamite had learned to love the giver more than the gifts. She had discovered the reality of her Faith in His Word. (11 Cor. 5:7) The Covenant has never been broken, for he changes not. The time of feverish seeking is over! The Bride now is quietly resting on His Word and on His changeless Love, a sinking down upon His heart in full assurance of Faith, while trusting Him by the Spirit to apply the power of the Blood which is sprinkled on the mercy-seat, and to bring the whole being into the stillness of peace again. With a voice of a trumpet she shouts aloud:
6:3 I am my Beloved, and My Beloved is Mine: He feeds among the Lilies.” (She is speaking to them.)
The Daughters had to be in awe. No one had ever spoken such things. But Someone else had heard the proclamation. A strong arm encircled her trembling waist, and a resonant, royal voice whispered in her ear:
6:4: You are beautiful, o My love, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Terrible as an Army with Banners.” (He is speaking to her.)
Here we see the Shulamite in her beauty and power. The dunamis (power) of God is inherent with His nature (His love). (Gal. 5:6) She is now ready to demolish the enemy. This introduces the section which describes her head. She has grown up into Him! His nature has been reproduced in her. Tirzah was the royal or capital city of the northern Kingdom of Israel from Jeroboam I to Omri. It was noted for its beauty and proportion. She is likened to the City. Jerusalem was the royal city of the Davidic Kings and speaks of unity in government and worship. She is a Bride wearing combat boots! Study the Army of God in Eze. 37:10. Consider the army of Abraham, David, Ezekiel, Joel and Jesus. Over her flies his flag of Love. Compare also the thought of Israel’s hosts as they appear in Numbers 2. She has been made an overcomer. She is awesome – a mixture of reverence, fear, and wonder. She is flying the banners of truth and is boldly proclaiming it in the face of man and the devil. There is the intimation of three places in this verse: Tirzah, Jerusalem and Zion. Tirzah was a city set on a hill and surrounded by olive groves. Her members are walking in orderly rank. The church’s influence upon this planet is in proportion to her union with him! This whole section (6: 4-13) is life within the veil! She is in union with His character from which flows His Power. The unfurled banners here denote glorious victory.
The Shulamite has passed through deep waters in fellowship with her King; and in consequent brokenness. Her spirit has been freed from much that kept her from the full knowledge of her life in Him. Now He will teach her how to dwell with Him in the father’s bosom, and will open to her the life within the veil.
6:5-9: Turn away your eyes from me, for you have overcome me: Your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Your teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them. As a piece of Pomegranate are your temples within your locks. My dove, my undefiled is but one; (He is speaking to Her) she is not the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines and virgins without number (He is speaking to them)
This verse shows that the Shulamite has power with God. The repetition in the verses 5-7 tells us that the many experiences which come to us in the process of moving to higher levels of maturity should be kept and not discarded. In her access to the throne of God, she now stands in the place of power! This maturity of faith can walk blindfold without sight, not seeking to pry into His dealings—within or without. The soul that truly knows God can wait until He pleases to reveal His purposes. She had come to the end of herself. It was at this precise point that He had reappeared, never to leave her alone again.
Verse 8 shows there are various positions of rank or governmental order within the Kingdom of God. The queens are the proud and stately; the concubines only want the benefits; and the virgins are the innocent and young. These others were not willing to pay the price. The determining factor is the quality of the seed (Word of God.) She is but one – His choice One. These 70 queens refused to enter into His rest. So all these are related to the King indifferent ways. There are many in the King’s court, but above all these stood His little goat-keeper who became His Bride, His Chosen. He has chosen her to bear His seed. So he says:
My dove my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.”(He is speaking to them)
This verse reveals that there is a high calling. This is the freewoman who will bear a man-child. Thus we see her here in a state of exaltation, promotion, and Glory. She wasn’t the only child of her mother, but she was the chosen child of her mother. John saw different companies in connection with the throne (Rev. 19:5) This one has been begotten my Grace, but few allow that Grace to work to its full end and complete accomplishment That she is blessed and praised shows that she is recognized by those believers who are not fully mature or not fully devoted to the Lord.
The King makes a declaration of His Bride to the multitude.
6:10: “Who is she that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners?” (He is speaking to them)
The Shulamite has conformed to the image of her Beloved. She has leaned through the latticed windows of 2:9 (the Veil) and has looked forth to the fullness of the Lord within her. She is the dawning of a New Day (the Third Day from Jesus and the Seventh day from Adam). She has ruled during the night seasons in the midst of her enemies. The triumphant Bride is the Army of the Lord. She radiates His Life, Light and Love.
Silence falls over the crowd. This is the Glorious Church in all her glory united as one with the Lord Jesus Christ. the King has purposed from the beginning to be glorified in her. Then the coming of the King fills the sky and then the earth with His glory. He has come to dwell in her heart by faith that she might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now the King leads His Bride forth. She has lost her own identity and merged with His.
Next week, we will reveal the man-child from this Union and the Bride on the Throne.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from King James Bible; quotes from Solomon’s Secret by C. R. Oliver and teaching text from Principles of Present Truth by K.V.
Life within the Veil of the Most Holy Place
“Terrible as an Army with Banners”
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
November 20, 2007
We have followed the development of the Bride from the Outer Court, through the Pentecostal Realm and into the Most Holy Place. Beginning with Song 4:16, we have her response to the King’s call for her to, “Come up Higher”. Verse sixteen is her response to that “call”.
Song 4:16: “Awake O North Wind; and come, you south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits.” (She is speaking)
The Shulamite responds to his words of love and commitment. She accepts her calling and asks Him to release the flow of the garden within. There is a blow and a flow…no blow, no flow! Here we see the release of the Kingdom as revealed in 4:12-15. She invites Him in His manifest presence. The North and South winds represent those negative and positive circumstances brought by the Spirit (appointed by the King) to develop the fragrance of the garden and cause this new life to flow out to the world. It is the commitment made by Paul in Philippians 1:20: “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”
“Thousands of years have passed since the first garden, but it has been the plan of God to establish this second since the former was defiled. The book of Hebrews tells us plainly His plan is focused on His son. “He takes away the first that he may establish the second.” The first garden was defiled and was abandoned; the second garden will have none of this defilement. In one sentence whole epics are displayed when the Bride issues the invitation, “Let my beloved come into his garden and eat.” If we are the Bride; let me repeat it; IF WE ARE THE BRIDE; dwelling in our hearts is the garden, individually… This is the garden of the heart.” (C. R. Oliver,
Solomon’s Secret)
5:1: “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.” (He is speaking to her.)
“This is his reply to her. From our heart comes the intercession and prayers before the Lord which are ministered further by our Great High Priest. The only work garnered from our worldly trek (which will be in heaven when we arrive) will be our prayers and that part of our life which reveals the Christ. It is the prayers of the saints, preserved in vials, which will be opened to perfume God’s temple. Our High Priest, who is on a first name basis with us, has gleaned from His garden the ingredients He will mix with His intercession for us. Intercession by Jesus will be a mixture of our heartrending prayer and Spirit groanings and utterances…
She (the Bride) who kissed the Rock had honey and milk on her lips, shares His triumph through association…When the disciples sat with the resurrected Jesus in Luke 24:42, and literally ate their last meal with Him, he ate the honeycomb (a fulfillment of Song 5:1). He instructed them:
‘And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb, and he took it and did eat before them, and said unto them, THESE ARE THE WORDS which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures…”
Isaiah 7 says, “He will eat honey.” Psalms 10:19 declares the Law, the testimony, the statutes, the commandments, the fear, and the judgments of the Lord are more to be desired than honey and the honeycomb. (Genesis 49:10; Isaiah 55:1)
The Bride now sleeps and rests in the Most Holy Place. A voice is calling her name.
5:2: I sleep, but my heart wakes: It is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, open to me , my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” (Both are speaking)
The four terms of endearment reveal His world-wide vision to harvest the nations! This is His call to the fullness of the suffering of His Cross. We must awake. However, the Bride begins to make excuses.
5:3-6 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: My soul failed when he spoke: I sought Him, but I could not find; I called him, but he gave no answer.
He disturbed her spiritual ease (Amos 6:1). She feels that she has cleansed her walk and that there is nothing else to be dealt with. After all, she had entered the Most Holy Place! “Is it not enough,” she reasoned, “that my life has been dedicated to Him, and that I have been cleansed inwardly? I have dealt with the little foxes!” But He is calling her to walk forth in that Holiness sharing His Dominion. (Phil 2: 1-11). She drew back. Note the two-fold danger: (1) removing the garment and vision. (2) Fear of getting involved or contaminating your Holiness or Revelation. (Phil. 3:10). The door to the outside world, the night, the sinners, the old order, and the problems of others, is shut and bolted. She was shut in with the Lord, and did not plan on every coming out again. We cannot stay on top of the mountain. (Mt. 17)
The Shulamite opens the door to late. “My soul failed when he spoke”. She had failed to go with Him and fellowship His sufferings? Had she failed to watch with Him on this night? She remembered now His call to the mountain of myrrh. When morning came, she had intended to go with Him, but she had gone to sleep. After removing the bolt, she flung open the door. But the King was Gone! He was Gone!
This verse shows the kind of dealing in the Most Holy Place for the Overcomer. She could not find Him, nor would he answer! (Matt. 15: 22-23) Immediately she begins to drink the cup of loneliness and rejection. We see the danger of hesitation and delay in the seasons when He calls. (Eccl. 3:1-8) She had not been ready for His coming, but He leaves his anointing to help her through this time of testing and trial. Here He is the Silent Lord. (Psa. 84: 5-7)
The door stood open wide. Her eyes searched the darkness outside, but no familiar form was there. She stumbles down the darkened street. She calls, but there is no answer. Soon, angry shouts respond to her cries. She is upsetting the “good people” of the city. Then the watchmen of the city come to investigate. They recognize her. What are you doing in the street? People are asleep, and you are disturbing them. It is our job to see to it that nothing bothers them. You are breaking our rules! Do you want this to become another Azusa Street? For the sake of our system and our organized “houses of women,” we must stop you! You have no right to wear a veil. Give it to us! We are going to expose you!” Then the watchmen began to persecute the Bride.
5:7: The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, and they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.” (She is speaking)
This verse portrays the suffering and abuse that the godly must receive at the hands of the Babylonian systems of religion. The watchmen are ministers and leaders of the people. The City is the Church. The Keepers of the wall are those who guard the religious systems. The walls are the systems which are prisons to those who are enslaved by them. The veil is her credentials. This kind of pain and humiliation was even worse than the anger of her mother’s house. (1:6) the harlot system abused her. Then these high ecclesiastical authorities took away her “minister’s license” and excommunicated her. The Father permitted this to happen to Jesus. Also, we can compare David and Job.
I would describe this Dark Night of the Soul as feeling completely abandoned by all earthly love. Knowing that all is well with Heaven, but not understanding why everyone you knew and love abandoned you.
These watchmen want to beat her back from her position in Christ, pressing her to admit the thought that God has laid upon her more than is right. But their persecution was what God used to remove her veil! It is because of the anointing (myrrh) on her hands! They laid bare her anguish to all- compare the three strippings of Joseph: (1) by his jealous half-brothers; (2) by Potiphar’s wife; and (3) by himself at the direction of the Lord, when he shaved his face.
The watchmen drag the Bride’s body outside the gates of the city and leave her to die beside the road that leads to Jericho. They depart and leave her for dead. She struggles to her feet, and goes back in to the city. Soon she meets some of the Daughters of Jerusalem. She stares at her friends. She says to them”
5:8”I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem if you find my beloved, that you tell him, that I am sick of love.” (She is speaking)
5:9: “What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved that you do so charge us?” (The Daughters of Jerusalem are speaking)
This verse shows why the Shulamite is the chosen one of 6: 8-9. That the daughters should even ask such a question reveals their ignorance, immaturity or selfishness, and lack of perception. The Spirit of Antichrist refuses to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. It must invent an alternative – “another beloved”. This is humanism. (11 Thess.2) We are to have no other Gods before His face. This utter devotion to Him is the basis of her authority in Him. For the first time in the Song, the Daughters recognize her to be the Bride. Their minds have been blinded. Ruth will minister to Naomi. The Shulamite begins to minister to the daughters. They are still in the realm of duality and unbelief. But to her, he has no rival.
The Bride begins to describe her husband:
5:10-16“My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the finest gold; his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold; his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.
Behold the Man (Christ Jesus)
Head – His Wisdom (5:11)
Locks – His Vigor (5:11)
Eyes – His insight (5:12)
Cheeks – His flexibility (5:13)
Lips – His worship (5:13)
Hands – His Service (5:14)
Belly – His Motives (5:14)
Legs – His stability (5:15)
Countenance – His vision (5:15)
Mouth – His Ministry (5:16)
He is the radiant and shimmering One. The white is descriptive of His spotlessness and purity. The Daughters have more than one lover or love. The Shulamite has but One. The King is her Glorious Head!
The Gold is a symbol for the divine nature. On His head are many crowns. The Priestly crown and the Victor’s crown! This is power to rule, power to dispense judgment and justice and power to overcome. He head speaks of his purposes refined. The locks are a token of his headship. (1 Cor. 11: 1-15) He is a constant fountain of energy and virtue. Jesus is the lamb with seven eyes (fullness of understanding), which are the seven spirits of God which are sent forth into all the earth. His Holy Ghost-anointed vision sees all things, and yet His eye is single ever glistening with love. The Bride is a company of sons who will wear the coat of Joseph, for the man whose name is the Branch is a full brother. We must arise today with the single eye of Matthew 6: 22-24; only then will we become men and women of perception and understanding.
His was a ministry without prejudice. From his heart flowed the kindest words that men have ever heard. (Jn. 8: 11-12). So the Shulamite had learned that a soft answer turns away wrath. She has come out of the old order and all its rigid legalism. Now she can minister to all men and do it with joy. Like Jesus, we do not need to turn the other cheek, for there is no spirit of revenge or retaliation in us. She has learned how to pray and praise in the Spirit and has built herself up in the power of the Holy Ghost. We are not to be touchy, especially about what we believe, for we know in whom we have believed! We are able to help all men, whether they be unsaved and without the camp, or just newly born within the confines of the Outer Court. We have exchanged our stony hearts for hearts of flesh that the Father can shape at His pleasure.
Song 6:1: Where has your Beloved gone, O you fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside? That we may seek him with thee?” (The Daughters of Jerusalem are speaking to her.)
The Shulamite then remembers. He said that he was going down into His garden. He must be in His garden! I now know where His garden is! I am His Garden! He is within me! I am His garden and My Beloved lives within!
6:2-3: – My beloved is gone down into his garden to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and My beloved is mine. He feeds among the lilies. (She is speaking to them)
Here is the revelation of the indwelling Christ and the union and communion of the Most Holy Place. The Shulamite had learned to love the giver more than the gifts. She had discovered the reality of her Faith in His Word. (11 Cor. 5:7) The Covenant has never been broken, for he changes not. The time of feverish seeking is over! The Bride now is quietly resting on His Word and on His changeless Love, a sinking down upon His heart in full assurance of Faith, while trusting Him by the Spirit to apply the power of the Blood which is sprinkled on the mercy-seat, and to bring the whole being into the stillness of peace again. With a voice of a trumpet she shouts aloud:
6:3 I am my Beloved, and My Beloved is Mine: He feeds among the Lilies.” (She is speaking to them.)
The Daughters had to be in awe. No one had ever spoken such things. But Someone else had heard the proclamation. A strong arm encircled her trembling waist, and a resonant, royal voice whispered in her ear:
6:4: You are beautiful, o My love, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Terrible as an Army with Banners.” (He is speaking to her.)
Here we see the Shulamite in her beauty and power. The dunamis (power) of God is inherent with His nature (His love). (Gal. 5:6) She is now ready to demolish the enemy. This introduces the section which describes her head. She has grown up into Him! His nature has been reproduced in her. Tirzah was the royal or capital city of the northern Kingdom of Israel from Jeroboam I to Omri. It was noted for its beauty and proportion. She is likened to the City. Jerusalem was the royal city of the Davidic Kings and speaks of unity in government and worship. She is a Bride wearing combat boots! Study the Army of God in Eze. 37:10. Consider the army of Abraham, David, Ezekiel, Joel and Jesus. Over her flies his flag of Love. Compare also the thought of Israel’s hosts as they appear in Numbers 2. She has been made an overcomer. She is awesome – a mixture of reverence, fear, and wonder. She is flying the banners of truth and is boldly proclaiming it in the face of man and the devil. There is the intimation of three places in this verse: Tirzah, Jerusalem and Zion. Tirzah was a city set on a hill and surrounded by olive groves. Her members are walking in orderly rank. The church’s influence upon this planet is in proportion to her union with him! This whole section (6: 4-13) is life within the veil! She is in union with His character from which flows His Power. The unfurled banners here denote glorious victory.
The Shulamite has passed through deep waters in fellowship with her King; and in consequent brokenness. Her spirit has been freed from much that kept her from the full knowledge of her life in Him. Now He will teach her how to dwell with Him in the father’s bosom, and will open to her the life within the veil.
6:5-9: Turn away your eyes from me, for you have overcome me: Your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead. Your teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them. As a piece of Pomegranate are your temples within your locks. My dove, my undefiled is but one; (He is speaking to Her) she is not the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines and virgins without number (He is speaking to them)
This verse shows that the Shulamite has power with God. The repetition in the verses 5-7 tells us that the many experiences which come to us in the process of moving to higher levels of maturity should be kept and not discarded. In her access to the throne of God, she now stands in the place of power! This maturity of faith can walk blindfold without sight, not seeking to pry into His dealings—within or without. The soul that truly knows God can wait until He pleases to reveal His purposes. She had come to the end of herself. It was at this precise point that He had reappeared, never to leave her alone again.
Verse 8 shows there are various positions of rank or governmental order within the Kingdom of God. The queens are the proud and stately; the concubines only want the benefits; and the virgins are the innocent and young. These others were not willing to pay the price. The determining factor is the quality of the seed (Word of God.) She is but one – His choice One. These 70 queens refused to enter into His rest. So all these are related to the King indifferent ways. There are many in the King’s court, but above all these stood His little goat-keeper who became His Bride, His Chosen. He has chosen her to bear His seed. So he says:
My dove my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.”(He is speaking to them)
This verse reveals that there is a high calling. This is the freewoman who will bear a man-child. Thus we see her here in a state of exaltation, promotion, and Glory. She wasn’t the only child of her mother, but she was the chosen child of her mother. John saw different companies in connection with the throne (Rev. 19:5) This one has been begotten my Grace, but few allow that Grace to work to its full end and complete accomplishment That she is blessed and praised shows that she is recognized by those believers who are not fully mature or not fully devoted to the Lord.
The King makes a declaration of His Bride to the multitude.
6:10: “Who is she that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners?” (He is speaking to them)
The Shulamite has conformed to the image of her Beloved. She has leaned through the latticed windows of 2:9 (the Veil) and has looked forth to the fullness of the Lord within her. She is the dawning of a New Day (the Third Day from Jesus and the Seventh day from Adam). She has ruled during the night seasons in the midst of her enemies. The triumphant Bride is the Army of the Lord. She radiates His Life, Light and Love.
Silence falls over the crowd. This is the Glorious Church in all her glory united as one with the Lord Jesus Christ. the King has purposed from the beginning to be glorified in her. Then the coming of the King fills the sky and then the earth with His glory. He has come to dwell in her heart by faith that she might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now the King leads His Bride forth. She has lost her own identity and merged with His.
Next week, we will reveal the man-child from this Union and the Bride on the Throne.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from King James Bible; quotes from Solomon’s Secret by C. R. Oliver and teaching text from Principles of Present Truth by K.V.