|
Arise And Come With Me
Part 1
A meditation on Song of Solomon 2:8-14
The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes
leaping upon the mountains Skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a
gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he stands behind our wall; he is looking
through the windows, Gazing through the lattice. My beloved spoke, and said to
me: "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing
has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree
puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good
smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!
"O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the
secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for
your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely." Song 2:8-14 (NKJ)
The Lord has been speaking
a prophetic Word to the Church from this passage in Song of Solomon. It is a NOW
Word for the times we are living in. As we listen with our spiritual ears, we
shall hear God speak to us.
"Behold He comes!"
The Lord comes into our lives at
different seasons and in different manifestations. The Body of Christ has met
Him as Savior, Baptizer, Deliverer, and Sanctifier…each time He comes into our
lives, we have a revelation of Him, a manifestation of a particular attribute or
ministry in our own personal circumstances. Now He is coming to the Church in
the manner described in this passage: leaping and skipping upon the Mountains
and the Hills. Therefore, there is coming a revelation of Jesus that compares to
the attributes of a gazelle.
Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.
The skipping and leaping portraits Him as:
- The Almighty.
We know in our understanding that He is
Almighty, but we are going to see it in our own experience, in our cities
and in the history of our days. Is there anything too hard for Him? “What
are the Mountains to Him? He can do the impossible.” Therefore, He comes
with Power and Unlimited authority. He is Lord! No
obstacles can limit His movements. He is the Lord over Mountains and
hills. He is above all kingdoms, all hindrances, insurmountable obstacles,
barriers, and impossibilities. He SKIPS over them! He
also causes them to skip out of the way.
Ps 29:4-6 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of
majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, yes; the LORD splinters the
cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like
a young wild ox.
- The Resurrected and
Ascended One. He is the Victor and the Overcomer, who sits far above the
highest places of the earth. He rose above principalities, powers and
dominions: these are the Mountains and the Hills. This is the Jesus that lives
in us, who now wants to bring us to the place where we experience in our own
life what it means to be “seated with Him in Heavenly places”.
Positionally we are there, but now He wants to bring us to the place
whereby our position becomes our experience.
- The Passionate lover of our soul. The word “leap” is a mating
term. He is ready for love. To us it is an invitation to deep spiritual
love relationship. He is pursuing His Bride and His love is so passionate that
no boundary can stand in its way. He is a jealous God, who will not
allow anything to stand in the way of His love. He is determined to have His
Bride, a Bride that loves Him and return the passion that He has for her.
The love of the Bridegroom has no
limitations, except “the wall” behind which we have put ourselves. Why does He
stand behind that wall looking through
the window and gazing through the lattice? Why doesn’t He
leap over it? Because He will not force Himself on us. The choice to
come out and be intimate with Him is yours and mine.
Genesis 24 narrates the story about Abraham who wanted a Bride for his son
Isaac. He tells his servant Eliezer (the Holy Spirit) to go among his family to
find her. Eliezer knew what He was looking for and he found Rebecca who
fitted the requirement that he wanted. Although she was the right one, she
still had to be willing to follow him through the journey that led her to Isaac,
the bridegroom. (Gen.24: 58).
My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag
Why is His coming compared to the way of a gazelle or a
young stag? What can we learn from this animal?
- Gazelles are
fugitive animals never meant to be tamed, they can’t be a slave of
anything or anybody, they are free from bondages of any kind, whether of
fear, poverty, timidity, or shame…they roam free!
- They follow the
inner law (instinct). This speaks to us about walking in
the freedom of the Spirit. He comes in demonstration of UNBOUNDED FREEDOM
and with an invitation for us to escape the self-life and WALK IN THE SPIRIT.
Rom 8:1-6 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do
not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Notice
that condemnation comes to those who walk in the flesh, not to those who walk in
the Spirit)
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through
the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on
account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of
the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but
according to the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their
minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to
be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The Spirit flowing through His people walking with Him, will fulfill the
requirements of the law.
I see in the Word, that the particular wall
that keeps us from the Lord and keeps the Lord from us (note: it’s
called OUR wall – it keeps us from Him and He from us) it is the
Religious Spirit or the legalism of the law (walking in the flesh versus
walking in the Spirit). Legalism is the enemy of faith or “faith
killer” like someone has called it.
[1]
Jesus wants to set us free from the RELIGIOUS SPIRIT, so that we can move
with Him, do what He does and go where HE goes. It is an invitation to do
exploits with Him and to be like a gazelle with no boundaries, following the
inner law that He writes in our heart. We do not need the commandments to
tell us do not do this and that because He has so changed us that we don’t want
to do it anyway; the desires of our heart being so transformed that the
requirements of the law are fulfilled in the Spirit. Therefore, to be like
a gazelle is to be free from the religious spirit.
- Gazelles are
Joyful animals. As Jesus comes to us as a young stag, He
invites us to enter His Joy, not just Joy, but HIS joy, the Joy of
the Lord that gives strength. What is the Lord’s Joy? Hebrew
12:2 gives us the key: “Looking unto Jesus …who for the joy
that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, …”
the Joy that was set before Him was the salvation of souls and the bringing
forth of His Bride. Do you remember the first time you led a person to the
Lord? Was it not an exhilarating moment, a joy filled experience? Even
the angels in heaven rejoice when a sinner repents. Therefore, the Lord
wants to involve us in the harvest that is coming and to share His joy as we
all get the opportunity to lead people to Christ.
Behold He stands behind our wall…
As already mentioned, the wall that separates the Lord from us and us from
the Lord is the Law. It is like the veil on Moses face that covered the
glory of God.
2 Cor. 3:13 tells us that “Moses, put a veil over
his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of
that which is abolished”. That veil represents the law (“that which is
abolished”), which prevented the children of Israel from seeing Jesus, who is
the “end” (purpose, goal, finish line…) of the law.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth.
Rom 10:4. We saw Him in the past through the law and the
bondages, but now He wants us to see Him through the eyes of freedom and
liberty. He has broken that veil, that wall of partition.
Ephes. 2:14-14
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the
middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the
enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.
As He stands behind that wall of legalism, He waits
expectantly for us to press through until we join Him in the freedom of a life
in the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:2.
He is determined to get me out from behind that wall
because He is ready to move across the Nations. We must come out. We will
come out as we take hold of the abundance of grace available to us. His
Grace is the bestowed ability to do what His truth demands. Grace is the
indwelling power to do the will of God. God gives His grace freely when we
ask, because of faith in the blood of His Son. (Hebrews 4:16).
The Lord will not be imprisoned behind our walls. He
says “Come with me and leap with me over Mountain and Hills. Do
things you never thought you could do, go places you never thought you could go:
live and move in the power of Resurrection that resides in you.
The WALL can also be
selfishness. The selfish person looks inwardly. He or she is incapable to
see the world in need.
It can be a WALL of
defense. Those that have been hurt a lot are afraid to trust and
to be vulnerable.
It can be bitterness. Did people reject you? Have you
allowed bitterness to build a wall between you and the Lord?
It can be security, protection, and refuge.
You fear what is outside. “The terrors of death are fallen upon me, horror
has overwhelmed me”, the psalmist said.
Ps. 55:4.
Jesus would say, I
have overcome fear and terror, hold my hand come with me and you will skip over
them. Is a call to dangerous places and fearful encounters, “but the
refuge”, says the Lord, “is not behind the wall, it’s in Me”.
The wall can mean many things. For some of
us it could also be a wall of inclusion:
for a time he has kept you enclosed…He has told you to come apart, to be
separated from others to get to know Him more for yourself and to pursue
intimacy with Him. Your heart has been that garden enclosed spoken of in
Song 4:12.
A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut
up, a fountain sealed Let my beloved
come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
It has been a period – maybe years - when you were hidden
in Him, separated from worldly pursuits to be consecrated to Him, but now it is
time to come out and join him out there in the open fields that are white for
harvest. Like in a honeymoon, you have spent many days with the Beloved in
the inner chambers; but honeymoons have and end. As a soldier exonerated
from service in the army when he got married, you have had your leave, but now
its time for action.
Many of us have known what it means to be allured into a
wilderness, a place or time of isolation to be alone with Him, where he can
speak comfortably to us (Hosea 2:14). Some are entering into that place now,
some are fighting it, wasting precious time, not understanding that the Lord is
telling them: come apart, close the door, spend time with me. For
those that have been there the Lord is saying: now it is time for service, now
it is time for war, go back to the battlefield. You have been on the Mt.
of Transfiguration, now go down to the valley where the demon possessed are
waiting to see My Resurrection power demonstrated in deliverance and healing.
Come to the realization that His Presence is real not
just at the place of prayer but in the factory” Andrew Murray.
Jesus is now on the outside of that special enclosure.
He is standing behind that wall that kept you hidden in Him, and that same wall
has become a separation. We need to realize that the garden is our HEART
so we take it with us.
He wants us to know his ever abiding presence,
because He is ready for action, he is ready to move on. He must set the
captives free, he must set at liberty those who are bound and He must heal the
sick and the brokenhearted. It is time to blend the ministry of Mary
with that of Martha, both are important! The Maries have to come out
of being exclusively hidden with Him and the Marthas have to come out of the
wall of working for the Lord neglecting relationship. Jesus did not rebuke
Martha for serving or laboring; He gently rebuked her because her “labor “ had
distracted her from relationship with Him. She was serving in worries and
stress, when only one thing is needed even in serving: to be with Him, to
work with Him, not for Him (Luke 10:4…And Jesus said to her,
"Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about
many things.
Now He says to His Church, “come WITH me!
Follow me into a new lifestyle, empowered by the Resurrection.
…He is looking through the windows, gazing through the lattice.
The wall has windows. The Shulamite can see what is going on outside, she
knows there is a move of God, but she remains behind the window.
This speaks to us of
uninvolvement, detachment, and stagnation. It is looking out
at others without becoming a part of what it is going on out there. We see
others moving in the miraculous and we think, it is never going to be me.
However, the Lord calls us out of that frame of mind. He wants to involve
all of us as He invites us to join Him out there. So again we
hear Him say: “come out, come with me.”
What’s keeping any of us from moving away from the window?
God says: “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the
glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
(Isaiah 60:1) What is keeping the Church from arising? Fear of
being vulnerable? Laziness? Inferiority? Doubting the call of God? Or a
combination of them all? Someone said that the eyes are the windows
of the soul. The Lord looks at us from HIS eyes, the windows of His soul.
One gaze, one loving look into the depth of our being will melt all fears and
will draw us out.
The window can also be a “window of opportunity”. In every move of
God, there is a time of opportunity during which we need to respond if we do not
want to miss what will come after that. It brings to mind the parable of
the five wise virgins and the five foolish ones. What was the difference
between them? The wise virgins kept the supply of oil going during the night or
hard times of life while the others were discouraged and slept. When the
call to the marriage was heard, they had missed their window of opportunity and
the door to the marriage was shut. In the same manner, through this
passage, the Lord comes as the passionate lover wanting marital intimacy with
His Bride. The outcome of this spiritual union is to be a revelation of
the Son, through the Church, to a world waiting to see Jesus.
Finally, He gazes through the lattice showing Himself through it. The
LATTICE is a casement, a network of wire, lines of wire crossing each other
like the bars of a prison. It can be a prison of our own making or one that
others have made for us. Like Peter, we can get comfortable in it. We have
been there so long that we know nothing else. In this case, the fear of
the unknown and the fear of the future may keep us there. Someone said:
if I am not prepared to lose sight of the shore,
I will never reach new horizons.
A LATTICE can be like a strainer or a grid.
In another translation, the text says that He shows Himself through it. To
see Jesus through a grid is to get a distorted vision of Him. An authority
figure in our life can become like a grid when we project it on God.
If the authority figure was an abusive father, a demanding teacher, a legalistic
Pastor we tend to see God that way too. A personal revelation of the
parental love of God will motivate us to come out from behind the lattice.
A LATTICE may also be a “net”, by analogy: things
that snare, like traps for animals.
Ps 124:7 “Our soul is escaped as a
bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.”
Isa 52:2
Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself
from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Jesus comes with the challenge to free ourselves from those
things that cannot hold us captive (unless we let them) because he has broken
every snare, every grid by the piercing in His own body. He challenges us
to come on the other side and He will give us the ability to “leap” out of them
and to move from where we are to where He is.
Ps 18:29 “for by thee I have run through a
troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.”
[1] The strongest spirits that Jesus confronted when He came the first time
were: the Religious one in the Pharisees, the Liberal, licentious, and lawless
one in the Sadducees and the spirit of lust and self-gratification in the
Herodians. They are the same ones that are here today.
| |
