“Our rafters are cypresses.”
— Song of Songs 1:17b
Next we are told, “Our rafters are cypresses.” When we look at a house, we see its rafters first, not its beams. What does cypress represent in the Bible? Cypress trees were planted beside graves. Cypress wood indicates that there is also death being expressed in us, the death produced through the work of the cross in us. If you are willing to let the cross work in you, you will express death. Although the cross puts you to death, you become a person who really functions, for your death helps manifest your function in the building.
Brothers and sisters, there are three things needed for the building up of the church. First, our couch must be green—we must be full of life. Without life, there is no building up of the church, for life is the content of the church. In a healthy church we should be able to enjoy an abundance of life. Second, our beams must be of cedar—the humanity of the Lord Jesus must be constituted into us. We not only have a life relationship with the Lord, but we also have His humanity. Third, our rafters must be of cypress—we must experience the work of the cross. Only through the death of the cross can we be united and built together. These three matters speak of the seeker’s growth at the end of the first stage of her pursuing.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 163.
Monday: “I am a Rose of Sharon”