In the last issue, we wrote about who could draw near to the Lord’s table to serve God’s bread. Let us now consider priests who have another ministry to perform, a ministry that does not require absolute freedom from all spiritual blemishes. It is referred to in Leviticus 21. We can read about them in Ezekiel 44, beginning with verse 10. “‘And the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray, who strayed away from Me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. Yet they shall be ministers in My sanctuary, as gatekeepers of the house and ministers of the house; they shall slay the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. Because they ministered to them before their idols and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity, therefore I have raised My hand in an oath against them,’ says the Lord God, ‘that they shall bear their iniquity. And they shall not come near Me to minister to Me as priest, nor come near any of My holy things, nor into the Most Holy Place; but they shall bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.’” Ezek. 44:10-13. Here we read about certain priests who are priests for the people and not for God. When the people served the Lord, these priests served Him too, but when the people went astray and began to worship idols, these priests followed along with them and served Baal. The people had the grain, wine and money from which the priests received their income. This made it very easy for them to be swayed by the people. They should have continued in the Lord’s sanctuary and encouraged the people to be faithful to the Lord, even when the stores were exhausted; but they did not. They chose to lose favor with God rather than with people. What if people should begin to dislike them? What if they should cut off their tithes? They were in a difficult situation indeed, so they neglected the Lord’s temple and their ministry in order to get what they wanted—the people’s tithes and approval. The Scriptures call these priests priests for the people. But they are not priests without blemish. They will, however, be allowed to perform an outward ministry; they can be keepers of the gates of the house and can serve in the house. But when the people have returned again to the Lord, God will not have such priests in His holy presence. They can stand in the gates and invite people to receive the forgiveness of sins, and they can point out transgressions. Their ministry can be likened to dusting and cleaning in the house—a servant’s ministry. But they may not draw near to the Lord to serve Him as priests. They are not allowed to perform an inner service. They may not draw near to things that are holy or most holy; they will not be allowed to lead a person into a deeper spiritual life. They may slay the burnt offering and sin offering for the people. They are permitted to preach Christ as the sin offering, the Lamb who bore the sins of the world; but they may not draw near to the veil, for there they would come into contact with the holy and most holy things. They may not approach the Lord’s table. They are not allowed to serve spiritual food which can give nourishment leading to sanctification. Has the world changed since those times? Do not those who are priests for the people still have an abundance of all they need? Yet the God-fearing soul, the poor in spirit, preaches God’s Word free of charge and often lacks even the bare essentials. May God open our eyes so we can see! The priests for the people receive their wages and recognition from the people. Even the basest, most ungodly people are allowed to belong to their churches. Their churches can include theaters and taverns, prisons and chapels, churches and houses of forced labor. They who kill and those who are being killed belong to the congregation of such priests. Priests and preachers of this sort have a ministry to carry out, but it is an outward ministry. If anyone wants to press into a deeper spiritual life, they should never ask such priests for advice, because they have never had any access to the holy things or to God’s table. They believe that everyone who does not remain within their ranks has gone astray. Yet there were some priests who endured in the trial: “‘But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood,’ says the Lord God. ‘They shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall come near My table to minister to Me, and they shall keep My charge.’” Ezek. 44:15-16. Here we see priests according to God’s heart. They continued faithfully on God’s side when the people went astray. They certainly warned and exhorted the people diligently to turn from their error, but when they saw that their labor was fruitless, they let the people go their own way. The priests, however, continued to hold fast to the Lord. These are the priests who also today care for the things the Lord wants cared for. They draw near to the Lord’s table to bring forth the bread of their God, because in the eyes of the Lord, they are free from blemish. From all this we learn that God is exact, extremely exact. There is much preaching in our days, but no one should imagine that all preachers have been in the presence of the Lord and have received spiritual food from His table. Usually, these preachers stand before the face of the people and form their words to please them. This is true of both the spoken and written word. May God give us grace not to be men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, may we always, in all we speak and all we write, seek to please Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, and who has made us kings and priests for our God. Rev. 5:10.Johan O. Smith

The Lord will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the heart. 1 Cor. 4:5. He does not judge according to what the human eye sees or what the ear hears; His judgment is righteous. He looks into the depths of the heart and examines the motives. If He finds them to be pure, then everything is pure in His sight, even if other people can find much of which they disapprove. Sweet words and flattering speech can deceive the simple, but if you take the time to test the spirit, you will quite often find that behind these words, there is a false heart. We are exhorted to test the spirits, to see if they are of God. This does not refer to the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places, but rather to the spirit that is active in people. Test the motive behind a person’s words. Is there guile in his spirit? The body cannot be tested, because the body without the spirit is dead. The external ear can hear, but it is incapable of testing the spirits. For that purpose, we need to make use of the inner ear—the ear of the heart. It might sound strange that we are to listen with our heart, but that’s what we must do. The heart does not only need ears, it also needs eyes. “That the eyes of your heart might be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling.” Eph. 1:18 (Norw.). Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Everyone has ears, of course, but not everyone has ears of the heart, which is what this verse means. A person who is impressed by someone’s worldly culture, riches or human beauty is incapable of testing the spirit of the person who has thus deceived him; he will himself be judged to be a fool. Therefore, it is vital that we keep a sound mind at all times, that we have the same mind that was in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we have this mind, we are not easily moved. It can truly be said of such people that they are “Christ’s honor.”Johan O. Smith

“And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening had come, He was alone there.” Very few people are really alone with God when they pray, but Jesus was alone with God. When He wanted to pray, He sent the multi­tudes away. This clearly shows us the way to an inner fellowship and communion with the Father. We must send the multitudes away, let them go out of our mind and thoughts; we need to have rest from them so we can be alone with God. There are very few people in an assembly who have sent the multi­tudes away, out of their hearts and minds. Even while they are praying they are thinking of other people. They think of the others because they are thinking of themselves. They think of what the others might think of their prayer, whether their prayer is sufficiently spiritual so it can garner the others’ approval, and whether it will carry the oth­ers along in their prayer. To pray simply is just not possible. How many people there are who nurture an inner satisfaction when their prayer has been a “suc­cess.” Afterwards they entertain a patronizing air toward those whose prayers were less “successful.” How many unspiritual prayers are wrapped up in feelings by giving full rein to one’s entire soul-life so that it might sound sincere—but how empty the heart is afterwards. They deceive the others but save their Christian honor. Christian honor and worthi­ness oppress God’s people like a nightmare. Oh, how many selfish prayers God has to witness. Pray­ing in order to please the assembly or other people is not prayer but an abomination to God. It is only a per­formance to gain the honor of man. People even take the multitudes into their prayer closet where of all places they should be alone. Jesus says when you pray you shall not be like the hypocrites, to be seen by men. Matt. 6:5. Send the multitudes away—not just the multitudes but also each single thing that comes between you and your God. Worship God in spirit and in truth. Enter into the se­cret chamber of your heart; lock the door, i.e., shut out the multitudes and everything that is distracting; lock the door and be alone with your Father who is in the secret place. You can send the multitudes away and enter into the secret chamber of your heart even while you are in the street, surrounded by the masses. The one who seeks honor be­cause he prays well, testifies well, sings well, or does anything else well deceives himself. Do not let this glorious life-fellowship with God be defiled by egotistical self-worship and honor seeking. You who live in these things must confess your sin and let the blood cleanse you from what you have done. Be crucified with Christ and die to all self-worship. You will be set free through death. Stand firm in faith against Satan on this foundation, and you will overcome. Satan’s designs are attractive for the flesh, but they are poison for our spirit. Only after you have sent the multitudes out of your heart can you truly have them in your heart.Aksel Smith

Have you ever thought that some of us are called to be bridges? “He gave some to be apostles and some prophets and teachers.” Eph. 4:11; but not all, perhaps, because “bridges” were needed! How can we be bridges? A bridge means something, generally a life, laid down. The very simplest bridge, a plank thrown across a stream, was once part of a tree standing erect, sapping life from the earth and beautifying all the world around it. Now it is dead, but perhaps saves other lives; anyway, it helps to make them useful, and is content to push others on, unnoticed, un-thanked. “. . . do you seek great things for yourself, seek them not,” be just a bridge. It is so simple, try and put somebody else on the right track with God through Christ. When they get there, they will not thank you, will never look back probably at the bridge, but the great Architect will know and love and care. You thought perhaps to be a “worker,” prominent in God’s service, but instead you are just the possibly forgotten bridge! Keep on believing, somebody knows, understands, and says, “thank you.” Day after day the bridge is trodden underfoot by many feet, hurrying and impatient, and feet tired and slow, but it is answering its purpose, it does its work all the same. “You are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God”—“I am crucified with Christ,” and so it would be a contradiction to speak of feelings, feeling slighted, illtreated, overlooked or not given the rightful place. The feelings you have are feelings of compassion and love for the lost, and of desire for the building up of His Kingdom. Even Jesus Himself was content to be a bridge, bridging the gulf between God and man, “tis enough for the disciple if he be as his Master.” The humble-minded Barnabas also was a bridge. He died to his wealth and became a bridge for thousands. You may not be able to go to Africa or China, and yet you may be a bridge by prayer, or by something laid down, and so serve His purpose to the uttermost parts of the earth. Be a plank for some needy soul in your home, or in your business by which he can cross over to God. Andrew was Simon Peter’s bridge to Christ, but Peter won thousands to Christ. Yes, a bridge means death. Once the trees from which it was made were fresh and green, giving shade and shelter to many passers-by, and they said, “How pretty those trees are.” Nobody says that now. Once they were growing in grandeur and beauty and were noticed by all; nobody notices them now. The trains, traffic, and hurrying footsteps of thousands cross and recross it without a word of thanks for the bridge, which solves many of their difficulties and shortens their journey home; but rather, they grumble at its length and perhaps its want of beauty. Will you “die,” i.e., be content to be ignored, trampled upon, to suffer unnoticed and un-thanked, to lose what once, perhaps, brought you popularity and praise, that others, gaining all you seem to lose, may go over you to where God wants them? It is a glorious privilege to be a bridge, but it means I must be crucified and die. That wood began to die when it was cut down to be a bridge, and every step has worn away more from it. Is your life laid down at the feet of Him whose life was laid down for you, that He may dispose of it as He will, and make it a bridge that will serve His purpose best? He was content to be your bridge to God; will you not be a bridge for Him from this time onward?From “The Overcomer”E. W.