Many like to exercise their muscles outside because by killing cattle and sheep, they can exercise their strength and fleshly energy. However, if you ask them to go to a quiet, solitary place where no one can see them, they are not able to do this. The sanctuary is an extremely dim place. Within there are only seven olive oil lamps which may not be as bright as seven candles! Many consider that ministering to the Lord in the sanctuary is not that interesting. But this is the place where the Lord wants us to be. Here it is calm and dark, and there are no crowds or great multitudes of people. Yet here one finds the genuine ministry to the Lord. Brothers, we cannot find a genuine servant of God or true minister to the Lord who does not minister in this way.
Now let us consider what the Levites were doing. They were killing cattle and sheep outside the house. Men can see you in such a place; the work is very apparent. Others will praise you, saying that you are wonderful and strong because you have killed many cattle and sheep and tied them to the altar. Many people are thrilled at the outward achievements of the work.
But what is involved in ministering to the Lord? Verse 15 says very clearly, “But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of My sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister to Me; and they shall stand before Me to present to Me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord Jehovah.” The basis for the ministry to the Lord, the basic requirement for ministering to the Lord, is to draw near to the Lord. It is to be bold enough to come before Him, to sit firmly before Him, and to stand before Him. Brothers, do we know how to draw near to the Lord? How often we find that we have to drag ourselves into His presence! Many indeed are fearful of being left alone in a dark room. They are afraid of being alone and cannot stand being shut in by themselves. Many times even though they are in a room, their heart is wandering outside, and they can no longer come near to the Lord. They cannot be alone by themselves and quietly learn to pray before Him. Many are very happy to work, join the crowd, and even preach to men. But how many can really draw near to God in the Holy of Holies? Many cannot draw near to God in that dim, quiet, and solitary sanctuary. However, no one can minister to Him without drawing near to Him. No one can minister to the Lord without approaching Him in prayer. Spiritual power is not the power of preaching but the power of praying. How much you pray indicates how much inner strength you really possess. No spiritual matter requires more strength than prayer. It is possible to read the Bible without exerting much effort. I am not saying that there is no effort involved in reading the Bible, but this is something that is rather easy to achieve. It is possible to preach the gospel without much effort, and it is possible to render help to the brothers without exerting much spiritual strength. In speaking, it is possible for one to rely on his memory to do the job. But in order to come to God and kneel before Him for an hour, there is the need for one to exert the strength of his whole being. Indeed, if one does not strive in such a way, he will not be able to maintain such a work; he will not be able to persevere. Every minister of the Lord knows the preciousness of such times: the sweetness of waking at midnight and spending an hour in prayer before going back to sleep, and the wonderful feeling of rising up very early in the morning for an hour’s prayer. Unless we draw near to God, we cannot minister to Him. It is impossible to minister to the Lord and stand afar off at the same time. The disciples could follow the Lord from a far distance, but none of those who followed in that way could minister to Him. It is possible to follow the Lord secretly at a distance, but it is impossible to minister to Him in such a way. The sanctuary is the unique place where ministry to Him is possible. You can approach the people in the outer court, but you can approach God only in the sanctuary. Actually, those who can render help to the church and can do something are those who are near to God. If the labor before God is merely for the brothers and sisters, how poor the work will be.
If we want to minister to the Lord, we must draw near to Him. What should our condition be before God? “They shall stand before Me” (v. 15). It seems to me that we always want to be on the go, as if standing still were an impossible thing to do. We cannot stand still. Many brothers and sisters are extremely busy. There are many things before them, and they feel that they have to keep going. If you ask them to stand still and wait for awhile, they will not be able to do it. But all spiritual persons know what it is to stand before God.
What does it mean to stand? It means to wait for a command, to wait upon the Lord to speak His will. Countless numbers of works have been set up. I am not speaking of the work in factories and offices. Christians ought to be absolutely faithful to their earthly masters. We have to be very faithful in serving our earthly masters. But when it comes to spiritual work, we need to be more than just efficient. I speak in particular to all the co-workers. Brothers, is your work fully set? Is your work carried out efficiently? Can you not stand still and wait for awhile? Has much of your work been arranged and listed in order? Do you methodically work according to the list? Are you complete in everything? Brothers, can you wait for another three days? Can you stand still for a moment and not move around? This is to stand before the Lord. Everyone who does not know how to draw near to the Lord will surely not be able to minister to Him. Similarly, everyone who does not know how to stand before the Lord will surely not be able to minister to Him. It is impossible for them to minister to the Lord. Brothers, should not a servant wait for an order before he does anything?
Let me reiterate. Since this is a spiritual matter, I am not afraid of repetition. There are only two types of sin before God. One is rebellion against His command. If He gives an order and you refuse to do it, it is sin. But there is another type of sin, which is doing something without the Lord’s command. One is the sin of rebellion, and the other is the sin of presumption. One ignores what the Lord has said; the other does what the Lord has not said. Standing before the Lord is the way to deal with the sin of doing what the Lord has not commanded. Brothers and sisters, how much of your spiritual work is done only after you are clear about God’s will? How many really work as a result of the Lord’s charge? Perhaps you work out of your zeal or because you consider it a good thing to do. Let me tell you that nothing damages God’s will more than good things. Good things hinder God the most. We can easily recognize that as Christians we should not take part in evil, unclean, and lustful things and that these things are intolerable. Thus, it is unlikely for these things to be a hindrance to God’s purpose. The things that hinder God’s purpose are the good things, the things that are similar to His purpose. We may think that such a thing is not bad or that there is nothing better, and we may do it without asking if it is the Lord’s will. Good things are God’s greatest enemy. Indeed, every time we rebel against God, it is because we presume that something is good, and we go ahead and do it. As children of God, we all know that we cannot sin and that we should not do evil. But how often have we done something just because there was no conviction from the conscience or because the conscience thought it is all right to do?
No doubt, such a thing may be very good. But have we stood before the Lord? We need to stand before Him. Standing means to not walk or move; it means to remain in a place, to stand still and wait for the Lord’s order. Brothers, this is the ministry to the Lord. The killing of cattle and sheep in the outer court is done whenever someone comes to offer a sacrifice. But in the Holy of Holies, there is utter solitude and no man in sight. In the Holy of Holies, no brother or sister has any authority over us, neither will a conference make decisions for us, nor does a committee have the authority to commission us. In the Holy of Holies, there is only one authority that will govern us, and that is the Lord. We will only do what the Lord directs us to do; otherwise, we will not do anything. Brothers, can we really stand before Him?
If we want to minister to the Lord in the Holy of Holies, we must spend time before the Lord and pray more. Otherwise, we will be inadequate. We need to pray to be ushered into God’s presence and to draw near to Him. Hence, to pray is to stand before God; it is to seek His will before Him. Thank the Lord that although every believer does not do this, some are standing before the Lord and following Him in the journey ahead.
In order to stand before the Lord, it is necessary “to present to Me the fat and the blood” (Ezek. 44:15). We know that God is holy and righteous in the Holy Place and that God is glorious in the Holy of Holies. God’s glory fills the Holy of Holies; God’s holiness and righteousness fill the Holy Place. The blood is for God’s holiness and righteousness, while the fat is for His glory. The fat is for God to gain something, while the blood deals with God’s holiness and righteousness. We all know that God is holy and righteous and that He absolutely cannot accept anyone sinful. Without the shedding of blood or the remission of sin, without man paying a price for his sin, God will never be satisfied. Therefore, there is the need for the blood. There is no way to approach God without it. In the Old Testament time, man was put aside and could not come forward to God. But we can come before God because we have the Lord’s blood. Not only so, but we also have to offer the fat, which means to offer the richest and best. We know that the blood deals with sin. But the fat is for God’s satisfaction. The fat is the richest and best part, and it satisfies God’s heart. Thus, it is for God’s glory.
All those who would come before God to minister to Him must answer to God’s holiness, righteousness, and even His glory. The entire Bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament, focuses on these three things: God’s holiness, God’s righteousness, and God’s glory. God’s glory refers to God Himself; God’s holiness refers to His nature; and God’s righteousness refers to His way. In other words, God’s way is righteous, God’s nature is holy, and God Himself is glory. Every time we come before God, we must first realize how we are able to stand before God. God is holy and righteous! How can sinners like us meet Him? We can meet Him because the blood is here, remitting and cleansing us from our sin. As a result, we can approach God without any conflict because His blood has cleansed us from all unrighteousness. However, He is not only holy and righteous; He is also glorious in Himself. Therefore, there is a need to offer the fat, which is to offer up our very best to God for His satisfaction. In other words, the blood deals with everything in the old creation, and the fat speaks of everything in the new creation. The blood dispels everything of the old creation, so that we no longer have a problem concerning holiness and righteousness. The fat is of the new creation, which signifies the offering of ourselves to God, so that we no longer have a problem with God’s glory.
We cannot minister to God if we do not know death and resurrection. Death is not a doctrine or a theory from the Bible; it is poured out through a genuine trust in Him and in the pouring out of His incorruptible blood. When His incorruptible blood was poured out, we too were poured out. Thank the Lord. Now our Lord has no blood. He only has a body with bones and flesh. Everything of the natural life was poured out. When the Lord’s blood was poured out, everything of the soul-life was poured out. He indeed poured out His soul unto death (Isa. 53:12). This is the significance of the blood. The pouring out of the blood is the removal of everything natural. (We will speak more concerning this matter later.)
If we want to minister before God, we need to draw near to Him, stand before Him, and wait for His will. Please remember these two indispensable matters. On the one hand, we must continually pour out “our blood”—we must continually acknowledge that everything we have by birth and lose by death has been poured out. Many frequently ask me what the natural life really is. I often answer them by saying that everything that comes with birth and goes with death is of the natural life; everything that exists between birth and death is the natural life. Praise the Lord! He has already poured out everything of our natural life. In other words, He has poured out everything that we obtained and everything that came by birth. When the Lord poured out His blood, He did not only pour out His own life, but ours as well. Hence, we have to continually stand on this fact and deny our soul-life. Brothers and sisters, this is altogether not a doctrine but a reality. Everything of the natural life is thus dropped before God. Brothers and sisters, this is a goal that we can attain to because, in Christ, everything of the soul has been poured out so that it is now possible for us to be selfless. Thank the Lord, we can be selfless because Christ poured out our self when He poured out His blood. By ourselves, this is impossible; we cannot crucify ourselves. Thank the Lord that the Son of God has accomplished this fact. By Him we can die, and by Him we can give up our self. But it is not sufficient just to die, because death is only the negative side. Our focus before God is not only on death but also on resurrection. When He arose, we were in Him. In Him, we became a new creation. He not only died but also rose from the dead. He lives unto God; therefore, all that He is, is for God’s satisfaction and not for Himself. Brothers and sisters, this is what God wants to show us. This is what it is to minister to the Lord. We must offer Him the fat and the blood.
Verse 16 says, “It is they who will enter My sanctuary, and it is they who will come near to My table to minister to Me, and they will keep My charge.” This verse tells us that there is a place to minister to the Lord. The ministry to the Lord is in the sanctuary—a hidden, quiet place not public like the outer court. Brothers and sisters, may He grace us so that we would not consider it a suffering to be in the sanctuary. Actually, a day there is better than a thousand days in another place. Yet we are always afraid of the sanctuary. How good it is to be in the outer court! Everyone can see us there. How good it is to be in the outer court! They all know us there. How good it is to be in the outer court! Our names are well known, and there is no attack or slander there, only a welcome and praises. How wonderful this is! But God wants us to be in the sanctuary. When we are in that place, others may say that we are lazy and not doing anything. In reality, what is done there is far superior to the work of ministering to the people in the outer court. Have you heard others criticizing you for being small and narrow? Have you heard others say that you will not do this or that? Others may say that you are too lazy to work and that you have left many things undone. But brothers and sisters, our hearts are not narrow at all. We are not asking anything of men, and we do not want to stand at the gate for many to see. We have only one goal, which is to minister to the Lord in the Holy Place. Brothers and sisters, we are not willing to minister in the house because our hope and our task are greater than this. No one here is as ambitious as Paul was. He had one ambition, which was to please the Lord. The things we are seeking here are greater than many other things, and our labor here is greater than that of many who do great works. The fact is that our heart is broader than anyone else’s. Brothers, do not think that we are too small and narrow. We are very broad, for we are not only ministering to the house but to the Lord as well. Of course this is not that great in the sight of man. Brothers and sisters, we would rather let others criticize us than to move without God’s will. We have only two positions here: one is that we are dead and have dropped everything of the old creation; the other is that we are resurrected and are serving God, learning to stand before Him, listening to His order, and waiting in His presence to minister to Him. We do not care for anything else. O brothers and sisters, is God’s will enough to satisfy you? Is it enough to do His will? Is His will good enough? Or are you still pursuing other things? Are all of God’s plans for you good enough? Oh, you must learn to minister to God in His presence.
Since time is so short and we also have to cover Luke 17, I cannot share in more detail. I have said earlier that I wanted to mention three things. One is the difference between ministering to the house and ministering to the Lord; another is the way to minister to the house and the way to minister to the Lord; and the third is the requirements and condition of one who ministers to the Lord. Now let us consider the requirements of one who ministers to the Lord.