Who May Offer the Bread of God?

[Conclusion from the previous issue.]

In the last issue, we wrote about those who could come near to the Lord’s table to offer the bread of God. Let us now consider certain priests who have a different ministry to perform, a ministry that does not require a person to be absolutely free of all spiritual defects, as mentioned in Leviticus 21. In this context, we can read in Ezekiel 44, starting from 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 some priests who were priests for the people but not for God. When the people served the Lord, the priests ministered to Him, but when the people went astray and began to worship idols, these priests followed along and ministered as priests for Baal.

The people had grain, wine, and money, which was the source of the priests’ livelihood. This is why they tended to follow the people. Clearly, they should have continued faithfully in the Lord’s sanctuary, even if the storehouses became empty. And from there they should have continued to entreat the people to be faithful to the Lord, but they did not. They preferred to risk losing favor with God rather than with the people. Just imagine if the people had complaints about them? What if they stopped tithing? 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.

In the Scriptures, these priests are called priests for the people. But they are not priests without any defect. They are, however, permitted to perform an outward ministry; they can be keepers of the gates of the house and can serve in the house. Once the people have returned again to the Lord, God will not have such priests in His holy presence. They can stand at the gate and invite people to receive forgiveness of sins and can be allowed to reprove transgressions. This can be likened to dusting and cleaning, which is a servant’s task in a house.

But they may not draw near to the Lord to serve Him as priests. They are not permitted to perform an inner service. They may not draw near to the things that are holy or into the Most Holy Place. They will not be allowed to lead a person into a deeper spiritual life.

However, they can slay the burnt offering and the offering for the people. They can be permitted to preach Christ as a sacrifice, the Lamb who bore the sins of the world, but they shall not draw near to the veil in order to come in contact with the Most Holy Place and the Lord’s table. They are not permitted to serve spiritual food that can give nourishment leading to sanctification.

Has the world changed since those times? Isn’t it the case that those who are priests for the people have an abundance of all they need? Yet the God-fearing soul who is poor in spirit preaches God’s word without charge and often has to go without even the bare essentials. May God open our eyes so we can see.

These priests for the people receive their wages and recognition from the people. Even the most immoral and ungodly belong to their assembly. It is a liberal assembly, welcoming people from theaters and taverns, prisons and meeting houses, places of worship and workhouses. The one who kills and the one who is killed both belong to the assembly of such priests.

Priests and preachers of this sort do have a ministry to carry out, but it is an outward ministry. If anyone desires to press into a deeper, spiritual life, they should never ask such priests for guidance, because they have never had any access to the Most Holy Place or to God’s table. That is the reason they believe that everyone who does not remain within their ranks has gone astray.

Yet there were some priests who remained faithful. Verse 15.

“‘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.’”

Here we see some priests who were after God’s own heart. They continued faithfully on God’s side when the people went astray. No doubt they 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, but they continued to hold fast to the Lord.

These are the priests who, also in our day, will keep what the Lord has commanded. They shall come near to the Lord’s table to offer the bread of their God, because in the eyes of the Lord, they are without any defect.

All these things show us that God is exact, extremely exact. There is much preaching in our day, but no one must imagine that all these preachers have been in the presence of the Lord and have received spiritual food from God’s table. Usually they stand before the people and adjust what they say in order to gain people’s approval. This isn’t only true of the words they speak, but also of what they write.

May God give us grace not to be men-pleasers. As servants of Christ, may we always, in everything we speak and everything 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.