Johan O. Smith

Johan O. Smith and his son, Aksel J. Smith, both had ex­tremely mild dispositions. They had absolutely no desire to rule over people, but in goodness and truth they worked tire­lessly to draw people to the truth that is Jesus. These fine virtues—compassion, gentleness, love and goodness—were rich and abundant in their lives. Johan O. Smith tried to remain as invisible as possible. He did not intervene unnecessarily and never tried to dominate others. He spoke the Word of God and wanted each individual to be led and guided on the way of life through a personal connection with God.

He said “Preferably, let the dishonor of man adorn your head rather than their honor, because your ministry for God is the only thing that can adorn your heart, and that with the deep peace that can only be attained by abiding in Him.” Our dear brother Paul had the same mind. He had walked so long on the paths of light that they had become his “ways” in Christ Jesus. “For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” 1 Cor. 4:17. I would therefore like to exhort the church fer­vently to follow in these steps. It is the royal highway into the kingdom of God.

If you read the letters of Johan O. Smith, you will see that he often gives strong personal testimonies of what God had done for him and the power he experienced in his inner being. He was strongly apprehended by the Word of God and loved to be alone and listen to the voice of his beloved Bridegroom. From what they read, people who didn’t know him might think he was very unusual, a spiritual person who had little contact with others. Nothing could be further from the truth. He was undoubtedly a great man of God, but to those closest to him, he was a very simple man. With all his heart he worked in goodness and compassion to lead people to God. The wisdom he had was far greater than what both the law and Solomon could lead anyone to. Far ahead of his time, he esteemed God-fearing people highly, both brothers and sis­ters. When he was with children and young people, he was very informal. He liked being with them and used the oppor­tunity to tell interesting stories or to teach them to dive or walk on their hands. Even though physical punishment was quite common at that time, his children speak of a childhood in which spanking or physical punishment of any kind was never used. He was watchful and corrected them with his eyes, but he was never physically violent toward any of the children. He was an exceptionally good father who loved his children and his home. They were so fond of him that they couldn’t bear to cause him sorrow.

For Johan O. Smith, the goal was to make disciples of all nations. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matt. 28:19-20.

In the religious world, the gospel is considered a gift that has nothing to do with personal obedience. Obedience is con­sidered the law, not the gospel; but we understand that if someone has a longing for salvation and really wants to expe­rience it, then he must learn to keep—to obey—all that Jesus has commanded. He must be led to the obedience of faith if he wants to experience the gospel. Romans 1:5 was one of the first verses that became living for Johan O. Smith: “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name.”

A genuine revival to discipleship began on that night in May 1900 when Smith was filled with the Holy Spirit. From that day on, God’s Word became living within his heart. He was led forward swiftly in God by obeying what the Holy Spirit spoke in his heart. He became a disciple of Jesus. Dis­cipleship is by no means standard religiosity. To be a disciple, you must give yourself totally to God. Then there will be a cross over all honor-seeking, a cross over all self-life and van­ity! Galatians 2:20 is the testimony of all true disciples: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

A disciple’s calling is to be victorious over all conscious sin and to grow in sanctification into a perfect man in Christ. “For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . .” Eph. 4:12-13. This is a phenomenal salvation!

Just as Sirach writes that godly men of old lived peaceably in their homes, Johan O. Smith was a true shepherd and guide for his wife and children, and they sensed a refreshing under­current of goodness and compassion from him. He rejoiced indescribably with others when they received light and often slapped his knees and laughed with joy because of their progress in the light. This is the way God is too. “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” Ps. 145:9.

Johan O. Smith was lowly in his own eyes and thus could easily go beneath others and raise them up. He was able to listen and receive advice even from those who had sunk the lowest in society. God regarded his lowliness, just as He re­garded Mary, and in the same way that grace came over her, it came over Johan O. Smith. Mary realized that it must have been her lowliness that God had regarded. Smith understood the same. That is why he kept himself down there, so that this power and grace could rest upon him. “A sponge that’s full needs to be squeezed: that’s what I am—don’t you agree? And so I think I’ll stay right here, because I have a listening ear!” he wrote in a poem to Edwin Bekkevold at a time when Aslaksen was holding big revival meetings in Oslo.

On his 70th birthday, Smith said that in his ministry he had taken care to lead individuals to a connection with the Head, Christ, and had never gathered anyone around his own per­son. He didn’t serve in a way that he exalted himself. One of the greatest things about him was that in regard to himself and to his ministry, he remained in lowliness right until the end.

Johan O. Smith as Father and Shepherd

In his ministry, Johan O. Smith sought to fulfill the Word in Malachi 4:6: “And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” This is a very impor­tant matter—especially that the hearts of the fathers are turned to the children, so that when the children reach youth age and there is a collision of wills, their father has already won their heart. Without this heart contact, it can be very dif­ficult to help the child.

“With enlightened eyes of the heart one feels and one suf­fers, because not even half of what one sees can be corrected so that hearts can be healed,” writes Johan O. Smith in his book Ephesians. If we have love, we can see many things in need of correction in a flock of children or in a church. But few turn to Christ in their need, so that they can partake of the wisdom they need in order to be of help. We really need to seek God’s wisdom with all our heart. We must bring the need in our hearts before God, so that He can give us words and revelations to help.

Johan O. Smith often said, “Here in the world, we must close one eye.” We have sufferings for the sake of the body of Christ and can fill up what is still lacking and imperfect. “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church.” Col. 1:24. There is nothing lacking in the work of salvation, but when Jesus ascended, He left to the saints the task of building further. Here we can partake of sufferings that fulfill what is lacking. We must remain in these sufferings, for ourselves and for the others, so that our minis­try for them will always be done in love.

“For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, ex­cept our God? It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great. You en­larged my path under me, so my feet did not slip. I have pur­sued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. I have wounded them, so that they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet. For You have armed me with strength for the battle; You have sub­dued under me those who rose up against me. You have also given me the necks of my enemies, so that I destroyed those who hated me.” Ps. 18:31-40.

These words of David are also very well suited to Johan O. Smith. His hands were thoroughly trained for warfare. The rulers of the darkness of this age are strong, but they can only have power in darkness. We are able to conquer them with weapons of the light. This battle gave Johan O. Smith a victory that is entirely unknown in the religious world. He fought in the Spirit and was preserved in the Spirit, and he was not trodden down. Without brothers like this, the church itself would have been trampled underfoot. Non-commissioned of­ficers in the Norwegian Navy did not have an easy life. There were battles to be fought onboard. They had to perform their duties diligently, so that none of their superiors could point the finger at anything. On top of this, Smith had other battles against religious and unbelieving people. When you take up such battles, you will never become great in this world—you become too bothersome. However, there is a tremendous vic­tory to be enjoyed in the body. It is wonderful to experience the rewards of such a battle. Our spirit becomes tempered and strong. Where before you would have been afraid, weighed down and discouraged, you now have faith and power from God.

“‘No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall con­demn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me,’ says the Lord.” Is. 54:17. Johan O. Smith believed this Word and held fast to it. Time and again he experienced that it was true, and he stands for­ever as a powerful testimony that whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. Rom. 10:11.