There are many people who think that those who are going on the way of the cross and living an inner life are very hard. Yes, it is true. They are very hard. This hardness is in the spirit, and it is nothing other than a firm, unwavering stand for the truth as God has taught it to us. When religious people who live in the flesh approach us as if they lived in the Spirit, they immediately meet this wall, which is a defense against all their carnality. The wall is hard. It does not give. The people who live inside the wall acknowledge nothing that is outside it as if it were just as good as if it were inside the wall. Flesh is flesh, even though it is ever so pious, and it does not become spirit, although it boasts loudly of liberty and love and the virtues of the Spirit. The person who lives the inner life, hidden with Christ in God, does not admit anyone who still lives in the flesh into his sanctuary, into fellowship with him. On the contrary, because he is true, he lets the others know where they are, namely, in the flesh; if only they could come into the liberty of the Spirit. But this is where the offense usually comes in. Then people cry out that one is judgmental, hard, and unloving, even though you could not show them greater love than by showing them where they are. Then the attacks may follow with all the judging weapons of the flesh against these walls of Jerusalem. But, they stand. There is only one way into this holy and pure fellowship of the Spirit; there is just one way into the city: Through the Eye of the Needle The person, who wants to enter into a life of the Spirit, into the city, must break free from the flesh. He has to be broken down in order to break through. The eye of the needle is too narrow for the flesh. No one must be permitted to enter without going through this gate. You can see how believers who lead a religious life can leave the Methodists and go to the Baptists, and from there they can go over to those who call themselves “free”—they can do all this without any change taking place in their mind, only by changing some opinions. However, it is impossible to “go over to” or “join” those who live the inner life of the Spirit. You cannot enter into this fellowship without being severed from the flesh. It is of no consequence if someone agrees with the doctrine of the inward life; and if someone wants to “join,” it also means nothing. This is not what we are working for. If it were, we could also boast of full meeting halls and big collections. We are working in order to awaken an acknowledgment of the flesh’s wretchedness even in its most refined, religious appearance, and thereby lead souls out to true liberty. We have seen enough of such people who wanted to join—while they were still in the flesh; and this has been a rich experience for us. Because they were seemingly in agreement with the way of the cross and with the inner life’s walk with God, they were allowed over the wall on a bridge into the city and admitted to fellowship. But, oh, the misery that you let in. It is like letting hell into heaven—acknowledging such people who agree with the doctrines but who are not broken down in their life and have really not come inside in their spirit. Flesh will never become spirit. The mind of the flesh is always against God, and it never denies its own nature wherever it is found. It produces thieves and robbers. Therefore build a high wall. Be steadfast in your spirit. Satan will surely entice you to establish fellowship with those who are still living in the flesh. He will remonstrate with you that you are unloving and hard. If you give in, you will immediately be defiled and lose that pure clarity in your spirit. No contact over the wall! No contact with the flesh in any form. Is that hard? Yes, it is hard! It is the cross in its purest form! Build the walls high and the towers strong. Have watchmen on guard night and day. Let no one force his way into your sanctuary. Close up every point of entry. No access unless it is through the eye of the needle! Young souls who have just experienced a breakthrough can often suffer defeat on this point. They haven’t yet learned Satan’s tricks in this area, and they are often defiled in their spirit by associating with carnal people, until they learn to establish themselves so thoroughly that such people are kept at a distance. But what shall we do with those who are outside these spiritual walls? Father, mother, sister, and brother can be there, and they are also believers. Thank God that He is good to them and has led them to where they are, but you must stand firmly inside the walls and proclaim to them the inner life in the city—in God’s kingdom—and point out to them the way through the eye of the needle—or through death unto life. You must simply consider those who have not come inside the walls as your field of labor. If you are steadfast and act accordingly, you will soon be evicted from the many carnal assemblies, whose walls are commands and rules, even as they believe that they are doing God a service by evicting you. They are born according to the flesh, and the Scriptures say that they persecute the one who is born according to the Spirit. Gal. 4:29. They live in the Jerusalem that now is. But you live in a Jerusalem of the Spirit, a free Jerusalem with spiritual walls; she is our mother. V. 26. And you are the children of the free woman; children of Jerusalem, children of a city with the faithful walls and fortified towers of the Spirit within whose walls is peace and quietness and where, together with the others, you are built up into a glorious habitation of God in the Spirit together with treasures where justice and righteousness shine like a light and where God’s pure love is highly exalted. Yes, for the law shall proceed from Zion. To be sure, those outside have their promises, but the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. “Cast out the bondwoman and her son.” V. 30. They shall not inherit together. This is the reason for the enmity. The fury and hatred can reach such heights that it is difficult to find its counterpart in the world. No hatred can be as fanatical as religious hatred. Envy is the source of hatred. If you acknowledged what is outside the wall as being as good as what is inside the wall, or in other words, denied what is inside the wall, then hatred would immediately disappear, for then there would be no one who had anything greater. Who are those inside the wall, the children of the freewoman? Are they some kind of sect? No! They are the ones who throughout all ages and generations have gone through the eye of the needle—through death into this life. They are the ones who are free from the flesh by the death of Jesus Christ. There are different camps of the bondwoman’s children, with various names and different opinions about different things, but they are all born according to the flesh. Whether they call themselves “free” means nothing. It is not a question of what a soul calls himself or thinks about himself, but it is a question of what he is. The fact that the bondwoman’s children call themselves free, calling the freewoman’s children bondservants, doesn’t change their state. Nevertheless, God is good to the bondwoman’s children, and everyone should be the same. God is good even to those who are unthankful and evil far out in the world. Many of those who in reality are children of the bondwoman can receive the baptism of the Spirit, speak in tongues, and prophesy. God is very good to them, and the Scriptures praise His goodness, saying, “Even on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.” Acts 2:18. You can see that these are just as eager to persecute the children of the freewoman as Hagar’s other children. The children of the desolate woman, Hagar, are more numerous than she who has a husband. However, she who has a husband blesses the one who does not travail and does not give birth. For this is better than giving birth to children in bondage. The desolate woman’s children are illegitimate, and they are many. They are also mentioned in Hebrews 12:8 where it says, “But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” The illegitimate children are revealed by their hatred of chastening, their hatred of the cross, and their hatred of everything that is called law in God’s kingdom. On the other hand, if you speak about freedom and joy, their rejoicing goes up to the roof. They strive for liberty and they preach about it, whereas those who are free indeed are at rest in those areas, for they are living in freedom and joy. When they listen in on conversations about the inner life, those who are outside the wall often say that it is all head knowledge. Indeed, that is how it can appear to those who are outside the wall. Their intellect is taxed to the limit, trying to follow along, and they often think that it is all a matter of semantics and splitting of hairs, and after a while they become really tired in their head and can no longer follow along. Then many are offended and leave, declaring that it is all head knowledge. Of course when carnal people are to comprehend spiritual things with their heads, it becomes laborious; when these same people are transported from the flesh into the Spirit, they can speak about these inner things that belong to the kingdom of heaven for hours on end without growing tired. For it is the Spirit who makes alive, and the old truth is being confirmed even more—namely, that the flesh profits nothing. You will have peace and quiet when you have made the walls high and have built a defense against all carnality. Then we can—in oneness of spirit—speak the same thing, being joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment, rejoicing together over the abundant treasures that are hidden within the walls of the city. There we possess the glory of Zion, its pure laws and its unblemished truth. The people that live there have had their understanding enlightened. The Lamb is their light. This city is from God. It will become the wife of the Lamb. It will be raptured as a bride and will come down again as the wife of the Lamb, and even the nations will walk in its light. When you have been called with a heavenly calling, make your election sure.Aksel Smith