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| Corp-mesaj (pentru a fi introdus): | Corp-mesaj (pentru a fi introdus): |
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Linia 1: |
| − | JUNE 1, 1938
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| − | (Ezek. 40: 47) It is for this court near to Jchovah that
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| − | his faithful ones cry out, saying: ‘‘My soul longeth,
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| − | yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord; my
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| − | heart and my flesh erieth out for the living God.”’
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| − | (Ps. 84:2) When they are brought into that happy
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| − | condition they say: ‘‘Blessed are they that dwell in
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| − | thy house: they will be still praising thee,’’—Ps, 84: 4.
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| − | Jehovah’s angel, sent to guide Ezckicl, brought the
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| − | prophet into the outer court by way of the outer gate
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| − | which ‘‘looketh toward the east’’. (Ezck. 40:6) After
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| − | leading him along the pavement of the lower court the
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| − | guide then brought Ezekiel into the inner court, that
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| − | is to say, the court of the priests. Ezckicl was there-
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| − | fore accorded the special privilege of being brought
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| − | through the eastern portal, which later he appreciated
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| − | when he saw ‘‘the glory of the Lord came into the
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| − | house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward
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| − | the east’’. (Ezek. 43: 1-4) Ezekiel afterward saw that
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| − | this gate looking toward the east was shut. The favor
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| − | bestowed upon Ezekiel in bringing him into the inner
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| − | court by the east gate was doubtless a recognition of
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| − | his faithfulness as a servant-priest of .Jjchovah God.
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| − | (Ezek, 1:3) It is also prophetic of God’s remnant,
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| − | whom Ezekiel foreshadowed, and indicates special
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| − | favor to such because of faithfulness to the Lord.
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| − | The heavenly messenger measured the castern gate.
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| − | The special privileges to those haviny aceess into the
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| − | inner court are denoted by the outstanding features
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| − | mentioned in the texts concerning the gate and the
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| − | chambers in connection therewith: ‘‘And the little
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| − | chambers thereof, and the posts therco!, und the arches
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| − | thereof, were according to these measures, and there
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| − | were windows therein and in the arches thereof round
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| − | about: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty
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| − | cubits broad.’’ (Ezek. 40:33) These chambers or
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| − | lodges were for the offices of the watclimen or guards
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| − | who keep the gates leading into Jehovah’s house. The
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| − | description and measurements of these chambers show
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| − | that the watchmen would carefully scrutinize those
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| − | journeying on their way to the house of Jchovah where
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| − | only the priests are admitted. They would carefully
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| − | watch and keep out any freudulent priests, Some men
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| − | in the company of God’s people on the carth seem to
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| − | think it is their duty to gather out and keep out the
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| − | false ‘‘priests’’; but the Scriptures show that this
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| − | work Jehovah delegates to his angels.
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| − | A blemished priest would not be admitted, accord-
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| − | ing to God’s law, which law does not change. ‘‘Speak
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| − | unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy [Aaron's]
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| − | seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let
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| − | him not approach to offer the bread [food] of his God:
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| − | for whatsoever man he be that hath nu blemish, he
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| − | shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that
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| − | hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, or a man
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| − | that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, or crookbackt,
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| − | or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be
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| − | scurvy or scabbed, or hath his stones broken: no man
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| − | She WATCHTOWER. 175
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| − | that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest
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| − | shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made
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| − | by fire: he hath a blemish: he shall not come nigh to
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| − | offer the bread of his God. He shall eat the bread of
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| − | his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy; only
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| − | he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto
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| − | the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane
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| − | not my sanctuaries: for I the Lord do sanctify them.’’
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| − | (Lev. 21: 17-23) This fully corroborates the conclu-
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| − | sion that those who respond to God’s call to the king-
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| − | dom must first prove faithful in safeguarding the
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| − | kingdom interests that are committed to them before
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| − | they are chosen (elected) and anointed and made
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| − | members of the body of Christ. Those who, while on
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| − | their way, in response to the call to the kingdom, are
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| − | in line for the kingdom, but who join the ‘‘wicked
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| − | servant’’ class, are rejected, and the watchmen see
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| − | to it that they are ejected from the courts of the Lord
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| − | and do not enter the temple.
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| − | There were posts at the gate or entrance into the
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| − | inner court, and ‘‘palm trees were upon the posts
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| − | thereof’’. ‘‘And the arches thereof were toward the
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| − | outward court; and palm trees were upon the posts
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| − | thereof, on this side and on that side: and the going
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| − | up to it had eight steps.’’ (Izek. 40:34) The height
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| − | of these posts at the entrance of the inner court is
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| − | not stated, bui the presumption is that they were three-
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| − | score cubits, the same as the posts of the outer gates.
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| − | (Vs. 14) The palm tree decoration on these posts sug-
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| − | gests that they were high and lofty. These posts well
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| − | picture Jehovah’s witness class who are described
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| − | by the prophet of the Lord as ‘‘a pillar [of testimony ]
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| − | at the border thereof [of Egypt] to the Lord’’, further
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| − | supporting the conclusion that the great pyramid of
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| − | Egypt is not even contemplated by the prophecy of
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| − | Isaiah. (Isa. 19:19) Jehovah’s witnesses do his work,
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| − | and this witness work must be performed before they
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| − | become permanent factors in the temple. There was
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| − | a gate in the inner court toward the south, and it was
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| − | to this gate that the messenger brought Ezekiel. (Ezek.
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| − | 40: 27,28) But he did uot enter the inner court from
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| − | that gate.
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| − | There was a gate to the mner court over against
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| − | the outer gate, both on the north and on the east.
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| − | (Ezek. 40:23) ‘‘And he brought me to the north
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| − | [inner] gate, and measured it according to these
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| − | measures.’’ (Ezck, 40:35) The description of the
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| − | north gate is the same as that of the east gate. It has
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| − | been said that it was only at the north gate that ‘‘they
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| − | washed the burnt offering’’. This conclusion is not
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| − | borne out by other statements of the Scriptures. In
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| − | verse thirty-eight of this chapter the word ‘‘gates’’
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| − | is used, showing more than one: ‘‘And the chambers,
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| − | and the entries thereof, were by the posts of the gates,
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| − | where they washed the burnt offering.’’ (Ezek. 40: 38)
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| − | The law-of God governing his typical people in their
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| − | sacrifices states: ‘‘And he brought the ram for the
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| − | burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their
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