But when the people of the land shall come before the Lord in the solemn feasts, he that entereth in by the way of the North Gate to worship shall go out by the way of the South Gate; and he that entereth by the way of the South Gate shall go forth by the way of the North Gate; he shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth over against it. Ezekiel 46:9
Just imagine having a rule that required you, when you arrived for a meeting of the Assembly, to enter the hall by one door and to make sure that, when you left, you exited the hall by a different door on the opposite side of the hall! In essence, this is what Ezekiel is telling the Israelites to do when they gathered in the temple for their holy convocations. The reason for this unusual rule is unclear, other than it was what God required. But you and I can take a little lesson from this unusual rule today.
No, we are not going to implement a rule that you have to use different doors for entering and exiting the Gospel Hall! But we should each of us implement a personal rule that we will always leave a meeting of the Assembly in a different condition from when we arrived. If we arrive discouraged, we should leave encouraged; if we arrive depressed, we should leave uplifted; if we arrive apprehensive, we should leave confident; if we arrive expectant, we should leave satisfied; and so forth. You get the point. We should always expect that our attendance at an Assembly meeting will result in a significant different in our day, and in our life. Of course, it doesn’t happen automatically.
Arriving by the South Gate and departing by the North Gate was a deliberate process on the part of an Israelite. He knew where he was when he arrived at the temple, and he knew where he had to go when ready to leave. Do we understand what condition we are in when we arrive for a meeting? Do we understand what condition we need to be in when we leave? And while we are attending the meeting, do we look for the Lord to make the necessary changes in our direction? Do we allow the Word to have its affect on our thoughts and attitudes as it should? Leaving a meeting of the Assembly in better condition than when we arrived requires a conscious decision on our part to allow the Holy spirit to apply the needed improvements.
The next time you enter the door of the Hall, take a good look at it and make a promise to yourself that you will exit that door a better Christian. -Jim MacIntosh