WITHOUT THE CAMP

"Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Hebrew 13:13).

In these words, the writer to the Hebrews reaches the climax of his epistle.

There is in reality a double climax in this letter. One is reached in chapter 10, and we find ourselves within the veil (vs. 19-22); the other is in the verse quoted above, and we find ourselves outside the camp. The one position corresponds with the other.

In verses 12 and 13 of our chapter, we find two expressions: "without the gate," and "without the camp." It is necessary to notice the distinction, to grasp the meaning of the change. "Without the gate" signifies rather the geographical position, though we do not limit it to this, but "without the camp" has a moral and religious, as well as spiritual signification.

Let us consider first what the writer of the epistle intended the Hebrews to understand by the exhortation; and, secondly, what bearing, if any, it has today.

To gather up and present the full implication of this exhortation, let us notice: Three Old Testament Scriptures:

The first is Exodus 33: 1-7: Here we learn that, in consequence of Israel's apostasy (see chapter 32), God refused to go up in their midst. We read: "And Moses took the Tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp . . . And it came to pass that every one which sought Yehovah went out unto the Tabernacle . . . without the camp" (v. 7).

The second is in Numbers 11: God had told Moses to gather unto him seventy men of the elders of Israel and to bring them unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, and God said He would take of the spirit which was upon Moses and put it upon them. We find, however, that two men, Eldad and Meded, did not go out to the Tabernacle, but remained in the camp. Nevertheless, we are told, "the Spirit rested upon them, and they prophesied in the camp" (v. 26). Great indignation is aroused, and Joshua calls upon Moses to forbid them. Moses however refuses to forbid them, though he refrains from commending them. "Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets," he exclaims, "and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!" We shall have occasion to return to this again.

The third Scripture is. Leviticus 16: 27: regarding what occurred on the Day of Atonement:

"And the bullock for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without the camp, and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung."

All these Scriptures throw light upon the passage we are considering. The camp was connected with a religious system on earth. A system established by God Himself. Normally it should have been His dwelling place. But apostasy, in the form of a system of idolatry, was set up, which forced God to forsake it. He did not altogether forsake His people, but He refused to go up in their midst. The Tabernacle, His dwelling place, was pitched outside.

The Epistle to the Hebrews is written because of another apostasy. According to the parable uttered by our Lord, God had sent His uniquely begotten Son, and the husbandmen, the Jews had said: "This is the heir, come let us kill Him and let us seize on His inheritance." The Messiah "suffered outside the gate." The camp order of things is set aside, and another order of things is established. This is why the apostle says, "We (disciples) have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the Tabernacle," The Tabernacle order and Christianity do not subsist together. Thus, the exhortation, "Let us go forth therefore unto Him outside the camp, bearing his reproach."

Those early followers of the Lord Messiah Jesus were called to go outside a religious system on earth [Christendom], and to feed upon the Messiah's death in a spiritual way (the altar) in his company, inside the veil, the one ripped in two at the death of Jesus, giving the followers of the Lord Messiah Jesus access to the Holy of Holies, direct access to the throne of our God and Father Yehovah!

While the camp order of Israel existed, the way into the Holy of Holies was not made manifest. What is to be set aside is foretold in John 10. It is remarkable how much the epistle to the Hebrews seems like a dissertation on our Lord's words as recorded in this chapter. We are told, "He that enters in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. To him, the porter opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leadeth them out. And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them" (vs. 2-4).

This is a parable of what really happened. The Messiah entered by his birth the Jewish fold, to bear witness and testimony about the Kingship and Kingdom of God, and those who accepted that message would become members of his body, new creations in him, his sheep. To do this, He went before them as the pioneer of their salvation, and deliverance. This He did when He "suffered without the gate [was crucified]," as Hebrews 13 states. "Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people [those who believe he was the one God had sent] with His own blood, suffered without the gate." How powerful, then, the exhortation, "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach."

There had been a witness to this truth through centuries of Jewish ritual, in the fact that the carcass of the sin offering, where the blood was brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, was burned outside the camp. The comment in Leviticus 4:12 is "unto a clean place." There was no clean place inside the camp. Man, after the flesh, however religious, will not do for God. In the carcass burnt in the ashes, outside the camp, we see the end of the flesh, and of a religious system suited to it. But the Messiah's death for sin, outside the gate, has opened the way into the Holy of Holies, God’s throne. The one speaks of distance, the other of nearness.

Thus, we can understand the force of this appeal to the Hebrews. They were called to leave the camp, to leave Judaism. They were called to an outside place on earth; but, at the same time, to know their place within the veil, the Holy of Holies, God’s throne. If identified with a rejected Messiah on earth, they knew what it meant to be identified with him before God and to draw near.

But a further question arises, and one more closely affects us. Has this exhortation any force at the present time and how does it apply to us? There can be only one answer to this question. And for this reason. The camp order of things is around us on every side today. Christendom has returned to the camp. Once more a religious system has been established on earth. Has it ever occurred to the reader that Christendom, i.e., all that is outwardly connected with the Messiah's name on earth, that which passes before men's eyes under the designation, Church; that this system possesses the features of Judaism concerning its order and services, it's ministry and ritual, far more than it is characterized by what is distinctively Christian?

What are the distinctive features of true Christianity?

1.       All believers are priests. The apostle Peter so designates them, for he says, they "are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices" (1 Peter 2: 5). But today, not only has priesthood become a caste, but we have a so-called sacrificing priesthood, more after the model of the Levitical priesthood than any other, a priesthood that professes to occupy a place between the believer and God.

2.       In connection with the new dispensation, there was to be neither temple nor any prescribed material building, because all disciples are individual temples in which the Spirit of God resides, and collectively the called-out Assembly is a temple of God. The words have just been quoted, "spiritual house", words which refer to believers, not materials such as brick and stone. (See also Hebrew 3: 6; Ephesians 2: 21, 22; 1 Corinthians 3: 9, 16). Not only are there material buildings on every side of us today, but many of them are not even Christian in their conception. A barrier is sometimes placed across one part as if it were holier than another. How wrong to pretend that a place on earth can be holier than the holiest! The proof that there has been a return to the camp is that all the sense of liberty to enter the holiest has, practically speaking, been lost. The moment the camp order of things is revived, the other can no longer be enjoyed. You cannot have the two.

3.       How little is known in Christendom today of worship in spirit and in truth. Music, ritual, ornate services, the observance of days, all these abound. But all this partakes more of Judaism than of Christianity.

4.       The truth of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, which is the greatest outstanding feature of this dispensation, is little remembered and recognized, much less acted upon. Organization and outward forms have been substituted. A living force no longer operates. The whole character 1^st century Christianity has been changed.

Thus we see the very truths that characterize Christianity, the priesthood of all believers; worship of our God and Father Yehovah in spirit and in truth; liberty to enter the Holy of Holies – God’s throne; a perfect sin-offering sacrifice once offered; the presence of the Holy Spirit, and all that flows from it, have been to a large extent lost sight of, and instead we have a visible religious system on earth, with forms and ceremonies revived, in other words, a camp.

This being the case, the words, "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing His reproach" have their application today, and not merely to a bygone age.

But it may be said, 'Are there not many good people in these systems, and gifted servants of the Messiah, who are far beyond the systems they are in?' Yes. And this is where the lesson in Numbers 11 comes in. Eldad and Medad were gifted, and no doubt in themselves good men, they were numbered amongst the seventy. They seem to have prophesied equally with the rest, "and the Spirit rested upon them." Nevertheless, they were in the wrong place. And the indignation of Joshua was not altogether unjustified, though Moses declined to act upon his advice. There can be no doubt that outside the camp, and round about the Tabernacle, was the right place, and although Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp in due course, which was a necessity, God did not return, and neither did the Tabernacle.

Yes, this solemn exhortation applies as much to us today as to the Hebrew Christians. What will enable us to respond?

First, an apprehension of the greatness and worthiness of him who suffered without the gate for us. We are called to go forth "unto him." It is to a Person, and not merely to some doctrine or rite or system.

How great He is we learn from one statement concerning him in the very chapter we are considering, "Jesus the Messiah (is) the same yesterday, and today, and forever." What was he yesterday? God's Son, because of whom He made the worlds. Heir of all things. The brightness of God's glory and the expressed image of His being. (See chapter 1).

What He was yesterday, He is today. And He is forever. For today he sits at God's right hand, our Intercessor and Advocate, the revealer of the Father, and the leader of our worship. And "forever" he is the same as to the glory of his Person, the efficacy of his work, and the fullness and unchangeableness of his love.

Is He not sufficient for us? Shall we fear to go forth to such a One? Can we lack anything or fear anything in such a company?

Second. Not only is there all the glory of his person but there is also the attractiveness of his grace. "It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace," vs. 9 tells us. This is contrasted with "divers and strange doctrines" on the one hand, and "meats" on the other; neither of which can profit, for the one appeals only to the intellect, and the other to the senses. Rationalism and ritualism are both insufficient. Grace alone touches the heart and satisfies.

It is the attractive power of grace which draws us to the Messiah, outside all religious systems. For he is outside such systems, as Revelation 3: 20 clearly indicates. And this accounts for all the darkness and uncertainty in Christendom today. The Messiah is not in the midst, he has taken an outside place and we with him.

The grace that draws us to himself is seen in all its attraction in the place he took on our account. At his resurrection God made him Lord over all His creation [only Himself excluded], so he is now above all, and entitled to all, and who possesses all as the Son of God who, "suffered without the gate." If this does not attract us to him, what can?

Well, may the writer to the Hebrews say, "We have an altar." We eat of the sacrifice and are partakers of the altar. We find "pasture." The perfection of the Messiah, and the love of his heart, is our food. A love displayed in death; a goodness that never fails; is what we feed upon. And as we feed, we shall be prepared to leave all and to follow him "without the camp."