LET US GO FORTH, WITHOUT THE CAMP.
Hebrews 13: 9-14 Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by Grace; not by meats (worldly lusts ), wherein they that occupied themselves were not profited. We have an altar (the cross of Christ's sacrifice), whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose body is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned without (outside) the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered without the gate (was crucified outside the city). Let us therefore go forth unto Him without the camp (Jerusalem, as the place of the camp while in the wilderness), bearing His reproach. For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city (that which is veiled the eternal city or bride, New Jerusalem, the home and Throne of God) which Is to come.
Continuing on in the SECOND HALF- PRACTICAL.
Hebrews Chapters 10:19 - 13:25
Of a Life in the Power of the Great Salvation.
Now in the Last and TWELFTH SECTION
Hebrews 13:1-25
Love and Good Works.
BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY
Among the Hebrew Christians many still clung to the temple and its ritual. And there were among them teachers who inculcated obedience to the Levitical Laws in regard to food and to eating of the sacrifices as necessary. The writer Warns against these as now being strange teachings. For it is good that the heart be established by Grace, not by meats (the external and material world, the former priesthood with its rites and rituals emphasis added ). No outward observances can sustain the inner life: it is by Grace alone, Grace that comes from the Throne of Grace, that the heart must be established. Let us have this Grace, we read, whereby we may offer service well- pleasing to God. All that Christ has and gives and works in us by the Holy Spirit and the power of His Blood,--- this is the Grace by which the heart can be confirmed, and kept from falling.
The Hebrew Christian must not think of returning to fellowship with the old sacrifices. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. Our altar is the cross: the Levitical priesthood does not share in what it gives; the old and the New worship are utterly different. The old priesthood has no part in the sacrifice of the cross: the New worship no part in the old sacrifices of requirement under the Levitical Laws and ordinances of men. What is more, even the sin-offering, of which the blood was brought into the Holy Place by the High Priest, was--- not eaten, but--- burnt without the camp. It is not a question of eating, but of understanding what this means, the burning of the body without the camp. This we shall see in Jesus. The sin-offering, if you understand it aright, will lead you to separation and rejection. Wherefore Jesus, that He might Sanctify the people through His own Blood, suffered without the gate. He was cast out of the city, as one who was indeed made sin for us. Let us therefore go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. We now belong to Jesus, and fear not the rejection of those who rejected Him. For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after the city which is to come.
Without the camp. This expression, which occurs three times, gives us the chief thought "IF" We are ever inclined to seek our religion and its enjoyment in something external, this is never to be so. And it is only to be found in full fellowship with Jesus. His death is not only an atonement for our sins--- it is that, praise God!--- but only as an entrance into what is a great deal more and far better. It is the Way and the power, a Living Way of intercourse with Him, so that like Him we come to God in the path of self-sacrifice and separation from the world and death to sin. His death and life work in us is the power that makes us ready and able, even like Him, to go without the gate, to be crucified to the world, bearing His reproach.
To understand this aright, let us look at the two distinguishing features of the sin-offering on the day of atonement. The blood was brought into the Holy Place; the body was burnt outside the camp. Even so Christ's Blood was brought into Heaven, and is the power of our entrance and our abode there: the sign that that is our place. And the call comes: Let us draw near, let us enter. But Christ's body was brought outside the camp: the sign that that is our place too. Heaven has received Him and us in Him: we belong there. The world has cast Him outside the camp, and us with Him: we belong there. In heaven we share His honor; on earth His reproach. Let us therefore go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
The camp was not Rome with its heathenism, but is Jerusalem with its religion and its revelation from God rejected. There Jesus was rejected of the Jews, because He condemned their self-righteousness and formality. It is not the irreligious but the religious world from which we must go out--- that is, from everything that is not in harmony with His cross and its spirit of self-sacrifice. Let us go forth: not from one religious connection to another, which in time proves to have as much of the spirit of the camp. No, let us go forth to Him! to closer intercourse, to more entire conformity to Him the Cross-bearer, to His meek and patient and Loving Spirit. Let us not cast our reproach on those we leave behind, but let us bear--- His reproach.
Let US go forth. In the summing up of this Epistle (chapter 10) it was, Let us draw near, let us enter in; here it is, Let us go forth. The two words gather up all the teaching of this Epistle all the need of the true Christian life. There are two places appointed for the believer in the power of Christ's Redemption--- within the veil, to worship; without the gate, to witness. In both places he can count upon Christ to keep him. The deeper he enters into the Spirit of the one, the more will he realize of the other. The deeper he enters within the veil, the more will he feel with drawn from the spirit of the camp (the world ) and the party. And the more he goes forth to Him, bearing His reproach, the more will he find access through Him to enter in into His Glory. In both places the boldness of which this Epistle has spoken so much will be found: the boldness in God's presence to claim Christ and be one with Him; the boldness in the presence of the world to witness for Christ as one with Him. Let us therefore go forth to Him.
1. Separated from the world, separated unto God--- the negative and the positive side of the true Christian life; Inseparably and most blessedly joined to each other. If we die with Him we shall also live with Him.
2. There is perhaps no greater need in our day than that God should open the eyes of His people to the solemn Truth that the so-called Christian world is the very same world that rejected Christ. We are to bear to it the same relation He did.
3. Christ the rejected One, Christ the Glorified One: the disciples were not fit to testify of Him till the Holy Spirit from Heaven had revealed Him in their hearts. Much less can we, who have never seen Him, Know Him in Truth and power without the Holy Spirit, in the same Pentecostal fulness of life, revealing Him within us.
My Comrades in Redemption! This life is for you and me. May THE BLOOD BE ALL OUR GLORY, not only at the Cross with its awful wonders, but also at the Throne. Let us plunge deep, and ever deeper, into the Living fountain of the Blood of the Lamb. Let us open wide our hearts, and ever wider, for its operation. Let us firmly, and ever more firmly, believe in the ceaseless CLEANSING by which the Great Eternal Priest Himself will apply that Blood to us. Let us pray with burning, and ever more burning, desire that nothing, yes, nothing, may be in our heart that does not experience the power of the Blood. Let us unite joyfully, and ever more joyfully, in the song of the great multitude, who Know of nothing so glorious as this---" You have redeemed us to God, by Your Blood." quoted from Andrew Murray as well...
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