Brother Kenneth Yoder
Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. 14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
I want to speak on the subject of being "outside the camp." In verse 12 we read that Jesus suffered without the gate. Jesus was crucified outside the city gates of Jerusalem. The Apostle John refers to this fact in his gospel John 19:19-20: "And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin."
Verse 20 records that the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. This lets us know that it was near the city, yet outside the city. It was to this fact that the Hebrew writer was referring, Jesus' crucifixion, having taken place outside the city, was regarded by the Hebrew writer as an expression of Jesus' rejection by the Jews. His purpose in referring to the fact that
Jesus died outside the city of Jerusalem was to signify that Christ was rejected by Judaism. The city stood for Judaism.
Rejection is a very difficult thing. Jesus' rejection was especially bitter because it came from His own people. John wrote in John 1:11, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not." The Hebrew writer, in reminding them that Christ was crucified outside the gate of Jerusalem, was underlining the fact that Christ was rejected by His own people.
Let us read Hebrews 13:13 again, "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach." The Hebrew writer is continuing the same thought, Christ's rejection by Judaism. He changed the terminology from " the city" in verse 12 to "the camp" in verse 13, but he is talking about the same thing.
The book of Hebrews was written to Hebrew Christians. The writer was exhorting them to leave Judaism, to go outside the camp, because Jesus had been rejected by the city of Jerusalem, or the camp of Israel. Since He is on the outside, they must be willing to identify with Him outside of Judaism.
This is also a call to suffer the same rejection that Jesus has suffered. The people of God must be willing to suffer His reproach and shame. There was a price to be paid in breaking away from Judaism, in leaving the camp. That price was bearing the reproach necessarily involved in being on the outside of the camp. These Hebrew Christians identified the camp of Israel with God's people. They were one and the same in their mind; therefore, to be outside of that camp was to be out of fellowship with the people of God.
The word "camp" is an Old Testament expression meaning the camp of Israel. In the book of Exodus, "camp" referred to the camp of the people of Israel during their journey from Egypt to Canaan. This expression is also used in the New Testament to identify the people of God, as in Revelation 20:8-9, where the forces of Gog and Magog surrounded the "camp of the saints." The camp of Israel was considered holy ground and the area outside the camp was unholy ground; consequently to be outside the camp rendered a man unclean and excluded him from fellowship with God's people. A ceremonial cleansing was required to return to the camp from the outside (see Leviticus 16:26 & 28).
To be outside the camp meant to be outside the accepted established religious camp of that day, to be outside the institution that represented God. The earthly institution, Judaism, represented the embodiment of the worship of God. These people were accustomed to thinking of the camp as a sacred place, and being outside the camp was regarded as unholy and unclean.
Consider further in Leviticus 24:14-16, blasphemers were taken outside the camp and stoned to death. Also in Numbers 15:35, Sabbath breakers suffered the same fate. Lepers and others with certain types of contagious diseases were put outside the camp. Miriam is an example of this (Numbers 12:14), where God said to put her outside the camp for seven days.
I'm trying to help you understand that the camp was deemed a sacred and holy place. To call people to go outside the camp would seem very strange, especially to these Hebrew Christians. There has always been an established and accepted religious camp, and to be on the outside of this brings reproach. Most people are afraid of being on the outside of the camp because they feel as if their salvation is bound up with being inside the camp.
The command to go outside the camp not only seemed strange, but contradictory. Actually, in the original intent of this letter, it was a summons to the Hebrew Christians to make a definite break with Judaism. It was a summons to make a definite break with the old institution, the established religious camp, the place that was sacred to them in their religious experience.
To those people, as well as to us today, when this summons comes it is a very difficult call to obey. These are some of the reasons the Hebrew Christians were so tempted to remain in or return to Judaism. This command was difficult because it was a command to go outside the "sacred" camp, to leave that which was ONCE associated with God. It was associated with God, not only in their minds, but in reality. The Jewish people had been God's chosen people. The revelation of God to the world came through them, and it was this camp that they were being called out of. "Let us go forth" meant to leave the city, go outside the camp, and go unto Him, meaning unto Jesus. "Let us go forth unto Him [Jesus] without the camp," This camp was not the city of Rome, but the city of Jerusalem. By that, I mean it was not a call to leave heathenism, or what we would call the sinful world. It was a call, my friend, to leave the established religious institution which was once associated with God.
The call to go outside the camp was because Jesus Himself had been expelled and rejected. It is possible for an institution which was so associated with God and had such reverence for God to reject and expel the Son of God. Jesus was expelled from that which was formerly sacred and holy, the camp of Israel. Since He was expelled from it, these Hebrew Christians were to go out to Him. Wherever Jesus is, is where you and I are to follow. Saints follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth {Revelation 14:4).
The reason men must be summoned to leave is because we have a tendency to stay. People are inclined to stay in the camp and continue to seek God within the institution that they are familiar with, even after Jesus has been ousted. The reason it was so difficult for those Hebrew Christians to leave the camp, as well as for us today, is because it is always difficult to exchange the security of the familiar and associate ourselves with a new adventure outside the camp. Most folks want the security that is offered by the established, familiar, and long-standing institution.
In the first century, Christianity looked as if it was not going to get off the ground. It was an outlawed religion. It sometimes cost them their lives, particularly at the time this letter was written. The book of Hebrews speaks of these people's homes being looted. There was intense suffering involved in being a Christian. On the other hand, Judaism was an accepted religion in that day and time, while Christianity was frowned upon, and frowned upon is putting it mildly. To be called to leave this thousands-of-years institution, to be summoned to leave the security it offered and cast their lot among the Christians in that day and time was a difficult command for them to respond to.
Most of us are inclined to stay in the camp because it is a familiar place. It provides security and feels like home. There is greater opportunity for service and financial security for the preacher, much more so than going outside the camp. This is true because of the rejection and scorn that is inevitably associated with those who make a move outside the camp to worship God. Because of this rejection and scorn necessarily involved in leaving, most folks will not make such a move. Why be a fool and exchange the security afforded you in the camp for the unknown outside the camp? Why not just go along? This type of reasoning convinces almost everyone to stay. These are some of the temptations those Hebrew Christians faced and also the ones we face today.
This is not an isolated incident or situation, because time and time again in the history, of the church a similar call has come to God's people; "Go forth outside the camp unto Him." John Wesley and George Whitefield went to the fields to preach, not because they sought some new novel of preaching, but because the established camp would not let them preach. They went to the coal fields of England and preached to those miners early in the morning before they went to work. They had to preach and worship outside the established camp.
The camp then was the Church of England. That was the established, recognized camp in England. Wesley visited the church where his father had pastored and where his father was buried in the adjoining church cemetery; they refused to let him preach. It was his boyhood home congregation. John Wesley went outside and stood on his father's tomb and preached to the people from there. Almost every revival in the history of the church occurred outside the camp.
A few years later, Methodism itself became an established religious camp. William Booth had to go outside that camp (the Methodist Church) to fulfill his divine call.
Charles Finney was a member of the Presbyterian Church, but he was forced to labor outside the camp.
D. L. Moody was never ordained. He lived and died a lay-preacher. He was outside the camp of denominationalism.
What then does it mean to go forth unto Him? Jesus was already on the outside, already rejected. The Hebrew writer was saying that you must go where He is. Friend, there are institutions that once were spiritual, but Christ is no longer welcomed. Christ is no longer the head of their church. No longer is His Word obeyed, nor is His Spirit followed. When Christ is outside, we must go to Him there. The Hebrew writer is saying that the camp of Israel has rejected Jesus, so you have to go without the camp. That is tragic, isn't it? But some of us are once again faced with this very situation.
We need to find out where the Lord is and go there. Are we ready to go outside the camp if necessary and bear the reproach that is involved? We should not fear rejection by those who already have put Jesus outside their camp. It is better to suffer their rejection and be put outside the camp than to risk separation from fellowship with God by staying in. A personal relationship with God is more important than any earthly fellowship.
Let us read Hebrews 13:14 again, "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." God's people will never find a permanent home in any movement, in any institution, or any particular church in this time world. We have no continuing city.
Every generation has had to respond to the call to leave the camp. If you doubt that statement, I challenge you to read church history. I have already given you a little history about Wesley, Whitefield, Booth and Finney. I could enlarge that list greatly. Most of the great revivals and moves of God occurred outside the camp. Most of them were outside the accepted institutions of their day. The saints, I say again, will never find a permanent home in any movement.
I was once in a certain movement, and I watched men go down spiritually because of their loyalty to that movement. That movement certainly had been associated with God. God's presence and power had been manifested among them at one time. Because it was associated with God in the past, it became a "sacred camp" to many people.
Some brethren told me that they were going to stay with the body (the church). What they meant was that they were going to stay in the movement. My answer to them was that I was going to go with the Head, What I meant was that where Jesus is, that is where I am going to be. I still feel the same today.
I repeat, we have no continuing city. The people of God will not find a permanent home in any church or movement, because these all will in time deteriorate. I don't believe our supreme loyalty should be given to any institution or movement, but to principles of truth. When the established camp leaves these principles of truth, then we should be willing to leave them.
History is littered with once powerful churches and movements. The power of God to save and cleanse was once manifested in these movements. They were powerful centers of evangelism, of revivalism and spiritual life. When they deteriorate to the point that they become destitute of spiritual life and power, then the call of God is to go forth out of the camp unto Jesus. .:
When God was rejected by the camp of Israel, then God manifested His presence to Moses outside the camp. We read in Exodus 33:7-11: "And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp. And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle.
"And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle."
This incident took place after the idolatrous worship of the golden calf. God was rejected and the camp defiled by this act of idol worship; therefore Moses pitched a tent outside the camp in which he sought God.
This tabernacle is not the sanctuary of the tabernacle because it was not built at that time. The sanctuary of the tabernacle was in the very center of the camp, and there were three tribes of Israel on each side of that tabernacle. The word "tabernacle" carries a misleading connotation in our minds. The word "tabernacle" in this text simply means a tent. Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, and God met him in that tent outside the camp. This tent was pitched so Moses could meet with the Lord. In fact, everyone who sought the Lord went out unto this tent, which was without the camp. The camp can become defiled so that if you are going to seek God, you must go outside the camp. When Moses pitched his tent outside the camp, God met him there and talked to him face to face.
There is a lesson in this for us today. Whenever God, His Word, His Spirit, or His Son Jesus has been rejected by the camp, then His presence and fellowship can be enjoyed outside the camp.
Worshipping God outside the camp involves a definite break with the past. Separation from the camp involves a difficult obedience, a depth of consecration and a depth of trust that most folks do not have. When Jesus can no longer be found within, when God can no longer be worshipped in Spirit within the camp, then it is time to go unto Him outside the camp.
It may sound strange and contradictory to be called outside the camp, because the camp represents everything sacred to us. All that we associate with God is in the camp, and to hear a call to go outside seems contradictory, but sometimes it is necessary.
One last thought: most stay within the camp because of a felt security, but history shows that the future often lies with those outside the camp.