Without The Camp With Christ
"For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach." Hebrews 13:11-13
There are many who take great pride in being “without the camp,” after a fashion. But that is all that can be said of them. They are “without the camp” in exactly the same sense that one might say a Mormon, a Russellite, or a Hindu is without the camp. They seem to think that godliness and gossip, holiness and haughtiness, separation and isolation are all synonyms. They think that meanness and meekness is the same thing. Merely being “without the camp,” is meaningless. We must be found “without the camp;” but we must be found “without the camp” with Christ. That is the instruction of Hebrews 13:11-13.
As the Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily identified himself with us, bearing our reproach for the salvation of our souls, let us ever go forth unto him, bearing his reproach for the glory of God.
First, the apostle Paul points us once more to typical sacrifices of the Old Testament offered unto God on the day of atonement. The opening word of verse 11, “For,” refers us back to verse 10. There, Paul spoke of Christ our Altar, that Altar which we have in heaven, by whom we come to God. Here he speaks of the sacrifices offered on that old, carnal altar. As that altar was typical of the true Altar, all those sacrifices were typical of Christ, our one, great, sin-atoning Sacrifice.
The bodies of those animals, which were sacrificed year after year as sin-offerings for the priests and the people of Israel, were completely burnt without the camp of Israel. “Without the camp” was the place of uncleanness, the place of God’s curse, and the dwelling-place of lepers.
The sacrifice was carefully chosen, precisely according to the rigid requirements of the law. The sins of the people were imputed to the innocent victim. The blood was carried by the priest into the holy of holies and sprinkled upon the mercy-seat. And the body of the slain sacrifice was burned without the camp, symbolizing the wrath of God against the cursed thing.
"Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate" (v. 12). Here, the Holy Spirit shows us the parallel between the burning of those sacrifices on the day of atonement in the Old Testament and the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, our sin-atoning sacrifice, for us. In order to fulfill the type, the Lord Jesus who came to save his people from their sins, that he might sanctify and save us with his own blood, suffered all the horrid wrath of God for us, as our Substitute, as our sin-atoning Sacrifice to God “without the gate,” out in the place of uncleanness, the place of God’s curse, where lepers dwelt.
In order to redeem and save his people from their sins, it was necessary for the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to suffer all the horrid terror of God’s holy law, inflexible justice, and infinite wrath against us. In order to redeem and save his chosen people, the Son of God had to suffer all the consequences of our sins to the full satisfaction of divine justice as our Substitute
“Much we talk of Jesus’ blood, but how little’s understood!
Of His sufferings so intense angels have no perfect sense.
Who can rightly comprehend their beginning or their end?
`Tis to God and God alone that their weight is fully known.
See the suffering Son of God — Panting, groaning, sweating blood!
Boundless depths of love divine! Jesus, what a love was Thine!”
Our sins were imputed to the Son of God! That fact in itself is overwhelming. But I am certain that there is more to the sufferings of our Lord for us than the mere legal, or forensic term “imputation” implies. His heart was not broken simply because he was made to be legally responsible for the debt of our sins. Our sins were not pasted on him, or merely placed to his account. The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Darling, our all-glorious Savior, was “made to be sin for us!”
"Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach" (v. 13). — Since the Lord Jesus Christ so willingly bore our reproach and suffered the wrath of God for us, let us go forth unto him without the camp bearing his reproach. Let us ever “glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). Though the offense of the cross is ever increasing, let us never flinch to bear the offense of Christ and his gospel, and do it with patience, counting it our great honor to bear his reproach (1 Pet. 2:21 4:12-19). Is anything too much for us to suffer for Christ? Is any sacrifice too great for us to make for him? Is any devotion to the Son of God extreme?
Don Fortner