What Is the Camp?
James Buchanan Dunlop
Table of Contents
What Is the Camp?
Hebrews 13:12-13
In this last chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, the Spirit of God, speaking of the fact that “the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp,” goes on to say, “Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify [set apart] the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. 13:12-13).
Many are at a loss to know what is referred to by the term “camp,” yet it is very important to understand it, because those who love the Lord Jesus Christ are exhorted to go forth from it unto Him.
In order to learn what is meant then (as is our duty to do) by this expression, we should first of all find out to whom the epistle is primarily and especially addressed, and with God’s blessing it will soon be made plain.
The epistle to the Hebrews was written to professedly converted Jews who had been born and trained up under the law given by God to Israel at Mount Sinai when in camp in the wilderness. Then and there a system of worship was ordained of God for this nation in the flesh, which was perfect in its place, but which did not suppose or require that the worshipers should be born again, and under which system they as a nation utterly failed.
Next we must get clear as to what the Spirit of God called “the camp,” at the time the Apostle wrote the above exhortation. The ninth chapter tells us that there were ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary, consisting of a tabernacle made with men’s hands, and pitched on earth, which was their place of worship. They also had an ordained priesthood. Men of a certain family were set apart to come between the worshipers and God, of whom Aaron was the high priest. And this man was the minister of this sanctuary, without whom the worshipers could not worship..
This high priest offered up an atonement for these peoples’ sins once every year, besides the other sacrifices that were offered up continually; and as already noticed, these worshipers were not required to be a converted people (though some of them were so), but were a company of believers and unbelievers mingled together, all of them on the ground of law-keeping for righteousness.
Now this system embraced as worshipers all the nation of Israel then in camp. At the time the Apostle wrote, this nation had become settled in the land, and their worship centered in the temple at Jerusalem. The Spirit of God calls this “the camp,” out of which the “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,” were to go forth.
I learn then that Judaism, or this system of worship in the flesh, was in Paul’s day “the camp.” And, dear Christian reader, is it not clear at a glance that any system of worship of a Jewish nature and character, and in consequence a system that the flesh and sight (the world in fact) can more or less join in, is the camp in our day? We know, as revealed by the Son of God Himself, that “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth,” a thing impossible for the flesh to do. It requires men to be born of the Spirit and sealed with the Spirit. In John 4:21 our Lord says, “Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” The time had come when places of worship on earth, mountains, and temples made with hands, should be done away with. Men in the flesh had been thoroughly tested and proved to be utterly incapable of obeying God’s law, or worshiping Him either; and now a new order of things comes in: men born of the Spirit, indwelt by the Spirit, worshiping in spirit and in truth, not in a temple or tabernacle on earth, but in the holiest, that is, heaven itself (the only worshiping place now) having boldness to enter there by the blood of Jesus.
Therefore, if any system of worship exists now which has a worldly sanctuary, a temple made with hands, with an ordained priesthood or class of men set apart to take a special place between the worshipers and God, without whom they cannot worship, where the worshipers are a mixture of converted and unconverted people under law, that is, must be, indeed, “the camp.” It is Judaism in its nature and character as a system of worship, though there may be some real Christians in it, and the gospel be still preached more or less faithfully by some in it, too.
It is the Holy Spirit, it is God-speaking, who says through the Apostle to any of His dear children who are in any kind of system such as this, “Let us go forth therefore unto Him [Christ] without the camp, bearing His reproach.”
“But,” say some, “why not stay inside and do the good you can where you are?” Because, “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22). Because God will not have Christianity and Judaism mixed up together, the new wine in the old bottles. Because God will not have the world and the Church unequally yoked together (2 Cor. 6). Because Jesus Christ has come a High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. He has been cast out by worshipers in the flesh (Jewish worshipers), and suffered outside the gate on Calvary, proving that worship in the flesh is not a real thing; for if they had loved God, they would have reverenced His Son. Though these worshipers in the flesh could point out in the Scriptures where Christ was to be born, to the wise men of the east, not one foot did they go to find Him, but were troubled and distressed at the very thought of His having come.
Now, risen from the dead, He has entered into the holy place made without hands, even into heaven itself, not with the blood of bulls and goats, “but by His own blood,” “having obtained [not redemption for a year only, but] eternal redemption for us.” Heb. 9:12. So now the Man in the glory, the God-man, is our minister,” a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Heb. 8:1-2; 9:11-12,24.)
What Is the Camp?
Though it is true that God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, He has more highly honored us in these last days; He has spoken unto us by His Son (Heb. 1:1-2).Here the Spirit of God puts God’s Son above and before all other prophets.
Again, though true that Moses was the Apostle (and was faithful in all his house as a servant), and Aaron was God’s called and chosen high priest for this nation of worshipers in the flesh (Israel) we Christians are to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, thus exalting Christ above and before Moses and Aaron (Heb. 1:1-2; 3:1-6). Under the law, it was commanded and instituted by God Himself that sacrifices of bulls and goats should be offered-a shadow of better things to come. But now, Christ has offered Himself, and has risen and gone in and presented His own blood to God for us, having thus by one offering perfected forever them that are sanctified (Heb. 10). Thus Christ’s sacrifice is put above, and in the place of, all these other sacrifices which could never take away sins. The substance has come and taken the place of the shadows.
Furthermore, though perfectly true that God told Moses to make the tabernacle, and Solomon the temple, for a place of worship on earth under the law, now He has opened heaven to us, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; heaven itself taking the place of the tabernacle, and temple at Jerusalem, as the Christian’s worshiping place, which we enter by faith and in spirit (Heb. 8:1-2; 9:24).
Then though God made a covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, giving them the law, a covenant of works, they failed under it; and the Christian is not under law, but under grace, Christ having delivered us from the law and its curse, being made a curse for us, and “I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” (Gal. 2:19; Heb. 8:9-13.)
Then, it was true that unconverted as well as converted were in the congregation of worshipers under the law; now, He who is a Spirit, and must have worship in spirit and in truth, is seeking such to worship Him. Who can do so? Those, and those only who, converted and sealed by the Spirit of God, have the power and heart for it. In short, Christ and Christianity have taken the place of, and are a direct contrast to, the law and Judaism; and God will not allow us to mix the two, or rather, I should have said, try to do so. So the word is, “Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.”
Now my reader must take notice that this is not a question of salvation. It is not that souls insidethe camp are not saved. Indeed, it is the saved ones inside that are called upon to go outside (and no doubt many souls are being saved where the gospel is truly preached inside); but it is a question of obedience, and of worshiping God according to the principles of Christianity, surely a very important thing in the eyes of those who love the Lord Jesus.
When the epistle to the Hebrews was written, there were many thousands of Jews that believed, and they were all zealous of the law, as the Apostle James witnessed. (See Acts 11:21.) If we compare dates, we shall find that God in longsuffering goodness and mercy allowed the believing Jews to remain in “the camp” for perhaps thirty years after Pentecost. And so Christianity and Judaism were going on together for some years. (See Acts 2:46-47; 21:20-25.) But God had not told them to leave it as yet. However, after Paul had gone to Jerusalem and, persuaded by James, had gone to the temple worship again to please the many thousands of Jews that believe, nearly losing his life at the hands of the unbelieving portion of Jewish worshipers, he was sent a prisoner to Rome, and judging from the dates, from there probably wrote this very epistle. The Spirit of God used the Apostle to call on the Christians in Judaism, the apostle James and all, to separate from the camp altogether, the time having come when God would no longer allow the two to go on, or appear to go on, together.
It was very trying for one brought up as a Jew in Paul’s day’ to obey this call, and so it is to us now in these days. But if we love Him who gave Himself for us, the way to show our love to Him is to obey His commandments and His words. (See John 14:21, 23). And if there is reproach promised us on obedience, let us not forget that it is His reproach. He has Himself endured far worse than any of us ever did or ever will have to endure; and His love and His power are with us and for us, to carry us through, yes, even to enable us to rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for His sake.
But we are to “go forth unto Him without the camp.” Where, outside the camp, shall I find Him, and in what special way is He to be found there? Christian brother or sister, there is a special place outside the camp where the Lord vouchsafes to be, and to manifest Himself in a very special and peculiar manner to faith; it is “where two or three are gathered together unto [Greek] MY name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). The place then is where two or three, or twenty or thirty, or two or three hundred, gather together unto His name; and the special way and manner He vouchsafes to manifest Himself there to faith is not to be described in words. It is to be felt and enjoyed by those who believe and obey His words. His actual presence (but not of course bodily) is in the midst. Oh, that all His dear people believed it!
I would add that this does not do away with ministry – divinely appointed ministry – in the Church of God. There is a ministry; there are gifts given unto men; there are evangelists, pastors, and teachers “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of [not a sect, but] the body of Christ.” Eph. 4:11, 12. But these gifts are not given to lead Christians in worship. They are as the members of one’s own natural body, for the use of the whole body; but the Head alone is He to whom all are to look, to lead and guide, especially in worship. And it is Christ who is the Head of His body, the Church, of which all true Christians are members (1 Cor. 12:12). He really does lead by His Spirit where He is owned as present and looked to as in the midst, and given His proper place, the place that only He has a right to, or is qualified to fill.
He, who places the members of the body in it as it pleases Him, uses evangelists, pastors, and teachers, when and where He chooses to do so, they looking to Him for guidance where to go, and where and how long to remain, to whom they are alone responsible for the use of their gift or gifts.
But in worship we come together not to hear a gospel address, not to be taught by a teacher, not to be exhorted by a pastor, but to give, as led of the Lord in the midst by His Spirit, praise, adoration, and thanksgiving to our God and Father, or it may be to the Lord Jesus Himself- something that requires no special gift in anyone, but something which every true Christian walking with God is capacitated to give, and which God alone is worthy to receive; that is, worship.
It could be that one, two, or three simple but true-hearted souls might each in turn be led in plain and unadorned words to be the mouthpiece of all the Christians present. They will do so, not because more fitted or more gifted or because called upon by any one to do so, but simply because led by His Spirit. We are to look to and own as our Head, our High Priest, our minister of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him our songs and words of praise ascend as acceptable unto God.
And this system of spiritual worship will never be done away with. It has begun on earth, and as hindered by these bodies of humiliation, it is never what it should be or will be. When we get the redemption of our bodies-when no longer “through a glass darkly, but then face to face,” knowing as we are known; when no longer scattered and divided and mixed up with the world, as many are, in worship, etc.; when all Christ’s blood-bought ones are gathered around Himself in glory, then shall the worship begun on earth continue on in glory forever, and be fully what it ought to be.
“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts .... For who hath despised the day of small things?” (Zech. 4:6,10).
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