In Hebrews 13, Christ is presented as the One who remains the same.
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes, even forever.” We should remember that the writer of the book of Hebrews spoke this word after Christ ascended to the heavens. Before His ascension He underwent changes; that is, He passed through processes. In eternity past, Christ was only the Son of God, not the Son of Man. He did not have humanity, the flesh. However, in His incarnation Christ underwent a change, picking up humanity and putting the flesh upon Himself (John 1:1, 14). Christ then passed through death and entered into resurrection. In resurrection He, as the last Adam, was transfigured into the life-giving Spirit. Thus, He changed to become that which had not been—the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). After passing through all His processes, including incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, Christ, the embodiment of God, is now processed and consummated. For Jesus Christ to remain the same yesterday, today, and forever does not mean that Christ remains unprocessed from eternity past, through time, and into eternity future. Rather, by passing through the processes, Christ underwent many changes. Yet since He went through and completed the processes, He is now processed and consummated, possessing divinity, humanity, human living, the all-inclusive crucifixion, the all-surpassing resurrection, and the all-transcending ascension. As the Christ who has been processed and consummated, He remains the same and will remain the same forever.
Christ, who is the word that the ministers of the word of God in Hebrews 13:7 preached and taught, who is the life that they lived, and who is the Author and Perfecter of their faith, is perpetual, unchangeable, and unchanging. He remains the same forever (1:11-12). There must not be another Jesus and another gospel preached in the church (2 Cor. 11:4; Gal. 1:8-9). For a true and steadfast church life, we must hold on to the Christ who is the same yesterday and today, and even forever, and we must not be carried away by various strange teachings (Heb. 13:9).
Hebrews 13:12 says, “Therefore also Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” The expression the gate is the gate of the city of Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus was crucified in Golgotha, which is outside the city of Jerusalem (John 19:17-20). The people of God rejected Him, the sent One of God. Even though He is the Son of God, the children of Israel had Him crucified outside the city. Christ’s body was carried outside the gate. There He suffered death so that He might sanctify the people through His own blood.
Christ’s body suffered the death of the cross outside the gate, and His blood was brought into the Holy of Holies for our sanctification (Heb. 13:11-12). The book of Hebrews unveils to us that God’s heavenly calling is to make us a holy people (3:1), a people sanctified unto God. Christ is the Sanctifier (2:11). He suffered death on the cross, shedding His blood, and entered the Holy of Holies with His blood (9:12) that by the heavenly ministry (8:2, 6) of His heavenly priesthood (7:26) He might be able to do a sanctifying work and that we might enter within the veil by His blood to participate in Him as the heavenly Sanctifier. By participating in Him in this way, we are enabled to follow Him outside the camp on the sanctifying pathway of the cross.
The Lord’s blood, through which He entered into the Holy of Holies (9:12), opened the new and living way, enabling us to enter within the veil to enjoy Him in the heavens as the glorified One (10:19-20). His body, which was sacrificed for us on the cross, cut the narrow way of the cross, enabling us to go outside the camp to follow Him on earth as the suffering One (13:13).
Hebrews 13:11-12 tells us that Jesus as the sin offering suffered outside the gate: “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the Holy of Holies for sin by the high priest are burned up outside the camp. Therefore also Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” Since Jesus suffered outside the gate, those of us who enjoy Him as the sin offering must also be outside the gate. We must follow Him outside of the world and any religious camp. We must be outside of any religious organization and any kind of worldly organization. Christ was judged there, and that is also our place. The more we are outside the gate, the more we are in the place where Jesus was “burned to ashes.” Then we can truly enjoy Him and praise Him for the blood and the ashes. We are on the same standing as the ashes. We are the followers of Christ, who have left the camp. We are not in any kind of worldly or religious organization. The redeeming Jesus has led us out of all these things. Now all we see is the blood and the ashes. Those who follow Jesus out of the camp also become ashes. We are nothing but ashes following Jesus. This is the full enjoyment of Christ as the sin offering.