Hebrews 13:13 indicates that the believers are to go outside the camp to follow Jesus: “Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” In the book of Hebrews and in typology, the camp signifies the organization of religion, which is human and earthly. To go outside the camp means to go outside the human organization of religion. While the camp signifies human organization, the city signifies the earthly realm (v. 14). In the book of Hebrews, both the gate (v. 12) and the camp signify the Jewish religion with its earthly and human aspects. Judaism is both earthly and human. Every religion is both a human organization and an earthly realm that keeps people away from God’s New Testament economy. Any religion that rejects the Lord—Judaism, Catholicism, or Protestantism—is a camp, a human organization, given up by the Lord.
The book of Hebrews instructs and charges us to come forward to the Holy of Holies and to enter within the veil. A new and living way into the Holy of Holies has been initiated. Hence, this book ushers us into the Holy of Holies and then directs us to go outside the camp. Everyone who has gone outside the camp has experienced what is within the veil. No one goes outside the camp and then enters within the veil. Only the Lord Jesus went outside the camp and then entered within the veil. It is exactly the opposite with us; we enter into the Holy of Holies, where we are strengthened and encouraged, and then we go outside the camp, leaving the religious organizations. The more we enter within the veil, the more we go outside the camp.
Enter within the veil and go outside the camp are important and very meaningful phrases in the book of Hebrews. On the one hand, we enjoy Christ within the veil; on the other hand, we follow Jesus outside the camp. The goal and ultimate consummation of this book is that we would all enter within the veil and go outside the camp.
Hebrews 13:13 indicates that we are to go forth unto Jesus outside the camp, bearing His reproach. To enter within the veil is to enter the Holy of Holies where the Lord is enthroned in glory; to go outside the camp is to come out of religion where the Lord was cast out in rejection. This signifies that we must be in our spirit and must go outside of religion. The more we are in our spirit, enjoying the heavenly Christ, the more we will be outside the camp of religion, following the suffering Jesus. Being in our spirit and enjoying the glorified Christ enable us to go outside the camp of religion to follow the rejected Jesus. The more we are in our spirit contacting this heavenly Christ in glory, the more we will go outside the camp of religion to be with the lowly Jesus in His suffering. To contact Christ in the heavens, enjoying His glorification, energizes us to take the narrow pathway of the cross on the earth and to bear the reproach of Jesus.
The book of Hebrews gives us a clear vision of the heavenly Christ and the heavenly Holy of Holies, and it shows how to walk the pathway of the cross on the earth, that is, to go forth unto Jesus outside the camp, outside religion, bearing His reproach. To go forth unto Jesus outside the camp, bearing His reproach, is to take the pathway of the cross.
When we enter within the veil by getting into our spirit, we taste the sweetness of the heavenly Christ that we may be enabled to go outside the camp, forsaking the earth and the earthly love. As we stay within the veil, we also have our spirit filled with the glory of the heavenly Christ so that our heart may be freed from the possession of the earth’s enjoyment outside the camp. Furthermore, within the veil we behold the glorified Christ so that we may be attracted to follow the suffering Jesus outside the camp. Beholding His countenance in heaven enables us to trace His footsteps on earth. As we enter within the veil, we are infused with the resurrection power that we may be empowered to walk the pathway of the cross outside the camp (Phil. 3:10). We also participate in the ministry of the heavenly Christ so that we may be equipped to minister Him to the hungry and thirsty spirit of those outside the camp. Here we enjoy the Lord’s best and are enriched to meet the need of people outside the camp.
The Holy of Holies, the pathway of the cross, signified by going forth unto Jesus outside the camp while bearing His reproach, and the kingdom are three crucial matters set forth in the book of Hebrews. The Holy of Holies enables us to take the pathway of the cross, and the pathway of the cross ushers us into the kingdom in its manifestation.