In this message we come to the experiences of Christ for the church life (Heb. 13:8-15). Before I come to this matter, however, I am burdened to say a further word about the way, the race, and the paths, particularly about the one race becoming the many paths.
By looking at the arrangement of the furniture in the tabernacle, we can see how Christ is the way and the race, and how the one race becomes many paths. As we have seen, the altar and the laver are in the outer court; the showbread table, the lampstand, and the incense altar are in the Holy Place; and the ark, containing the golden pot, the budding rod, and the table of the testimony, is in the Holy of Holies. The altar, laver, incense altar, and ark form a line, and the showbread table and the lampstand form an intersecting line. These two lines form a cross. Each of these items signifies an aspect of Christ.
Consider the experience of a sinner who comes to Christ. Firstly, he comes to the altar where he kneels down, makes confession, and takes Christ as his substitute, Redeemer, and Savior. Here at the altar he begins to enjoy Christ. After experiencing Christ at the altar, he goes to the laver, which signifies that the Redeemer has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), and there he experiences the washing of the living water. The washing of the water in the laver is different from the washing of the blood at the altar. The blood at the altar washes away our sins; the water of the laver washes away the earthly dirt.
While many Christians go back and forth between the altar and the laver, the laver and the altar, we need to take a straight path into the Holy Place. Once we are in the Holy Place, we make a right turn to the showbread table where we enjoy Christ as the bread of life. Before coming into the church, we never heard that Christ was eatable. But the Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” and “He who eats Me shall also live because of Me” (John 6:48, 57, Recovery Version). Now, after coming into the church, we have been helped to eat Christ, to feed on Him, and even to masticate Him. After feeding on Christ at the showbread table, we must make an about-face and take a straight path to the lampstand. Here at the lampstand we are enlightened by the light of life (John 1:4), that is, by the light which comes from feeding on Christ. At the lampstand we make another about-face to the central line, and then make a left turn and go to the incense altar to experience Christ in resurrection as the sweet fragrance by which we are accepted of God. This experience of the incense altar will then usher us directly into the Holy of Holies. In the tabernacle we can see several paths: the path from the cross to the laver, from the laver to the showbread table, from the showbread table to the lampstand, from the lampstand to the incense altar, and from the incense altar to the ark in the Holy of Holies. Once we are in the Holy of Holies, we are in the shekinah glory. But we should not stop there. We must proceed even further and experience all the contents of the ark, feeding upon Christ as the hidden manna, partaking of Him as the budding rod, and experiencing the working of the law of life. As we have seen, the working of the law of life will make us the corporate reproduction of God’s standard model for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. All the paths from the altar in the outer court to the ark in the Holy of Holies are the way for us to have the fulfillment of God’s economy and the enjoyment of the birthright. Ultimately, it is the way into perfection, glorification, and the full taste of God. Everything we need is on this way.
Once we are on this way, we should not linger or hesitate. We must run the race, forgetting Judaism, Christianity, and every other religion. As soon as we start to run on the way, it becomes a race composed of many paths. The path from the altar to the laver, from the laver to the showbread table, from the showbread table to the lampstand, from the lampstand to the incense altar, and from the incense altar to the ark — these are the paths which compose God’s unique way.
Why do we need so many turns in Christ as the way? Because we need the cross to eliminate all the negative things in us. I have already pointed out that the arrangement of the furniture in the tabernacle forms the symbol of the cross. The way in Christ is in the shape of a cross. In fact, the way even is the cross. When we begin at the altar in the outer court, we are filled with many negative things, such as sin, the world, the flesh, lusts, and Satan. But as we move along the paths, making all the turns, these negative things are crossed out. Once we reach the ark in the Holy of Holies we are a purified person. I say again that all the negative things are crossed out by the turns which form the paths. What remains after making all these turns is a resurrected, uplifted humanity which is suitable to be mingled with divinity. How marvelous this is! Only God could have designed it.
Now we may come to the experiences of Christ in 13:8-15. Since so many things have been covered in the first twelve chapters of Hebrews, why does the writer include the experiences of Christ found in chapter thirteen? Because the Judaizers were using a certain aspect of their religious ceremonies — the eating of the festival food — to attract the Hebrew believers. According to the Old Testament, the children of Israel came to Jerusalem three times a year for the worship of God in their annual feasts, coming together to feast for several days. In these feasts they ate the festival food. This eating together, which was a very attractive thing, is the background of verse 9, which says, “Do not be carried away with various and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be confirmed by grace, not by foods, in which those who walked were not profited.” The word “food” mentioned here is in contrast with “grace” and refers to the foods of the ceremonial observances of the old covenant (9:10; Col. 2:16) which the Judaizers used in their attempts to carry away the Hebrew believers from the enjoyment of grace, which is the participation in Christ in the new covenant.
At the time of their festivals, all the Israelites were excited, much more excited than Americans and Europeans are at Christmas time. It was very difficult for the seekers of Christ to stay away from such a charming attraction. The Judaizers might have come to the Hebrew believers, saying, “In a few days the feast of tabernacles will begin. If you don’t go, you will lose all the enjoyment. Where will you be while we are singing, dwelling together, and enjoying all the riches of the good land? You will be assembling with that church in a little house. What will you have to eat there? If you go there, you will lose the right to kill the sacrifices for your eating. If you want to eat, you must go with us to the temple. But you have given up our precious feast. This means that you so-called Christians have lost all this enjoyment.” If you were a Jew and had been there at the time, could you have withstood this attraction? Most of us would have been unable to resist. Then a fellow believer might have come to the Hebrew Christians, saying, “Don’t go back to the temple. If you do, you will fall away from the grace of God. Don’t listen to the strange teachings about the food in our old religion. Christ is the reality. He is everything.” In the midst of such a dilemma, the Hebrew believers did not know what to do. Because of this, the writer gave them a strong word in chapter thirteen.
Verse 8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” The Christ, who is the word which the ministers of the word of God in verse 7 preached and taught, who is the life which 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). The writer seemed to be telling the Hebrew believers, “Brothers, God sent His messengers to preach to you the word of Christ. Christ was not only the word they preached, but the very life by which they lived. This Christ is always the same. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. If you accepted Him as the Christ in the past, you should not change your concept now due to the strange teachings about eating. Do not sell your birthright in Christ for one meal of this ceremonial eating. If you had not received Christ, I would not speak to you this way. But you have received the unchangeable Christ. Since He does not change, you should not change either. Do not be distracted by the strange teachings about ceremonial eating. That eating means nothing.” Hebrews is a deep book. We cannot understand it according to the black and white letters. If we would understand chapter thirteen, we must plunge into the depths of this book.
Verse 9 mentions “various and strange teachings.” For a true and steadfast church life, we must hold on to the unchangeable Christ and not be carried away with various and strange teachings used by Satan to cause dissension and even division in the church. Because of the dissension and division caused by strange teachings, the apostle charged people “not to teach differently” (1 Tim. 1:3, Gk.). These various and strange teachings must have been taught by the Judaizers at that time. The writer warned the Hebrew believers not to let the teachings carry them away from the church life under the new covenant. There must not be “another Jesus,” “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, today, and forever, and not be carried away with various and strange teachings.
As the Judaizers used the foods of their ceremonial observances of the old covenant to distract the Hebrew believers, so the writer of this book charges the believers to be confirmed by grace. At that time, to be confirmed by grace was to remain in the new covenant to enjoy Christ as grace (Gal. 5:4) and not to be carried away to Judaism to participate in the eating of foods in the Jewish religious ceremonies.
Many dear ones have seen the Lord’s recovery, but due to the matter of Christmas, they sold their birthright. Their Christmas celebration was like the religious meals in Judaism. Many American and European Christians find it difficult to give up Santa Claus and Christmas trees. The teachings about Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and stockings are some of today’s various and strange teachings. A number of saints in the western world have been distracted from the Lord’s recovery by these very things. If we would take away these things, many of the children would forsake the church, and many grandparents would be unhappy, saying, “Who is this preacher who comes to our country to take away Christmas, Santa Claus, and the Christmas stockings?” Others have said, “We know that the Lord’s recovery is the way, but because our children cannot give up Christmas, we cannot take this way.” In principle, they have been drawn away by today’s religious attractions as the Hebrew believers were by the festival foods in the first century.
Verse 10 says, “We have an altar, from which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle.” This altar must be the cross on which the Lord Jesus offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins (10:12). According to the regulations regarding the offerings in the Old Testament, the sacrifice for sin, or sin offering, whose blood was brought into the Holy of Holies or Holy Place for atonement, afforded nothing for the offering priest or the offerer to eat. The entire offering was burnt (Lev. 4:2-12; 16:27; 6:30). Hence, from the altar of the sin offering (which in the fulfillment of the New Testament is the Lord’s cross) those who served the tabernacle have no right to eat. Verse 10 is a strong argument against the food used by the Judaizers in their strange teaching, attempting to carry away the new covenant believers from the enjoyment of Christ. As we have seen, their emphasis was on the food which they enjoyed in their religious services. But the writer of this book argues that in the sin offering, the basic offering for their yearly atonement (Lev. 16), there was nothing for anyone to eat. With the sin offering it is not a matter of eating, but of receiving its efficacy. Now the real sin offering is Christ, who has offered Himself to God for our sins and accomplished full redemption for us that we might be brought into the enjoyment of God’s grace in Him under the new covenant. What we need today is not to eat the foods of the old covenant services, but to receive the efficacy of Christ’s offering and follow Him in the new covenant grace outside the camp, outside the Jewish religion.
In this book Christ is presented only as the sin offering, not as any other offering. Since our problem with God is basically a problem of sin, the sin offering is the basic and most crucial of all the offerings. If our problem of sin had not been solved, our problem with God would still remain. Several times in this book we are told that Christ offered Himself (7:27; 9:14), but each time we see that Christ offered Himself as the sin offering. Thus, the argument in chapter thirteen is this: however much the Hebrew Christians went to the festivals to eat the ceremonial meals, they could not eat of the sin offering. But now they enjoy Christ as the sin offering. Of this offering there was nothing for those in Judaism to eat. Furthermore, verse 11 says, “The bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the Holy of Holies by the high priest concerning sin, are burned outside the camp.” Christ’s body was carried outside the gate. There He suffered death and, in a sense, was burned. As the sin offering, Christ is not for food but for sacrifice outside the gate.
Verse 12 says, “Wherefore also Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” The blood of the sin offering being brought into the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement to make atonement for the people and its body being burnt outside the camp (Lev. 16:14-16, 27) typify the blood of Christ, the real sin offering, being brought into the true Holy of Holies to accomplish redemption for us and His body being sacrificed for us outside the gate of the city of Jerusalem.
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 (vv. 11-12). This book unveils that God’s heavenly calling is to make us a heavenly people (3:1), a people who are sanctified unto God. Christ is the Sanctifier (2:11). He suffered the death of the cross, shed His blood on it, and entered the Holy of Holies with His blood (9:12) that He might be able to do the sanctifying work by the heavenly ministry (8:2, 6) of His heavenly priesthood (7:26), 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 shall be enabled to follow Him outside the camp by the sanctifying pathway of the cross.
The Lord’s blood, through which He entered into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 9:12), has opened a new and living way for us to enter “within the veil” to enjoy Him in the heavens as the glorified One (Heb. 10:9-20); and His body, which was sacrificed for us on the cross, cut the narrow way of the cross for us to go outside the camp to follow Him on earth as the suffering One. Verse 13 says, “Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” If we would be real Christians, we must experience Christ, not in the way of eating a religious meal, but in the way of going outside the camp to bear His reproach, following Him in the sanctifying pathway of the cross. We must experience Christ in this particular aspect. If we would experience Him in this aspect, we must enter “within the veil,” that is, enter into the Holy of Holies, to enjoy Him as our heavenly Sanctifier in His heavenly priesthood (Heb. 10:19-20; 6:19-20).
As we have pointed out, chapter thirteen covers many virtues needed for the church life. If we do not have these virtues, we cannot have the church life. Suppose the Hebrew believers had gone back to the temple to eat the ceremonial food. By doing that they would have been forsaking the experience of Christ as the One who was rejected by religion. If they had forsaken Christ in this aspect, returning to eat the ceremonial food in Judaism, it would have been impossible for them to have the church life. The principle is the same today. Those who have forsaken the church meetings and have returned to the religious practices in Christianity have given up their birthright. Those who have done this do not care for Christ and the church; they only care for today’s religious attractions. Since they have sold their birthright, they can neither enjoy Christ nor exercise the priesthood and the kingship. Do you think that such believers will enjoy the birthright as the reward in the millennial kingdom? According to the clear revelation in the New Testament, if we do not exercise our spirit to remain in the church, enjoy Christ as our good land, and practice our priesthood and kingship today, we shall not deserve to enjoy our birthright as a reward in the millennial kingdom. If we would have the exercise of our birthright which will issue in receiving the reward in the kingdom, we must remain in the church.
In order to remain in the church, we must drop every religious practice. Some who have been pastors enjoy being called reverend, being unwilling to drop this title. Although only God is reverend (Psa. 111:9), they insist on keeping this title, enjoying it as their religious food. What profit is there in keeping such a title? If you keep it, you do so at the cost of your birthright. Our heart must be confirmed by grace, not by any religious food, that is, not by any religious attractions, positions, titles, and practices. We must forsake them all.
Grace is on the race, on the path. We should not be distracted from any path of this race, but continue on the race of grace. But many things are waiting for an opportunity to distract us from the paths of this race, that is, from the enjoyment of grace. As the arrangement of the furniture in the tabernacle reveals, every path of this race is an aspect of the enjoyment of Christ. We must keep on running this race in the enjoyment of Christ. Never be distracted by titles, positions, or religious attractions, all of which are merely religious “foods.” We must experience Christ as our grace for the church life. If we do not experience Him in such a way, we cannot have the church life.
If we would experience Christ in this aspect, we must take the way of the cross, suffering persecution, rejection, and opposition from religion. Christ suffered outside the gate, and we must follow Him outside the gate to bear His reproach. If we share His suffering today, in the future we shall share in His glorification. If we experience Christ in this way, bearing His reproach on the pathway of the cross, we shall be kept in the rich church life, and every meeting of the church will be uplifted and enriched. In such a church life we shall be able to exercise our birthright. This will issue in our receiving the reward in the coming kingdom.
Verse 12 speaks of being “outside the gate,” and verse 13 tells us to go “outside the camp.” The gate here is the gate of the city of Jerusalem. The city signifies the earthly realm, and the camp signifies the human organization. The two signify one thing, the Jewish religion with its two aspects, the earthly and the human. Judaism is both earthly and human. Verse 14 says, “For here we do not have a permanent city, but we seek the coming one.” This means that we do not have a permanent city, any organized realm, but we seek the coming one, God’s Holy City, the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2, 10). By using the pronoun “we” in these verses the writer was considering himself and his readers as real river-crossing Hebrews like the patriarchs (11:9-10, 13-16).
Verse 15 says, “Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually to God, that is, the fruit of lips confessing His name.” This verse is a continuation of verses 8 through 14. Since in the church life we enjoy the unchanging Christ as grace and follow Him outside religion, we should offer up through Him spiritual sacrifices to God. Firstly, we should offer up through Him a sacrifice of praise continually to God in the church. In the church, He sings hymns of praise unto God the Father in us (2:12). We also should praise God the Father in the church through Him. Eventually He and we, we and He, will praise the Father in the church in the mingled spirit. He as the life-giving Spirit praises the Father in our spirit, and we, by our spirit, also praise the Father in His Spirit. This is the best and highest sacrifice we can offer to God through Him. This is greatly needed in the church meetings.
