If we get into the depths of the book of Hebrews, we shall see that the whole book is covered by two things — entering within the veil and going outside the camp. We must enter within the veil and go outside the camp. Within the veil there is one unique place — the Holy of Holies. When we are within the veil, we are within the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies, the unique place, there is one unique thing — the ark of testimony, which is the full symbol of Christ. Inside this unique item are three precious things: the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of the testimony, that is, the law of life which issues in God’s expression and testimony. This brief word, which opens a very wide field, tells us the meaning of the phrase “within the veil.” To be within the veil is to be in the Holy of Holies, in a realm where we partake of Christ and enjoy the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of life which issues in God’s corporate expression. This is the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.
Hebrews 13:13 says, “Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” Both in this book 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 the human organization, the city signifies the earthly realm. In the book of Hebrews, both the gate and the camp signify the Jewish religion with its two aspects, the earthly and the human. Judaism is both earthly and human. Every religion is both a human organization and an earthly realm which keeps people away from God’s economy.
On the one hand, God’s economy is being fulfilled within the veil. On the other hand, many religious things are taking place inside the camp. All we can see in the camp are just the religious things. Although many of the things in the camp may be related to the Bible, God is not there. Inside the camp, that is, in the organization of religion, there are no angels, church, Savior, saved ones, Christ, or sprinkled blood. Rather, there is a mountain set on fire producing a thick darkness and gloom, there is a whirlwind which moves without direction or peace, and there is the terrifying sound of a trumpet with the fearful words of warning. This is the picture of the Jewish religion as portrayed in this book. In all the foregoing messages we have seen a very vivid picture of what is within the veil on the one side and of the religious things in the camp on the other side. Now we all must choose where we shall be — within the veil or within the camp. We cannot be neutral.
The book of Hebrews instructs and charges us to come forward to the Holy of Holies and to enter within the veil. The way into the Holy of Holies, a new and living way, has been slain. Hence, this book firstly ushers us into the Holy of Holies and then directs us to go outside the camp. According to our mental figuration, we firstly go outside the camp and then enter within the veil. But this is our human mathematics. According to God’s mathematics, we firstly enter within the veil and only then can we go outside the camp. Everyone who has gone outside the camp has firstly experienced what is within the veil. Perhaps when you began to come to the meetings of the church, you were not yet outside the camp. You were simply coming within the veil to have a taste. But that taste attracted you, caught you, and supplied you with the energy to go outside the camp. No one has firstly gone outside the camp and then entered within the veil. Although the Lord Jesus firstly went outside the gate and then entered within the veil, it is exactly the opposite with us. In other words, firstly we enter into the Holy of Holies, where we are strengthened and encouraged to go outside the camp, and then we go out of the organization of religion. The more we enter within the veil, the more we go outside the camp.
The book of Hebrews firstly shows us the heavenly Christ who is within the veil, within the Holy of Holies (Heb. 6:19-20). He is there as our High Priest (Heb. 4:14; 7:26), as the heavenly Minister (Heb. 8:2), and as the Mediator of the new covenant (Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). As our High Priest, He is there interceding for us and ministering all the riches of God into us. As the heavenly Minister, He is carrying out His excellent ministry for us, and as the Mediator of the new covenant, He is executing all the contents of the new covenant for our enjoyment. All this is much better than what He did for us on earth while He was in the flesh.
After showing us the heavenly Christ within the veil, the book of Hebrews encourages us to enter within the veil (Heb. 10:19-20, 22). Within the veil, we can look away unto Him (Heb. 12:2) and can consider Him (Heb. 12:3; 3:1). We need to have direct contact with Him. Since He is within the veil, we also must enter within the veil that we may see Him, look at Him, and consider Him in order to receive the transfusion and infusion of Him. Of course, we can only do this by exercising our spirit. As we have seen, our spirit is joined to the heavenly Holy of Holies. When we turn to our spirit and exercise it, we enter within the veil. Here we participate in the heavenly ministry of the heavenly Christ. Here we are saturated and permeated with all the divine riches that make us the corporate reproduction of the Firstborn Son of God for His expression. Here we receive grace and are strengthened to go outside the camp and follow Him on the pathway of the cross.
After the children of Israel worshipped the golden calf (Exo. 32), Moses moved “without [outside] the camp,” where everyone who sought the Lord went to meet with him, for both the Lord’s presence and speaking were there (Exo. 33:7-11). Likewise, we must go outside the camp, wherein is the worship of the idol, that we may enjoy the Lord’s presence and hear His speaking. This is necessary for the practical and proper church life.
The religion, either Judaism, Catholicism, or Protestantism, which has rejected the Lord, is a camp, a human organization, given up by the Lord. The great Babylon mentioned in Revelation 17 is even a worldly city, an earthly realm, from which the Lord’s people must come out (Rev. 18:4).
The Devil has injected religion into our blood. Because of this, the camp is not merely outside of us; it is deep within us. Since the day Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, religion has been in man’s blood. When the serpent tempted Eve, he did not ask her to do anything immoral. Rather, the serpent spoke to her in a religious way, saying, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Gen. 3:1). Here we see that the serpent even spoke of God. This is religion. The serpent seemed to be saying, “Eve, I know that you and your husband are both for God. I am not here to talk with you about worldly entertainments. I want to talk with you about God.” Talking about God is an aspect of religion. Do you know what religion is? It is the mere talk about God. Some may say, “Isn’t it wonderful that people talk about God? Why do you condemn them for this? In religion people are taught to know God. Their subject is not fornication or gambling; it is the true God.” Nevertheless, as Genesis 3 reveals, religion began with the serpent’s talking to Eve about God. Eve answered the serpent, saying, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die” (Gen. 3:2-3). To this the serpent responded, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4-5). Knowing good and evil is also a matter of religion. Religion teaches people to know about God and to know good and evil. Eventually, Eve ate of the tree of knowledge, and religion was injected into man’s blood.
There is no need for anyone to be taught religion; we all were born religious. This is the reason that whenever we preach in a religious way we are welcomed. But if we preach the gospel in the way of the Holy of Holies, the people will shout, “Crucify him!” as they did to the Lord Jesus. Because we were born and raised in religion, religion is not only in our concept, but also in our being, in our blood. Day after day we must go outside religion, outside the camp.
In a sense, religion closely resembles God’s economy. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament we can find verses which seem to be for religion. But we must understand those verses in the light of the basic revelation of the Bible, which is the economy of God, the dispensing of God into man for His expression. God does not care for religion; He cares for His economy. He is for the dispensing of Himself into man. While God’s intention is to work Himself into man, so many Christians only know their religion. They know nothing of God’s economy, nor what it means to say that the Triune God is dispensed into our being. Having become a religion, Christianity is far off from God’s economy. But we in the Lord’s recovery do not care for anything religious. We just care for the dispensing of the Triune God into us.
To be within the veil is to enter into the Holy of Holies where the Lord is enthroned in glory, and to go outside the camp is to come out of religion, whence the Lord was cast out in rejection. This signifies that we must be in our spirit, where, experientially speaking, the practical Holy of Holies is today, and outside religion, where the practical camp is today. The more we are in our spirit enjoying the heavenly Christ, the more we shall be outside religion following the suffering Jesus. To be in our spirit to enjoy the glorified Christ enables us to come outside religion to follow the rejected Jesus. The more we contact the heavenly Christ in His glory in our spirit, the more we shall go to the lowly Jesus in His suffering outside religion. 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 His reproach. The book of Hebrews firstly gives us a clear vision of the heavenly Christ and the heavenly Holy of Holies, and then it shows us 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.
The Holy of Holies, the pathway of the cross (signified by going forth unto Jesus outside the camp, bearing His reproach), and the kingdom are three crucial matters set forth in this book. 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. To enter into the kingdom in its manifestation we need to take the pathway of the cross, and to take the pathway of the cross we need to enter into the Holy of Holies within the veil. The Holy of Holies is crucial to our Christian walk.
If we would enter within the veil, we must get into our spirit (4:12). To be within the veil is to be in our spirit, and to be outside the camp is to be outside anything religious. We must not remain in any camp, but get into our spirit. If you remain in the religious camp, you are still camping outside your spirit. But we are no longer camping — we are in the Holy of Holies. The writer seemed to be telling the Hebrew believers, “Brothers, get out of your camping mind and get into your spirit.” Today we also must exercise to bring our whole being into the spirit. We must not remain in our camping mentality, for that mentality is religious. Again and again we need to enter within the veil by entering into our spirit.
It is difficult for Christian readers to understand why the writer of Hebrews mentions the spirit in 4:12. As he is comparing Christ with Judaism, he suddenly says, “The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit.” Now we understand that this verse shows us the key to experiencing Christ — our spirit which is joined to the Holy of Holies. Therefore, we must discern our spirit from our camping mentality, from our camping soul. We must no longer camp in our mind but turn to our spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22). Grace is with our spirit (Gal. 6:18). We have seen that we must take grace, but where do we go to take grace? We must go to our spirit. The Holy of Holies, God’s economy, and even the fulfillment of God’s economy are all related to our spirit. What we need today is to enter within the veil by getting into the spirit.
Suppose some young brothers are fighting with one another. This is a type of wild camping. But do not think they need some religious ones to tell them to behave themselves, to learn patience, and to camp religiously. That would merely be to teach them how to camp in their religious soul. This is not to enter within the veil. The brothers who are fighting with one another need to turn to their spirit. Once they turn to the spirit and take grace, they will taste Christ as their hidden manna, partake of Him as the budding rod, and experience the regulating of the law of life. Then they will not need anyone to teach them patience, humility, or the lesson of giving in.
God’s economy is the dispensation of the Triune God into our being. This builds up the Body of Christ, producing material for the building up of the church. This transpires in the Holy of Holies within the veil, which is joined to our spirit. What a difference between this and religion! If we experience Christ in such an inner way, we shall see how much of the religious camping element is still in our blood. Spontaneously, we shall begin to hate this religious element and loathe our camping self. We all need to enter within the veil that the Lord may bring us into such a realization.
If we are faithful to the Lord and enter within the veil day after day and week after week, we shall discover that much of our religious background still remains within us. The brothers with a Jewish background will find that the Jewish religious element is still in them, and those with a Presbyterian or Southern Baptist background will discover that those camping elements remain in their blood. Many times in the past you have probably measured or estimated the condition of the church life by your religious background, comparing the church life with that camping element. But the more we enter within the veil and are transfused and infused with the heavenly Christ, the more we shall say, “Religious background, get away from me!” Nevertheless, although it seems that we have cast out the camping element, some of it still clings to us. Therefore, we need to continue to enter within the veil and go outside the camp.
A very touchy camping element is the matter of tongue speaking. Those who have had a tongue-speaking background often ask, “What about tongue speaking in the church? Where do you put this? Do you think that it is useless?” Perhaps you have asked such questions many times. How difficult it is to leave our religious background! I am not condemning tongue speaking. We are for anything that is for God’s economy, for the dispensing of the Triune God into us for the building up of the Body of Christ. We are not for any kind of religion, whether it is fundamental, Pentecostal, or charismatic. We are for just one thing — the dispensation of the Triune God into our being that we might be transformed and built together as His corporate expression and that we might terminate this age and usher in the kingdom. This can only be accomplished by our entering within the veil to experience the ark of God’s testimony with the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of life. By experiencing these things, we are infused, empowered, strengthened, and enabled to go outside of every camp. My real burden in all these messages on Hebrews is that we may all enter within the veil and go outside the camp. This is the goal and the ultimate conclusion of this book.
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 its love. As we stay within the veil, we also have our spirit filled with the glory of the heavenly Christ 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 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 resurrection power (Phil. 3:10) that we may be empowered to walk the pathway of the cross outside the camp. We also participate in the ministry of the heavenly Christ that we may be equipped to minister Him to the thirsty spirits outside the camp. Here we enjoy the Lord’s best that we may be enriched to meet the needs of people outside the camp.
Verses 20 and 21 say, “Now the God of peace Who brought up from among the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of an eternal covenant, equip you in every good work for the doing of His will, doing in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory forever and ever, Amen.” By entering within the veil and going outside the camp we are equipped in every good work. In this way God is doing in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. He is doing this that we may be able to do His will. God “works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). From beginning to end, this book presents to us a heavenly Christ. Only here, with the word “doing in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight,” does this book imply the indwelling of Christ. It is through the indwelling Christ whom we enjoy within the veil in our spirit that God works in us that we may do His will.
In verse 20 the Lord Jesus is spoken of as being the “great Shepherd of the sheep.” The “sheep” here are the flock which is the church. This confirms the understanding that everything covered in this chapter is for the church life with the experience of the unchanging Christ as our sin offering, through whom we have been redeemed, and as our great Shepherd, by whom we are now being fed.
Verse 20 also speaks of an “eternal covenant.” Hebrews is not a book concerning temporal things, such as the things of the old covenant; it is a book of eternal things, things which are beyond the limit of time and space, such as eternal salvation (Heb. 5:9), eternal judgment (Heb. 6:2), eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12), eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14), eternal inheritance (Heb. 9:15), and eternal covenant (Heb. 13:20). The new covenant is not only a better covenant (Heb. 7:22; 8:6), but also an eternal covenant. It is eternally effective because of the eternal efficacy of Christ’s blood with which it was enacted (Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:20).
This book closes with the word of blessing, “Grace be with you all. Amen.” If we would realize and participate in all the things unveiled in this book, we need grace. To take grace (12:28) we need to come forward to the throne of grace that we may find grace for our timely need (Heb. 4:16). It is by touching the throne of grace in the Holy of Holies through the exercise of our spirit that we enjoy the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29) and that our heart is confirmed by grace (Heb. 13:9). By such an enjoyment of grace we run the race which is set before us (Heb. 12:1) to reach the goal of God’s economy.
