THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews
Message Five—Entering Within the Veil and Going Outside the Camp
Scripture Reading: Heb. 6:19-20; 13:13; 1 Tim. 4:7-8; Exo. 33:7-11
I. The goal and ultimate conclusion of the book of Hebrews is that we would enter within the veil and go outside the camp—Heb. 6:19-20; 13:13:
A. To enter within the veil means to enter into the Holy of Holies, where the Lord is enthroned in glory, and to go outside the camp means to come out of religion, whence the Lord was cast in rejection—10:19-20, 22:
1. The camp signifies the organization of religion, which is earthly and human.
2. Every religion is a human organization and an earthly realm which keeps people away from God’s economy.
B. 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—4:12, 16; Rev. 18:4:
1. The more we are in our spirit, enjoying the heavenly Christ, the more we will come outside the camp of religion, following the suffering Jesus.
2. The more we remain in our spirit to contact the heavenly Christ, who is in glory, the more we will go forth outside the camp of religion unto the lowly Jesus to suffer with Him.
3. The genuine New Testament ministry brings us into the enjoyment of Christ in our spirit, within the veil, and strengthens us to follow Jesus outside the camp in the fellowship of His sufferings for the sake of His Body—2 Cor. 11:2-3, 23-33.
C. To enter within the veil is to get into our spirit; when we turn to our spirit and exercise it, we enter within the veil—1 Tim. 4:7-8:
1. We have to exercise, to use, to employ, our spirit by fanning our spirit into flame, setting our mind on the spirit, and discerning our spirit from our soul—2 Tim. 1:6-7; Rom. 8:5-6; Heb. 4:12.
2. We must exercise our spirit that we may enter within the veil to have direct contact with the heavenly Christ, the man in the glory, beholding Him to be transfused and infused with Him so that we may become His corporate reproduction—2 Cor. 3:18.
3. To be within the veil is to be in the Holy of Holies, in a realm where we partake of Christ and enjoy Him as the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of life, issuing in God’s corporate expression for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose—Heb. 9:3-4.
II. After the children of Israel worshipped the golden calf, Moses moved to a place 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:
A. We need to see and be warned by the principle of the golden-calf idol, an idol made by God’s redeemed people to make them an idolatrous camp—1 Cor. 10:5-7:
1. Self-beautification leads to idolatry—Exo. 32:1-3; 33:5-6; Gen. 35:2-4; cf. Exo. 28:2; Isa. 60:21.
2. Idolatry is Satan’s usurping of what God has given us in order to make it a waste; it is our abusing what God has given us and not using God’s gifts, both material and spiritual, for God’s purpose.
3. Idolatry is the worship of the things we enjoy, the worship of enjoyment, amusement, and entertainment—Exo. 32:6, 18-19; cf. Psa. 36:8-9.
4. With idolatry there is the pretense of worshipping the true God—Exo. 32:4-6; 1 Kings 12:26-30.
5. With idolatry there is mixture in worship—Exo. 32:4-6, 21-24.
B. Because Moses realized that the Lord’s presence would no longer be in the midst of the people, he removed his tent and pitched it afar off from the camp; his tent then became the tent of God—Exo. 33:7:
1. The camp signifies a religious people, who belong to the Lord in name but who, in actuality, worship idols, worshipping something and seeking something other than the Lord Himself.
2. In the history of God’s people, the camp may be seen in at least three periods:
a. The camp was first the children of Israel after they worshipped the golden calf.
b. The Jewish religion became the camp at the time of the Lord’s living on the earth— Matt. 15:7-9.
c. Later, the church changed in nature from being a tent to being a camp, a religious system, religious Babylon, comprising a group of religious people belonging to the Lord in name and honoring the Lord with their mouth, but having their hearts set on something other than the Lord—Gen. 11:4, 7, 9; 2 Chron. 36:6-7; Ezra 1:11; Rev. 17:3-5; 18:2a, 4.
3. After Moses removed his tent and separated it from the idolatrous camp, the Lord spoke to him face to face, as a man speaks to his c9mpanion—Exo. 33:11:
a. God and Moses were companions, associates, partners, involved in the same career and having a common interest in a great enterprise.
b. Because Moses was intimate with God, he was a person who knew God’s heart, who was according to God’s heart, and who could touch God’s heart.
c. We need to enter within the veil and go outside the idolatrous camp to have the closest and most intimate relationship with the Lord so that we can be persons who share a common interest with God and who can be used by Him to carry out His enterprise on earth.
Ministry Excerpts:
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 HEAVENLY CHRIST WITHIN THE VEIL
The book of Hebrews firstly shows us the heavenly Christ who is within the veil, within the Holy of Holies (6:19-20). He is there as our High Priest (4:14; 7:26), as the heavenly Minister (8:2), and as the Mediator of the new covenant (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.
THE BELIEVERS ENCOURAGED TO ENTER WITHIN THE VEIL
After showing us the heavenly Christ within the veil, the book of Hebrews encourages us to enter within the veil (10:19-20, 22). Within the veil, we can look away unto Him (12:2) and can consider Him (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.
THE BELIEVERS CHARGED TO GO OUTSIDE THE CAMP
TO FOLLOW THE LORD
Moses Moving outside the Camp,
Where the Lord’s Seekers Went to Meet with Him
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.
Religion, Being a Camp Given Up by the Lord
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).
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.
Going Forth unto Jesus outside Religion, Bearing His Reproach
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 Enabling Us to Take the Pathway of the Cross
and the Pathway of the Cross Ushering Us into the Kingdom
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.
To Enter Within the Veil Being to Get Into Our Spirit
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.
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.
Being Equipped in Every Good Work by Entering Within the Veil
and Going 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. (Life-Study of Hebrews, msg. 57)