Outside The Camp – Part 1

Hebrews 13:12-14 has impacted my way of thinking. My fear is that I will not do a good job explaining to you why I feel that this scripture is so important. I fear that I will write my observations here in this blog and you, as the reader, will think something like, “Are you just NOW figuring this out?!”

I admit that I might not come up with the most earth shattering revelations about these verses. But, I hope that my thoughts will in some way open your eyes to what is really important in this world, or at least to why I do the things I do and choose the paths that I am currently choosing.

This one small section of scripture holds within it a lot of information. In fact, I find it hard to wrap my head around all of its possible implications. Therefore, throughout the life of this blog (or at least throughout the beginning of this blog’s life), I will write about Hebrews 13:12-14 in parts. Prepare for Part 1…

The original recipients of this text would probably not have needed a refresher course on Old Testament Law. Those of us reading it today, on the other hand, might not understand the significance of burning carcasses outside the camp that have recently been slaughtered at the alter. Actually, the thought of that makes me kind of sick. It’s like an episode of Dirty Jobs.

Without going into an in-depth study of OT History, let me just make the simple point that outside of the camp was unholy ground, and inside the camp was holy ground. I know that is super over simplified. But, that is one of the main things to remember at this point. We must understand this one main thing because the author of Hebrews makes a point in saying that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross happened “outside the city gate.” It happened on unholy ground…not on the holy ground where sacrifices usually took place. Once again, to us maybe that is not so shocking, but that is only because we don’t understand the significance of this concept. Hughes writes, “The location of Calvary was one of defilement, not sanctification. But the presence of God’s Holy One made holy what was previously unholy…by suffering outside the gate; moreover, Jesus identifies himself with the world in its unholiness. While we are unable to draw near to God because of our sin, God draws near to us in the person of his Holy One…”

My point in “Part 1” is simply this…I love the fact that Jesus was willing to go outside the camp for me. He did it first of all by coming to walk among us as man, and he did it by dying on the cross. I believe Jesus’ example of total self-sacrifice is one that we should follow. In future posts on this topic, I hope to write more about following Christ outside the camp.

Did I just demonstrate bad blogging etiquette by writing an extremely long blog?