Outside the Camp

Outside the Camp

“Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp . . . .” Heb. 13:13. The Law of Moses commanded that every leper, everyone who had a discharge and whoever had been defiled by a corpse had to be put outside the camp. Num. 5:2.

“You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.” Verse 3.

God lives in the midst of the camp, so why are we told to go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach? Everyone inside the camp was to be pure, but outside the camp were the lepers, those who had a discharge and those who had been defiled by a corpse. Do we need to make ourselves impure like those mentioned above in order to come to Him outside the camp? No, I don’t believe so. We don’t need to make ourselves impure. A stronger light will tell us that in God’s light we have always been impure, even though when we were inside the camp we thought that we were pure, and others also considered us pure. Inside the camp God does not require any greater purity of us than what a natural man can achieve who does his best to keep the law.

When God’s Spirit dwells in our heart and we stand in His light, we will be able to see the impurity in our flesh. Our eyes will be opened to the law of sin in our members—the law that makes it impossible for a human being to fulfill the requirements of the law of God. In God’s pure light, we see ourselves as unclean. We consider ourselves no better than lepers, those who have a discharge or those who have touched a corpse. In this piercing light from God, we can feel and see ourselves as so wretched that we gladly go forth to Him outside the camp. Those inside the camp believe that they and everyone else inside the camp are much purer and much better than those who are outside the camp, who, because of the light they have received from God, have begun to speak about the law of sin in their members. Those who lived inside the camp in Jesus’ time considered themselves to be much purer than Jesus, and that is why He had to suffer as an evildoer outside the gate. They thought it was quite appropriate for Him to take His place with all the impure people that they themselves had put outside.

It is just the same today. Those inside the camp consider themselves to be much purer than anyone who has gone forth to Him outside the camp. They believe God is inside the camp. They have such a good life and they die happily there—but the truth is that when grace is not in vain, the Spirit will lead a person outside the camp to suffer with Jesus. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, so he does not hesitate to heap reproach over anyone who goes outside the camp. Every person inside the camp has enough sin and darkness to be able to do just that, and they feel quite justified in doing it. To understand the difference between “inside the camp” and “outside the camp,” a person must have spent considerable time in God’s light contemplating his own folly.

When God enters the camp, He does not come to stay. He comes to lead all those who are fit for the kingdom of God outside the camp—those who have been chosen to partake of divine nature. Don’t boast about being inside the camp; it is only passing away. Don’t speak words of reproach against those who go to Him outside the camp—those who are wretched—because the ones you regard as impure are far more honorable than you who, because you don’t see your own impurity, consider yourself pure. I have never heard of darkness or ignorance ever cleansing anyone. Every day we see and hear impure people in their ignorance and darkness praising their own deeds and purity. No one is too impure to be saved. But when we in our impurity regard ourselves as pure, we remain in our sin. When the light that is in us is darkness, how great is that darkness? This is a light that glorifies all flesh, even though in God’s light, “All flesh is as grass.”

The bulls that were sacrificed had to be without blemish. They can be compared to unblemished people inside the camp. But their flesh, skin and dung still had to be burned up with fire outside the camp. Ex. 29:14.

The fire that the Lord came to send will never burn inside the camp, but outside it consumes the self-life—sin in the flesh. The fire works on those who acknowledge that they have something that should and must be consumed. Yet where there is nothing to sacrifice, the fire becomes superfluous.

We, too, must be without blemish before we can go to Him, one by one, outside the camp. We see that the best people in the camp—those who are seeking more light—go to Him one by one outside the camp. Usually a word of reproach is hurled after them as a parting shot.

The flock that is outside is now beginning to grow, and fellowship in the Spirit is being strengthened day by day. There is no lack of reproach—yet this reproach, together with the fire, works splendidly to consume the sacrifice. Let us be patient in our sufferings together with Him; our redemption is drawing near.