Well, the book of Hebrews was written to warn against children. choosing Comfort. and human approval above Christ. For the Hebrew Christians who were the first recipients of this epistle. Opposition came from their Jewish family and friends who did not receive Jesus.
as the Jewish Messiah. But Christians in this world today face similar opposition. The world at large is opposed to Christ and is opposed to Christians. And there are even many forms of Christianity that are opposed to biblical Christianity.
So, If you are a Christian, if you are a Bible-believing Christian, then you are the target of a great deal. of Animosity. in this world. And we are forced, therefore, to choose between Christ or human approval. Many professing Christians find it very difficult to deal with this tension.
But that is what the Bible tells us to expect. And we are going to examine this reality in our text for today in Hebrews 13. Verses 11, 12, and 13. Continuing. This discussion about the altar which Christians have that.
those who are still serving the old covenant altar do not have access to He says in verse 11, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood. Suffered Outside the gate. Therefore Let us go forth to him. Outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
We have an Old Testament type in verse 11. A New Testament anti-type in verse Twelve. And Something to learn. in by way of exhortation in verse thirteen. First of all, an Old Testament type.
In verse 11, but I mean to explain to you what a type is. And in general terms, a type is a symbol of something yet to come. It's not commonly used. in other aspects of life. Besides the Bible, this is a very common Bible term, and Bible students are familiar with it, but.
though it sometimes is used outside of the Bible. That is not very frequent usage. But biblically, a type is an Old Testament event. or person. which foreshadows something in the New Testament.
Mostly of something fulfilled in the person and work of Christ. but sometimes of another biblical truth. Depending on what translations you are reading, you will find the word type. in Romans 5.14. It is there in the New King James.
And it tells us there that Abraham was a type of Christ.
So, that's what a type is, but what is this particular type in verse 11? For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin. are burned Outside the Camp.
Well, looking just at the text, we realize that it is talking about. animal sacrifices From the Old Testament. sacrifices whose blood is brought into the holy place. My translation says sanctuary, but most translations say holy place. And holy place is a term that is frequently used for what, on other occasions, is called the Holy of Holies.
The passage I read in Leviticus chapter 16, if you were paying close attention. You heard reference to Aaron The high priest going into the holy place, but it's clearly talking about the Holy of Holies, the place where the Ark of the Covenant was, behind the veil. And so holy place in Leviticus 16 was the holy of holies. The most sacred place in the temple and later, or the tabernacle and later the temple. And it bears that same meaning in Hebrews.
13. And verse 11. The blood is brought into the holy place, into the holy of holies, into the place where the Ark of the Covenant. resides. in the place where God himself came in special presence of his of his power and of his glory.
And furthermore, Hebrews 13, 11 talks about a sacrifice that is made only by the high priest. In this case, Aaron. But Aaron was the first high priest and then subsequent high priest. filled his office. But of course, most sacrifices that you read about in the Old Testament were made by other priests.
We might say by regular priests. Bye.
Sons of Aaron, grandsons, great-grandsons, descendants. Of Aaron, who were not the high priest, but this particular sacrifice that is being described. Is a sacrifice made only by the high priest. It is an offering for sins. And this is critical.
The remains of the animals sacrificed are burned Outside The Camped. And when you put these various descriptive phrases together found in verse 11. You realize that this can only be talking about the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement. We read about it. In Leviticus 16, Let's consider again some of the elements that we read there.
We read that the sacrifice of Leviticus 16 was a sacrifice made by Aaron the high priest. We learned that he brought the blood into the holy place, that is. the Holy of Holies. And part of that sacrifice, the first part of the sacrifice, was a bull. which was slain for the sins of Aaron himself, the high priest, and his family.
But in addition to the sacrificial bull, there was also a sacrificial ram and a sacrificial goat, all of which were slain and their blood brought into the Holy of Holies. There were actually two goats that were brought. to represent the congregation. One was slain. And the body brought into the Holy of Holies, as was the blood of the bull and of the ram.
And the other goat was allowed to live and eventually was turned loose into the wilderness. That's why it is called the scapegoat, because Before the day was over, it escaped into the wilderness, never to be seen again.
Furthermore, in Leviticus 16, we read that the remains of the bull and the goat. The goat and the ram that were slain are burned outside the camp.
Some of the offering we're told in that chapter was burned on the altar, but Most of the offerings that I just described Were burned outside the camp. Again, something that did not take place, as far as I know, any other time. Other times the animals were burnt on the altar. The brazen altar. Outside the tabernacle structure in the in the courtyard.
That's where sacrifices were made. That's where animals were burned. But on the day of atonement, the animals that were slain were taken outside the camp and burned out there. Animals were slain. And blood.
was applied to the mercy seat. Which should teach us, among other things, of the seriousness of sin.
Some have objected to the. the large amount of blood that was shed Under the old covenant according to the law of Moses. and are missing the point altogether. Yes, a lot of blood was shed. Why?
Because our sins are many. And this shows us the seriousness of sin. It's not to be taken lightly, it is a great matter. And it did require, in typology, The slaying of many animals as a substitute for sinners. Either the sinners.
Should die. They must die or substitutes can be offered And those substitutes in the old covenant were the animals that were slain and then burned upon the altar. But all of that was a type, all of those were types pointing to the antitype, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would be the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. But the one goat was allowed to live, and this too is unusual. I don't know any other sacrificial day or.
Appointed ritual that allowed one of the sacrificial animals to live. But of the two goats, they cast lots to choose which one would die and whose blood would be shed. and whose body would be burned. And then the other one would be designated to live. And the high priest, Aaron, in the first instance, and others following him every year on the Day of Atonement, would lay their hands upon this goat.
That would live, the scapegoat, and confess the sins of the people. It would obviously have to be a rather general confession. It couldn't be a detailed confession of every sin of every person, but it had to be a general confession of all the sins of all the people of the nation of Israel. With his hands on the head of the goat, transferring symbolically the sins of these people onto the goat. And then the goat turned loose in the wilderness.
And this is to demonstrate that sins that have been properly atoned for according to the way that God prescribes. Already taken place by the sacrifice of the bull, the ram, the goat. That took place before the transferring of the sins to the scapegoat. But when sins have been properly atoned for, then sins are gone. They are.
Cast away, they are, as the Bible puts elsewhere, as far as the east is from the west, or into the depths of the deepest sea, or here. In Leviticus 16 on the day of atonement, into the wilderness with the scapegoat, never to be seen again. All these are pictures, all these are. types. All these are symbols.
of truth that is unfolded for us. in the New Testament. And so it's clear that what we read in Hebrews. 1311. Refers to the day of atonement.
And let's read that again with that in mind. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary or holy place by the high priest for sins are burned outside the camp. The rite of Hebrews doesn't take up all of the elements. of the day of atonement All of the symbols, all of the types, there's so much there. that speak of Christ.
But he picks up one particular aspect of all of this, namely, that the animals, unlike most sacrifices, They were burnt offerings, but not burned on the altar. They were burnt... Outside. The camp. And he likens this.
to a New Testament truth. A truth that he's driving home at this particular time. And so we read now the. Sequel to this, the meaning of this in verse 12. Therefore, Jesus also That he might sanctify the people with his own blood.
suffered outside the gate. An obvious parallel. And thus we see that the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement in the Old Testament was a type, and now we understand that Jesus Christ is the Anti-type. You say, what's an anti-type? I'm glad you asked.
An anti-type is the fulfillment of the type. It reveals the divinely intended meaning of the type. And yes, that word is also used in most translations of the Bible in 1 Peter 3:21, where there. It makes reference to the flood of Noah as a type of water baptism. Type The flood.
Antotype? Water baptism. You get the picture. And the Old Testament we know is filled with many types, and there are debates among scholars as to whether. We should consider anything to be a type that is not specifically referred to in the New Testament.
And I take a, I suppose, a middle ground in all of this. I realize it's possible to Over Typify Virtually everything in the Old Testament and find something in the New Testament that you think it refers to, and perhaps. go overboard in that direction. But I'm not I'm not inclined to accept only the things that are specifically mentioned in the New Testament as legitimate types. I think the ones that are mentioned are.
Teaching us. How to look for types. And so we can find Legitimate types in the Old Testament that may not be specifically mentioned in the New Testament, but if we think about them, we realize: well, that's a picture of this. That looks like a symbol of this. And that makes our study of the Bible so much more rich.
We're finding New Testament truth in the Old Testament. And we're finding Old Testament fulfillment in the New Testament. And that indeed is exactly how we should study our Bible. But now we have before us one clear example of that, the type in verse 11. from the Day of Atonement And the antitype in verse 12, which refers to some part of the suffering of Jesus Christ for sins.
So anantotype is the fulfillment of a type. It reveals a divinely intended meaning of the type. But then the question is: what is this particular antotype? And of course, that's. understood by looking closely at verse 11.
There's a type in verse Or verse 12. There's a type in verse 11. There's an antitype in verse 12. And what do we learn about this antitype in verse 12?
Well, we learn that it's Jesus. This is one of those types that is fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus fulfilled the offerings on the Day of Atonement. That's what verse 12 says. Therefore, Jesus.
Also. The also refers back to the reference to the burning of the bodies of the Levitical. Day of Atonement sacrifices outside the camp. There's a parallel here to Jesus Christ. Who?
Shed his blood and suffered outside the gate. In the one hand, you have camp because The situation in mind is the one that is That is present at the time that the instructions that we read in Leviticus chapter 16 are given. The first inauguration of the Day of Atonement, the children of Israel were living in a camp, a huge encampment out in the wilderness. And when these instructions were followed, the Animals were taken outside the encampment, beyond where the tents were pitched, at a place outside the camp. where the bodies were burned.
And the writer of Hebrews tells us... That Jesus fulfilled that by being crucified not Within the walls of Jerusalem, but rather outside the gate, outside the city. Outside. The encampment. And there is meaning in all of this.
Jesus fulfilled The offerings on the Day of Atonement, Jesus, like those animals, Was sacrificed, burned as it were, in his case, hung upon the cross. outside the gate. And we read that this is a sacrifice which sanctifies What does that mean?
Well We could go through several steps of meaning and how we get to the meaning here, but basically, it means to make holy. Christ died on the cross to make Unholy people holy. to make sinners holy. to sanctify the people for whom he died. His sacrifice sanctifies.
His sacrifice was a blood sacrifice. Why blood?
Well, because when the blood Is drained out The body that carried that blood Is dead. It's death in its most, what should I say, most obvious manifestation of it.
Okay. In our day, sometimes we have trouble. Determining whether a piece person is dead or not. They hook up instruments to them, measure different things in the body, brainwaves, so forth. And sometimes Science, medical science gets it wrong.
They think somebody's dead and they're not dead. Every once in a while, we hear about somebody waking up. In the funeral home. They'd been dead for a while. according to the pronouncement, but they weren't dead.
But I'll tell you one thing for sure, if you drain all the blood out of the body, they never get up again. They're dead. Plum dead. And so, in the sacrifice, the animal sacrifices, the blood was shed. The emphasis is on the death.
of the animal. The deaf of the substitute. Why? Because the sinner deserves to die. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The wages of sin is death. And in God's mercy, these animals are Substituting for the judgment that belongs to the sinner. But even there, they're just pointing The blood of bulls and goats, the Bible tells us, could never take away sin. They're just holding in place, as it were, the judgment, keeping the judgment away until Jesus Christ came and died on the cross, the sacrifice that really could and did take away sin. And yes, Jesus shed his blood.
He was dead. Dead. Dead. People, there's always skeptics, and there are some people who have been skeptical about the resurrection of Christ. And they say, well, he was just put into a.
A cool Comfortable place, and there he revived. He never really died, he just revived and came out of the grave. I challenge you To find one person in all the history of the world from whom all the blood has been drained out. Who revived Two or three days later. When you show that to me, I'll listen to your criticism and objection, otherwise I will not.
Because that was the purpose of the shedding of blood, to demonstrate that he died. The sinners Death, the death that sinners deserve. Jesus did that. He shed his own blood. This was not the blood of an animal, verse 12 emphasizes.
His own blood. And he was crucified outside the camp. outside the gate. That's what the antotype teaches us from the type of verse 11. Consider, therefore, some points of comparison.
I start by defining the word atonement, which is used. In some of the scripture that we have read. Atonement is an act by which God restores the relationship of harmony between himself. and human beings. The Bible makes it very clear that All of us, because of our sinfulness, are estranged.
From God. We do not have a harmonious relationship with God. That has to be Forged. By an act of God, and something has to be done because God is holy and we are not. God is holy, very holy, and we are sinful, very sinful.
But atonement is an act by which God restores the relationship of harmony between himself and human beings. And atonement in the Bible requires a blood sacrifice. Death. Manifested by The blood. The blood of the Day of Atonement, the animals on the Day of Atonement, was taken, as we read.
into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkled by Aaron, On the mercy seat, what is the mercy seat? The Ark of the Covenant was contained in the Holy of Holies, and the Ark of the Covenant had a lid. That was called the mercy seat. Over that were two angels whose wings uh spread over the uh over the Mercy seat. But that was the lid over the merc over the Ark of the Covenant.
Well, what's the significance of that? What was in this ark? The Ten Commandments. The tablets with the Ten Commandments on them.
Now there were times when in addition to that there were some other things Aaron's rod that butted, the Bible talks about that, a jar of manna. Preserved from the wilderness wanderings, but those things did not stay in there all the time. But one thing did stay in there all the time, never left, was the tablets of stone, the decalogue, the Ten Commandments that God gave to the children of Israel. And there they are in the Ark of the Covenant. And what are they there for?
To Remind the people of Israel of their sinfulness. Have you kept these perfectly? And you go through them and If you're honest, you'll have to admit, no, I haven't.
Well then what's the remedy? You're a sinner. The judgment is The penalty of sin is eternal death, physical death, but eternal, eternally cast out. of the blessed presence of God. What are you going to do?
About your sin.
Well, here's the The f the picture Of what God has done for your sin. The blood of the sacrificial animal is sprinkled on the mercy seat. It covers The Ten Commandments. It covers the transgressions. It atones for the transgressions.
It cleanses the sinner who is represented by that blood. It frees the sinner from his guilt. The sacrifices had borne. the judgment in his place. Atonement requires a blood sacrifice, and the blood was spread on the mercy seat, the cover of the ark.
To demonstrate that God extends mercy where A prescribed Blood atonement for sins is made. And then, on the Day of Atonement, the sacrificial animals, as we've seen, were burned outside the camp.
So Jesus suffered on the cross outside the camp. Jesus is the only sufficient sacrifice for sins. He is the one who died in the place of sinners. the death of a sinless substitute For Jesus had no sin of his own, is accepted by a holy and merciful God. as the judgment that is due unto sinners who are joined to Christ.
When Christ's death was accomplished, Sins were atoned and removed forever. Scapegoat, gone. Wonderful truths. What is the intended meaning of this passage? as given to us by the writer of Hebrews.
Well, he tells us in verse 13. Therefore, let us, we've seen that language, let us do this, let us do that, exhortations. What we are to do in response to truth. Here's what we are to do in the response of this truth. Let us go forth to him.
Outside the camp, bearing his reproach. And in many ways, this is getting to the very cross. Crux of the whole book of Hebrews. What was the issue? Hebrew Christians Professing faith in Christ.
But reluctant To be So clearly identified with Christ. that they suffered reproach for his sake. And the writer of Hebrews says, Let us Be willing. To go to Christ, let's go to Christ. Outside the camp.
and suffer his reproach. That's what we are to do. We are to go to Him, Jesus Christ, for salvation. We are to believe in Him. We are to embrace Him.
We are to identify with Him. But to do that, we have to go outside the camp because that's where He is. It's interesting we have types on top of types here, don't we? The Old Testament type on the Day of Atonement is fulfilled in what Jesus did when he was crucified. But his being crucified outside the camp is a type of.
our need to separate unto him and separation is both unto and from, and so we need to separate from the camp, from the city, from the world in order to go to him. We go to him outside the camp because that's where Christ was crucified. We go to him outside the camp because That's where he is in relationship to the world. He's outside. this world this fallen world system.
Therefore, if we are going to go to him, We have to go outside the camp. But I want both. I want both. I want him, but I want to stay in the world.
Sorry. You're going to have to choose. And the choice is terribly significant. It is eternal.
So let's go outside the camp and bear his reproach, he who was. despised and rejected of men. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. We must go to him to bear his reproach.
So He was rejected of men, and so are we if we go to him. But where else shall we go if we want to be reconciled to our Creator? Where else shall we go to be freed from our sins? Remember, I think it was in John chapter 6, toward the end of that long chapter. Jesus said some things that people found very hard to accept, and many of his disciples, we read, turned away from him.
And Jesus turned to the twelve. and said, will you go away also? And Peter said, Lord, Where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. There's no place else to go.
If we want to be saved, We can't go. We must stay. We must Stay with you. We must be identified with you. We must accept whatever that means, because there is no alternative.
Unless We're willing. to go into eternal damnation. Will you go away also? Where will you go? Hello or to Jesus.
You've got to choose. And so what does this mean for us today? It means we must embrace Jesus as the only Savior. It means that we must depart from the world. that is, in our affections, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. You might claim otherwise, but the Bible. Pinpoints it. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. We must depart from the world and our affections.
We must depart from worldly values, the kinds of goals, ambitions, and desires that are. that are common in the world, but these can't be ours, are our whole Life has been oriented in a different direction. We must depart from heretical religion, as these Hebrews were required to do, to leave the heretical religion of their. Tradition, their culture, their community, their friends, their neighbors, their forefathers, but they had to leave that and go outside the camp unto Christ, he who was rejected by The leaders inside the city, by the populace inside the city, who would not have him, who rejected him, who cast him out. Choose Stay?
And be approved by men, stay and be comfortable, stay and avoid ridicule and persecution or. Go to him outside the camp. and be saved. We must be willing to accept reproach.
Well, how many applications do I have time to draw from this? The first and most Important one to me is an application to salvation, and may I just review some of the things we've already said. What is this text teaching us? It's teaching us. That u And I are sinners.
We're all sinned, sinners, all have sinned. and come short of the glory of God. And furthermore, Our sin separates us from a holy God.
Furthermore, Our sin deserves Divine punishment. And there is nothing that we can do to atone for our sins. We can't restore. A right relationship with God. We don't have the ability, the enabling, the.
The uh tools the The capacity to do that, as sinners, we can't build the bridge from our side of the chasm. But a merciful God gave his own son To atone for sin. and to reconcile sinners unto himself. Jesus Christ died on the cross as a sacrifice, a sacrificial substitute. for sinners.
And therefore, those who acknowledge their sin and guilt, and cast themselves upon Christ alone. Have their sins atoned. The atonement which we are unable to make, God has made for us in His Son. Go Let us go out to him. That's where salvation is found.
Sometimes you've heard the phrase, To come to Christ in believing faith, you have to, quote, take the sinner's. Place. What does that mean? Means to say I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner.
I take the place. Of a sinner. I put myself in that category. I acknowledge that. I agree with that.
I'm a sinner. You take the sinners. place. But In the mercy of God, when We acknowledge our sin and embrace Christ. Our sin and guilt are transferred to Christ, just like the sins of the people were to that scapegoat.
They're transferred to Christ. And the just penalty for sin is satisfied In him. And those who are in him by faith. Find that their debt is canceled. It's paid.
Paid in full. Nothing left. To pay. Christ paid it all. The center is cleansed.
The sinner is justified. The sinner is reconciled to God. Can you testify? That God has brought you to embrace Christ and to understand that you have that standing with God today. Because of Jesus Christ.
Is that your testimony? I trust it is. But I move on to another Application, namely the necessity of sacrifice. Coming to Christ means being identified with Him in His reproach. Not just to say, I believe He died on the cross for my sins.
I ask Jesus into my heart. There's a little bit more serious consideration here than that. Coming to Christ means being identified with him and his reproach. What do you think Jesus meant when he said, Come to me. Take up your cross.
Daily. and follow me. Day by day by day, we again yield ourselves. to him. And take up the reproach that belongs to him.
We take it as our own. It's an attitude. It's a willingness to suffer. And it's the true Christian's response to Christ who was sacrificed outside the gate. A third application is to what I will call the duty of separation.
In coming to Christ. There is a separation from worldly pursuits. In coming to Christ. There is a separation from heretical religions. You can't have both.
Choose. Choose you this day whom you will serve. Said Joshua, but for me and my house we will serve the Lord. And I trust that'll be your response. I want both, I want both, I want both.
I'm afraid I won't see you. In heaven. If you want both upon the earth, you're not going to have Christ. To have him, you've got to go out. to him.
outside the camp. Bearing His reproach. And finally, there's an application here to what I will call popularizing Christianity. Because this is. demanding and difficult and nobody likes to suffer.
This message of suffering is sort of a barrier to people making decisions for Christ. And so let's remove as much of it as we can. But the problem is, when we do that, We remove part of the gospel, don't we? How do we Come to Christ. without going out to him.
outside the camp. That's the only way to come to him. But there are so many efforts to try to remove the reproach of Christ, more than I could possibly name, many techniques to make Christianity acceptable, popular, cool. That doesn't sound like going outside the camp bearing his reproach. Are you Changing?
The message of the gospel? Are you Adulterating it? I say I won't try. to describe the hundreds of different ways, I suppose, that people try to make Christianity acceptable and cool. But one of them that concerns me, and I see so much of it today, is what I will call.
concert Christianity or nightclub Christianity. People, we're told, don't like to go to Stuffy old churches where they sing old hymns and just pray and preach the word. We can't get people to come to that. That doesn't attract them.
So what do we do? We set up our church like a nightclub. We have a stage. We have lights.
Sometimes even smoke machines. I mean, we can really have the pageant. We can have quite the show here. But it's still Christianity. And this um Attract more people.
I'm afraid, I'm afraid, I'm afraid in most cases. I mean, God can break through all of this and save people. He's sovereign. But I'm afraid that what you're doing is. Sealing the blindness of spiritually blind eyes all the more tightly, and you are helping people on the road to hell thinking that they have Christ and salvation.
As you try to popularize Christianity, make it acceptable to the world, basically. Here's what Jeffrey Wilson said about that, and I'll read this. Quotation in closing. He said, it is impossible. to evade bearing his reproach, without also losing his presence.
It is impossible to evade bearing his approach. without also losing His presence. Come. Come. Come out to him.
Come outside the camp. Bear his reproach. And I'll see you in heaven. Shall we pray? Father Seal these truths to every heart.
Drive them home to the one who is wavering. Drive them home to the one who is unwilling to take reproach for Christ's sake. and bring everyone who hears this message home to Jesus. and to salvation we pray. Amen.
