Suffering Outside the Camp
To give comfort and encouragement to ourselves and to the scattered saints, we share these words with those given to understand.
The walk of Christ’s disciples is a lonely walk as we become increasingly estranged and separated from the carnal world and its priorities. Our increasing isolation confirms we are following the Lord’s footsteps and the path of the prophets and disciples that came before us.
Rom 11:3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
Rom 11:4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Rom 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
In every generation, there is an escaped remnant, spiritually signified as the 7,000, which are the Lord’s small, scattered, and separated people. We are not connected in the physical but are one with the Lord in Spirit. While we may not know outwardly our fellow companions in tribulation, we earnestly await their revealing and restoration of communion.
Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Our separation and the gap between us and all those of the world is the great gulf fixed; which is our precious faith. Our faith and the gap between the people of God and the carnal world continues to grow as we are matured through the “three-day” process of salvation. The Lord’s chosen remnant is always being divided and separated as that is what the Lord brings when He comes.
Luk 12:51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
This occurs both in our mind and thought life (within) but also in our outward physical circumstances (without). At each of the three steps of “being called of God”, then “chosen of God” and finally being “made faithful” the Lord divides and separates His people through manifest trials. Being faithful in all things is the conclusion of the inward war and end that is promised when victory over our inward beast is assured.
Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Our time of being called and then chosen are the time we are under tutors and governors, being raised up in the things of God awaiting His coming. These two days are instrumental for preparing us for what lies ahead on the third day wherein we are now being perfected. This progression brings increasing trials and isolation as we fulfill the Scriptures and understand more of the Lord’s process of destroying all reliance on carnal reasonings and the strength of the flesh.
Being separated is painful to our flesh as it is destroying our former way of life and making all things new within us. As faithful witnesses, a time comes when we are released from the tutors and governors that have raised us and we are then exiled by our own people who reject our testimony for the Gospel. This was the Lord’s path and one we follow as John shared our entrance into Day 3 and the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Rev 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Our exile on an island is our appointment of suffering outside the camp. This is necessary for God’s work to be completed and for us to become a living sacrifice for the atonement of sin. Suffering as a living sacrifice in exile [outside the camp] has always been the Lord’s plan for Israel (all men) as shown in the shadows of the law.
Exo 29:14 But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering.
This spiritual truth was foreshadowed in the law of offerings that required two sacrifices both Christ and His Christ.
Lev 16:7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Lev 16:8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
Lev 16:9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
Lev 16:10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
The separation and isolation of God’s people from the world have multiple layers as the winnowing of Israel progresses from the called, chosen, and faithful. On one level the camp of Israel is all mankind as “All Israel shall be saved”. When called of God, we are separated from the camp [the whole of the world] and thus begins the journey that is molding us and making us pure.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
As we learn by experiencing it and understanding it looking behind ourselves; in our three-day journey, we must be rejected by our own people and made a scapegoat to fulfill the Scriptures and finish the plan of God. This multiple winnowing of Israel from the world first, then the called of God, and finally, the chosen of God is what was and is still making us faithful. We must not lose hope and stay the course to the end. Understanding this revelation brings a clearer understanding of just now miraculous is the Lord’s plan in freeing us from the world and the bondman which is our bondage to the law of carnal reasonings.
Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
Deu 7:8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
During each day of our spiritual journey, the Lord’s words are lived out and fulfilled in our lives. Thus, we are caused to learn the meaning that all things present, past and future are in Christ as we are just clay in His hands.
Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Christ is the Word and we are living out and fulfilling now [IS], in the past whether we knew then nor not [WAS] and we know we shall live Christ tomorrow [TO COME]. At each stage of the journey, the separating out the remnant from the many is a consistent theme. The Lord brings division when He comes, which is the constant winnowing and separating of His people and their inward mindset from the carnal world and all bound under the law. Even back when we were in the world [spiritual Egypt], there are only a few that are called out of the world. Later in the journey, the Lord further separates His servants the Levites from His priests in distinguishing the Sons of Aaron.
Num 8:14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine.
The Scriptures depict our journey through the process of being born of God and brought onward toward maturity. The Lord has wasted nothing in His process and the increasing degree of separation outside the camp is all part of the cleansing and remaking process that transforms us into sons of God.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Rather than despair our fate, Peter admonishes us that this rejection and isolation should be taken as something to rejoice as it shows the Lord’s mighty hand at work.
Act 5:41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name
With knowledge of the Scriptures and the comfort they bring, we now press onward in faith for the mark of the high calling in Christ. This has us being foreigners and stranger’s in our own land as we are exiled, rejected and spurned just as our Lord.
Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
A daily trial of our faith is to remember that our rejection by Israel, by our own people is because the Lord is causing it for His name’s sake.
Joh 15:21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
Reviling not again, we embrace our fate and praise the Lord through a renewing mindset that grows daily in our sufferings outside the camp.
Isa 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
We now abide outside the camp of Israel separated from the world and our fellow brethren in faith but connected to our brethren by the Spirit. Now being made free, no longer bound by the law nor under tutors and governors, the Lord is now our teacher and we are learning to be doers of the Word by the things we are given to suffer.
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Our set-apartness has been since birth as we have been predestinated to fulfill the Word of God and by so doing, we are becoming partakers of His righteousness. We are learning to go to Him alone for our sustenance as we bear the reproach of the whole world which does not understand and cannot partake of our spiritual food.
Heb 13:13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
Heb 13:14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Knowing our isolation is the Lord’s plan by faith brings comfort and consolation so we may endure the further temptations in our life. We are warned to remain diligent and not to let any man or carnal thought steal our treasure. Particularly in these last days, with a rapidly declining world, let’s guard our hearts and keep the focus on the Lord.
1Pe 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.
Your fellow companions in tribulations.
