The first thing we need to have in order to build up the Body of Christ is a vision of God’s building.
What is in God’s heart today and the only work He is doing right now is building up His church, the Body of Christ. One could say that there are many things and works that God does today such as saving sinners, helping the needy, shepherding the saints, feeding the poor, healing the sick, comforting the suffering ones, etc. but the goal of all these works and the main work God does is to build up the church, the Body of Christ.
We need to see a vision of God’s building, and this is not easy since there are so many other things that can distract us; but as we open to the Lord, seek Him, fellowship with Him in His word, and fellowship and pray with the saints, the Lord will unveil us to see a clear vision of His building.
We need to not only know about God’s building or hear about it; we need to see a vision of God’s building, and then we will join ourselves to the Lord for His building work.
David saw God’s building, and he decided to do everything necessary to make sure God has a house where to dwell among men. When we see God’s building, when we realize that God wants to gain a dwelling place on earth among men, we will do whatever it takes to cooperate with the Lord to be built up with the saints in our locality so that in us and among us God may have a dwelling place.
In order to carry out the vision of the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, God needs a group of people who are willing to be one with Him to go outside the camp unto Christ (see Heb. 13:13-14).
God cannot build up the church, the Body of Christ, in the camp of religion. He cannot build up the church in Christendom when there are so many unclean things and idols there, so those who see a vision of God’s building will be willing to go to Christ outside the camp of religion and bear His reproach so that God would get a genuine built-up church, the Body of Christ.
May the Lord expose any “camp” we may be in and may many believers see the vision of the church and be inwardly supplied by the Christ they enjoy to go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach, and meeting in the local church on the ground of oneness for God to get a dwelling place in man.
The Believers need to Follow Jesus Outside the Camp
How can God gain a building today? He does not dwell in temples or houses made by men; the heavens are His dwelling place, but He wants to dwell with man and in man. Even among men, among the millions of Christians on earth, where can God have His building, a corporate dwelling place?
If we have seen the vision of God’s building and mean business with the Lord about it, we need to be the remnant that go outside the camp unto Christ, bearing His reproach, so that He may gain His corporate dwelling place on earth.
As seen in Heb. 13:13-14, the believers are to follow Jesus outside the camp. In the Old Testament Moses had to move his tent outside the camp of Israel since they rejected God, became wicked and idolatrous, and replaced God with an idol. In today’s situation, the “camp” signifies the organization of religion, which is both human and earthly.
I was very much helped by a portion in the footnote in the Recovery Version Bible on Heb. 13:13 concerning, “outside the camp”,
Outside the camp and within the veil (6:19) are two very striking points in this book. 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. This signifies that we must be in our spirit, where experientially 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 will come outside the camp of religion, following the suffering Jesus. Being in our spirit to enjoy the glorified Christ enables us to come outside the camp of religion to follow the rejected Jesus. 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. By contacting Christ in the heavens and enjoying His glorification, we are energized to take the narrow pathway of the cross on earth and bear the reproach of Jesus. First, this book gives us a clear vision of the heavenly Christ and the heavenly Holy of Holies, and then it shows us how to walk on the earth in the pathway of the cross, i.e., how to go forth unto Jesus outside the camp, outside religion, bearing His reproach. Even Moses, after the children of Israel worshipped the golden calf (Exo. 32), moved to a place outside the camp, where every one who sought the Lord went to meet with him; for both the Lord’s presence and the Lord’s speaking were there (Exo. 33:7-11). We must go outside the camp that we may enjoy the Lord’s presence and hear His speaking. All these things are necessary for the practical and proper church life. (Footnote 1, Heb. 13:13, Recovery Version)
If we see the vision of God’s building, we will join ourselves to Him to carry out the building up of the Body of Christ; this will cause us to not stay in religion or denominations anymore but go out to Christ outside the camp.
The camp signifies the human organization, and the city signifies the earthly realm. All religions are human organizations and earthly realms, very much in the exterior things, forms, practices, and rituals, and these religions keep God’s people from the New Testament economy of God (1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:9).
It is good to pray,
Lord, show me a vision of Your building. I don’t want only to hear about Your building or even to mentally know and understand that Your unique work is to build the church: Lord, I need to see a vision! Keep me in the Word, in the spirit, in the teaching of the apostles, and in fellowship with the saints until I see something of Your building! Lord, strengthen me to go out of any camp unto You, bearing Your reproach and being one with You for Your genuine building work!
Going Outside the Camp and Entering Within the Veil – the Lord’s Recovery
In principle, Christianity is a religious system composed of a group of a religious people who belong to the Lord in name only and honor the Lord with their mouth, but their heart are set on something other than the Lord (see Matt. 15:8-9).
Christianity has become a religion or a supermarket of religions that function as systems to keep people in some kind of worship of God and doing some religious practices, but the heart of the people is away from God.
We see this in the time of the Lord Jesus, when the real Tabernacle was there among the Jews (John 1:1, 14), but the Jews were in the Jewish religion fully occupied with traditions, rituals, sacrifices, the law, and many other things. The Jews with their religion rose up to reject Christ and eventually put Him to death by crucifying Him.
At one point in Matthew, when the rejection was the strongest, the Lord gave them up, even rejecting His close relatives and recognizing that His brother and sister are His disciples; in a sense, the Lord went outside of the camp of the Jewish religion, and His disciples followed Him.
If today we see the vision of God’s building we CANNOT remain in any religious camp; we cannot remain in Christendom – we need to separate ourselves from that camp. We need to go outside of the camp to Christ, coming back to the way God ordained in the Bible and meeting as a local church on the ground of the oneness of the Body of Christ.
Coming into the Lord’s recovery means taking the way of going outside the camp unto Christ, being willing to be rejected not by people in the world but by those in religion, even our own brothers and sisters.
Just like the Hebrew believers in Paul’s time, we need to be encouraged as we are being rejected by our fellow brothers and sisters in denominations and religion. We are now outside the camp, we are in Christ enjoying all He has attained and obtained, and we are bearing His reproach.
On the one hand we need to go outside the camp unto Christ; on the other, we need to enter within the veil in the Holy of Holies (Heb. 6:19). As we enter through the riven veil in the Holy of Holies, we enjoy the throne of grace, the heavenly Christ, the fresh and heavenly air, the heavenly things, and all that Christ is and has.
Here, in the Holiest of all through the new and living way Christ opened through His death, we can have the fullness of enjoyment. This wonderful place is our spirit, which is linked directly to the Holy of Holies – the Holy of Holies today is in our spirit!
We need to enjoy the Lord in our spirit and with the saints in order to be strengthened and supplied to walk the path of following the crucified Jesus, the rejected One, outside the camp.
The more we enter into the Holy of Holies through the veil, the more we go outside of the camp. The more we enjoy Christ, the more we share His reproach: these two go together. The more we enjoy Christ in the local churches, the more we take the non-popular way of the Lord’s recovery, and the more we are for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Lord Jesus, we come forward to the Holy of Holies through the riven veil to enjoy You in all Your riches. Praise You for the new and living way You opened for us to enter into our spirit where we have the throne of grace in the Holiest of all! Lord, strengthen us and supply us bountifully as we enjoy You within the veil so that we may follow You as the crucified and rejected One. We choose to bear Your reproach as we go outside the camp. Lord, keep us in the local churches in Your recovery entering into the Holy of Holies and going outside the camp unto Jesus for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Truth Lessons — Level Three, vol. 3, lesson. 46, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on,The Vision, Practice, and Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ, week 7 / msg 7, The Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ (1) – The Vision of God’s Building and the Test of Our Spirituality (you can buy this morning revival book here).
- Hymns on this topic:
# When we see Thy love unshaken— / Outside the camp. / Scorned by man, by God forsaken— / Outside the camp. / Thy loved cross alone can charm us; / Shame need now no more alarm us; / Glad we follow, nought can harm us— / Outside the camp. (Hymns #550)
# Blessed Jesus, make us willing, / Thus without the camp to go / Unto Thee in glad subjection, / Unto Thee in Thy rejection, / Unto Thee from all below, / Unto Thee from all below! (Hymns #440)
# “Within the Veil,” thy spirit deeply anchored, / Thou walkest calm above a world of strife; / “Within the Veil,” thy soul with Him united, / Shall live on earth His resurrection life. (Song on Within the Veil)
Hebrews 13:13 indicates that the believers are to go outside the camp to follow Jesus….In the book of Hebrews and in typology, the camp signifies the organization of religion, which is human and earthly. To go outside the camp means to go outside the human organization of religion. While the camp signifies human organization, the city signifies the earthly realm (v. 14). In the book of Hebrews, both the gate (v. 12) and the camp signify the Jewish religion with its earthly and human aspects. Judaism is both earthly and human. Every religion is both a human organization and an earthly realm that keeps people away from God’s New Testament economy.
[Hebrews] ushers us into the Holy of Holies and then directs us to go outside the camp. Everyone who has gone outside the camp has experienced what is within the veil….The goal and ultimate consummation of this book is that we would all enter within the veil and go outside the camp. (Truth Lessons—Level Three, vol. 3, pp. 70-71)
As a fellow lover of Jesus, I’m intensely happy for the willing remnant standing upon the ground of oneness for the building up of the Body of Christ in love.
The world of religion is a great wilderness; but by God’s mercy we can have our full entrance into the good land of God’s grace by crossing the river Jordan, the first step we must take in our move outside the camp.
I can admire those who live within the veil because they have given up the world to obtain Christ, these are those who pick up their cross to follow Jesus, even bearing his reproach.
One thing I love about a church-life within the veil is the transition from an organization view of the Body of Christ to an organic view and the singular focus we have while living within the veil on the work that God is doing on the earth today, a thing that has been hidden in God’s heart even from before the foundations of the world were laid.
Lord, thank you for the willing remnant who chose to move outside the camp. Thank you for each one of them, on account of whom Your glorious bride, even now, makes herself ready.