Today’s devotion comes from Exodus 29:10-14.
“Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. You shall slaughter the bull before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and offer them up in smoke on the altar. But the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering.” Exodus 29:10-14.
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The command may seem so small, so natural, and so unmeaningful that the flesh of the bull and its hide and its refuse, should be burned with fire outside the camp. You don’t want the nasty remains of the bull to remain within the camp. But, this command points to Christ Who is the true Sin Offering Outside the Camp.
“We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” Hebrews 13:10-14.
And, there is reason why Christ suffered outside the gate and why “those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat”.
“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.” Galatians 3:24-25.
But, for those who continue to want to be under the Law, “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” Galatians 5:4.
In other words, those within the camp want to continue to be under the Law. They serve the tabernacle. They are part of the crowd who want to prove their own righteousness and perfect themselves according to the flesh and the Law in front of admiring others in the crowd. They care more about their pride and what others think than they do for the necessity of going outside the camp bearing reproach in faith to get to the sole source of salvation.
The apostle Paul was willing to go outside the camp bearing reproach in faith to get to the sole source of salvation. Although he had every reason to have confidence in the Law and his own flesh to obey the Law, he states:
“Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,” Philippians 3:2-9.
But, those who want to cling to the Law, those who continue to serve the tabernacle, those who stay within the camp, they shall not share the inheritance of salvation.
“30 But what does the Scripture say?
“Cast out the bondwoman and her son,
For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.” Galatians 4:30.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 