Follow Jesus

DEVOTION

HEBREWS

FOLLOW JESUS

Heb 13:11-14

11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

NIV

Is it not plain of the twofold message here? We are dreadfully incapable of entering into the presence of God without the blood of Jesus Christ, yet because of His blood we can boldly enter the most Holy of Holies, the stand in the presence of God. Yet the other message rings just as loud and clear. As Jesus died on the cross outside the city gates, we too must leave those city gates bearing the disgrace he bore. What does that mean? Because we know our new eternal home, the new city of Jerusalem is on its way to us. Because we know that Jesus told has told us that He went to prepare this place for us and that He will return to take us to that place. Because we know that our citizenship is in heaven and no longer in this world, we must leave these cities gates, and go outside the camp. Anything within the city, the world, is not enduring. Therefore it is of no value and we must be not only willing, but actually leave it behind. We cannot be bound to anything within the city for if we are, whatever it is, it will drag us back. If we are chained to our past, we cannot move into our future. The city is now our past, all our stuff, all our attitudes, all our thoughts and behaviors have to be left behind in the city for we must leave them, we have been unchained by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we must look forward to the city that is to come. Let us live outside the realm of the city, the world, the beliefs, the attitudes, and the lifestyles. Let us live outside the realm of the physical limits of this world, and enjoy the greater spiritual realm of the Kingdom of God. Those in the world might well look at us with distain and think we are fools for believing in God, for trusting God, for looking to God for all our needs, for living by faith, instead of by the strength of our own abilities. We might well disgraced by their standards for our faith in God, if in fact we actually live out our faith. But that is our calling, to leave the city, to follow Jesus.