THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 30, AUGUST 26, 2001

A VERY GOOD QUESTION

"Please explain Hebrews 13: 9 - 13, particularly verses 12 & 13. What is the meaning of Jesus 'suffered outside the gate'? What is the meaning of 'let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach?'"

When discussing any passage from the letter to the Hebrews, it is important to remember the purpose of the book itself. It was to show and to clearly demonstrate the superiority of Christ and the New Testament to all things related to the Old Testament. In so doing, the Hebrew writer exhorted the Jewish Christians who may have been tempted to return to Judaism not to do so.

Let's look at the aforementioned verses one by one.

Verse 9: "Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were thus occupied were not benefited."

This is a general admonition not to be carried away by doctrines that came along which were not consistent with what they knew to be the truth. The primary emphasis was upon the doctrines of Judaism which some would try to interject into their belief and practice. It truly was much better for their hearts to be established and strengthened by the glorious truths of the gospel of Jesus, which is in itself a manifestation of the grace of God, than for them to be worrying about the Old Law distinctions between clean and unclean meats. The Old Law had not saved them, and it was not where salvation was to be found.

Verse 10: "We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat."

The "we" in the verses are Christians, and the sacrificial altar referred to is evidently the cross, or the sacrifice of Jesus. As you know, under the Jewish system, a portion of the sacrifices offered belonged to the priests. It became theirs to eat. However, the Levitical priests could not partake of the benefits of the sacrifice of Christ as long as they remained in their current position. As practicing Jews, they had no right to those benefits. They had to leave Judaism and become Christians.

Verse 11: "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."

The bodies of the animals that were sacrificed for a sin offering on the Great Day of Atonement and whose blood was taken by the High Priest into the Most Holy Place, were not permitted to be eaten. They were taken outside of the camp (when the children of Israel lived in tents) and outside of the city gates of Jerusalem after the temple was built, to be consumed by fire.

Verse 12: "Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate."

Just as the beast whose blood was offered for atonement for the sins of the people had its body carried outside of the city to be consumed, so too Jesus offered Himself outside the walls of the city.

Verse 13: "Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach."

Since Jesus freely suffered for them, outside of the city of Jerusalem, the pain and the shame of the cross, and since His sacrifice is the only one sufficient to remove the guilt of sins, the Hebrew writer exhorted his readers to go to Him, outside of the camp (Judaism), and to endure any shame that might come as a result of doing so.

Greg Litmer

WRESTLING WITH THE DEVIL

Unless you have teenage boys or young male adults in your household, you may be surprised to learn that wrestling programs on TNT and on USA Networks are on a consistent weekly basis the highest rated shows on basic cable. I remember wrestling when I was growing up, but let me tell you, the days of Gorgeous George, the Sheik, and BoBo Brazil are long gone.

Parents, do you know what your kids are watching when they watch wrestling? Do you know what they are buying when they purchase wrestling on pay-per-view?

A detailed Indiana University investigation of 50 "WWF Raw" episodes on the USA Network turned up a staggering amount of profane or risqué incidents and an average of less then 36 minutes of wrestling in a two hour show.

"Researchers counted 1,658 instances of characters grabbing or pointing to their own crotches; that's roughly eight every 30 minutes, not counting the slow-motion instant replays…Researchers counted 157 instances of wrestlers or audience members making an obscene gesture and 434 times when people either said a sexually charged slogan or displayed one on a hand-made sign…There were 128 episodes of simulated sexual activity and 47 references to satanic activity. One segment featured people supposedly draining blood from a 'dead' wrestler and drinking it…There were also 609 instances of wrestlers or others being struck by objects like garbage cans or nightsticks." (David Bauder, Associated Press)

Wow! Of course, this doesn't even take into consideration the profanity that is a constant in these kinds of programs. Does it even sound close to Paul's exhortation in Phil. 4:8? Paul wrote, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." Watching such as entertainment reminds me of Paul's statement in Rom. 1:32, "and, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

As children get older I am not sure that we can always tell them what they can and cannot watch. We can hope that we have taught them well and that after thinking about it, they will make the right choice. We pray that they will "come out from their midst and be separate, and do not touch what is unclean" (2 Cor. 6:17). We can sincerely hope that the repeated exhortations to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good repute and excellence that they have received in our homes will have had a positive effect. We can pray that they will honor God and His will. But one thing each of us as parents can most assuredly do is see to it that such programming is NOT WATCHED IN OUR HOUSES!!!!

Greg Litmer