Hebrews 13:7-14

7: Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 
8: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 
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 so occupied were not benefited. 
10: We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 
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. 
12: Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 
13: So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 
14: For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

*** 

In continuing his closing remarks, Paul said to remember, and look at, those who had spoken the Word of God to them. Consider the result of their conduct and imitate their faith. Their faith was in Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He has not changed, so don’t allow yourselves to be carried away with strange teachings.

Paul said the heart was to be strengthened with grace, not with foods. There were those who were trying to impose Jewish restrictions from the Law onto the Christians. These are “varied and strange teachings,” as is anything that does not call for faith in Christ as the way to salvation. Those still trying to follow the Law not only do not benefit from their sacrifices or dietary restrictions, but they have no right to eat at the altar of Christ since they are trying to justify themselves apart from His sacrifice.

Just as the bodies of the animals sacrificed for sin were burned outside the camp, and their blood was brought into the holy place by the high priest (Exodus 29:14), so did Jesus suffer outside the gate. He brought His own blood to the true holy place—the Father in heaven—to make atonement for our sins. So, let us go out to Him, identifying with Him and bearing His reproach, not trying to justify ourselves through other means.

He is the only way. Our eternal hope is not on this earth or a city where the old tabernacle stood. Our hope is not in our own ability to live righteously before God. Our hope is in Jesus Christ. The city we are seeking is the heavenly city, the one yet to come for those in Christ—the one He is building for His own. He has paid the price, washed us of our sin and guilt, made us new creatures in Him, bringing us into fellowship with the Father.


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