“…every one which sought the LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp” (Exodus 33:7).God purposed to dwell on earth. The first house that God dwelt in was the House of Tents, called the Tabernacle of the Congregation.God had given Moses the details of the Tabernacle and He gave certain men wisdom to construct this House for God. God had promised Moses that He would meet with him and commune with him “from above the mercy seat” (Exodus 25:22), which was on top of the Ark of the Covenant. This Ark was located in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle Tent. God could only be approached by the High Priest in linen clothing on the basis of a blood sacrifice.

However, because of Israel’s sin with the Golden Calf, God instructed Moses to move the Tabernacle outside the camp. Therefore, in the text verse (Exodus 33:7), everyone who sought the Lord had to leave the camp to go to where the Tabernacle was located, outside the camp.

In Hebrews 13:10-15, the Apostle Paul gives light to our text (Exodus 33:7). Here Paul explains this type being fulfilled in the Antitype, Christ.

“For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. (12) Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. (13) Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” ( Hebrews 13:11-13)

First, in answer to where we go: we go to our Sacrifice, our Substitute, our burnt Offering for sin – Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Our Hope, our Salvation is lodged in the Offering for sin, Jesus Christ. He was the Burnt Offering for sin; meaning He became sin who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). He bore our sin debt, our punishment, and our reproach (Isaiah 53:1-12). First, we must come to be identified with Him as our Sin Offering. We must admit our guilt and sin before God, confessing Christ to be our Sin Bearer. We must go outside the camp of: 1) self, 2) pride, and 3) religious self-works, for justification. We must go to Christ the Sin Offering, and confess that we were identified in His death.

You cannot come to peace in Christ until you have confessed your sin, and acknowledged that He is your Peace; that He made peace for you in the Sacrifice of Himself to God on your behalf. (See Ephesians 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:24-25; Ephesians 2:1-9; 1:7.) The fact is, if you seek the Lord, you must go outside the camp to His Reproach as the Sin Offering and be identified with Him (Romans 6:11); as God was satisfied with His Offering (Isaiah 53:10-11) on your behalf.

Second, if we desire to commune with God, to worship God, and to receive revelation from God, we must go where God dwells; and God dwells in Christ. Christ is the Temple of God. If you know that Christ is your Sacrifice, Substitute, and Savior; then you have been baptized into His Body (1 Corinthians 12:13). You are now called His Body, His Bride, the Church. He is the Head; and His Church is His Body (Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22).

The Church is styled the City of God, Mt. Sion (Hebrews 11:8-16; 12:22-23). The Church is outside the camp. The Church is Spiritual in nature, for it is the habitation of God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:21-22). Paul said in Hebrews 13:14, “For here (in this world, in the physical) have we no continuing city (the only everlasting city is the Church, the Body of Christ, the City of God), but we seek one to come (speaking of the return of Christ in Power and Glory).” When not Jerusalem will be recognized as the Dwelling Place of God, but the Church will be recognized as the Dwelling Place of God on earth. Paul said in Hebrews 13:15, “By him (by Christ: our Sacrifice, Substitute, and Savior, and Head) therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.”

Child of grace, where do we go? We go to Christ, to worship and praise Him. Come out of the physical, and enter into the spiritual. Come out of the camp of ceremonialism; of ritualism; of self-works; and of the traditions of men – and go to God. Jesus said in John 4:23-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (24) God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” We must worship God in Spirit and in Truth; not in the type, but in the Antitype, Christ. He is the Temple of God, the Glory of God; for He is God. Here, we are changed, conformed, and commanded. Here is our fellowship and communion; here is our Strength and here is our Sanctification.

Come out of the camp; for in this world we have no continuing city. But in Christ we have an everlasting habitation in the Spirit. He is the Altar; He is the Temple of God; He is our “wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30b).

The old system of the law has been fulfilled in Christ (Romans 10:4). The old Temple has been destroyed along with its ceremonialism and its Priesthood; and has been replaced by The Temple, Christ Jesus, His Body, the Church, this is where Christ dwells (Ephesians 3:21); and by the Great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Who has once and for all offered Himself up (Hebrews 9:26; 10:12-14); and there is no more sacrifice for sins. He is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away (or beareth) the sin of the world” (John 1:29). If you desire rest from your burden of sin; if you desire your spiritual hunger and thirst satisfied; then come outside the camp to the Water of Life (Revelation 22:17).