Exodus 33:7 says, “Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came about that everyone who sought Jehovah would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. ” According to verses 9 and 10 , the glory of the Lord was at the door of the tent. In verse 11 we are told that “Jehovah would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his companion. ” All the children of Israel who wanted to seek the Lord went out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.
Moses, an experienced person, knew that God according to His holiness would no longer stay among the people, for the camp had become idolatrous. Therefore, Moses took his tent, which formerly had been in the camp, and pitched it outside the camp. This action was according to God’s heart.
Knowing the heart of God, Moses realized that he could not stay in an idolatrous situation. This was the reason he moved his tent outside the camp. This tent then became the tent of God. The tabernacle had not yet been constructed. Hence, Moses’ tent became the tent of meeting for the meeting between God and His people. “And it came about, when Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the tent, and He would speak with Moses” (v. 9). If the people wanted to seek God, they had to go to the tent of Moses.
Moses’ tent outside the camp is a type. In Hebrews 13:12 and 13 we have the fulfillment of this type: “Wherefore also Jesus, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. ” The Lord Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem. The people of God rejected Him, the sent One of God. Even though He is the Son of God, the children of Israel had Him crucified outside the city. In Hebrews 13:13 we are urged to go forth unto Christ outside the camp, which signifies human organization.
In the last century certain teachers wrote strongly on this matter. They pointed out that today’s Christianity is a “camp, ” and this camp has become idolatrous. The Lord would not remain in such an idolatrous camp. Because He has come out of that camp, whoever seeks the Lord must go forth unto Him outside the camp. We need to go unto this rejected One, the One rejected by idolatrous religion. We need to leave the idolatrous camp and go to the rejected One. This is the narrow way we must follow.
We need to ask ourselves if we are still in the “camp, ” or if we have gone forth unto the Lord outside the camp. We may be able to testify that we are outside the camp. Nevertheless, we need to be careful lest we again become a camp. As soon as there is idolatry among God’s people, they become a camp.
Whatever Moses did in these chapters was according to God’s heart. He made propitiation in behalf of the children of Israel according to God’s heart, and he moved his tent outside the camp also according to God’s heart. Moses, therefore, had the ground to bargain with God for His presence and glory (33:12-23).
Ephesians 4:4 reveals that there is one Spirit for one Body with one hope. Without Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3 , there would be no way for the believers to be one Body. Because the believers’ inward parts have been taken over, occupied, by the settling Christ, the Spirit can be the very essence of the Body. The church as the Body of Christ has the Spirit as its essence with a hope. The hope is that the entire Body of Christ will be fully transfigured. Today much of our being still remains in the old creation, but we have a hope that one day the Lord will transfigure even our physical body into His likeness. Today the Spirit is the Body’s essence. The Spirit as the essence of the Body needs to saturate our entire being until we are transfigured. We have a hope for this transfiguration.
Ephesians 4:5 speaks of one Lord [the Son] with one faith and one baptism. Faith united us to Christ in the organic union, and baptism cut us off, separated us, from the world. In other words, faith joins and baptism cuts. Now we are of the Lord because we have faith and baptism.
Verse 6 says that there is one God and Father of all—over all, through all, and in all. We need to be those who are enjoying the Father as the source of the Trinity. This One is in three directions. He is over all, through all, and in all. This means that the Father is triune. Actually, the Father is over all, the Son is through all, and the Spirit is in all. This shows that the Triune God is embodied in the Father who is also over all, through all, and in all.