Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does Jehovah require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 6:8
“How long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me?”
God, in Numbers 14:11
There is nothing good that God’s children are doing that they could not do if they obey the call of the Spirit and come out of Christianity. We do not need to participate in any earthly religious system in order to accomplish the will of our heavenly Father. We can do whatever we are doing that is right and, I contend, do it even better, without being under the yoke of religious traditions and doctrines. There is no commandment of God that requires His people to join any of man’s religions to be able to do it.
Can you think of anything that God’s saints are doing that is right and holy, that they would not be able to do if they were out of Christianity instead of in it? I can’t. They can even gather together to edify one another without partaking in an earthly religious system.
The mystery is this: If God’s people do not need it, and if they could serve God better without it, then why do they cling so fiercely to it? And why does the call to come out of it anger so many people who believe in Jesus? Outside the gate of Christianity, we can only love him more – more purely, more completely, more acceptably, more “in spirit and in truth”, more in harmony with the Father and the Son, and more in unity with one another.
God’s call to “Come out of her, my people” is only a call from the Father to more of His Spirit and power, more of His knowledge, more of His love and truth, more of His grace and goodness; in short, more of everything that is pure and holy in Christ. Where is the downside of doing our Father’s will and coming out?
I just asked, “Can you think of anything that God’s saints are doing that is right and holy, that they would not be able to do if they were out of Christianity instead of in it?” But let me ask the opposite question now. Can you think of anything that is wrong and unholy that God’s children are doing simply because they are in Christianity? Those of you who know the truth can point to many things that you know God’s precious people are doing that are not right in God’s sight, precisely because they participate in one of Christianity’s many sects. Wouldn’t it be better for us all to come away from the wrong, so that we can do more of what is right and please our heavenly Father more fully?
We can trust our heavenly Father. He is not calling us to a heavy burden. On the contrary, He is calling us away from one, the heavy burden of the doctrines and commandments of men. Our Father is not calling us into a trap. He is calling us out of one.
He is calling in love, for our good. And there is no doubt in my mind that His heart is hurting again for His children and that He is asking again the question He asked Moses after the Great Wilderness Rebellion, “How long will it be ere they believe me?”
How long will it be, I wonder, before God’s people finally recognize that it is His loving voice, not mine or any other man’s, crying out, “Come out of her, my people”, and that He is only calling them to where they really want to go?