We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore 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 here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.
The writer of this passage in Hebrews 13:10-14 is addressing an audience of Hebrew Christians, under great pressure to forsake Jesus and renounce his discipline. He begged them not to cast away their confidence and draw back from faith to perdition, though their goods were plundered, their companions abused and themselves made a spectacle by reproach and tribulation (10:32-39).
The writer calls upon Hebrew history as examples of enduring faith in chapter eleven, hoping to inspire similar perseverance in these troubled saints. Finally, he cites the Lord Jesus himself, who "endured the cross, despising the shame" (12:2). "For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin" (12:3-4).