If you would turn with me to
Numbers chapter 35, this would be our last study in the book
of Numbers. Just one more chapter, chapter
36, but we've already covered that story in our study of Numbers
chapter 27. And I was thinking today how
appropriate it is for us to end our study of Numbers with the
cities of refuge. What a picture we have here of
God's mercy and God's grace to guilty sinners who are fleeing
for their lives from the rightful claims of the holy law of God. That law which seeks judgment
and justice against us. We know that the Old Testament
scriptures speak of Christ in types and in shadows and pictures. And the book of Numbers is definitely
no exception as we've seen. Christ did say Moses wrote of
me. Matter of fact, the older I get
and the more I look into the scriptures, the more I see Christ
in all the scriptures. And I'm so thankful for that
because he is the way and the truth and the life. This book's
about Jesus Christ, the book of Numbers, and the whole book,
as far as that goes, is about Jesus Christ and his church in
this world, but especially the book of Numbers. And these things
were recorded for us as examples and warnings concerning faith
and unbelief. And no picture, as we've said
many times, or shadow ever gives full representation of what it's
picturing. You know, Teresa and I hang pictures
of our children and our grandchildren on the walls of our home, but
that's all they are. They're just pictures. Seeing
our children and grandchildren live and in person is what gives
them substance. and us great joy. Gene before
service told me that his son Daniel was coming in this weekend
and his face just lit up when he told me. I'm sure you've got
pictures of him at home, but you'd much rather see him, wouldn't
you? And we love these pictures of the Lord Jesus, but I'd rather
see him. And one day I'm going to, not
because of anything I've done, not because of anything that
I deserve, but because he loved me and gave himself for me. A picture is two-dimensional. It lacks depth and substance. A picture is a flat figure or
shape that has two dimensions, length and width. You know, if
you take a piece of paper and you draw a straight line on that
paper, it's one-dimensional. You can only measure its length. If you draw a square or a rectangle
on a piece of paper, it's two dimensional. It's got length
and width, but no depth. And you know, an artist, a good
artist can take a piece of canvas and can add shadowing and colors
and Just make it three-dimensional, but it's really only an illusion. And my point of saying that is
Old Testament pictures are two-dimensional. They have shadow, but no substance. Christ is that substance. You can turn a picture sideways,
or take a piece of paper and turn it sideways, and it's just,
you don't see anything more than a flat piece of paper. But in
the scriptures, the third dimension, the substance, the life that
must be added is spiritual and it can only be seen by divine
revelation in and by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what gives the scripture substance. It's faith is the substance. The grounds, the confidence,
the faith gives the scriptures substance. Faith is a substance
of things hopeful. And it's the evidence of things
not seen. It requires a third dimension
to see life. It requires that to see Christ. And it's the same with the picture
that we had before us in the cities of refuge. You and I will
never see the substance of these cities unless they're revealed
to us in the light of spiritual truth. We'll never see the true
substance and meaning of the Old Testament cities of refuge
until we see Christ in them. And the Old Testament scriptures
were, as you know, according to Paul in Romans 15, written
for our learning. that we might have hope in them. And that's my hope for us tonight,
that we might again see Christ and find great comfort and hope.
So now I want to read the biggest part of this chapter. I think
for most of you that are familiar with the cities of refuge, it's
probably not needed, but I think we should. So let's begin in
verse one and read some verses here. Chapter 35. And the Lord spake unto Moses
in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. They haven't yet
crossed over into the land of promise. They're still on this
side of Jordan. And the Lord said, command the
children of Israel that they give unto the Levites of the
inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in. "'And you
shall give also unto the Levites suburbs "'for the cities round
about them. "'And the cities shall they have
to dwell in, "'and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle,
"'and for their goods, and for all their beasts. "'And the suburbs
of the cities "'which you shall give unto the Levites "'shall
reach from the wall of the city "'and outward a thousand cubits
round about. "'And you shall measure from
without the city "'on the east side, 2,000 cubits, "'and on
the south side, 2,000 cubits, "'and on the west side, 2,000
cubits, "'and on the north side, 2,000 cubits, "'and the city
shall be in the midst.'" "'These shall be to them the suburbs
of the cities. "'And among the cities which
you shall give unto the Levites," now look at this, "'there shall
be six cities for refuge, "'which you shall appoint for the manslayer,
"'that he may flee thither, "'and to them you shall add 40 and
two cities. "'So all the cities which you
shall give to the Levites "'shall be 40 and eight cities, "'and
them shall you give with their suburbs, "'And the cities which
you shall give "'shall be of the possession of the children
of Israel. "'From them that have many, you shall give many, "'but
for them that have few, you shall give few. "'Everyone shall give
of his cities unto the Levites "'according to his inheritance
which he inherited.' "'And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
"'Speak ye and speak unto the children of Israel, "'and say
unto them, "'When you become over Jordan into the land of
Canaan, the land of promise. Then you shall appoint you cities
to be cities of refuge for you, that the slayer may flee thither,
which killeth any person it unawares." And they shall be unto you cities
for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer die not until
he stand before the congregation in judgment. And of these cities
which you shall give, six cities shall you have for refuge. And
you shall give three cities on this side of Jordan, and three
cities shall you give in the land of Canaan on the other side
of Jordan, which shall be cities of refuge. Verse 15, these six
cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel and
for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that everyone
that killeth any person unawares or unintentionally may flee thither. Now look at verse 16. If he,
a man, smite another man with an instrument of iron, so that
he die, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be
put to death. And if he smite him with throwing
a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer,
the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he smite
him with a hand weapon of wood, wherewith he may die, and he
die, he's a murderer, and the murderer shall surely be put
to death. The revenger of blood himself
shall slay the murderer. When he meeteth him, he shall
slay him. But if he thrust him of hatred
or hurled at him by lane of weight, that he die, or in enmity smite
him with his hand that he die, he that smote him shall surely
be put to death, for he's a murderer. The revenger of blood shall slay
the murderer when he meeteth him." Now look at verse 22, but
if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or cast upon him anything
without laying of weight, or with any stone wherewith a man
may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die,
and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm, then the congregation
shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according
to these judgments. and the congregation shall deliver
the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the
congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whether
he was fled, and he shall abide in it until the death of the
high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil. But if the
slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city
of his refuge, whether he was fled, and the revenger of blood
find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and
the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he, the slayer, shall
not be guilty of blood. because he should have remained
in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest.
But after the death of the high priest, the slayer shall return
into the land of his possession." Now, this is an amazing thing
when God shows us the spiritual aspect of it. And in this chapter,
we have several things set before us as clear pictures of first,
sin. Secondly, the law of God, which
we've offended. Third, the sinner. Then we had
the servants of the Lord, the refuge itself, the high priest's
death, and then God's warning, and then the truth. And again,
we clearly see the doctrines of grace in this, but this is
more about the experience of grace. And here we find Israel
at the end of their journey. They've wandered 40 years, and
they're about to enter into the promised land. And the message
to them from God is the same as it was when they were first
delivered from the bondage of Egypt. What was that message?
You've got to cross over Jordan into the land flowing with milk
and honey, or it could be said to you and I this way, flee to
Christ. flee to Christ, flee to the Savior. You know, from the earliest of
times, it was always the custom in the Far East for when a man
was murdered, the nearest relative of that person that was, an heir
or any person related to the man that was killed, had the
right to avenge or revenge the man's death, whether the man
was killed intentionally or unintentionally, the avenger of blood, the relative,
could hunt down that man and kill him. You know, the Bible's
very clear in the Old Testament, eye for an eye and tooth for
a tooth. But here, the Lord, in mercy
and grace, he appoints six cities at convenient distances, not
far from anywhere you dwelt, so that when one man killed another
man unintentionally, the manslayer at once might flee to one of
these cities. And if he made it to a city of
refuge, he might have to remain there all his life. As long as
he did so, though, the avenger of blood couldn't touch him,
couldn't extract revenge. vengeance if he was innocent. Now in the city of refuge, he
would have a fair trial, but even if he was found innocent,
he must stay within that city where the avenger of blood could
not take revenge. If he left that city or went
outside of the city, he was fair game. And this was God's way
of seeing that anyone who unintentionally killed a man or Anyone, for that
matter, could be unjustly guilty of murder. If two men were cutting
wood and the axe handle flew off, the axe and struck another
man in the head. Without intention, that man could
flee to a city of refuge and upon arriving there, he would
be safe and secure in that city of refuge. And that's what the
word refuge means. You look it up in the dictionary,
some of the synonyms are shelter, protection, safety. security,
asylum, safe haven, sanctuary, retreat. And doesn't those same
words beautifully illustrate and define the Lord Jesus? He's
our shelter. He's our protection. He's our
safety, security. He's our asylum. He's our safe
haven. He's our sanctuary. The cities
of refuge was not a place of refuge for the willful murder. No, if one who fled there was
found guilty of murder after a fair trial, he'd be dragged
out of that city and given up to the avenger and the avenger
of blood had the right to kill that man without any repercussion
whatsoever. It was an eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth. It was blood for blood. It was
life for life. But in case of unintended manslaughter,
killing another without malice, without premeditation, the man
fleeing was perfectly safe if he reached that city of refuge.
I love the Old Testament types of Christ. I really do. But there's
no perfect type, as we've said many times, and this type doesn't
really adequately represent the work of our Lord Jesus. You know,
Christ is not a refuge provided for men who are innocent, but
for men and women who are guilty. Christ is not a refuge for those
who have accidentally transgressed. No, Christ is a refuge for those
who have willfully gone astray. Our Savior came into the world
to save sinners, sinners. Not those who have by mistake
or error committed sin, but those who have with resolve in their
heart transgressed against the law of God. And that's all of
us by nature, every single one of us. Christ came to the world
to save sinners, those who have rebelled against him, those who
have broken the divine commandments of God Almighty. He came to save
those who have followed the sinful dictates of their own free will. And those who rebel against the
God, they naturally hate without a call. Carnal mind, the fleshly
mind, all of our minds by nature are enmity, hostile towards God. So I gave you eight things in
the beginning. I wanna briefly go over each
of those. And the first picture we have
here is the picture of sin, sin. What is the sin pictured here?
Well, it's the sin of manslaughter. It's not the sin of murder because
the text makes it clear that any willful murderer is to die
from their sin. You see, the cities of refuge
was not for such a person. Who was the city of refuge for? If the death was unintentional,
the man was to receive a fair trial. However, the result of
his crime was the same. It had the same results. A person
had been killed, whether intentionally or unintentionally. A life had
been taken. God's law had been broken. The
Lord wrote, thou shalt not kill. God had said that. Sin is sin,
even if it's committed unintentionally. Isn't that right? The fact remains
that all of us are sinners and all that we can really do in
and of ourselves is sin. We've said it many times and
it's so true that sin is, yes, it's what we do, but we sin because
of what we are. We're sinners. Not because we
sin, we sin because we're sinners. Romans chapter 7 makes it very
clear that everything we do, everything we think, practice,
well it's corrupted with our own flesh and it flows through
the nature of sin that's within us. But here we see the grace
of God and we see His tenderness by which He deals with His elect
people. He views their sin with an eye
on the remedy. Christ is the remedy for sin. God doesn't count the sin any
less worthy of death because it's unintentional. God's requirement
for justice is not satisfied simply because the sin was not
intentional. Sin is sin, it must be punished. God is holy and just and he can
by no means clear the guilty. God's holy law demands death
for sin. The wages of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall
die. So we see the sin here and it's
murder, murder in our hearts really. But if you hate a man
without a cause, you hate a brother without a cause, you've committed
murder in your heart. Then secondly, we see the law
of God that we have offended. No doubt the avenger of blood
represents the offended law. Very well so. The law of God
has been offended by us. Every one of us is guilty and
the result of breaking the law is death. The law of God is the
blood avenger that's on our, tracking us, hunting us down
to do away with us. We have willfully, transgress. We've killed, as it were, God's
commandments. We've said in our own heart,
I don't want God to rule over me. I want to be my own God.
I want to be my own boss. I want to do my own thing. That's
man by nature, all of it. We've trampled God's commandments
under our foot. And the law of God is to execute
judgment on us. It has to, for God to remain
holy and just. And unless we reach the city
of refuge, we shall be utterly destroyed. Now, did you hear
that? Unless we reach the city of refuge,
who is Christ, we shall be destroyed. And then thirdly, we see that
the sinner is the manslayer. Though this manslayer has killed
a man unwittingly, unintentionally, he's still aware of the fact
that he's done so. This reveals that a man is aware
of their sin. Men and women know that they're
sinners. The sinner is said, it's said, I forget now who said
it, but the sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made
him so. Now what does that mean? Well,
there are many who give mental assent to their lack of perfection. You've heard it, I've heard it.
I know I even said it one time many years ago. Well, I know
I'm not perfect. We all heard it, we may probably
all said it. I know I'm not perfect, but I'm
just as good as those church goers down there. But you see,
only a divine revelation of God causes a sinner to know that
their sin is worthy of death and worthy of eternal damnation. And in the preaching of the gospel,
The sinner hears the pursuing footsteps of the avenger coming
after him. I remember the first time I heard
the gospel. All my life, you know, I heard
about what God wanted to do and what God was trying to do. You
know, you had to help God out. You had to cooperate with God
in order for him to save you. But when I heard the truth preached,
I mean, the truth about who God is and who I am and what I deserve,
man, I could just hear the footsteps of God's law coming after me. I could. And for the first time
in my life, I feared God. Not a slavish fear, but a reverential
respect for God, knowing that He was right and He was just
in putting me to death. And for the first time in my
life, I begged for mercy and I begged for God's grace that
God would pardon me. Though the law of God, the avenger
of the blood, does not apprehend you in this life, it's surely
going to overtake you in the world to come. We're not going
to get out of this. You're not going to neglect Christ
and not pay the consequences. It's appointed unto men once
to die. Then, then, the judgment. Remember, we looked at it in
Numbers chapter 32. Remember, your sin will find
you out. And it always does. In the end,
it finds us out. Then fourthly, we see the picture
and type of the refuge. Oh my, what a blessing that is. Christ is the believer's refuge. Oh, behold the mercy and the
grace of God. He's established six cities of
refuge. Three on this side of Jordan,
and three on the other side. Three inside the land of promise,
and three on the other side of Jordan. Three for those who have
entered and enjoy the land that God promised, and three for those
that have foregone the fellowship and the enjoyment, having opted
for the gain of the world. And Christ is that city. That city of refuge. Christ is
our refuge. The question is, are we fleeing
to Him? Are we coming to Him? To whom
coming? We keep coming. We continually
come. I come today. I come tomorrow.
I come moment by moment. Coming to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in
times of trouble, the scripture says. And he certainly is. God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Boy,
you tell me that when that man got close to that city and he
could see the gates, you tell me that that wasn't a comfort
to him. You better believe it was. The Lord of hosts is with
us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Psalm 46 says. And God is my
salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength and my refuge,
my safety, my security, all those things that we mentioned is in
God. Trust in Him at all times. You
people pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. In both of those last two verses,
David, the psalmist, added selah, which means stop. Think about
that for a moment. Oh, I think about it often. When
I see myself in the fullness of my sin, I think, how could
God be mindful of a wretch like me? And then I stop and I think
about it, and I say, only one way, and that's in Christ, my
refuge. In Christ, no harm can come to
you. The avenger of blood cannot enter
the city of refuge. You're safe, you're secure there. The city of refuge was a priestly
city. You know, I don't know if I ever
thought about that before. I've taught on the cities of
refuge before, but it was given to the Levites who were the priesthood. It was a city of Levites. And
in Christ, our high priest, our great high priest, there's nothing
but safety. We're safe in the city of refuge. Not because of the high, thick
walls, Not because of the bars and the bolts on the gate. No, safe because it was divinely
appointed by God. And if God be for you, who can
be against you? Nobody, nothing. Who's gonna
separate us from the love of God? Absolutely nothing, absolutely
no one. You see, divine appointment was
the only thing which made the city of refuge secure. And the Lord Jesus Christ, He's
our divinely appointed way of salvation. God ordained Him to
be our Lord, our Savior, our substitute, our sacrifice, our
surety. And that's why we gotta flee
to Him. flee to him. All that come to him shall receive
rest. Isn't that what he said? Come
unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. Not I might, not I will if you
do this, and not I will if you do that, but I will. I will give
you rest. That's where you're resting right
now, isn't it, brother? Absolutely. Me too. Me too. Thanks be to Him, I am. The curse
of the law shall not touch us. The avenger of blood, not going
to touch you. Satan shall not harm you. Vengeance
shall not reach us. Christ is stronger than gates
of iron and brass. The cities of refuge, as we read,
was strategically placed where you could get to them within
a half a day on foot. And beloved, it's no great distance
from a guilty sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a long
way to travel. It's just at the call, of need,
just, Lord, help me. Lord, save me. That's all Peter
said when he began to sing, Lord, save me. And I just pictured
the Lord reaching down his hand and grabbing him out of those
boisterous waves and the storms of life. That's our hope. That's our hope. The fifth thing, we see something
here of God's servants. You know, the ropes to these
cities of refuge were tended by men assigned to keep the way
clean. Signs were erected that pointed
to these cities, the words, refuge, refuge. That's what we do when
we preach. We point men to Christ, sinners
to Christ, and say, refuge, refuge, Christ is our refuge. And these
roads were to be kept smooth. You know, I wish the state of
Kentucky would take a hint there. But these men were out there
filling in those potholes in the road and smoothing them over. And all means of stumbling were
to be removed. Nothing was to be a hindrance
to the manslayer having access to the city. Nothing was to hinder
the man from coming to the city of refuge. That's what preachers
do. We point men to the way, that
straight and narrow way, that smooth way. Nothing to be a hindrance
to us. The road to Christ is straight
and narrow. Every river is bridged. The road
is made level. Every obstacle is removed. What
a picture of the road to Christ. It's a road that must be kept
straight. It's a road kept clear for every
sinner that travels it. It's a straight road that declares
believe and live. It's a road to Christ. It's a
road that's so hard that no self-righteous man can or will flee to it. And yet it's a road so easy that
everyone who knows themselves to be a sinner, sees themselves
to be a sinner, that God has revealed to them that their sinner
may easily find their way to Christ and to heaven's glory. And that's the duty of a pastor. That's the duty of a gospel preacher,
to point to the city, to point to Christ. He's to remove any
hindrance, remove any stumbling between the sinner and the Savior.
So we continue to look to him, don't we? We don't look within.
We don't look to ourselves. Can't do it. The sixth picture
we have here is the death of the high priest. Now, once the
manslayer had reached the security of the city of refuge, he was
to remain there, it said in the verses we read, until the high
priest died. At the death of the high priest,
he could return to his home and all that he had left behind,
and that teaches us several things, really. First, it teaches us
that the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be separated. They're one and other. The same.
The one and the same. The believer is secure in Christ. I mean secure. And in Christ,
we're made free from the penalty of the law. God's law no longer
has any claim on us. Because in Christ, we've kept
the law perfectly. That avenger of blood couldn't
touch a man. after the high priest had died. We're free from the penalty of
the law, the penalty of sin, and Christ has restored to us
all that we've lost and even more when he died. The death
of Christ, our great high priest secured and restored us to God. God's no longer angry with us. Before, He's angry with the wicked
every day. So if He's not angry with us,
we're not wicked because Christ has made us perfect, washing
us clean with the blood of His sacrifice. The manslayer had
to leave all in order to save his life, house, family, home,
friends. He's got to leave it all behind
for the sake of the city. You've got to get to the city.
Can't let anything keep you from getting there. But when Christ
our high priest died, we were made free from the retaliation
of God's justice because God has accepted his sacrifice and
forgiven us of all our sin. And that's proved by his resurrection. Death in the grave couldn't hold
him because he was a perfect man. And God said, It's paid,
paid in full. In other words, the avenger,
the law, has no further claim on us. Isn't that wonderful news?
If you ever see what the law really is and what you deserve
from the justice of God, that'd be the best news you ever heard.
Then in verses 26 through 28, we have a warning. Look at it
again, verse 26. But if the slayer shall at any
time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither
he was fled, and the revenger of blood, or avenger of blood,
find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and
the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty
of blood. Because he, the manslayer, now
look at this, should have remained in the city of his refuge until
the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high
priest, the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.
Those who are found in Christ can never be lost. How so? It's the work of righteousness
that Christ did that saves us. Not a work of righteousness that
we do, because we don't do any. But being one with Him, perfect
union with the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect work of righteousness
now becomes mine. And God looks at me and He said,
unblameable, unreprovable. And the sinner goes free. That doesn't give us a license
to sin. There's some that seem to think, oh, you can't say things
like that. You give people a license to
sin. Well, first of all, we don't need a license to sin. We do
it pretty well without a license, don't we? But that makes a saved
sinner hate their sin. While we look to what our Savior
has done for us, and we don't want to disappoint Him. We don't
want to cause Him Well, we don't want to bring dishonor to his
name. That makes the child of God not
want to sin. Now we still do, but we sure hate our sin and
don't want to. So what then is the warning?
It's pretty simple, really. There's no safety outside of
Christ. None. None. Outside of Christ,
the avenger finds revenge. The only safe place is in the
city of refuge. The only safe place is to be
found in Christ. And then lastly, it's here that
we have the truth. Now this is the truth. This is
the truth. Make haste. Flee to the city
of refuge. Flee to Christ without haste.
Flee to the arms of the one who loves you and gave himself for
you. Do you see him? Do you see that
man, the one who is murdered, the one who sees that he's broken
God's law? You don't have to look far to
see him. Look in the mirror. He flies from the field where
his crime was committed. He doesn't even stop to bid goodbye
to his wife or kiss his children bye. No, he's fleeing to that
city. The avenger of blood is on his
heels. There's no time for that. No
time to stop and say goodbyes. Gotta flee to the city. He speeds
on by for his very life. He passes by a brook of fresh
water, but he doesn't have time to stop and wet his lips. No,
no. The sun is scorching him, but
on he goes and he runs and he runs. No time to look back. The pursuer is after him. But
when he reaches the outskirts of that city, he falls senseless to the ground,
and there is great joy in his heart. Why? Because he's safe. He's secure. That's right, brother.
That's right. He's in the city of refuge. What
a place to be. That's where every child of God
is. He's in Christ, his substitute,
and he's in Christ, his surety. Surety. We can't look within
and find any surety, but we can look to him and find it all.
Christ is our refuge, and it's there that he can forever rest,
forever and ever and ever.