said to Joshua, tell the Israelites
to designate the cities of refuge as I instructed you through Moses
so that anyone who kills a person accidentally and unintentionally
may flee there and find protection from the avenger of blood. Now, the laws regarding the cities
of refuge served both civil and spiritual purposes. And when
we look at the cities of refuge, it's important that we distinguish
between the civil purpose that was served by them as opposed
to the spiritual. Now, the civil purpose of the
cities of refuge is found in Numbers 35.12, where it says they, that is the
cities of refuge, they will be places of refuge from the avenger
so that a person accused of murder may not die before he stands
trial before the assembly. In the days of the old covenant,
clans avenged any bloodshed of their members. That's just the
way it was handled. And if you murdered someone,
well, everybody in that clan was gonna be after you. They
may appoint one, but it's not, you know, once they've decided
that's what you did, they're coming after you. Now, since vengeance is often
the product of anger rather than justice, Six cities were assigned
as places where the manslayer could flee to be assured of justice. Now you see, justice and vengeance
are two different things. Most old-fashioned forms of justice
were simply vengeance. Somebody was mad at something
you did, and they took it upon themselves to do something in
return. The problem with just a vengeance-based
judicial system is they might not be right about whether or
not you actually did it. In their anger, they may not
take into consideration mitigating circumstances. For instance,
if you killed someone and, you know, whatever clan that person
came from, they get angry and they come after you intending
to kill you. And they aren't even going to
take the time to ask, why did you kill this person? Maybe you
killed them because that person was trying to kill you. Now,
we live in a time where punishment, matters of law, are
taken out of the hands of individuals and vested in the community or
the governmental system. And that's a good thing. Because
we have seen cases where somebody was assumed to be guilty and
people went after them only to find out later, no, that's not
the person that did it. And justice is assured. as much as humans can assure
it. Justice is assured when there is a trial by disinterested parties. Now, when we use the word disinterested
in that particular context, it doesn't mean people that don't
care that somebody died. It's kind of like, you know,
they do not personally have any skin in the game. It wasn't one
of their relatives. You know, if you were going to
be on trial for, let's say, for murder, you
know, they think you committed murder, so there you are on trial. The last thing you want is the
parents or children of the person that they think you murdered,
you don't want them on the jury because they're just going to
be after blood. You want people that are not invested in the
outcome. And so that was part what these
cities of refuge were set up for, so that a person accused
of murder, and he says to himself, it wasn't murder, because I didn't
intend to do it, this was an accident, but I'm not going to
get justice from the avenger of blood. He's just out for blood.
And they would run to one of these cities of refuge, and if
you made it to the city before the avenger of blood could catch
you, you could present your case to the people in the city, the
assembly there that decided things, and if they decided in your favor,
you could stay, you could live in that city of refuge. And the
avenger of blood was not allowed to come in and take vengeance
so long as you were in that city. Now, the spiritual significance
of the cities of refuge was that the requirement that all bloodshed
be repaid by shedding the blood of the one who is guilty. Now
each point here is It's important that we catch it here. In Numbers
chapter 35, again, beginning in verse 31, do not accept ransom
for the life of a murderer who deserves to die. He must surely
be put to death. Now, if a guy actually guilty
of murder, malice aforethought, premeditated murder, wasn't an
accident. If he runs to the city of refuge,
and then he appears and goes on trial, And he's found guilty. He actually did, he is a murderer.
They are either to kill the person himself or at least turn him
over to the avenger of blood. There is no safety for such a
man in the cities of refuge. But notice verse 32 of Numbers
35. Do not accept a ransom for anyone
who has fled to a city of refuge and so allow him to go back and
live on his own land before the death of the high priest. Now that seems strange. If it
was an accident, why don't they just say, okay, avenger of blood,
you can't do anything. This was just an accident. Accidents
happen. But if that man who had accidentally
killed someone, If he left the city of the avenger of blood,
and it says this clearly, the avenger of blood could take his
life and suffer no consequences for it. Well, here's why. Verse 33, do not pollute the
land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land and
atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been
shed except by the blood of the one who shed it. Whether the
bloodshed was accidental or premeditated, it polluted the land and it could
not be atoned for except by the blood of the killer. Murderers
were put to death even if they had fled to a city of refuge.
But it's important to note that the bloodshed committed by an
accidental killer also polluted the land. Thus, he was not free
to leave the city of refuge until the death of a high priest. Now,
and here's what's going to be most important for us to note.
For this accidental killer, which in our day and age, we'd say,
okay, he's innocent of a crime. Well, he is innocent in terms
of crimes against man. But in God's way of seeing things,
bloodshed's bloodshed. Bloodshed polluted the land,
and there wasn't any way to clear that, to atone for the bloodshed
in the land, except by shedding the blood of the person who did
it. So this fella has to stay in
there, he has to stay inside that city, can't go out because
the avenger of blood's out there, and he's got a just cause, even
though it was accidental. Once the high priest died, though,
he could go out, he could leave. Now the death of the high priest
served no purpose within the framework of civil justice. The
death of a high priest did not make, you know, the people who
were upset about the murder, it didn't pacify them. What's
being pictured here is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in behalf
of the sinner. He's our high priest. So this
fellow who So far as we would look at things, he's innocent
of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, under the law, he's
still someone who killed a man. He's still subject to the penalty
of killing a person. However, when the high priest
dies, he's free. He's free. Now, the Lord Jesus
Christ died as our high priest. And by his death, atonement was
made for our sin. The death of the high priest
was considered the death of all those within the city of refuge. And therefore, atonement had
been made. And they could go out. without
fear of any just punishment against him. Now, the notable points
of the law concerning the cities of refuge. Let's just think about
the sin. In civil law, we make a distinction
between crimes committed with intent and those done in ignorance
or by accident. In American law, You know, they
like to make up, use Latin phrases for everything, but it's mens
rea, intention. What's the intention of the person?
But under the law of God, one's state of mind is not the issue.
Only the law as compared to the action. Bloodshed is sin, so
there must be some atonement for it regardless of the intent
of the one who commits it. Now, this picture's the truth
that it's irrelevant whether our transgressions were done
with a conscious evil intent or whether they were done in
ignorance. Sin is sin, regardless of what we think about it. You
know, our view of sin is, you know, the way humans look at
it, there's these degrees of sin and we become pretty much
accustomed to a certain level of sin, we don't even consider
it sin. But according to the scriptures,
God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, when he,
if he beholds us, if he looks at us in himself, I mean, excuse
me, in ourselves, just what we are, how we think, what we do,
All he sees is sin, and it's irrelevant whether it's what
we would call a really big sin or opposed to a little one. Sin
is simply sin. Now, the cities of refuge picture
Christ where the sinner may flee and be safe, but they picture
him in a particular way. And I was, it was actually as I was
studying for this, the first time I've ever seen it this way. I believe what I've discovered
in this study is correct. They picture Christ, or those
cities picture Christ, but they picture Christ in the view of
an old covenant believer. They picture Christ as he appears
in the old covenant, in the law. Now, old covenant believers,
they looked to Christ. They fled to Christ. But even
when they fled to him, they were not free. Now, you can see that
picture, the guy, you know, the fellow who's accidentally killed
someone, okay? He flees to the city of refuge.
There, he can find safety from the avenger of blood, But he's
not free, is he? He can't leave the city. If he
goes outside the city, he is once again subject to the vengeance
of the avenger of blood. He was bound up. Now, let's look
at Galatians chapter three. Let's see how this applies to
you and me. Galatians 3, verse 23. Before this faith came, we. Now, in the book of Galatians,
Paul is speaking to both Jews and Gentiles, and generally speaking,
and maybe it's true in every case, when he uses the word we,
He means we Jews, we Jews. Before this faith came, we Jews
were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should
be revealed. So the law was put in charge
to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision
of the law. Now, need to clarify verse 24
a little bit. The law was put in charge, it
says to lead us to Christ. The Greek word, they're making
a whole phrase to translate one Greek word, it's the word, we
get our word pedagogue from it. And it means to lead a child.
And it was a word used to describe someone who is hired to see to
the upbringing of a child. Now, a lot of people will look
at this scripture and say, yes, we use the law to lead people
to Christ. No, this only applied to Jews.
It's saying the law to the believing, to the Jews in general, but especially
to those who would be counted believers under the law, It was
as though they were children, and the law was their pedagogue,
the one to take care of them, to see to their upbringing, to
see to their safety, and unto Christ. Not unto Christ personally,
as though, you know, we talk about a person coming to Christ.
No, it was the pedagogue, it was the guardian of the Jews
until Christ came. That's what it's talking about.
Christ came. And once Christ came, then it was made abundantly clear
that we are declared righteous in the sight of God, not by what
we have done, but because of what Christ has done. We are
justified by faith. And now that faith has come,
what does he say? We're no longer under the supervision
of the law. Now you see how this is pictured
in that, The manslayer flees to the city
of refuge, you know, and the avenger of blood can't get to
him, but he's gotta stay in the city. Well, he's under protection. The city is acting like the pedagogue
of the Jews. The city is like the law, Christ
revealed in the law, but once the high priest dies, once Christ
comes, does his work. Once the high priest dies, the
man can go out. Now, let's see this further illustrated
in Hebrews chapter six. I always like it when, you know,
particularly when I'm looking at something in the Old Testament,
and then I, it's as though light shines on particular verses of
Scripture in the New Testament. you begin to see a pattern appear.
Now, beginning in verse 17 of chapter 6 in Hebrews, Because
God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear
to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.
God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible
for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered
to us may be greatly encouraged. Now, most English translations
don't just have the word fled. They have we who have fled for
refuge. And the word implies that. It's
kind of like just the word meaning to flee, run, but it has a prefix
in front of it that intensifies it. I mean, you're running for
your life, you're running for safety. But our translation, I don't
believe, gets it right. You have to, anytime you translate
from one language to another, you just can't translate the
meaning of words. You have to phrase it in the
way the target language would phrase it. And I looked this
up, you know, and I mean, I studied out what each part of speech
was for each of the words, and here's the sense of what's being
said in the last part of verse 18. We who have fled for refuge may
have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. Now, here's the picture. I believe
it's being drawn. The Jews. And remember, this
book of Hebrews was written to Jews, and we've got to look at
it as a Jew would look at it. And the moment he says flee for
refuge, what is a Jew gonna think of? Cities of refuge. Okay? It says that God made a promise
and then he swore an oath so that by two unchangeable things
in which it's impossible for God to lie, we who have fled
for refuge, we Jews who for all these years have spiritually
speaking been living in a city of refuge, fearful of leaving that city
because the avenger of blood's out there. He says, but God's
promise and God's oath fulfilled in Jesus Christ, this gives us
strong encouragement, and I'm paraphrasing, that we can leave
the city of refuge and lay hold of the hope held out to us. That hope that they had been
looking for under the Old Covenant and never could fully grasp.
In other words, in Christ, in the Gospel, we are free to
leave the city of refuge. We are free. Under the Old Covenant,
a man could flee to Christ, so to speak, and I'm speaking of
it spiritually here now, could flee to Christ. He was safe,
but he wasn't free. Once Christ comes as our high
priest, he dies. We are not only safe, we are
free. And why are we free? If the high priest has died,
then there is no crime. Can you think of that? The reason that we who believe
do not have to flee to Christ as a refuge from the avenger
of blood is that Christ's death satisfied the avenger of blood,
and he's no longer after us. We don't have anything to flee
from. Now think about this, and this kind of thrilled me when
I started thinking about it. We don't have anything to flee
from in terms of vengeance and justice with regard to our sin. The high priest has died. We're
free. The sin is gone. Now, look over
at 2 Corinthians chapter five, and I believe we'll see something
that even makes it a little a little more powerful, or at least seeing
the same thing from a different perspective. Now under the old covenant, man
could leave that city of refuge once the high priest had died
because the death of the high priest signified that the bloodshed
had been atoned for. Therefore, the avenger of blood
had no claim on the man, he could leave. Now look at 2 Corinthians 5,
verse 17, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation,
the old has gone, the new has come. Now, when I was young,
and actually I've heard this preached up this way by A lot
of faithful preachers, they say, if any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. Something new has been created
in him, and his old desires have passed away, and new desires
have come, and all this. Here's the problem. You who are
in Christ, have old things passed away? Has everything become new? No. The word translated creation
here, or creature, is not the word normally associated with
creation that means to make something new. That is, to bring into existence
something that didn't exist before. What it's saying here is if anyone
is in Christ, so far as law is concerned, he is somebody else. He's a different person. I once
read an opinion by one of the judges
in the United States, and I guess somebody had been pardoned, but
he was not being returned or not being allowed to do everything
a person who is never guilty might be allowed to do. And so
they wanted the judge to render an opinion on what it means to
be pardoned. And I've got this written somewhere,
but the judge said, when a person is pardoned, he is given new
capacities. By that he meant he's allowed
to do things. You know, given new capacities.
He may go where he wants to go. You know, all this. And it was
kind of itemizing the things, and then he said, For all intents
and purposes, He is a new man. And that's what this 2 Corinthians
5, 17 says. If you are in Christ, you're
not the person who did the deed. Christ took our sinful deeds
on Himself. They're no longer us. We're someone
new. And therefore, you know, in the
old covenant economy, that guy, the high priest, dies all at
once. There's a new creation. There is, in a sense, a new man
created. He is no longer the man who fled
for refuge because he had shed someone's blood. He walks out
as one who never shed blood. He's free. He's not just safe. He's free. And not only this,
our Lord, by His death, created new heavens and new earth. And we may walk out of the city
of refuge, so to speak, without fear, because that land outside
the city of refuge is no longer under the jurisdiction of the
law. that made us run to the city
of refuge in the first place. Now, don't misunderstand me.
Christ is our refuge for many other things. He's refuge in
the time of storm and trouble and trial. He is our refuge when
our guilty conscience persecutes us and makes us feel our sin
once again. But here's the interesting thing. When conscience drives
us to Christ for refuge, what do we read when we get to that
city of refuge? The high priest has died. Oh,
that's right. I'm free. Yes, I sinned. Yes, if you take into account
my history, the avenger of blood has a claim on me. but my history's
not the issue. The high priest has died, I died
with him, and I'm a different person. I was trying to explain
this to Bonnie this morning, and she said, yeah, the Avenger
blood won't even recognize him. He's not the same person. So yes, it's okay to look at
Christ as our city of refuge, but there's something even more
implied in that. At City of Refuge, that's Old
Covenant Christ. But in the New Covenant of the
Gospel, we are given a freedom that those Old Covenant believers
never could experience. All right, you're dismissed.