In the last three chapters, the
book of Numbers, God gave Moses specific instruction concerning
the inheritance to be divided by lot to the children of Israel
when they went in and took possession of the land of Canaan. Then in
chapter 35, He gives very clear, specific instructions concerning
the inheritance of the sons of Levi, of the tribe of Levi, the
Levitical tribe to whom pertain the service and ministry of the
tabernacle. And in verse 6 of chapter 35,
we read, among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites,
there shall be six cities for refuge. Six cities for refuge,
which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he, the manslayer,
may flee thither, and to them ye shall add forty and two cities. And the children of Israel crossed
over the Jordan River and took possession of the land of Canaan.
Just before the book of Joshua is concluded, we're told that
Joshua divided to the children of Israel or appointed to the
children of Israel these six cities of refuge as the Lord
had commanded Moses in the book of Deuteronomy and in the book
of Numbers Now Joshua fulfills the commandment. He appoints
these six cities of refuge where the manslayer, the person who
was guilty of manslaughter, that is, he killed someone by accident
without the intent of killing him, without malice or forethought. It wasn't a premeditated thing.
He's cutting down a tree and the tree falls on a man and he
kills him. And yet the law required an eye
for an eye and tooth for tooth and life for life. And God required. He wasn't permitted. God required
in his law that the next of kin should pursue this man who had
accidentally killed his brother. Pursue him as the avenger of
blood and take vengeance blood for blood eye for eye tooth for
tooth life for life from that man Even when he had accidentally
slain someone and for that man the Lord provided something special
He provided a city of refuge. These cities of refuge were strategically
placed throughout the land of Israel, three on one side of
Jordan and three on the other side of Jordan. They could be
easily reached within a half day's walk, not half day's run,
just walk a half a day and you could reach one of these cities
from any place in all the land that God gave to the children
of Israel. the cities of refuge then the man could enter who
was guilty of manslaughter and there he would plead his cause,
there he would be heard by the elders of the city and be judged
by the congregation. If the congregation judged him
to be guilty of murder, judged him to have intentionally taken
another's life, then they would put him out of the city and the
avenger of blood would execute the man according to law. But
if they determined that the man indeed had not intended to slaughter
the one who was killed, then this man who was simply guilty
of manslaughter, an accidental death of another man, would be
held in the city of refuge as long as he wanted to stay there.
He could stay there as long as the high priest lived, he was
safe. And after the death of the high
priest, he could go back to his own land, to his own place among
the children of Israel and be altogether guiltless all the
remaining days of his life, having nothing to fear from the avenger
of blood. Now, all of this was done just
after the Lord God spoke to the children of Israel, giving his
law at Sinai. He said, Now these cities of
refuge shall be appointed you. And then when they come into
the land, Joshua appointed the cities. Let's read about Joshua's
appointment in Joshua, chapter 20. This whole 20th chapter,
just nine short verses are about these is about these cities of
refuge. Joshua, chapter 20, verse one. The Lord also spake unto Joshua,
saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out
for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand
of Moses, that the slayer that killeth any person unawares and
unwittingly may flee thither, and they shall be your refuge
from the avenger of blood. And when he that doth flee unto
one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of
the city and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders
of the city, they shall take him into the city unto them and
give him a place that he may dwell among them. And if the
avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver
the slayer up into his hand. because he smote his neighbor
unwittingly and hated him not before time. And he shall dwell
in that city until he stand before the congregation for judgment
and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those
days. Then shall the slayer return
and come unto his own city and unto his own house under the
city from whence he fled. And they appointed Kadesh in
Galilee. in Mount Naphtali, and Shechem
in the Mount Ephraim, and Kirjath Arba, which is Hebron, in the
mountain of Judah. And on the other side of Jordan,
by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon
the plain, out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead,
out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, out of the tribe
of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed
for all the children of Israel and for the stranger that sojourneth
among them, that whosoever killeth any person unawares might flee
thither and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until
he stood before the congregation. These six cities of refuge, it
looks to me like it's a terribly unreasonable, unwise, expensive,
costly, needless thing to have them. Except for one thing. They're
intended to teach us something concerning the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. These six cities of refuge are
typical of our Redeemer. that becomes very obvious when
you start to consider what could have been done. It would have
been far more economical, far more speedy, far less cumbersome
as far as laws are concerned, if they simply held a trial and
the man was judged immediately either guilty of murder or of
manslaughter, and if it's an accidental death, set free. But
God made a law, a special law in Israel by which he required
that the brother of the one slain pursue those who slew their brother
and pursue them to death unless they're found in the city of
refuge. And there in the city of refuge be kept in safety all
through the days of the life of the high priest in those days. And then when the high priest
is dead, they should go free. The way to the city of refuge
was required by the elders of the city constantly to be kept
up so that they would send out crews every year to clear out
the debris, to level off the low places or the high places,
and to fill up the low places, to remove rocks or trees, anything
out of the way, anything that might hinder one fleeing to the
city. And they were required to maintain
signs pointing refuge this way. So that whenever the man is running
breathlessly to escape for his life, he doesn't even have to
pause in the intersection. He just runs right on by. There's
the way to refuge. And that all portrays the redemptive
work of our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation of our souls
by faith in him. Let me show you four or five
things here by which we can compare and see the picture of our Savior. We who believe have fled for
refuge. Refuge to him who is our forerunner
in heaven, and we find refuge in the name of the Lord. Believing
on the Son of God, we take refuge in him. not only take refuge
for our soul salvation, but in every time of need, for all trouble
and woe and sorrow, heartache and pain here, in every weakness,
in every time we're cast down, Jesus Christ is our refuge, in
whom we find security, peace, and consolation. All right, let's
look at this. First, the refuge was for one
who was guilty. guilty of that which God made
to be a crime specifically to indicate something to us. Nowhere
in our law would we put a man to death for manslaughter accidentally. Accidental manslaughter, if it's
accidental, altogether accidental, the person who has taken another
person's life without forethought, without intent, without determination,
without hatred, without malice, having nothing against you is
just, you're driving down the road and even a small child runs
out on a tricycle right in front of you and he's killed. Horrible,
horrible thing to have to live with. But no court in the land
would even fine you a dollar for it. Wouldn't happen. How come? Because it was totally
unintentional, even though a life is taken. You and I are guilty
of much, but there's something of which we are guilty, which
will land us in hell itself. of which all men by nature are
totally ignorant and would never willfully do so. And that is
the slaughter of our own souls. The slaughter of our own souls. Man will give anything in exchange
for his soul. But man by nature, in his ignorance
and depravity, his enmity against God, his hatred of Christ, loving
himself, would never destroy himself. And yet every man, drinking
iniquity like water, living with his fist shoved in God's face,
refusing to believe on the Son of God, refusing to bow to Christ
the King, unwittingly destroys his own soul. Unwittingly destroys
his own soul. How often you and I, as parents
and now as grandparents, I as a pastor watch you young people,
and sometimes your moms and dads, Do things that I try my best
to warn and warn and warn and warn. You're going to destroy
yourself. You're going to destroy yourself.
But folks think you're crazy. By the time you get to be 60
years old, if you've had a good father, By the time you get to
be 60, you think, well, you know, my dad, he's begun to learn a
few things. He's actually come to know some
things. He's not near as dumb now as
he was when I was a teenager. Pay some attention. Folks who've
walked the path before you know better than you where it leads. Will you pay attention? Folks
who've walked the path before you know better than you where
it leads. And I'm telling you now, the
path of self-will, the path of rebellion to God,
the path of feeding your own lust, the path of self-gratification,
The path of life that doesn't look beyond the nose on your
face will bring you at last into hell. Bring you at last to hell,
but you won't pay any attention. You won't listen. You'll keep
chasing your bubbles and you'll keep chasing the things of this
world. If God will let you, you'll fill your heart with this world
and perish with it. And that will be your everlasting
destruction, for the wrath of God abides on you. The very fire that is kindled
by God's furious wrath in hell is the fire of God's wrath that
abides upon you who believe not. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the
Son of God, the wrath of God abides on him, and he shall not
see life. All right, here's the second
thing. Here's the second thing. We need
refuge. I need refuge. A refuge is something
you need when you're in trouble. Turn to Psalm 62. Psalm 62. This past week, everywhere I
went I ran into somebody who was talking about the tornadoes. It's got it all across the Midwest
and South and even into the North. This year seemed to be on people's
minds a good bit and people talk about taking shelter, taking
shelter. When a storm comes, what do you
do? You find a place of shelter if you can. Find a place of shelter,
somewhere that will keep you secure while the storm passes
through the area where you are. We need a refuge into which we can run. in every
time of need, and Christ is that refuge. We can and should comfort one
another. We can and should succor and
strengthen one another. We can and should give direction
to one another in times of difficulty. But children of God, Christ is
the refuge. Rex, take your heavy heart to
Him. Take your broken spirit to Him. Take your difficulties and your
pains to Him. The name of the Lord is a high
tower. The righteous runneth into it
and is safe. Look here, Psalm 68, or 62 rather,
verse 6. He only is my rock and my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. You remember what Moses said
about the gods of the heathen? Their rock is not like our rock. Their rock, he's just so much
sand. You can't build on that. Their
rock, he's weak and faltering and failing. He won't help. It'll
do you no good to flee to him. Their rock is not like our rock. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense, not just my
defender, my defense. I shall not be moved. In God
is my salvation and my glory, my trust, my boast, my strength. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. Trust in him. Now, here's the
difficult part. At all times, Trust in him at all times. Trust in him. Cast yourself upon him. Throw yourself in his arms at
all times. Ye people, pour out your hearts
before him. Merle, it's okay to do that. Pour out your heart before God.
Hide nothing. Keep nothing back. Tell him everything. Pour out your heart before him.
Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Now don't let that just roll
through your mind. Roll it over and over and over
in your heart. Roll it around in your soul.
Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge. He is specifically
a refuge for us. He only is my rock, my salvation,
and my defense. Who's this talking about? Well,
it's talking about the Lord Jesus. Turn over to Isaiah 32. Let me
show you. Isaiah 32. There's no refuge, no safety
in God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit apart
from the God-man Christ Jesus. Christ, our Redeemer, in whom
is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He is our refuge. The God-man, the incarnate God,
who lived for us, died for us, and rose again, who sits yonder
in heaven in our flesh. He is a refuge to whom you pour
out your heart with confidence. Isaiah 32, verse 2, a man shall
be as an hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry place, as a shadow of a great rock in
a weary land. Christ is the refuge we need. We all need a refuge and he and
he alone is the refuge we need. that one to whom we can and must
flee for help in time of need. A refuge to preserve us from
temptation. In the midst of temptation, Larry
just read how the Lord did tempt Abraham. That word means trial,
tested. The Lord put Abraham through
the fire. He put Abraham through the overflowing
waters. He put Abraham through the storm. He said, Abraham, bring your
son, and in three days, sacrifice him to me. And the Lord preserved
Abraham in the midst of the trial, all the while strengthening and
upholding him. And then we're tempted of the
devil, of our own flesh and of the world. But there hath no
temptation taken you. We like to think, because we
like to excuse ourselves, nobody's been through what we've been
through. You know, we look at our children and say, well, they
have so much more to face than we have in our day. No, they
don't. No, you young people got the same thing to face your mom
and dad had to face. Same thing your granddaddy and grandma had
to face. Same thing. Oh, but there's so much on them.
No temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But
God will with the temptation make way of escape that you may
be able to bear it. And the way of escape is Christ
the Redeemer. He is our refuge. He's our refuge
to comfort us when our souls are downcast and troubled. You remember again the Lord's
word to Peter. Before the cock crows tomorrow
morning, the second time, you're going to deny me three times. And oh, what a marvelous word
his next word is. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. The Lord's our refuge. He's our strength. He's our help.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, in all thy ways acknowledge
him, and he'll direct your paths. These six cities of refuge were
cities of refuge that beautifully portray our Redeemer in these
ways. They were appointed by God. Didn't come up to Moses, didn't
think to himself. Now, Joshua, I've got a good
idea. I think we ought to appoint cities of refuge for the manslayer. If a man had invented something
like this, folks would have left him to scorn. But these cities
of refuge were by divine design, divine appointment, and divine
revelation. And so it is with Christ our
Savior. God Almighty said, I have found
a ransom. I've laid help upon one that
is mighty. I've exalted one chosen out of the people. The old writers
talked about the scheme of grace. It seems a strange word to us,
but it's talking about the intricacies of divine design in the whole
purpose of God in the saving of our souls as he has by Christ
Jesus the Lord. This one that God has ordained
and God has set forth and God has revealed and God has accepted
He is a refuge suitable for our souls. This refuge, our Lord
Jesus Christ, is a refuge of shelter, safety, and life for
people who by law deserve to die. Christ is a refuge for people
who deserve God's wrath and know it. Not just is he a refuge for
folks who were guilty before the law, but a refuge for folks
who are guilty before the law and know it. And it's a refuge
for a specific people. These cities of refuge were only
for the children of Israel and for any strangers who sojourned
among them. In other words, the refuge was
was by law open to anyone who desired to enter and had need
to enter. But it was only for Israel, only
for the children of Israel, laws given only to the children of
Israel. These cities of refuge, Christ Jesus our Lord, the refuge
only for God's elect. What does that mean? That means
anyone who needs refuge may come and flee into the city, declare
his cause and find safety. And if you do, you're numbered
among God's Israel, among God's elect in Christ. God's elect abide safely with no possibility
of condemnation. The manslayer would go into the
city and declare his cause and then say, all right, Larry, you
come over here. Here's a place for you to live.
Now, you just stay right here for as long as the high priest
lives. Stay right here. And when the
high priest dies, you're free to go out and nobody will molest
you. Nobody will bother you. You shall
be guiltless before God and guiltless before Israel. guiltless before God, and guiltless
before Israel. This past week, I had a man talking
to me about something happened in his past. And he started to
explain it, and I called him by name. I said, now listen,
listen. You don't need to explain yourself
to me. You don't need to tell me about
what's going on in the past. I don't care what it was. I don't
care what it was. If God says you're not guilty,
Don does too. If God says you're not guilty,
Don does too. Well, I just can't do that. You
better learn to. You better learn to. You better
learn each to esteem the other better than yourself. Oh, I remember. You go out of the city of refuge.
when the priest is dead and you're guiltless before God and guiltless
before Israel. I read those words this morning
in Numbers 35 and I thought, what an amazing picture of grace.
What an amazing picture of God's free grace. Payment God cannot
twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand and then again
at mine. These cities of refuge were easily
seen from anywhere in Israel. They were sitting on cities that
were on a hill so folks could see them. And the way to the
city was always maintained, marked clearly by the sign refuge and
maintained so that the Lord Jesus came and took all obstacles out
of the way. And he sends forth his preachers
to keep the road clear. to take the debris out of the
way, to push aside the garbage men throw in the way. Christ
came and satisfied the law. Christ came and fulfilled all
righteousness. Christ came and put away our
sins by the sacrifice of himself, cleared the way for sinners to
come to God so that God might be just and justify the ungodly. And God sends his preachers out.
You can read it for yourself in Isaiah chapter 40 and tells
them to lift up the low places, and to
lay low the high places, and to make the way of the Lord plain,
to make it clear. That's the business of preachers,
constantly to clear the road so that in the minds of men before
whom Satan and the world and religion would bring barriers
between you and God. Take away those things and make
the way plain and clear, so that wayfaring men, though fools,
shall not err therein. Make the way plain and make it
clear. The refuge, easily accessible, easily seen, and the refuge made
clear for all to approach it. This is Christ Jesus, our Redeemer. And those who dwell in the city are safe. Safe until the death of the high
priest. And safe as long as the priest
lives. Well, how does that relate to
Christ? Both ways. Both ways. By the death of him
who is our priest, who bear our names on his breastplate before
God, all Israel is freed from guilt and sin. And justice declares
it so. But our great high priest ever
lives to make intercession for us. And therefore, because he
is an ever-living high priest, he is able also to save unto
the uttermost all them that come to God by him. This priest lives
forever as our advocate in heaven, pleading our cause before the
triune God in heaven's everlasting glory. Let me show you one more
thing. Turn back to Joshua chapter 20
again. Joshua 20. The manslayer was to abide in
the city as we abide in Christ our Lord. But the names of these
cities, every one of them typify our Savior. I've given this to
you before. You may have notes of it. If
you do, just follow me along. I'll wrap this up. Look at Joshua
20, verse 7. And they appointed Kadesh in
Galilee in the Mount Naphtali. and Shechem in Mount Ephraim,
and Kirjeth Arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And
on the other side of Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned
Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of
Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and
Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. These names of the
cities all portray our savior. Kadish means holy. Holy. Christ is the holy one
of Israel, the holy Lord God, our holy savior, by whom we are
made just and righteous and holy before God. Shechem means the
shoulder. The Lord Jesus carried the enormous
load of our sin in his own body on the tree. He carries his church
upon his broad shoulders through this world. He goes into the
world and finds his sheep and lays it on his shoulders and
carries it home. The word Hebron means fellowship. Truly, our fellowship is with
the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. In Christ, we have
fellowship with God and fellowship with one another. Much more needs to be said about
this than I intend to say tonight, but fellowship Not talking about
just having social get-togethers. That's fine. That's fine. The
more you want to have of them, the better. That's just fine.
But that's not what fellowship is. That's not what it is. Fellowship
is just not getting together and having supper or going to
a ballgame. Heathen do that. That's not what
fellowship is. Fellowship is an intertwining
of life. Did you get that? It's an intertwining
of life. We live and move and have our
being in God our Savior. And in Him, and with Him, we
have fellowship, one with another. Only God can do that. Having
the same church role won't do it. Making the same professed
doctrinal confession won't do it. People say, we've got to
have these things so we have unity. Well, you've got to have
doctrinal unity or you don't have any. But you can have doctrinal
unity and never have any. Fellowship is the intertwined
lives of God's people with God himself. local assembly, oh, how blessed
of God we've been these 32 years. I've had a little experience.
I've never known anything like it in my life, Mark, anywhere
else in the world. Oh, how blessed when brethren
dwell together in unity, in the fellowship of Christ. in the
fellowship of the gospel, whether their lives are interwoven together
and they really care for one another and really bear one another's
burdens. Weep when another weeps. Hurt when another hurts. Rejoice when another rejoices. Laugh when another laughs. Fellowship The name Hebrew means fellowship
and Christ is our fellowship Beezer means a fortified place. I Will say of the Lord he's my
refuge and my fortress My God in him will I trust a mighty?
Fortress is our God of bulwark never failing Raymond means exalted
Christ is exalted God has highly exalted him. And golan means
revealed or manifested. Jesus Christ is God manifest
in the flesh. God manifest in the flesh. He is that one in whom and by
whom God is made known to man. He is that one in whom God manifest
himself to his people. Manifested. Jesus Christ is manifestly
God, our Savior, the refuge for our souls. Now, children of God,
flee to the refuge in every time of need. and abide in the refuge. Live continually upon the life
of the priest with God and by the merit of his life offered
in sacrifice unto death as your substitute. And be at peace. Amen.