The people of Israel, clear instructions about dealing
with thieves and criminals and murderers. You've got to remember
these were people, when the law was given to Moses, who were
wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They didn't have a nation and
cities. Most people say at least two
million of them. They were living in tents. They
were driving sheep and cows and goats and things of this nature. They were on the move. They didn't
have any jails and police force. courts and places to sit around
for six months arguing a case, lawyers and all of this stuff
that we suffer under. And even when they came into
their land, they were people who lived on the land. There were no steel mills and
oil refineries and electric power plants and malls and stores,
and they were people who kept sheep and animals and raised
grapes and and olive trees and this sort of thing. They lived
in tribes and families and communities, communes, families. There's just nothing like what's
going on in this day, and God gave them clear instructions about how
to deal with crime to keep them out of this situation, to deal
with it immediately, deal with it and get it out. That's what
he kept saying to them. that you might live in peace
and not have constant criminal activity. And the punishments
were severe, because crime is severe, especially when people
live like that, openly and in the country, and their lives
crisscross one another all the time. And he says here in Deuteronomy
19, verse 11, If any man hate his neighbor
and lie in wait for him and rise up against him and smite him
mortally, did he die? What are you going to do about
that? Are you going to call 911, you
know, and get them to come over and arrest him and get prosecuting
attorneys and hire defense lawyers and have this thing go for six
months and so forth? No. No, sir. It says in verse
12, the elders of the city, She'll send and fetch him, deliver him
into the hands of the avenger of blood. Who is that? That's
his brother. That's his daddy. That's his family member, the
avenger of the blood. He's a family member. Verse 13 says, Your eye is not
to pity him. He willfully, on purpose, killed this man. And
you're not to pity him. But put away the guilt of innocent
blood from Israel that it may go well with thee. That's the
sentence I was looking for. You've got to deal with crime
efficiently and effectively and immediately that it might go
well with you. You can't have it circulating
throughout this type of community and civilization. And a little further down here
in verse 16, In verse 15, one witness, I've
quoted this so often, let every word be established by the mouth
of two or three witnesses. The Word of God is just perfect.
He says here in verse 15, one witness shall not rise up against
a man for any iniquity. You don't take the word of one
witness. Just don't do it. Or for any sin. At the mouth
of two witnesses or even three witnesses shall the matter be
established. And then down here in verse 21,
it says, and then when he deals with this justice, he says in
verse 20, those which remain are going to hear and fear, and
shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. When
crime is dealt with as it ought to be, as God ordained it, this
restrains criminal activity. that this crime is going to be
dealt with swiftly and surely, as it ought to be. Criminals being punished restrains
crime. I do believe that's what Scripture
is saying here. That's clearly what the Lord
is saying here, that those that hear shall fear and shall henceforth
commit no more such evil. And verse 21 is the verse that
causes so many people today writers and the media and these liberal
people to condemn the Word of God. But verse 21 says, And thou
and I shall not pity, but life shall go for life. If you take
a life, they take your life. If you do it on purpose, if you
do it willingly, that's what Scripture says. And if you object
to that, take it up with the author, not with me. Take it
up with God. It's His Word. Life for life. And when it talks about an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for hand, a foot for foot,
you don't kill a man for every crime. What he's saying here,
the Scripture's teaching that the punishment should fit the
crime. A severe crime like murder deserves death. But robbery and
things like this, they don't deserve death, and
that's what he's saying that the punishment is to fit the
crime. Now then, while I was studying
this punishment to fit the crime, I found a passage of scripture
that deals with something that is being debated in this day. Turn
to Exodus 21, Exodus chapter 21. We have this We have this contention going
on today about whether or not a woman who is expecting a child,
whether or not that is a child or just a mass in her, just a
fetus. And some people are saying, this
is what they're saying, that if a person attacks a woman who
is with child and kills that child, he's murdered. And the
women's organizations are saying, it's not murder, because it's
not alive, it's not a child, it's just a fetus. Let's see
what God says. Exodus 21, verse 222. Exodus 21, 22. You have, if men
strive. Now here's two men having a fight. And hurt a woman with a mask. No. Heard a woman with a fetus? No. Heard a woman with child? This is a pregnant woman. She
has a child in her, a precious child. You women who've had babies,
you talk to them, don't you, when you're carrying them? I
know you do. Carrie's been talking to Lucy for a year now, not quite
that long, but that's your baby. So God's Word words it right.
He says it's a woman with child. And so that he hurts her, and
her fruit departs from her. What's happened here? The child
is born early. That's her fruit, that's a child,
that's her fruit, and it's born. And yet no mischief follows.
What's the mischief? The child doesn't die. If the
child dies, that's more than mischief, that's terrible, that's
awful. If two men were fighting and
one of you ladies was carrying a child and they hit you and
knocked you down and the child was born and was dead, it would
devastate you. You would be devastated. You
would be torn apart, wouldn't you? That's mischief. But the
child comes forth and it's all right. What are you going to
do about this fellow? Well, don't kill him. He shall
be punished according to the woman's husband. Accordingly,
he'll settle this matter with him, and he'll pay as the judge
has determined. But if mischief follows, if that
child dies, take his life. You know what it says? If that mother or child dies,
he's got to pay. Now, here's what's happening,
and I keep warning our folks about other translations. This King James, that's clear. Is that clear to you? John, is
that you and Elder, is that clear, Bob? Ron, that's clear isn't
it? Listen to the Amplified, and
I use Amplified once in a while, but listen to the difference.
And what they say is they want to help us understand it, but
they change the meaning. It says, if men contend with
each other and a pregnant woman, now that suits those folks fine
that say that's a fetus. Do away with the word child and
just say she's pregnant. And if she interferes, interferes,
what does it say here, she's interfering? I can't find it. That's what, if she interferes. And she is hurt so that she has
a miscarriage. What is a miscarriage? The child
dies. Isn't that what it is? A miscarriage. I looked it up
again tonight. I thought the amplifier helped us some time
or other, but it hurts us here. The child dies. Yet no further
damage occurs. Brother, the damage is done.
My child's dead. No further damage? Well, there's
no hurt. She's only a child anyway, just a fetus. So who cares? I
care. She cares. The one that hurt
her shall be punished with a fine. He didn't hurt her. He killed
her baby. Give the dad $20 and let it go.
That's cold, isn't it? The Word of God, the King James
translation, is the cause. But I studied, and I turned to
Joshua. We're going to look here at accidental
death. Accidental death. That's what
we're looking at. Joshua 20. Would you open the
Bibles to Joshua 20? Now, that's deliberate death. That's to be punished by giving
life for life. But in Joshua chapter 20, I want
to read this now. Brother Frank read that where
two fellows were out in the field and they were cutting wood and
the head of the axe came up and hit a man in the head and killed
him. Well, the avenger of blood just comes and destroys the man
that killed his brother. Now listen to what this says,
and he said whether they could go to the city of refuge. Now
watch. The Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children
of Israel, saying, Appoint out of you cities of refuge. For
I have spake unto you by the hand of Moses, which our brother
Frank read a moment ago, that the slayer that killeth any person
unawares, unwittingly, may flee thither to a city of refuge.
And they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And
when he that doth flee unto one of these cities shall stand at
the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause
in the ears of the elders of that city, he's in trouble, he's
running, he's afraid of this avenger of blood, and he declares
his cause, it was an accident, he didn't mean to, they shall
take him into the city unto them. 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
hands, because he smote his neighbor unwittingly, he 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 to his own city, to his own house, and to the city
from whence he fled." Now, the old writers and the apostles
applied this to our Lord, city of refuge. The word refuge means
giving asylum. It means taking a person in and
protects him and gives him safety and security. The refuge is a
safe habitation, and that's Christ. Moses says this, the eternal
God is our refuge. Underneath are the everlasting
arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee. David
said, trust in the Lord at all times, ye people. Pour out your
hearts to him. God's a refuge for us. Isaiah
said, O Lord, Thou hast been a strength for the poor, thou
hast been a strength for the needy, a refuge from the storm,
and a shade from the heat." And Paul said in Hebrews 6, we have
fled to him for refuge, city of refuge, to lay hold of the
hope set before us. And Charles Wesley, the great
hymn writer who wrote that song, Arise My Soul. He wrote other
refuge, have I none? Hangs my helpless soul on thee.
Leave, O leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storms of life be passed.
Safe unto the haven, God, and receive my soul at last. Well, these cities of refuge
to which Moses refers, and to which the apostles refer, are
pictures of Christ, our refuge. I'll show you four or five things.
Now, the first is this. The names of these cities, the
names of these cities bear reference to him. Now, back in Old Testament
days, and I guess New Testament too, back in the Bible days,
they named children, they named cities, They gave them special
names which had special meanings which fit the occasion. Let me
show you one example. Turn to 1 Samuel 4. That's the
reason a lot of times I say, now this name means this, because
these people, these Israelites, they gave names to places and
people that were meaningful, that fit certain characteristics
of the person or the times. In 1 Samuel 4, 1 Samuel 4, Eli was the priest, and Eli died. Verse 18 of 1 Samuel 4, it came
to pass when he made mention of the ark of God. The ark of
God had been stolen and taken out of the camp. And when Eli
made mention of the ark of God, he fell from off the seat backward
by the side of the gate, and his neck break, and he died.
He was an old man, he was heavy, and he judged this for 40 years.
And his daughter, Phineas, wife, was with child. Phineas was dead
also. Now her father-in-law is dead,
her husband is dead, and the Ark is gone. She was near to
be delivered, and when she heard the tidings that the Ark of God
was taken, her father-in-law and her husband were both dead,
She bowed herself and prevailed, for her pains came upon her.
And about the time of her death, the women that stood by her said
unto her, Fear not, thou hast born a son. But she answered
not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child, what
did she name him? Ichabod. Why? The glory is departed
from Israel, because the ark of God was taken because her
father-in-law and her husband were dead. And she said, the
glory is departed from Israel, and named her child Ichabod.
And that's what they did. They named cities, they named
children, they named them for occasions or characteristics
or something. Jacob, supplanter. His brother
was born and he was born after him, holding on to his heel,
wasn't he? Taking hold of him, supplanter. They did that. Now
what's the names of these cities? Joshua 20. Turn to Joshua 20. This is, to me, so interesting. Appoint these three cities. And
the first one they appointed is verse 7. They appointed Kedesh
in Galilee, in Mount Noctilai. What does Kedesh mean? We have
a concordance in the office, Strong's concordance. And it
has all these names and it has the meaning in the back. And
here's the meaning. It means holy. Kiddush means a hallowed
place. And our Lord, the Refuge, that's
Christ, the Holy One, the Holy One. That's right, without sin. Perfect. All right? And also
they named Shechem in Mount Ephraim. What does Shechem mean? You know
what the word Shechem means? It means between the shoulders,
the place of burden. That's our Lord. He found his
sheep. Where did he put them? On his
shoulders. He took them home. What does it say about him in
Isaiah? It says the government will be on his shoulders. That's
our Lord. What does Paul say? Cast your
care upon him. He cares for you. That's an appropriate
name for a city of refuge, picturing Christ. All right, the third
one is Hebron. Mount Judah. Hebron. which is in the mountain
of Judah. What does Hebrew mean? Fellowship.
It means association. And that's what John said. He
said, Our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son,
the One. Then these are the three cities
that were to be added. These three were appointed, and
these three were assigned to later, when they grew bigger,
to be cities of refuge. And this one, the first one,
named Bezer, in the wilderness upon the plain of the tribe of
Reuben. Bezer is a defense. Did you read
a while ago with me when David said, the Lord is my refuge,
the Lord is my defense? Well, that's what we're talking
about. And one writer said this, it's called a fortification that's
inaccessible. That's what kind of defense he
is. He's a fortification in which you hide and you can't be touched.
Inaccessible. Hide me in the cleft of the rock. Hide me, O my Savior, hide till
the storm of life be passed. Safe into the refuge, forever
safe. All right, the next one is Ramoth
in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad. And the word Ramoth means
highly exalted. That's a good name for our Lord.
The Lord hath given him a name, highly exalted him, given him
a name above every name. That is the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that he is Lord. And the last one to be assigned
later is Golan, invasion of the tribe of Manasseh. And the word
Golan has something to do, they said, with captains. Boy, he's
got a lot to do with captives, hasn't he? He sets the captive
free. He led captivity captive. All
right. The second thing about these
cities now, look back at Joshua 20, verse 1 and 2. They were established by God's
decree. That's so important. They were
established by God's decree. Those who fled to these cities
of refuge, could feel absolutely safe and secure because these
cities were not by the decree of Moses, nor Aaron, nor the
Israelites. Verse 1 says, The LORD spake
to Joshua, and said, Speak to the children of Israel, and saying,
Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I speak to you
by the hand of Moses. This is my commandment. You appoint
these cities. And when those fellows ran to
those cities, they felt safe and secure because this was the
word of God. And our Lord Jesus Christ did
not take upon himself to be our high priest. That's what scripture
says. It says in Hebrews 5, listen,
Christ glorified not himself to be the high priest. But God
said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. I have
set my King on my holy hill of Zion. You can flee to Christ
with secure assurance that you are safe, because God made him
your refuge. God made him. Oh, when Peter was preaching
on Pentecost, he said to those Jews, he said, Let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God hath made That same Jesus,
whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. God made him our Christ. God said, Joshua, you appoint
these cities. This one, this one, this one.
Appoint them. And they appointed them by the
Word of God. What did our Lord say in Isaiah
61? The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because he hath appointed me. to preach the gospel, to
heal the blind, to deliver the captive, and heal the brokenhearted. He appointed me. And let me tell
you this, these were the only cities of refuge. Fellas just
couldn't go around erecting a city and say, well, this is prettier
than that one, or this one is this or that or the other. No,
it's the only one. I want you to turn to John 14,
and I read this again and looked at it again. John 14, I know
you say, well, I know that by heart. All right, let's turn
to it anyway, one more time. Christ is the only refuge. Let
this issue be settled, and carefully consider it now, and once for
all set it forth as an undeniable, unchangeable
truth in John 14. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are
many mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And when I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. And whether I go, you know,
in the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whether you go. How can we know the way? We've
never been there. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. That's it. Old Peter said over here, Let
me turn to this quickly and read it to you. Speaking to the whole
house of Israel, he said this, listen. Be it known unto you
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ,
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by
him does this man stand before you whole. And this is the stone
which was set at naught of you builders. It's become the head
of the corner. And neither is there salvation in any other.
There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved." That's Saddle. That's Saddle. All right, look
back at Joshua 20 again now. The name of these cities reveal
Christ. The fact that God appointed these
cities as he appointed Christ. And then verse 3 and 4, now listen. The man slayer has got to be
in the city to be protected. He's got to be in the city. Now
listen to this, verse 3 and 4. That the slayer that kills any
person, unawares, unwittingly, may flee thither, and they shall
be your refuge from the avenger of the blind. And when he doth
flee into one of those cities, he'll stand at the entering of
the gate, and declare his cause in the ears of the elders of
that city. All right, let's picture this now. The man is in trouble.
He's killed a man. And the avenger of blood can
kill him if he can get him. He can kill him, and they'll
do nothing to him if he can get to him. But now he comes to this
city. He knows if he can get to this
city, and get in this city, that that avenger cannot touch him.
So he comes, and these elders meet him at the gate. And he
declares his cause, that's what he said. He will declare his
cause in their ears. What are they to do? They take
him in. They receive him and take him
in. And they give him a place. He dwells among them. He's home. He's safe, he's secure. And that
avenger says here in verse 5, If the avenger of blood pursue
after him, they shall not deliver him up. They shall not deliver
him up into his hell. They shall not. And that's our
experience. The Holy Spirit of God showed
us our sins, the avenger of the brethren, the accuser of the
brethren, the law of God's on our heels, guilty. We flee to
Christ, we declare our cause, He takes us in Him, gives us
a place, and we dwell in Him, in Christ. secure. But now wait
a minute, you've got to be in Christ. If any man be in Christ,
we're in him by faith. Now knowing where the city is
won't do it. And approving of the fact there's
a city won't do it. And knowing somebody that's in
the city won't do it. You've got to enter in. You've
got to enter in. Because it's over over here in Numbers 35. I want you to turn
to Numbers 35. And listen, that man's got to
stay in that city. He's got to stay there in Numbers
35. Listen to this. He's got to stay
in the city. Numbers 35 says, And I believe verse 25, Numbers
35, 25. Listen carefully. 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 has fled. And he shall
abide in it until the death of the high priest. I'll look at
that a minute after a while. Which was anointed with the holy
oil. But if the slayer shall at any time leave the city, come
without the borders of the city of his refuge, whether he was
fled, and the revenge of blood find him outside the borders
of the city of his refuge, the revenge of blood shall kill him
and not be guilty of blood, because he should have remained in the
city of the refuge until the death of the high priest. And I connect that with, let
me show you how I connect that, and I just let everybody be their
own teacher here now. Jeremiah 32, this is what I connect
that. People make profession, then
they leave. We come to the family of God.
I think that's the elders that he talks about here, the city
of refuge. It's not a literal city, not
a literal building like this or denomination or organization
or situation. It's coming to Christ, to the
body of Christ. We're baptized into the body
of Christ by the Holy Spirit. Christ is the head and his people
are the whole body, the temple, the living temple. And when a
person is guilty of sin and flees to Christ, he flees to the body
of Christ. He becomes one with the body
of Christ. It's the city of God. Zion, city
of God. Isn't that what it's called?
Zion, city of God? And he's in the city. He's in
the body. He's in the family. But if he
leaves, he's in trouble. Because if he
leaves, it means he never did really become a part of it. Because
if he had really become, he wouldn't have left. That's right. Now look at Jeremiah, see if
it's not true. Behold, verse 37, Jeremiah 32, 37, I will gather
them out of all countries, Jeremiah 32, 37, whether I have driven
them in mine anger, my fury, my wrath, I'll bring them again
into this place. body of Christ, the city of God.
I will cause them to dwell safely, for that's the city of refuge.
They'll be my people and I'll be their God. That's not one
person, that's a lot of folks. And I'll give them one heart,
one way that they may fear me forever, for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I'll make an everlasting
covenant with them. I will not turn away from them
to do them good. And we back on that, don't we?
We say, well, if a man's saved, he's saved. He'll never be lost.
Well, God'll never lose him. God'll never leave him. He'll
never be lost. But don't hang too far on that
and forget this other part. He says, I won't leave them,
and I'll put my fear in their hearts, and they won't leave
me. Those are both true. He can't leave us. We can't leave
Him. Somebody asked a preacher friend
of mine one time, he said, can a saved man ever be lost? My
friend said, well, if he can, he can. I think that's just as it put
her up. If he can, can you? Can you leave Christ? The Lord
said that to the disciples. When those people left in John
6, He turned to the 12 and said, will you go away? That's the
door. Can you? Can you leave Christ? If you can, you can. If you can,
you can. If you can do that, if you can
leave the Son of God, if you can leave the refuge, if you
can leave the peace and joy and hope of Christ, you can. And some do. But if you can't, you can't.
Peter said, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of
life. Don't worry about that. I'm not worried about that. To
whom shall we go? It goes back to my text, and
I'll finish my message. Verse 6, Joshua
20. He shall dwell in that city until
he stands before the congregation for judgment, until he is declared
before the judgment of God not guilty. Well, we've been declared
not guilty because Christ justified us, and in Christ there is no
judgment. Or until the death of the high priest that shall
be in those days, and then shall the slayer return home. Death
of the high priest. I tried to find something on
that, but most folks don't handle that too well. I'll tell you
why, because you just can't handle things like that. But one said
this, the death of the high priest, who was over and in charge of
all of the things that went on at that time. When he died, it
was all canceled, and a new dispensation and a new administration took
over, so they just canceled all the deaths. I don't know about
that. But I do know this. That the death of our high priest
has already happened. And because he died, I won't
die. In him, I'm totally justified.
But he ever lives. Ever lives.