However, if there is a death
at the hand of a man unwillingly, and ignorantly, and unaware,
our Lord gives instructions about what is to be done there to provide
a place for that man to flee, a city of refuge. Joshua 20,
verse 1, the Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, He repeated
what He said to Moses, Speak to the children of Israel, saying,
appoint out for you cities of refuge. What does the word refuge
mean? It means hope. It means a safe
habitation. It's commonly used to denote
either a place or a person to which, a place to which and a
person to whom we can flee. for security and danger and for
safety and deliverance from death. Scripture says the eternal God
is thy refuge. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. God is our refuge in time of
trouble. I'll read a couple more in a
moment, but let's go on here. Appoint cities of refuge. Where
have I spoken to you by the hand of Moses? I have spoken to you
I told Moses this same thing, that the slayer that killeth
any person unawares and unwittingly, unwillingly, may flee thereto.
And they shall be your refuge, your hope, your safe habitation
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. They shall take him in, take
him into the city, and unto them a place and persons. Give him a place that he may
dwell among them. And if the avenger of blood pursue
after him, they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand."
You do not give him, deliver him up under any condition because
he smote his neighbor unwittingly and he didn't hate him before.
And he shall dwell in that city, now watch this, he shall dwell
in that city until the matter be resolved, until he stand before
the congregation for judgment, or until the death of the high
priest that shall be in those days. Then shall the slayer return
to his own city, to his own house, unto the city from whence he
fled. When the slayer remains there
in the city until the high priest dies, until the
matter is settled, then he will go to his own house. And these
cities of refuge are a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
look at a couple of Scriptures before I make a comment on these
cities. Psalm 62. Look at this Scripture. Psalm
62, verse 5 through 8. Psalm 62, 5, My soul wait thou
only upon God. My expectation is from Him. He only is my rock, my salvation. He's my defense. I shall not
be moved. In God is my salvation, my glory,
the rock of my strength, my refuge, my hope, my safe habitation,
is my God. and is in Him. Trust in Him at
all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him.
He's a refuge for the guilty. Refuge for sinners. Refuge for
us. Hebrews. Let's look at Hebrews where this
matter is dealt with by the Apostle Paul. Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6 verses
17. through 20. Now watch this, Hebrews
6 verse 17, wherein God, our God, willing, willing more abundantly
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability, unchangeableness
of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two unchangeable
things, that is the word of God and the oath of God, in which it's impossible for
God to lie. We might have a strong consolation
who have fled. We're guilty. We've got bloody
hands. But we fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope set before us. And what is that hope? Which hope we have is an anchor
of the soul. both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth into that within the veil." Here's our hope. Whether
the forerunner, the Lord Jesus Christ, is for us entered within
the veil into the presence of the Father, our high priest with
a blood atonement, even Jesus made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek, we have a refuge, a safe habitation
under which we have fled for refuge. our Lord Jesus Christ. Now this, these cities of refuge
are Old Testament pictures and types of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And look at verse 7. Now the very names of the cities
are reminders of Christ. None of this is by chance. It's
all by purpose, divine purpose. And how beautiful is God's Word
in every verse. Verse 7. So, they appointed,
sanctified, Kedesh in Galilee, Kedesh in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali. The word Kedesh, what does it
mean? It means holy. You can look these up in a Hebrew
lexicon in the back of your concordance. That word means holy, that city. is a type of Christ who is holy,
without sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only
one without sin. And our refuge is a holy place,
holy to the Father. And then you shall point, here's
another city, Shechem, in Mount Ephraim. The word Shechem in
Mount Ephraim means the shoulder. to bear the burden, the shoulder.
That's what the word Shechem is, the shoulder. I thought of
two things when I read that. Christ, the scripture says the
government should be on his shoulders. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. Names shall be called Wonderful
Counselor and the government shall be on his shoulders, the
kingdom. But I thought of the second thing.
He bore our sins upon his shoulders in his body. He bore them away,
paid for them. And then you might say this,
when the sheep was lost and the shepherd went out into the wilderness
and found him, where did he put him? On his shoulder and brought
him home. So this is a very appropriate
city, Shechem, shoulder, the shoulder. On his shoulders are the government. On his shoulders are the sheep.
On his shoulders are our sins paid for. And then the other
third city they appointed, Kerjep, Arba, which is called Hebron
in the mountain of Judah. This city, Hebron, what's the
word Hebron mean? Fellowship. That's exactly what
it means. Fellowship. Hebram is the seat
of association, of oneness. And John said, we write unto
you that you might have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is
with the Father. And if we walk in the light as
He is in the light, we have fellowship. And this city of refuge, Tidash,
holy. Shechem, the shoulder of the
government. Hebram the Fellowship. Now then,
you remember the land grew and they appointed three, they assigned
three more. Some writers make a difference
in being appointed and being assigned. Nevertheless, verse
8, on the other side of Jordan by Jericho eastward they assigned
Bezer. What does the word Bezer mean?
Fortification. Defense. A defense, a fortification,
a strong defense. Look at Psalm 59 and see Christ
as our fortification, our hiding place. Inaccessible. Inaccessible. A fortification,
a strong hiding place. Psalm 59, verses 16 and 17. I will sing of thy power. Yea,
I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning. Thou hast been
my defense and my refuge, my defense and my refuge in the
day of trouble. Unto thee, O my strength." We
have some strong enemies, you know that? We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principality and powers and rulers of the
darkness and spiritual wickedness and super high places. We better
have a defense. Our Lord said to Peter, Satan
had desired you that he might have you, and sift you as wheat. He talks about the devil being
a roaring lion, going about seeking whom he may devour. We better
be well hid. And we have no strength against
him. No one's ever been able to stand
against him. Job couldn't. Peter couldn't. Adam and Eve couldn't. Christ is our defense. Fortification. Inaccessible. Hide me in the
rock. Unto Thee my strength will I
sing. God's my defense. And He's the
God of mercy. Those two things. So important. He's my defense
and he's my strength and he's merciful. And here's the fifth
city. It has a name too. The city down
here in verse 8, and Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain
of the tribe of Reuben and Ramoth, Ramoth and Gilead, out of the
tribe of Gad. You know what Ramoth means? It
means highly exalted. Our refuge is holy. On his shoulders
are the government. In him is fellowship with the
Father and with the Son. He's our fortification, our strong
power, our defense, impregnable, invincible, inaccessible. The enemy can't touch us. Raymond, highly exalted. God
has given him a name above every name. at the name of Jesus, every
knee will bow. Every knee, in heaven, earth,
and hell. He's sovereign. He's almighty. He's highly exalted. He's exalted
above all exaltation. That's where I'm here. That's
my hiding place. Highly exalted. He's within the
veil. He's at the right hand of the Father, making intercession. You know, when this manslayer
fled to a city, he didn't flee to some little
village with a bunch of stick huts and no walls. He fled to a city that was appointed
by God, sanctified by God, defended. That city could not be taken. Strong refuge. When we flee to
Christ, He's highly exalted. Then the word Golan. And Golan,
invasion out of the tribe of Manasseh. Golan. What does Golan
mean? The word, strange word, captive. C-A-P-T-I-V, captive. The word,
the city Golan means captive. How do you deal with that preacher?
Well, when he ascended he led captivity captive. He conquered
those who had conquered us. He conquered those who had conquered
us and led captivity captive. They're under His government
now. He's conquered them. And then
not only that, but He set the captive free. He set all the
captives free. So that's a good word for our
Redeemer. Holy. Shoulder. Fellowship, strong
tower, highly exalted, and he sets the captive free, and leads
captivity captive. Now I want to show you several
ways in which these cities of refuge are a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and you might want to jot these down. The first
one is this, these cities were appointed by God. It was by the
will of God that these cities were established. It was by the
decree of God. It was by the Word of God. And
our Lord Jesus Christ is the refuge for sinners. He's the
strong tower and fortress for the guilty because God said so. The will of God. Let me show
you that verse from Hebrews 7. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
surety and high priest of our profession Because God ordained
it. Because God made him the high
priest. Listen to Hebrews 7 verse 21. By the will of God. Hebrews 7
verse 21. Now talking about the Old Testament
priests. Hebrews 7 verse 21. Those priests
were made without an oath. They were selected, they were
appointed, but without an oath. Because their priesthood didn't
continue. It was temporary. But this priest was made a priest
with an oath by Him, by God who said unto him, the Lord swear
and will not repent, thou art a priest forever. Our high priest was made a priest
by the Father with an oath. He swore by himself because he
could swear by no greater. Thou art a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. By so much was Jesus made a surety. Who made him that? The Father
did. Of a better covenant, better
than the Old Testament covenant of ceremonies and sacrifices
and baptism. God made him our priest. God said to Joshua and Moses,
make those cities. God said, Thou art my son. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, the Lord Jesus, because he continueth forever,
hath an unchangeable priesthood, wherefore he is able to save
them to the uttermost that flee unto God by him. Flee to Christ. God made him the refuge, the
high priest. God made him our righteousness.
Turn to Galatians 4. Galatians chapter 4. God made
him our righteousness. It says in Galatians 4, listen,
verse 4, when the fullness of time was come, when the time
of God's will and purpose was accomplished, God sent forth
His Son. God ordained Him. God appointed
Him. God sent Him. Made of a woman. A body has to
be prepared for me, Christ said. Made under the law. To redeem
them that were under the law. That we might receive the adoption
of sons. God made him our righteousness
and our redeemer. And God made him our atonement.
Turn to Romans 3. Listen to this. Romans chapter
3. These cities of refuge, of hope,
of safe habitation, The murderer flees, goes in. Nobody can touch
him. Nobody can touch him. God appointed that city. And
the very power of God encircled that city. The very power of
God was his safe refuge. And Christ, Romans 3 verse 25,
listen, whom God has set forth, anointed, appointed, ordained.
God set him forth to be a propitiation, a sin offering, a mercy seat,
an atonement. God set him forth to declare
his righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, to declare
his righteousness that God may be just and justify him that
believes in Jesus. All of these cities were located
so they were easy to find. You notice he said, when you're
small, for point three, kidesh, shikum, point these three. Now when you get bigger, point
three more. Make them easy to find, easy
to see with signs. The scripture tells us they put
signs along the way so that the man who's who has committed the
crime and fearful and running for his life. He's pursued by
the avenger. It's got to be easy to find. It's got to be easy to locate. There are signs pointing the
way. And the priests of God were to make sure that the roads leading
to these cities were always kept free of things that would hinder the
man on his way. And I'll tell you this. Christ
is easy to find. He's not lost. I had a man say
to me recently, talking about a friend, this friend said, I
found out one day that Christ wasn't lost. I was lost. I was
lost. He's not lost. He's easy to find.
Paul said he's not very far from any of us. He's everywhere. He said, in
fact, in God we live and move and have our being. Christ said,
if anybody wants to know my will, he'll know it. It's not hard
to find. There's signs pointing the way.
Here's the sign. All the way through the book.
Thousands of them, you know. When we're driving down the road,
Doris is my navigator. She watches the signs driving. I miss them. But she watches
the sign. And you won't get lost if you
watch the sign. And people are rambling around in a daze and in a haze just
because they're not listening to the Word. They're not reading
the Word. They're not reading the sign.
They're busy reading a lot of other stuff. They're busy watching
the pretty things along the highway and they're not looking for the
sign. Here they are. Romans 10 says actually the gospel
is in your mouth. That's right. Listen, let me
read it to you. Romans 10. What does it say? The word is now unto thee, it's
even in your mouth, it's in your heart, the word of faith, that
if you shall confess with your mouth Jesus to be Lord, and believe
in your heart God has raised him from the dead, you shall
be saved. What do you mean hard to find? It's in your mouth. In your heart. in the world.
And God sends His preachers to clear the way. There's always
some folks rolling some stones in the way and putting some false
things like you've got to keep the Sabbath, and you've got to
be baptized, and you've got to do this, you've got to do that,
you've got to be circumcised, something else in order to be
saved. Listen, Paul said this, I'm determined not to know anything
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. that your
faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in Christ,
the power of God. So, the cities were easy to find. There were signs pointing the
way, and there were God's true servants who were always out
there making sure that the way was plain. You know that scripture
I read in Psalm 27? He said, show me your way and
lead me in a plain path. Get the debris and the man-made
hindrances and stumbling blocks out of the way and see that Christ
is the city. Don't stop along the way and
change your clothes. Don't stop along the way and
fix yourself up so you look pretty when you walk in the gate. Flee
to the city. And then thirdly, the manslayer
must flee to the city immediately. To tarry would be so foolish.
Tomorrow. You know, there are a lot of
folks who come up with some strange ideas. One fellow said, well,
I'm not as bad as some people. In other words, that's like the
manslayer saying, I didn't kill anybody worth much. The fellow
I killed wasn't very important, so I'll just dally along the
road, you know. No, get to the city. They'll binge your blood. is
just as mad as if you had killed somebody. Somebody else says,
well, God's good. That's right. That's the reason
there's a city. God's good. That's the reason there's a refuge. But the security is to be in
it. Not to know about it and talk about it. Know someone that's
in the city or standing close to the city. Well, one church
is as good as another, one gospel, one religion is as good as another.
No, one city is not as good as another. There's the city of
refuge. God appointed, God designated,
and a safe habitation, and that's Christ. So the manslayer, he
must not tarry. He must flee immediately to the
city of refuge, and he must be in the city. Those who would
find refuge in Christ must believe in Him and receive Him and commit
to Him. Paul said, I'm not... I know
whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded He's able to
keep that which I've committed to Him. Against that day. Trust in Him. Committed to Him. Fourth lesson. I want you to
turn to Numbers 35. Numbers 35. Something else about this city.
The manslayer must remain in the city. Like I told you, all
the way through the Old Testament, there's some comments about these
cities of refuge. In Numbers 35, 26, listen, But if the slayer shall at any
time come without the borders of the city, of his refuge, whether
he has fled. And the revenge of blood find
him outside the city, without the borders of the city of his
refuge. The revenge of blood, and the revenge of blood kill
the slayer, he'll not be guilty, because the manslayer fled to
the city of refuge He should have stayed inside the city.
He should have remained in the city of refuge until the death
of the high priest. But after the death of the high
priest, the slayer shall return to the land of his possession.
You say, what is this death of the high priest? Well, that's
Christ, our high priest, by whose death our sins are pardoned.
We are free from the curse of sin. is to stay in the city. And the
point here is to abide in Christ. He said, if you abide in Me and
My words abide in you, ask what you will and it shall be done.
Let's read some Scripture on that. Colossians chapter 1. Flee to Christ, receive Christ,
and rest in Christ, and walk with Christ in Christ all the
days of your life. In Colossians 1 verse 21, And
you that were sometimes alienated, enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight, if
you continue in the faith. If you continue in the faith,
be not moved away. Don't move out of the city of
refuge. Don't move out of the gospel. Don't move out of Christ.
Don't be moved away from the hope of the gospel. He's the
hope. He's the safe habitation. He's the refuge. Don't move away from the hope
of the gospel. Don't move out of the city of
refuge, which you've heard, which was preached to every creature
under heaven, where our Paul and my later minister. You know,
a man is not saved because he perseveres. He perseveres because
he's saved. A man is not saved because he
continues in Christ. He continues in Christ because
he's saved. Because he realizes who he is,
who Christ is, and where he is. That's what our Lord asked the
disciples one day. Would you go away? And they said,
to whom shall we go? Where's the hiding place? Where's
the refuge? Where's the truth? Where's the
light? To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life.
And we believe and assure that Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. There's nowhere to go. There's
no one to whom we can turn. I'm not leaving the city of refuge.
I know what I've done, what I am, the guilt upon my soul. I know
the avenger that would avenge if he could. Lay hands and hold
upon me and take me away. I'm not leaving. And when man's convinced of that,
when he's convinced of his guilt and of his danger and of the
dread of condemnation, and he's in quite, to whom shall we go?
Thou art our city of refuge, thou art our hiding place. Whom
have I in heaven but thee? Whom have I on earth but thee?
To whom shall we go? It's folly and foolishness to
talk about departing from the gospel. See that man, guilty
man in the city of refuge, and talk to him about leaving? Oh,
not on your bottom dollar. I'm not leaving. I'm safe here. I'm secure here. I'm loved here. I have fellowship here. I have holiness here. I have
righteousness here. I have God's protection here.
Outside of Christ, our gods are consuming. Man's a fool to leave
the gospel, leave Christ. That's utter, absolute, He's our refuge. And what a wonderful
refuge. Peace and joy. Now there's some
ways in which these cities are not. Like I tell you all the
time, types break down. They break down. Don't ever cling
to the type. Cling to Christ. Number one,
there were six cities of refuge. There's only one refuge. That's
Christ. In our six cities, people think
that one religion is as good as another. Oh, no. There's one
Christ. One way, truth, and life. One
gospel, one faith, one God and Father. Secondly, these cities
protected people from physical death. We're all going to die. Christ protects us from eternal
death. I don't fear death of this body. What I don't want to have anything
to do with is a second death. I don't want anything to do with
that. Thirdly, to enter these cities here required physical
exertion. Man had to run. Man had to run. He had to exert his physical
strength. But no physical strength is needed
to enter the city of refuge, Christ. You just look and live. No, you don't get up and come
down here. No, you don't enter the city of refuge by moving
a hand, nor a hair, nor a foot, nor a tongue. You enter the city
of refuge as one who's been bitten by the serpent of sin, and who
knows there's a Redeemer lifted up, and you turn A hungry heart
and a willing heart and a seeing eye. Lord, be merciful to me,
the sinner. That's it. And these cities were those for
those who accidentally killed somebody. Boy, it breaks down there, doesn't
it? You didn't accidentally sin. You never in your life ever committed
an accidental sin. They've all been willing. And these cities were to protect
people who were killers by accident or chance. Christ is a refuge
for the guilty. He died for the ungodly. When
we were yet sinners, deliberate, willing sinners, it's nobody's
fault I'm what I am but mine. and yours, but thank God we have
a refuge, the refuge, the hope and safe habitation. Look to
Him. By faith enter the city and be safe.