We saw last week that in verse
one, the scripture said, now these are the judgments which
thou shalt set before them. Reminding us that in the giving
of the law, this covenant that God made with Israel at Mount
Sinai, that there are these three parts. There is a moral commandments
of the Lord, and there is the civil part of the law. And there's
the ceremonial part of the law. And most of the ceremonial part
of the law is in the book of Leviticus, the book of the tribe
of Levi, the priestly tribe. But with verse one of chapter
21, last week we began with these judgments. These are the civil
laws that God gave to the nation. And we looked at the first one
concerning a Hebrew servant, a Hebrew servant. We saw that
in verses one through six. And what a beautiful picture
that was, a type of Jesus Christ as the Lord's servant, the Hebrew
servant, who out of love for his master, for his wife, and
for his children, remained a servant forever. But I want us to, we're
not going to go through all of these civil judgments, of course,
but tonight I want you to look down to verse 12. We'll read
verses 12 through 14. He that smiteth a man so that
he die shall be surely put to death. And if a man lie not in
wait, but God deliver him into his hand, then I will appoint
thee a place whither he shall flee. But if a man come presumptuously
upon his neighbor to slay him with Gaal, thou shalt take him
from mine altar, that he may die. We know that one of the
moral commandments is thou shalt not kill. And this we see in
both verses 12 and 14, that we read that a man who is guilty
of murder, that he should be put to death, that that was a
penalty for taking another person's life. I don't know if you've
ever noticed, but when the state of Texas executes a person up
here in Huntsville, there's always demonstrators outside, some for,
some against, capital punishment. But many times I've noticed on
the news that someone will be there against capital punishment
and they will quote that law, that commandment, thou shalt
not murder, thou shalt not kill. But when the state executes a
criminal, that's not murder. That's justice. That's That's
the civil authority. And in Romans chapter 13, the
apostle makes it very clear that all authority is of God. And
that's the civil authority wielding the sword of justice. And that's
not the same as a man, an individual taking someone else's life. That's
executing a civil judgment. And that's what these judgments
are here. that we're looking at for a nation,
laws for this nation of Israel. And if a man was guilty of murder,
then he was to be executed. But I want you to notice in that
middle verse there, verse 12 tells us, he that smiteth a man
so that he dies shall be surely put to death. Verse 14 says,
but if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him
with Gaal, thou shalt take him from mine altar that he may die. And we know of cases like that
recorded in the word of God. I believe it was Joab. David
gave Solomon his son commands to make sure that he was executed. And he went to the altar and
laid hold upon the horns of the altar. and wouldn't leave, and
Solomon gave the command, we'll take him from the altar or slay
him there at the altar. But my point in verse 13, this
exception, notice in verse 13. And if a man lie not in wait,
but God deliver him into his hand, Then I will appoint thee
a place whither he shall flee. I will appoint thee a place whither
he shall flee. The place would be for a person
who was not guilty of homicide, of premeditated murder, but what
we would call today accidental homicide. He didn't lie in wait. He didn't make his plans to take
this person's life, but what we would call an accident. But
the scripture here tells us that God, this is what he said, that,
and if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his
hand, then I will appoint a place for him to flee. And this is
the first mention. This is a first mention here
in the law, and God willing, we will see how it is progressively
revealed in the law concerning this place that God would appoint. If you would, let's look first
in Numbers, Numbers chapter 35. Numbers chapter 35 in verse 10,
and this is the first time we have this place that God would
appoint called a city of refuge. Beginning with verse 10, and
the Lord spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel
and say unto them, When you become over Jordan into the land of
Canaan, then you shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge
for you. That the slayer may flee thither,
which killeth any person at 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 be you shall have for refuge. You shall give three cities on
this side, Jordan. Three cities shall you give in
the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge. These cities
shall be a refuge both for the children of Israel and for the
stranger and for the sojourner among them. that every one that
killeth any person unawares may flee thither. So we see now this
place that God would appoint is called a city of refuge, and
God tells them here there's going to be six of them when you come
over Jordan, when you pass over Jordan. Three will remain outside
of Canaan. Because remember, two and a half
tribes of Israel took their inheritance on one side of the Jordan. They
didn't go into the land of Canaan. And so three on one side and
three on the other side. All right, that was a further
revelation here, right? First we saw there in Exodus
a place. Now we see it's called a city
of refuge. Now look in Deuteronomy. And
this was, many call this the second giving of the law, the
book of Deuteronomy. But in chapter 19, we read chapter 19, beginning
in verse one. When the Lord thy God hath cut
off the nations whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and
thou succeedest them and dwellest in their cities and in their
houses, thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst
of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it.
Thou shalt prepare thee a way and divide the coast of thy land,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit into three parts,
that every slayer may flee thither. And this is the case of the slayer,
which shall flee thither, that he may live. Who so killeth his
neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past? As when a man goeth, here's an
example of how this could take place. Every time I've mentioned
this over the years, I've used this same example because I can't
think of another one, but I guess a man could be clearing a field
of stones and be pitching stones out and accidentally, as we would
say, the Bible said God would deliver the man, but throw a
stone, clearing the land of stones so it could be planted and used
as a field grow things and throw that stone over there and there's
someone over there maybe you didn't know was over there and
you throw the stone hits him in the head and he dies. You
didn't plan on that. You didn't do that on purpose.
Well here in the illustration God uses is a man and if you've
ever worked with tools and have handles on them, like an axe.
You know, sometimes that axe head, it will slip. It will slip. A hammer. Many of you probably
men have had that happen. A hammerhead can come off. And
that's the illustration here. And when a man goeth, in verse
five, into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, He's chopping
wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the
tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon
his neighbor that he die. He shall flee unto one of those
cities and live. Lest the avenger of the blood
pursue the slayer while his heart is hot, and overtake him because
the way is long. and slay him, whereas he was
not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Wherefore, I command thee, saying,
thou shalt separate three cities for thee, and if the Lord thy
God enlarge thy coast as he has sworn unto thy fathers, and give
thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers, if
thou wilt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee
this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk ever in his ways,
then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these
three. That innocent blood be not shed
in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance,
so blood be upon thee. Innocent blood here would be
the man who chopping a tree down and the axe head slips off the
off the handle there and it hits his neighbor or someone at working
close by and that man dies. A man's not guilty of homicide. That's accidental homicide, right? It's not premeditated murder
and he wasn't to be put to death. Now if a man hates his neighbor,
jealous of his neighbor, has some offense against his neighbor,
and kills that man, then the law was very clear. He is to
die. That's the punishment that God
gave. Now I want you to go with me
to the book of Joshua. Joshua chapter 20. Now they're
in the land when we come to Joshua. Those commandments that we've
looked at were all in the law. in the covenant that God made
with Israel at Sinai. But now here in Joshua chapter
20, we see that they're in the land. Now, so far what we've
read is there's going to be six cities, but we're not told which
six cities. Now here we learn, 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 that 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 unto 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, unto the city from whence he
fled. and they appointed, and here we have the six cities named. Verse nine said, these were the
cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the
stranger that sojourneth among them that whosoever killeth any
person at unawares might flee thither and not die by the hand
of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation. In Hebrews chapter 6 and verse
18, we have these words, that by two immutable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before
us. Now the refuge to which we flee,
we have fled, is Christ. He's the refuge. And so what
I want to do, and I won't take a long time tonight, but I want
us to look at how the names of these cities, and I'm indebted
to John Gill for this, the names of these cities, what they mean,
which point us and picture us to Jesus Christ, our Lord. And
then secondly, we'll see some contrast to bring out more fully
the gospel, the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So the first city, we'll look
at the meaning of these names here as they are given in Joshua
chapter 20, beginning with verse seven. The first name is Kadesh
in Galilee. What does the word Kadesh mean?
It means holy, holy. Even the devils, we know this,
confess that Jesus Christ is holy. He's God. God is a thrice holy God, isn't
he? He is so holy that even he charges
his angels with folly. Even the heavens are not clean
in his sight. And this is the eternal son of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that demon, in the very beginning
of our Lord's ministry, recorded in Mark chapter one, in verse
24, when our Lord went into a synagogue, that demon cried out, let us
alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
And here it is, I know thee. The devil's, this is a devil
confessing the deity and the holiness of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I know thee that who thou art,
the holy one of God, the holy one of God. So this first city
is named Kadesh, which means holiness. What a, what a type
of that, of, of the Lord Jesus Christ is, is found in that name. Remember in Hebrews, the apostle
Paul tells us that our high priest, our great high priest is, first
of all, he said, holy, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners. And you know what that means
when Paul said he was separate from sinners. That means that
he was not of Adam's descendants. He's the seed of the woman. He's not the seed of Adam, the
seed of man. He was not in Adam's loins and
he didn't fall like all of Adam's children, you and I did. No,
he was separate from sinners. He was a man, yes, but not a
sinful man. Not a sinful man, holy. The second
city that's mentioned here is Shechem in Mount Ephraim. And this word means shoulder. shoulder. And as I thought about
that, there are several things that come to my mind about shoulder
and that being a picture of Christ. But you remember on the high
priest, that ephod that he wore, it was connected together on
his shoulders with two stones, two onyx stones. And on the names
of those stones, there were six tribes of Israel on one stone
and six tribes on the other. And then on his breastplate,
the 12 stones, and on each one of those stones was one of the
names of the 12 tribes of Israel, picturing to us that our high
priest carries us, carries his people on his heart and on his
shoulders. And I thought about the parable
the Lord told about the man that had a hundred sheep in Luke chapter
15. And one of them was lost, remember? And what did he do? He went and
he searched until he found that one lost sheep. And what did
he do? He picked him up and put him
on his shoulders, didn't he? Put him on his shoulders and
carried him all the way home. And isn't that what the Lord
Jesus does for us? He picked us up when he found
us. He picked us up from a cesspool
of sin and he carries us, bears us all the days of our journey
in this world. And then another thought came
to me about the shoulders. It definitely pictures strength
and we're told to cast all your burdens upon him. Burdens that
are so heavy that weigh us down, and there's no way we can handle
these things, but he has the strength. His name is shoulder
strength. The third city was named Hebron
in Judah, which may be interpreted to mean fellowship. And in 1
Corinthians 1 and verse 9, We read these words, Paul writing
to the believers in the church at Corinth, God is faithful by
whom you were called unto fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our
Lord. And then let's look at this other
place, thinking about fellowship. In 1 John, 1 John chapter one,
we'll come back there in just a moment to Joshua, but in 1
John chapter one, Beginning with verse one. 1 John 1, 1, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled
of the word of life. For the life was manifested and
we have seen, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you
also may have fellowship. There's a word, this word Hebron. may be translated or interpreted
to mean fellowship, that believers may have fellowship with the
apostles, that's who the us are here, and truly our fellowship
is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And you know,
everyone here tonight, you know for sure There's no fellowship
with God except it be through the Son. Through fellowship with
His Son, then we have fellowship with God. All right, back to
the fourth city, and these cities were actually outside the land
of Canaan. Remember, I mentioned that because
those two and a half tribes didn't go over. They were men that had
cattle and they found that that property was very well suited
for them. And so they asked Moses if they
could take their inheritance on that side of Jordan. And so now they've taken here
in Joshua, they've taken the land of Canaan and they already
had that part of the land on the other side. So there's three
cities named on that side of Jordan. And the first one is
Bezer. in the tribe of Reuben. The two
and a half tribes was Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh,
were the tribes that stayed on one side of Jordan. But Bezer
was in the tribe of Reuben, and it may be translated or rendered
fortified place, fortified place. I was reading the letters to
the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3 the other
day, and one of those cities, I don't recall which one it was,
I think it was Thyatira, but it was a well-fortified city. It was on some kind of a peninsula,
I believe, and they just felt like there was no way they could
ever be defeated or overcome because there was only one way
into their town. But it was, it was overcome. But this fortified, I think about
the proverb which tells us, the name of the Lord is a strong
tower. That's how they used to make
places of defense, isn't it? They'd build these towers and
people would Get up in there, you know, and be safe. The enemy
couldn't come in there. Well, the name of the Lord is
a strong tower. And the name of the Lord, it
means the Lord, right? The Lord. The Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous runneth into it. And it's safe. It's safe. David, the psalmist, exclaimed
in Psalm 18, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn
of my salvation and my high tower. And then the fifth city was named
Ramoth in Gilead, signifies exaltations. The Lord Jesus, we know, was
exalted, exalted to the Father's right hand, and he will exalt
you. He will exalt every one of his
children to his throne, which is the throne of God and of the
Lamb. And the last city that's named
here is Golan. And we see that name a lot on
the news, don't we? Golan Heights over there in Israel,
they're still fighting over that. Golan, and in Basin, and may
be translated manifested, manifested. And in 1 John 3 and verse 8,
we read, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that
he might destroy the works of the devil. And the works the
Lord Jesus Christ destroyed, of course, was sin, the works
of the devil. He introduced sin, didn't he,
to our parents. Death, as a result of sin. Hell, the Lord destroyed. He was manifested, John tells
us, for this purpose. Here's the reason. Here's the
reason the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy, not try
to, but destroy the works of the devil. Well, let me take
just a few minutes now and bring out a few contrasts between those
six cities of refuge as types of Christ and Christ himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing that you already
recognize is the cities of refuge, they served for one particular
problem and only one particular offense. They served only those
who had without premeditation caused someone's death. The Lord
Jesus Christ, he saves, what a contrast here. He saves people
from every known sin except sin against the Holy Spirit. You
know, in that passage where he speaks about there's no pardon
for those who sin against the Holy Spirit, it's strange how
believers, I did it, most young believers do this. We read that
passage and all we see is The sin against the Holy Spirit.
And we're so concerned that we may have committed that sin,
you know. But we overlook what the Lord
Jesus Christ there said. He said, wherefore I say unto
you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men. We overlook that part and just
see that one part. But I believe the sin against
the Holy Spirit is the sin that was committed in that day when
the Lord Jesus Christ cast out devils, demons, and those Pharisees,
mainly his enemies, they said, he's doing that by the power
of Satan. He's doing that. No, he wasn't doing that by the
power of Satan. He was doing it by the power
of the Holy Spirit, the finger of God. I don't think a person
could commit that sin today to begin with. Some believe it is,
of course, unbelief, the sin of unbelief. Well, if you believe,
you hadn't committed that sin. A second contrast is these cities
of refuge were six. Now we know in the Bible, six
is the number of man. The man of sins, number 666. He was created on the sixth day. In Bible numerology, six is a
number of man, while seven is a number of completion or perfection. I don't know if you've ever thought
about this, but I have. I wonder why there wasn't seven
of these cities. Why there was only six? Well,
doesn't that just show us that whatever man invents or comes
up with, it's never complete. I'm talking about a way of salvation. It's never complete. It's never
perfect because there's only one way. There's only one way. And those of us who preach the
gospel must make this ever so clear, don't, isn't that true?
When the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. You know,
there are things in the scriptures which are difficult to understand,
aren't they, to comprehend. But that's not one of them. A fool cannot err therein. No, that's so clear. There's
only one way to the Father, and that is Jesus Christ. And these
cities, from what Jewish historians tell us at least, the roads to
these cities were extra wide, it seems to me like. I forget
how wide they were. They just seemed extra wide,
and every year the elders from the cities would go out and clear,
make sure the road was clear, it was smooth, and there were
signs. There were signs along the way.
Refuge! Refuge! Pointing to the city,
so that the man who was fleeing there, he wouldn't trip over
anything, and he could run because the Avenger of Blood Might be
right behind him, you know. You killed my brother, and I'm
gonna avenge his blood, but I didn't mean to kill him. That doesn't
matter. You better get in that city. Now, if you know, and let
me just mention this, you know if a person had premeditatedly
killed someone and they ran to this city, yeah, they would take
them in. But there would be a judgment
day. And the elders of the city would decide, was that man guilty
of murder or was it an accidental death? And if it was murder,
they turned him over to the elders of the city from which he came. And he was executed, just like
the law said. Here's the last thing. A man could die in the city of
refuge. One of these men who fled there,
let's say he was 45 years old, and he flees into this city.
And yes, he didn't kill anybody on purpose. It was an accident.
And he's safe, but he's got to stay in that city until the high
priest dies. Well, let's say the high priest
was only 25. He's 45. Life expectancy probably wasn't
over 65. You see what I'm saying? A man
could actually die in that city. What a contrast. No one can die
in Christ. No one. He said, whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? Oh yeah, I give unto them, my
sheep, eternal life, and they shall never, never perish. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to all of us here this evening. We'll sing.