Numbers thirty-five, verse nineteen. The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer when he meet of him. He shall slay him. But if he fussed him of hatred or hurl at him by laying of weight that he die, or in enmity smite him with his hand that he die, He that smote him shall surely be put to death, for he is a murderer. The revenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meet of him. But if he thrust him suddenly, without enmity, or have cast upon him anything without laying of weight, or with any stone wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him that he die and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood, according to these judgments. 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 was fled. and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest which was anointed with the holy oil. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whether he was fled, and the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer, he shall not be guilty of blood. because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the slayer shall return into the land of his possession. So these things shall be for a statute of judgment unto you throughout your generations in all your dwellings, who so killeth any person, The murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses. But one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die. Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death. You shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the high priest. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are, for blood it defileth the land. And the land cannot be cleansed of the blood which is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it. defile not, therefore, the land which ye shall inhabit, wherein I dwell. For I, the Lord, dwell among the children of Israel. Our subject this evening, is the parable of the cities of refuge. The more you read the Old Testament, the more obvious does it become that hidden away in that part of the Bible are very many important truths. They're often set forth in symbol or in picture form. And the idea that the New Testament is all we need and that we can discard the Old Testament is quite disproved if you are prepared to spend a little time actually reading the text of the Old Testament. It is almost impossible intact to understand the New Testament unless you read the Old Testament. After all, what sense would a word like this have, Behold the Lamb of God, if there were no Old Testament. And just as the Old Testament is essential to the understanding of the new, so of course is the New Testament to our understanding of the old. And Augustine put it this way, the New is in the old contained, the old is by the new explained. And surely one of these beautiful Old Testament pictures that is very full of teaching and truth for us even in this twentieth century AD is the picture of the city of refuge. Here is a beautiful picture of the way of salvation. Now naturally we have to remember that it's only an illustration of divine truth. It is not a dogmatic presentation of truth. Some people take the Old Testament and by cleverly imposing upon it their own ideas and allegorizing the words of the Old Testament, they bring up almost anything they like out of its pages. And the more vivid an imagination you may have, so the more wonderful and the more grotesque can the picture be that you paint as you read and seek to interpret the Old Testament, if you forget that many of these symbols and pictures are really only illustration. I may explain it by saying that You would not expect, for example, to find a complete presentation of the person and the work of Christ in the Old Testament. You have many beautiful figures of Christ. You have many beautiful illustrations of the work of Christ. But nowhere in the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament do you have such a full presentation of the person and the work of Christ as say you have in the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. So then it's necessary to remember that even in such a story as this, the story of the cities of refuge, there are some things that far from helping us as a comparison really afford quite a striking contrast with the New Testament truth of the doctrine of salvation. Now in approaching our subject tonight I want us to think first of all of the origin of the cities of refuge and then the purpose of the cities of refuge, then the provisions of the cities of refuge and finally the message of the cities of refuge for us today. First of all, then, the origins of the cities of refuge. If you want to read more fully, you read in Deuteronomy nineteen, in Exodus twenty one, in Joshua chapter twenty, and in Numbers thirty five, and you will then form in your mind a complete picture of the city of refuge, its origin, its purpose, and its meaning. When Israel left the land of Egypt, you may recall that they spent forty long years wandering through the wilderness. And they were very conscious during those forty years that they were a nomadic tribe. They were just driven from pillar to post, as we say. They passed through many trying and difficult experiences. And but for the wonderful grace and provision of God, they would have been consumed in the wilderness. Of course, with the exception of two men only, the whole generation that came out of Egypt did die in the wilderness. Well, after wandering through that barren land for forty years, they ultimately crossed into the promised land. Some of them decided that they would prefer to settle on the eastern side of the River Jordan, but most of them went on with Joshua right into the land of promise and stayed on the western side of Jordan. Each of the tribes was allocated special territory. The bigger tribes, of course, were given more cities and more land, and the smaller tribes, they received a comparable allocation. But the Levites, the special tribe that was employed in the service of God, had no inheritance in the land. There was no special plot of ground allocated to the Levites. They were men who ministered in spiritual things, and they did not need a temporal inheritance. Naturally, they had to have a home to live in. And naturally provision had to be made for their sustenance. But the idea was that these who were fully employed in the service of God must be supported by the rest of the tribe. And so when it came to actually settling down in Canaan, each tribe had to surrender so many cities. The tribe that had most territories and most cities, they had to surrender Most. And the small tribe, well, of course, they might give just one. But from all the cities and lands in Cainan, there were forty-eight cities allocated to the tribe of Levi. They were to be the inheritance of Levi. They were to be the home of the priest. And out of these forty-eight cities, six were chosen to be cities of refuge. So there were forty-two ordinary Levitical cities, and six extraordinary ones known as cities of refuge. Three of them were situated on the west side of Jordan, and by name they were Cadesh, Shechem, and Hebron, and three of them were situated on the east side of Jordan by name Bezer, Ramoth, and Golem. Now the idea of their being set out three on one side and three on the other was so that they might be easily accessible to anybody in the land wherever he might live. You see, Reuben, for example, the big tribe of Reuben, they decided that they wouldn't cross over Jordan. They would help the rest of the people of Israel fight their battles, but they would really reside on the eastern side of Jordan. and really although they failed to enter in fully to the promised land yet God in his grace was still prepared to make provision for those who were on the eastern side of the river so wherever you lived in Canaan on the east or on the west of Jordan there was a place a city of refuge to which you could fly so much then for the origin of the city six cities specially chosen specially allocated from among all the tribes and strategically placed throughout the land of Calum. But what was their purpose? Well, the cities of refuge were essentially a part of Israel's legal code. We need to remember that in those far-off days the family was regarded as being sacred. And if the family's blood was shed, then the family had a responsibility to seek retribution. For example, if a man's brother were killed in some accident at work, then that man, being the dead man's near relation, had a responsibility to seek retribution and to cause vengeance to fall upon the head of the slayer. Now naturally such a provision, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life, while it seemed quite reasonable and just, such a provision left the door wide open for some injudicious action on the part of some thoughtless and unscrupulous people. And so God overruled it. by providing the cities of refuge. And while it was still true that the murderer must be put to death, for he was guilty of blood, yet if a man accidentally killed another man, then there was the possibility of salvation if he made his way to a city of refuge. we talk about murder and we talk about manslaughter and I suppose you might say that it was the manslayer the man who was guilty of manslaughter rather than murder who could find refuge in these six cities of refuge specially provided and situated throughout the land if Mr. A for example was out at work with Mr. B and they were maybe engaged in cutting down trees or breaking up rocks. And Mr. A's axe head fled off and killed Mr. B. Then Mr. A would immediately take to his heels and run. If he saw that he killed Mr. B, then he knew that the avenger of blood would be after him. He knew that it wouldn't be a case of arguing and talking nothing over and debating it. He knew that the Avenger of Blood, once he arrived on the scene, would do no more than kill him. And so he made for the city of refuge. Once he was inside the city of refuge, the Avenger of Blood couldn't touch him. Although he might feel that he wanted to lay his hands on him, although he might feel that he had a responsibility to defend the sanctity of the family blood, He couldn't catch him. Once inside the city of refuge, he was defended both by the law of the land and by the divine law. Of course, when he arrived inside the city of refuge, the man who was fleeing, the fugitive, the manslayer, was given a hearing in the gate where the elders used to sit, and if it was proven... that he was only a manslayer and not a murderer, then he was welcomed into the city of refuge and there could remain. So we may say these three things about the city of refuge regarding its purpose. It was a place for a time of need. A place for a time of need. Secondly, it was a place of sanctuary. And thirdly, it was a place of security now you will readily see although a little later we'll point this out again you will readily see that here is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus himself a place for a time of need a place of sanctuary and a place of security there could be no more desperate occurrence in a man's life than for him to see a man lying at his feet dead and dead because of the result of some action that he had performed. It's a terrible thing to be responsible for the death of another human being. And how often you hear of people going out of their minds perhaps because they've had some awful accident and they've killed somebody. They didn't do it deliberately. But they have this on their conscience. It's driven them almost mad to think that they've killed somebody. There could be no greater sense of need than that in the heart of a man who has killed somebody else. I was speaking in a Sunday school up in the city of Victoria recently, and there was a young boy in the congregation, and he was unable to lift up his head during Sunday school. Apparently that's how he sat every Sunday. The sad tale was that this boy with a gang of others had been out some weeks earlier and for no apparent reason they'd stolen somebody's car. The car had broken down, they'd stolen another one and the police had got on their track. And this boy with four others, all of them under the age of sixteen had ridden through the city of Victoria and they come to the edge of the cliff and unable to stop they'd gone right over the top and down onto the beach below. And the other three boys in the car were killed. And he was waiting trial for manslaughter. It was a sad thing to see that boy. He was just depressed all the time by this sense of terrible need. that he'd taken the lives of these other boys. Of course, while one must feel sorry for such a boy who'd been so misled and so spoiled through sin, yet nevertheless he would have to bear his punishment. But this city of refuge was provided for such an occurrence of death. A man with a life on his conscience in an hour of need could find a place to which he could go. I wonder if you have any sense of need in your life. There are so many people about in the world today who when you talk to them about sin and their need, they don't seem to understand what you're saying. It seems as though their conscience has become so seared as if by a hot iron that they have no sense of guilt. Well, no doubt God has his own means of awaking a man's conscience and showing him his need. If there is a sense of need in your heart, then do let me tell you this, that there is a place for a time of need. But then you see it was a place of sanctuary. Sanctuary, I suppose, might easily be translated as safety. And back in England we have some very old churches and on the doors of those old churches there are still some sanctuary knockers. If you happen to be in trouble in England in olden times and the Avenger of Blood was chasing you, then if you could only grab hold of the church knocker you were said to be in a place of sanctuary and nobody could touch you. And there are plenty of those still left in England on some of those very old churches. Of course, once you were inside the church, then you were completely safe. And that's why there was such trouble when Henry brought about the murder of Thomas a Beckett in Canterbury Cathedral. It was not so much that a man had been killed, but that he had been killed inside a place of sanctuary. The city of refuge was a place of safety. Once inside, you were safe from all alive. Well, there's a place of sanctuary too. If you have a sense of need, if you have a desire for safety, you can find it in Christ. Then it was also a place of security. You see, once you were inside, You were saved as long as the high priest lived. Being a Levitical city, all the people who lived in that city, apart from fugitives who'd come there, all of them belonged to the priestly family. The company was good in a city of refuge. And of course, the high priest would be well known. And as long as that high priest lived, you were perfectly safe inside that city. It wasn't safety now and danger tomorrow. It was safety now and safety tomorrow. It was absolute security. As long as the high priest lived, then you were saved. And when the high priest died, by special provision of the divine law, you were allowed to go home free. And even if the Avenger of Blood was waiting outside the city gate, once you were declared a free, guiltless man, you could go home to freedom and the enjoyment of your family's love again. So the purpose of the city of refuge then was first of all a place for a time of need, a place of sanctuary, and a place of security. But thirdly, the provisions of the city of refuge. What were the rules that governed it? What sort of laws existed in the play? Well, the first one is obvious. The fugitive was only safe if he remained inside the city of refuge. Now, in the famous story of David and Abner, who was Saul's lieutenant, his commander-in-chief, in the great conflict between Saul and David. In that story, ultimately Abner came over to the side of David, you may remember. And Abner had been guilty of killing the brother of Joab, who was David's commander in chief. Azahel, who was Joab's brother, had been chasing after Abner in battle one day, and Abner had given him warning And he told him, he said, don't come on following me, I don't want to kill you, but if you persist, then I shall have to. And he, with the end of his spear, thrust Azahel through and killed him. And Joab never forgave Abner for murdering his brother. And Joab was the avenger of blood. And Joab had always been looking out for an opportunity to see justice meted out on Abner. Well, Abner had been wise enough to go to the city of Hebron, which was a city of refuge. And as long as Abner was inside Hebron, he was safe. But you know, one day, through coming and deceit, Joab was able to find Abner outside the city of refuge. What happened? Well, he killed him. Joab was a very subtle person. He was one of the sons of Zeruiah. And David said, these sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. Joab and Abishai, they were brothers and they were cruel men. But Abner said David, Abner died as a fool died. Actually, he asked the question, died Abner as a fool died? Because he'd stepped outside the place of refuge. So the first provision, the first law about the city was, you are safe only as long as you are inside. Secondly, the law said that your cause must be given a fair hearing. If you were proven to be a murderer, then you must submit to the proper provision of the law and be put to death. And all this sentimental talk about capital punishment, whether it should be or whether it should not be today, seems to omit the plain teaching of Scripture, which demands an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life, the lex talionis, as we call it, and the murderer must die. And so your cause was given a fair hearing. There was no harbouring of murderers. and there was no provision for willful sin. It's rather interesting in reading the Old Testament to find that although there was provision for the sin of ignorance and although the blood of the animals was offered up in sacrifice and had virtue only in view of the death of Christ to bring about the atonement, yet there was no provision at all for deliberate high-handed sin. If a man deliberately disobeyed the Lord God, if he tried underfoot, then there was absolutely no salvation. The same is true today. If a man deliberately sins against the light and refuses God's provision and says no to Jesus Christ deliberately, then there is no provision. There is no provision for willful sins. So then another law that governed the city of refuge, any infringement of the regulations made you subject to the law. You couldn't just play about with the laws of God as you chose. You were either subject to them and safe, or you were rebellious toward them and in danger. You had to choose. Finally, what about the message of the cities of refuge for us today? I suppose the most fundamental lesson we may learn from the story of the cities of refuge is this, that while God is a righteous God, he is essentially a God of mercy. The whole idea of the cities of refuge was a merciful provision by God for a man who was in me. Some people complain about the Old Testament painting a picture of a very cruel, tyrannical God, a God who is unreasonable, a God who is cruel, a God who is an absolute despot. But such a quick judgment of God and such a quick rushing aside of the teaching of the Old Testament is not justifiable. All through the Old Testament over and over again God is revealed as a God of love, a God of grace and a God of mercy. A God who shows mercy to thousands of those who keep His command. And this provision of the city of refuge was proof, proof of God's mercy. He was righteous. And never let us talk about the mercy of God at the expense of his righteousness. Never let us emphasize that God is a God of love at the expense of the truth that God is a God of light. God sees what we are, he knows what we are, and he is holy and cannot look upon sin. But he's also a God who loves us. And in his own loving heart has devised a means whereby his banished may not be expelled from him. So that the most fundamental lesson we learn from the cities of refuge is that basically God is a God of mercy. though his righteousness is equally important. Secondly, as the cities of refuge were provided for man's physical need, so Christ has been provided for man's spiritual need. There was need of temple and physical help if you were a man's player. You have a need of spiritual help. because you are guilty of breaking the law of God. It's very important that we should recognize our sin. If a man had committed a murder, his sin was obvious. If a man had killed another man, the result was obvious. And it didn't need somebody to come along and say, now look, you're in need. Why don't you go to the city of refuge? The man immediately took to his heels and ran there. But the trouble is so many people's day as they just won't face their need. Back at home in the days of the war, in the early days of the war, one of the ministers came on the radio one day and he made an urgent appeal to all our people to get out of the big city. And he made a special plea to the parents who had children living in the London area to let their children be evacuated. And over and over and over again he pleaded with the people, his name was Ramsey MacDonald, and he came on the radio and he pleaded with the people to let their children leave London. He said, if you don't let them leave, the hour will come when it will be too late. He kept on fleeing and eventually most of the children in certain areas of London had met. But there were still some parents who held on. And at last he came on the air and he gave them a zero hour. He said, if you don't move them before a certain hour, no provision will be made for their safety and no guarantee can be offered. And train load after train load of children pulled out of London and the big cities to places in the country that were supposed to be areas of safety. And those were tremendous days. The days of the evacuation. But the important thing was this. There was an hour of need. There was a provision of a place of safety. But there had to be a personal acceptance of the safety the safe place afforded. if they stayed in the place of danger, there was no guarantee of salvation. So they pulled away. And of course, when the trouble came, many of those boys and girls, although they lost their parents, were themselves saved from danger. And while we may laugh at many things the Bible says, and while we may feel that we in our own strengths and on the basis of our own wisdom can figure out our own plan of salvation it would be well for us to recognize that we live in a day of need why even in your own city there are printed notices there is available in black and white a scheme for the evacuation of this city in an hour of danger and most people know where they're supposed to go if danger comes and while we may be thoroughly acquainted with the provisions that are made for our physical well-being and safety there are many of us who have failed to make adequate provision for our spiritual well-being and safety now think of it there were some contrast between the city of refuge and God's plan of salvation as revealed in Christ the manslayer was not exempt from judgment, even though he came within the city of refuge. If you trust in Christ, you are completely free from judgment. There is therefore now no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, no judgment. So you see, here's the contrast. And then again, there was the possibility of death if you went outside the city of refuge, like Abner did. But once you find safety in crime, you are saved, and listen to this, with an eternal salvation. It's not a case of being safe today and in danger tomorrow. You are saved with an eternal salvation. Saved today and lost tomorrow is not the teaching of the Bible. If I have eternal life, then it is eternal life. Jesus said that no man could pluck his sheep out of his finest hand. Peter, writing in his first epistle, in the first chapter tells us that we are kept by the power of God. He also tells us that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. We are told in John chapter three that we must be born again. We are told in John chapter one that to as many as received Christ, to them gave he the right to become the sons of God. And once you are born into a family, you can never be unborn out of the family if we may use that expression. I'm a son of my father. I may do things that bring dishonor upon the name of my father. But there is absolutely nothing that I can do that can put me outside the family circle, that can make me any other than a son of my father. I'm a son of God through faith in Christ. And the wonderful thing is that by God's grace, I shall always be his son. People say, but doesn't that mean that there's a danger of people saying, well, I'm saved? And so I can live as I please. Well, that's the argument that Paul was facing in the epistle to the Romans. And he says, Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? If you're genuinely converted, if you really have the grace of God in your heart, if the Lord Jesus really is your Savior, then you will not have a desire to sin. And as John puts it in his epistle, he that is born of God does not practice sin. That's not sinless perfection. But it states again the fact that the new life, the new nature that is imparted to me when I am born again, that new nature cannot sin. I may sin because I have an old nature as well. But even that. can be overcome by the power and the grace of God the Holy Spirit and sin shall not have dominion over you says Paul writing to the Romans so we can enjoy power to conquer sin in our lives but remember we are saved with an eternal salvation and then another thing that is really a contrast between the city of refuge and the work of Christ the avenger of blood by some mistake, might never come upon the man who is the manslayer. Although he might not take refuge inside the city of refuge, although he might spend the sanctuary afforded by that city, and remain outside, the avenger of blood might never catch up upon him. By some fluke he might escape. but that's quite different with regard to God. There is no escaping divine judgment. The man who was the manslayer might fool the avenger, but there's no man or woman breathing on this earth who can hope ever to escape the judgment of an omniscient and an omnipotent God. So here's the contrast. But nevertheless, having seen the contrast, I am sure that there is a very wonderful comparison to be drawn between the city of refuge and the provision of God in the work of Christ for the sinner who will confess his need and comply with the divine requirement and come to Jesus Christ.