Let us turn in the Old Testament to the book of Numbers, chapter 35 and verse 9. This is our final study in this book of Numbers, our twentieth study in the book. I'm rather sorry to be leaving Numbers. I've enjoyed it. I've profited from it to my own soul, and many of you have been kind enough to say that you've found some of the messages of advantage to you. We look forward to them being available. in other formats. We're going to read now from verse 9 of chapter 35 down to the end of the chapter. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select cities to be cities of refuge for you. that the manslayer who kills any person without intent may flee there. The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge. You shall give three cities beyond the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan, to be cities of refuge. These six cities shall be for refuge for the people of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there. But if he struck him down with an iron object so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. And if he struck him down with a stone tool, that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. Or if he struck him down with a wooden tool that could cause death, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death. The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death. And if he pushed him out of hatred or hurled something at him lying in wait so that he died, or in enmity struck him down with his hand so that he died, then he who struck the blow shall be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him. But if he pushed him suddenly without enmity or hurled anything on him without lying in wait, or used a stone that could cause death, and without seeing him, dropped it on him so that he died, though he was not his enemy and did not seek his harm, then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood in accordance with these rules. And the congregation shall rescue the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. And the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge to which he had fled. And he shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city of refuge to which he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of his blood. For he must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. And these things shall be for a statute and rule for you throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. If anyone kills a person, The murderer shall be put to death on the evidence of witnesses, but no person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land. And no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell. For I, the Lord, dwell in the midst of the people of Israel." Amen. God's Word is infallible and inerrant and we pray that the Holy Spirit will bless the reading and the preaching of His Word to us all. Let's turn then to this passage which we read of the cities of refuge. Numbers 35 from verse 9 to the end of the chapter. I want you to imagine for a moment that you're a forestry worker. You go out in the morning to your work with a colleague and you're going to be cutting down some trees in the particular plantation where you're working. And you're the one with the chainsaw. You start the chainsaw. You start biting into the trunk of the tree with a chainsaw. Perhaps the chainsaw hits a knot or a hard piece in the wood. Perhaps you slip. Perhaps something goes wrong. But suddenly, to your horror, the whirring blade of the chainsaw slips off the trunk of the tree and slices into the neck of your colleague and kills him. There you are. You went out to work and suddenly he's lying dead at your feet. You killed him. You didn't mean to. It's the last thing you wanted to do, but you did take his life. What happens next? Well, of course, there would be an inquiry. And if you had been careless or negligent in some way, no doubt there would be some criticism or even punishment. And you would certainly be very, very traumatized. And it would be something that you probably couldn't forget as long as you live. But there really wouldn't be any more consequences than that. And you probably get a good bit of sympathy. People would realize it was an accident and they would be sorry not only for the family of the person who died, but they'd be sorry for you to be involved in such a terrible thing. Accidents like that happened in the ancient world. We read about a similar accident in Deuteronomy 19, 5. When someone goes into a forest with his neighbor, to cut down wood, and his hand swings the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle of the axe and strikes his neighbour so that he dies. That was the ancient equivalent of the chainsaw. In those days, however, in most countries of the ancient world, the consequences of such an accident were a lot more serious. This is where that person called the Avenger of Blood came in. He was a fixture in all those Middle Eastern societies. He was the nearest male relative of the dead person. He had other duties as well. You read about in the book of Ruth, You can read about the kinsman redeemer. It's the same word in Hebrew. But one of his duties was if any member of his family died, would be to track down and kill the person who took their life. And that was taken enormously seriously in those honor societies. It was a matter of family honor. The whole family was disgraced if the killer was not struck down by the avenger of blood. And of course, you can see what happened. When he killed the killer, then the person who died then, their family, had to kill him. And so it went on and developed into an endless, brutal blood feud with families attacking each other, killing each other over generations. Now you may say, what's that to do with us? None of us are forestry workers. It's not likely that we're going to kill someone accidentally, although it's possible. We all drive cars. And we should all remember every time we get behind a steering wheel, you young people in particular, this could kill someone. And if I'm careless, or if I'm driving too quickly, or if I'm not paying attention, or if I'm ignoring the rules of the road, something could happen which I would regret for the rest of my life. So I suppose it's not very likely that any of us will kill someone accidentally. But what about accidental sins? The times when we don't mean to sin, we don't want to sin, we didn't intend to sin, but we find that we have in some way disobeyed God. The last thing we wanted to do. We lose our temper, or some temptation comes, or we find we've disobeyed God. It's still sin. It's still sin. The fact that you didn't plan to do it is no excuse. The fact that it was non-deliberate is no excuse. It's still sin. And the wages of sin is death. And we are guilty before God. And we are condemned. And the avenger is on our track. We have sinned. We're guilty. And God will be avenged. Is there any hope for us? We can see in this wonderful chapter God's answer to the dilemma. Let's think first of the requirement of justice. The requirement of justice. The Bible is emphatic that human life is sacred. For we read in Genesis 9-6 that God made man in his own image. There is something essentially qualitatively different in the death of a human being from the death of any other living creature. Sometimes people today get more excited about the death of whales or insects than they do about the death of human beings made in the image of God. God says in this chapter, in verse 33, that blood pollutes the land. The killing of a human being is immensely serious in God's sight. People pay lip service to that today. In our culture, they would say, oh yes, of course. And yet often, murderers escape. Or when they're caught, they're treated lightly. More and more, old people are being neglected. Dame Mary Warnock, that brilliant, and yet utterly confused academic has said that people who are developing dementia have a duty to society to ask to be put to sleep. They're spoiling the lives of their relations. They're wasting the resources of the health service. It's their obligation to ask to be killed. Not much sense of the sacredness of human life. And what about the most dangerous place in the world for a human being? Where is that? It's not in one of the freeways in America. It's not in an aeroplane. It's in the womb of a pregnant woman. In our society today, that's a dangerous place to be. That's where a human being is very likely to be killed. Human life is sacred. And so serious is this that in this passage over and over again, we read, the murderer shall be put to death. There are no exceptions. There are no excuses. And it's interesting, isn't it, that the rich and the influential can't escape. Verse 31, you shall accept no ransom. for the life of the murderer. He shall be put to death. In our society, the rich people can often get away with anything. They can pull the strings. They know the people to talk to. The same laws don't apply to them. But in God's administration here in the Old Testament, all are treated the same. You can't buy your way out of this. The sentence is to be carried out. by the avenger of blood, remorseless, inevitable, terrifying, the requirement of justice. And yet, it is justice. It is justice. This passage recognizes that not all killing is murder. There is such a thing, and I think this is where the word has come into English law, there is such a thing as manslaughter. And if you read the passage carefully, the key issue in law, in God's law, is intent. Intent. If the person meant to kill, then murder was committed. Even a push Even a punch thrown in anger, which leads to death, is counted as murder, verses 20 and 21. If he pushed him out of hatred, or an enmity struck him down with his hand, slapped him in the face so that he died, murder. It's intent. If, on the other hand, there's no intent, If there's no will existing, if there's no harm meant, verses 22 and 23, if he pushed him without enmity, or used a stone that could cause death and without seeing him, dropped it on him so that he died, then that wasn't murder. That wasn't murder. It was manslaughter. It was in a different category. But still, even with manslaughter, There had to be a penalty. Payment had to be made. That was the requirement of justice. Payment had to be made. And friends, in a spiritual sense, we are all guilty. We are all guilty of many sins. We are all, in the interpretation of our Lord, murderers. You remember His interpretation of the sixth commandment in Matthew 5.22, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. You have heard that it was said, you shall not kill. But I say, anyone who is angry, have you ever been angry with anyone? Then you are guilty of murder in God's eyes. None of us is innocent. God's justice requires from us The payment, the penalty. We have to admit it. We have to face up to it. We all deserve eternal death. The requirement of justice. Let's think secondly of the refuge of mercy. The refuge of mercy. God here makes a gracious provision. The Levites were told are to be given 48 cities in the promised land. I suppose city is perhaps not the best translation. It's a bit misleading. What we're thinking of is a very, very small village. But they were to be given 48 villages with grazing around them in the promised land. A tiny inheritance. Some scholars say it was about half of 1% of the promised land. Another scholar says it was a tenth of one percent of the promised land, a very small inheritance to their tribe because the Lord was their inheritance. And six of these cities were appointed as cities of refuge. Now, what happened? How did this work? Well, if you killed someone accidentally, you had to flee to the city of refuge at once. If you didn't make it, the avenger of blood would strike you down. And when you got to the city, you had to explain your case to the elders of the city. You had to tell them what happened. And if they were satisfied, they would say, well, you could come into the city until your trial. We read about this in the book of Joshua. They would open the gates and let you in. And once you were in the city, you were safe. The avenger of blood wasn't allowed in. He couldn't touch you. He couldn't lay a hand on you. You were safe. And then there was provision for a fair trial. A full investigation was made. Time elapsed to allow everybody to calm down. We're told in verse 4 that the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood. That is a jury from the people of Israel. They're not biased. They're not involved. Here are objective, fair jury people. We're told that in a capital trial, multiple witnesses are required. Verse 30. No person shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. There was no lynching. There was no summary justice. You couldn't just take them out and hang them from a tree. There had to be a proper fair, deliberate trial with the case set out, with witnesses, with a non-biased jury, and then a judgment rendered. And if the jury were satisfied that it was not a case of murder, then the person involved was not to be killed. They had to stay in the city of refuge until a death took place to atone for the life that they had taken. And the death of the high priest was counted as satisfactory. The high priest was the substitute, if you like. And the manslayer had to stay in the city of refuge, perhaps for years, perhaps for many years. But when the high priest died, that death was counted as atoning for the life which you had taken. And at that point, you were allowed to return home and the case was closed. Your record was cleared. Verse 28. He must remain in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest, the manslayer may return to the land of his possession. And as we read it, we marvel. This is the Word of God. It's a wonderfully humane, enlightened, balanced system of justice. It's obviously fair. It's reasonable. And yet, death is taken extremely seriously. And even if you killed someone accidentally, you're going to be banished from your home, perhaps for many years. And yet, your life will be spared. You will not die. And in all of this, friends, surely we can see a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the guilty ones. The divine avenger is on our track. If he finds us, we'll die. We deserve to die. We can't outrun him. We can't escape him. But there is a place of refuge. There is a place of refuge. In Proverbs 18, 10, we're told that the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous man runs into it and is safe. And our strong tower is even better because this refuge is not for the righteous, but for the guilty. And he's a better refuge than the city of refuge. Because he's a refuge not just for accidental sins, but for deliberate sins. He's a refuge not just for the manslayer, but for the murderer. He's a refuge not just for the person who doesn't want to sin and didn't want to sin. He's a refuge for the person who did want to sin and committed the darkest, most wicked, most deliberate sins. And when we reach Christ, we're safe. We're safe. We've found our refuge. In Israel, there were six cities of refuge. And God said there had to be three cities east of the Jordan River and three cities west of the Jordan River. Why was that? So that there would be a city near everyone. So that for everyone, there'd be a city of refuge near at hand. You could get there quickly. You could reach it before the Avenger caught you. So Christ, our city of refuge, is near at hand. He's close by. My friend, if you want Him, you don't have far to go. He's accessible. In Israel, The cities of refuge were available for everyone. Verse 15. These six cities shall be a refuge for the people of Israel and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them that anyone who kills any person without intent may flee there. You didn't have to be an Israelite. You didn't have to have a passport. You could be an alien, an immigrant. A foreigner traveling through the land. They were for anybody. They were for anybody. Christ, our city of refuge, offers Himself to anyone and everyone who wants everlasting safety. It doesn't matter who you are. He's a city of refuge for you. It doesn't matter what you've done. He's a city of refuge for you. It doesn't matter how little claim you may think you have upon Him. His gates are open to you for everybody. In Israel, the elders of the city might turn somebody away if his story was not satisfactory, if they thought he was a liar. If they thought he was a murderer who was trying to cover up his murder, if his story didn't add up and they said, we can't believe this man. We can't believe this tale that he was telling. They could say to him, no, you're not coming in. And he would be struck down there at the walls of the city that he tried to enter. But that will never happen for the Lord Jesus. He says, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out." My friends, what grace it is in God to provide such a place of safety for the guilty. And at what cost? In God's provision, here's the mystery of it. The Avenger himself has become the Redeemer. The Avenger has taken the guilt upon himself. The Avenger has avenged our sin on himself and himself has paid the price. Our great High Priest has died. And just as the blood of the high priest in Israel was atonement, so the blood of our high priest has made atonement. The requirement of justice. The refuge of mercy. But then thirdly and finally, the responsibility of the guilty. The responsibility of the guilty. Justice required payment. A city of refuge was provided, but it didn't happen automatically. The person at risk had to flee to the city at full speed, without delay, hearing behind him as he ran the dread footsteps of the Avenger. Death was tracking him. And if he looked round, he could perhaps see over a distant hill the Avenger tracking him down. Imagine his feelings as the gate closed behind him. Safe. Safe at last. He had to flee to the city. And so you and I have to flee to Jesus Christ. Not saunter or walk. Or take a roundabout excursion, but run to Him. Run to Him from sin and guilt. Coming to Him in simple faith. Casting ourselves on His mercy. I think that's what the writer of the Hebrews was thinking of. I think he was thinking of this passage in Hebrews 6.18 where he describes Christians as we who have fled for refuge. We who have fled for refuge. Have you fled to Christ? Have you run to Christ and said, Lord, receive me? Take me in? Was Paul thinking of that in Philippians 3.9 when he says, I want to be found in Him? Perhaps. Not only that, the person involved had to stay in the city. They had to stay in the city. Verses 26 and 27. If the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the boundaries of his city or refuge, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundaries of the city and kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of his blood. If you went out of the city, you were dead. You were dead. You had to stay within the walls. Now, the parallel is not exact here, of course. Because once we're in Christ, we can never be condemned. We can never be put to death. But nonetheless, there is a parallel. It reminds us, surely, of the importance of showing that we truly are in Christ by staying in Him, by constant faith and obedience And this evening, if you're not consciously trusting in Christ, were you ever trusting? If you're not conscientiously obeying Christ, were you ever in Him? Were you ever in the city? There's more than that in this passage. These cities, remember, belonged to the Levites. And the Levites were scattered in Israel. Why were they scattered in Israel? Because their tribal ancestor Levi was himself a murderer. Simeon and Levi, men of blood, murderers. And God punished the murderer by saying that his tribe would be scattered in Israel. And then in His mercy and kindness, God turned the punishment into a blessing and used these people who were scattered in Israel as preachers and teachers of His Word to bless the people. These were the cities of the Levites These were the cities of the guilty tribe, but the tribe that had been forgiven and blessed and used. These were the people who welcomed the frightened and the vulnerable and the guilty. And there's a beautiful symmetry and appropriateness in that they were Leviticals. And my friends, that's a beautiful picture of what you and I should be as individual believers. We should be many cities of refuge. We should be gracious people. We should be merciful people. We should be generous-hearted, open-hearted people. Remembering who we were, and what we were, and how God had mercy on us. So that people who are wicked, people who are confused, people who have messed up their lives, and their lives are in chaos, when they meet us, should feel drawn to us. They should feel something in us. A kindness. and openness. This person isn't going to slide me off. This person isn't going to condemn me. This person isn't going to cut me down. They'll listen. They'll understand. They'll sympathize. I can feel welcome with this woman. I can feel accepted with this man. I can feel secure to talk to them. to tell them about myself, to go into their home. That's what this world needs. It needs houses and families and individuals who are cities of refuge. There are all sorts of people on the run in our community. They hear behind them the avenger on their steps. They feel guilty. They feel frightened. They feel vulnerable. And it's a selfish, greedy world, a self-centered world. Where are people who will care? Where will people who open the door of their heart or the door of their houses say, come in, sit down. We've all the time you need. You'll not shock us. You'll not put us off. We'll give you a hearing. We'll be your friends. We talk about witness. We talk about outreach. It's not putting together fancy little programs and slick little series of meetings. All that has their place. But the real outreach is loving, caring, accepting people out in the world. Those people aren't going to come in here. They're not going to get themselves out on a Sabbath evening at 7 o'clock and get all dressed up and come to some place they've never been before. Can we be those people? And isn't that what the church should be? Shouldn't the church be a city of refuge? Where people can feel safe. They're not going to be written off. They're not going to be condemned. They'll be welcomed. Accepted. Secured. Are we a body of people like that? Is it easy for a church, and sometimes very orthodox churches, very faithful churches, churches that pride themselves on their adherence to the Reformed faith, and you look at them sometimes and they're like a collection of self-righteous, self-satisfied Pharisees. And they're the last place. A fleeing, guilty person would want to come. What would those people say about me? A city of refuge. We have found in Christ a city of refuge. We are called to be in the world as a church, as individuals, as families. To be those cities of refuge. Not to be naive. Not to be silly, but to risk, to love the guilty. Is there anybody here tonight and you're not yet in the city of refuge? Listen. You can hear God's footsteps behind you. He's tracking you. If you're not in Christ, He'll strike you down. Will you not flee to Christ? He will receive you. Amen. Let us bow in prayer. Thank you, Lord God, for our Savior. Thank you that we can come running to Him with all our guilt and all our wretchedness, all our unhappiness and confusion, our compromises and our failures. And when we look up at His face, we see love. We feel His arms around us. And even when we're a long way off, He sees us. He has compassion. And He Himself runs towards us and kisses us. Father, thank You for Him who is our refuge and our strength. We pray that anyone here tonight who hasn't found refuge in the Lord Jesus will be brought to Him even this evening. Put their trust in Him. Ask Him to be their Savior. And Lord, help us not to be fortresses closed and barred against the world, but help us as people, as families, and especially as a church to be cities of refuge with the doors open that all who will may come and find Christ. We ask it in His name. and for his sake. Amen.