Joshua 20
The inheritance having been distributed among the tribes, it was needful, in order to preserve the holiness of the land, that a refuge should be provided from the avenger’s hand.
The city of refuge was ordained by God for the security of him who slew his neighbor unawares, and, when once within its gates, the slayer was preserved from vengeance by the very laws which demanded his blood so long as he was outside the city. The gates of the city were always open, for the object in providing the city was that “Every slayer may flee thither” (Deut. 19:33Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the coasts of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. (Deuteronomy 19:3)). The surrounding country was so laid out that the high-roads ran towards its gates, and, as the city was built upon an elevated spot, there could be no difficulty in finding the way; it was so plain, that wayfaring men, though fools, could not err therein.
Need drove the slayer to the open gates of the city, he knew that the avenger of blood was upon his track, he fled for life, leaving family and home. “All that a man hath he will give for his life.” And when the sinner realizes coming judgment he dare not remain still. Let any man believe that his eternal safety is at stake, and all that is most pleasant upon earth fails to appease him, all that is dearest to detain him. Indifference would have been out of the question with the slayer who knew the avenger of blood sought him, but his doom was near if he sheltered himself under a false security, trusting that he should not be discovered. As the gates of the city were open day and night, and as the city was expressly provided by God for the slayer, the blood of him, who tampered with his safety and perished by the avenger’s hand, was upon his own head. It is false peace which ruins so many, who lulling themselves into a mistaken security, trifle with God’s justice, and put off for a “more convenient season” that journey, which the man believing his condemnation and the irrevocable decree of God, dares not for a moment delay. And so they perish, notwithstanding the gates of mercy are wide open to receive them; and justly perish, for they willfully reject the provision God Himself has made for them.
Long and toilsome might have been the slayer’s journey to the city provided for his need; he might have had to drag a weak body up the weary mountain road; his strength might have failed, he might have fallen by the way, the avenger might have been stronger and swifter than he, but Jesus is more than the sinner’s refuge from judgment; He is the life, and for those who are in Him there is no death. To endeavor to prepare oneself for mercy, is to suppose an intermediate stage to eternal safety, and to ignore the Lord Jesus as the Salvation of God. At this present hour every man either has the Son of God and life, or he has the wrath of God abiding on him. The slayer knew that the way to the city of refuge was made by God’s appointment, and with vengeance in pursuit, hastened unto it, using all his energy for escape. We are “without strength,” but He who trusts in Christ is safe immediately. Well, it is for them who feel their utter helplessness as well as their eternal peril, to them the Lord Jesus is precious indeed.
Out of Christ, God has no mercy for man. It would be impossible for Him, having given His Son, to give eternal life to any save through Him. It is a reproach upon God’s love and righteousness to think of safety but through Him, who was made “sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” And more than this, the death of Christ has sealed the condition of man; “if one died for all, then were all dead.” The cross declared the end of man in the flesh in the sight of God, for Christ, the holy One, taking man’s place was forsaken of God. The Lord Jesus became responsible for man and died unto sin. And now those who submit to God’s righteousness as seen in the cross of Christ, trust in Christ who died and is risen. Justice could not be set aside in the case of the manslayer for the purposes of mercy, for the laws of God would be broken, His government overruled. “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy.” Vain for the sinner is the thought of a pardon at the day of judgment; shall the eternal majesty of God be trifled with? God has declared that save by Christ there is no forgiveness, no salvation for man, and terrible will be their doom, endless the punishment of which they will be thought worthy, who presume for deliverance save by the blood of Christ.
God set apart the city of refuge for the slayer, hence, upon the principles of His government, he who entered therein was safe. Christ has abundantly satisfied the claims of God’s justice upon the sinner, so that now man’s condemnation lies in rejecting Christ. God is richly glorified in the blood of His own dear Son, about the terrible question of human guilt, which is therefore now no longer an obstruction to mercy. Alas! the obstruction lies in the hardness of the human heart, which will not come unto Christ for life. Terrible contemplation! Christ the Son of God has died for sinners, and has risen, and God gives eternal life, and men, though assenting to this unspeakable grace, live on in their state of death, without God, without Christ – the wrath of God abiding on them.
The security of the slayer within the walls of the city of refuge gives only a faint and imperfect idea of the believer’s security in Christ. He might have wandered without the city walls and been exposed to immediate destruction. At the death of the High-Priest, he returned from the Levite-city to his own home where he was exposed to the danger of committing a fresh offense; but there is no return from being in Christ. The believer in Christ is more than sheltered from vengeance, he is justified from all things. Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, He endured God’s wrath against sin when He hung there; and now God has raised Him from the dead and exalted Him to His own right hand in the heavens. Justice can make no further claim upon those who have suffered the penalty of its sentence and borne its wrath, and this Christ has done, and being risen from the dead dieth no more, death hath no longer dominion over Him. His perfect acceptance into the heavens is the believer’s acceptance, who is accepted in Him. By Him God can be just and the justifier of all who believe in Him. Christ risen is the measure of their deliverance who trust in Him. What a salvation is this! The apostle prays that “The eyes of your understanding may be enlightened; that ye may know ... what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:18-2018The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 1:18‑20)).
The Christian, besides being justified, is also brought into a new state; he has forever passed out of one city into another. He has been, by God’s power, transferred from his former condition as a man in Adam, and is put “in Christ.” Death is the penalty of the first condition. “In Adam all die,” but he that is “in Christ ... is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The manslayer who entered the city of refuge was not changed, he was merely in a place of safety; the man in Christ is a new creation. He lives before God in another existence distinct from that life which as a man in Adam he received from the hands of his Creator. The Christian’s life is that of the Son of God. Living in a new life, a life which is perfectly free, according to God’s own mind and requirements is far more than security. Those who are in Christ have died with Christ, passed with Him through death, and are risen with Him. Vengeance – all the wrath of God against sin – overtook the Lord Jesus when He on the cross by His own free will took our place and penalty. His death teaches us to reckon ourselves dead. His life is the believer’s life. “This is the record, that God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.” “Your life is hid with Christ in God.” The believer in the Lord Jesus is thus privileged and exalted. He is brought into nearness to God beyond that which Adam in Paradise knew – beyond that known by even the elect angels. The slayer entered the Levite-city, and those appointed to teach Israel God’s word were his continual company; the man who trusts in Christ is one of God’s family, an heir of God and joint heir with Christ.
What unmingled privilege and grace is theirs who are in Christ! What mercy, what love is God’s to the chief of sinners! With what wisdom has He turned the depths of man’s sin and ruin into an occasion for the display of His glory.
The claims of God’s justice having been fully met, Divine righteousness having been perfectly satisfied, the gates of mercy are now flung wide open and God declares His own character of love; He Himself beseeches, invites sinners to be partakers of His grace. Surely there was a voice appealing to the slayer, in the open gates of the city of refuge, and what a voice speaks now from heaven! Love now cries aloud from the throne of the majesty on high. The Lord Jesus who is seated there proclaims Himself the Life for man guilty and hell-deserving.
The cities of refuge were appointed for those who had unwittingly and without malice slain their neighbors; but how different the terms of our salvation! At willful enmity to God, every thought and purpose being in opposition to Him, God commended His love to us by the gift of His own Son.
He who as a slayer entered the city of refuge was justified. Such a one accepted the offered salvation, and was saved by faith. Faith impelled him upon the road, faith led him within the gates. But of what avail would the knowledge of the sentence, the knowledge of the way, the knowledge of the open gates have been, had there not been beyond this personal faith which applied all to the slayer’s own need?