CITY OF REFUGE

“Then you shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there” – Numbers 35:11

If an accident occurs between two vehicles and it results in the death of one of the passengers in one of the vehicles; it is most likely that the driver who caused the accident would not be allowed to go; if the driver isn’t drunk and maybe the accident even occurred as a result of a bad road or some negligence of the government; the person who ‘caused’ the accident (the person driving); would be accused of murder. No one will excuse him or her, they would just say things and before anything whatsoever, the driver has landed in prison and such is the way things have turned out in our days.

The city of refuge was God’s bailout to anyone who committed manslaughter or killed as a result of self-defense; the city of refuge was the escape route so as not to die undeservedly due to an accident. God indeed understands that some situations and actions may occur by ‘reflex’ and one may not even know how it all happened all fast. Since the motive was not to kill; then one should not actually face death as a punishment. There are no more cities of refuge in our day anymore, your refuge even in the case of murder would be prison, and if you do not have a good lawyer, even that person may face charges of premeditated murder and the punishment would also be death.

There are certain offences today that even though they are not murder cases, they still attract the penalty of death. The wages of sin is death and where is the refuge for someone who unintentionally and in ignorance committed those sins? The refuge is in Jesus; though the city of refuge was strictly for murder cases; there was no refuge for a woman caught adultery, she had to die, there was no refuge for the person who unintentionally desecrates God’s holy temple, there was no refuge in many other things; but the penalty was death.

There was a time Cain killed Abel, and though there was no law to commit in to death; Cain still sought refuge so as not to bear the consequence; the Lord Himself placed a mark upon Cain and exempted him from death at that time. Moses killed a man and the only refuge he could find at that time was to flee to the land of Midian; and until the people who sought his life was dead he couldn’t for any reason leave the land of Midian.

There’s a also a condition whereby the man in the city of refuge can be made free and this happens when the High Priest who occupied the position at that time died; it would be taken that the High Priest had died in the place of the offender; then the offender would be free to return back home. If the High Priest lived for 30years from that point; the offender does not have a right to be found outside the city of refuge; if the offender is found outside the city of refuge; the avenger of the person killed can take his life and he will not be guilty. It therefore isn’t just about the running to the place of refuge; it was also about staying in the place of refuge; so that the life of the offender can be preserved.

JESUS IS OUR REFUGE!

“I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust” – Psalm 91:2

It is necessary to state in actual fact, that you may not have killed anyone in your entire life, and there is no blood in your hands; yet you may never be excluded from the wages of sin or from the onslaught of the enemy. Therefore, it is necessary for the believer to know that Jesus Himself is the strong refuge of the believer and it doesn’t matter what you have done in the past and even though it be a case of premeditated murder – you can still find refuge in Christ and the avenger will not be able to touch you for whatever reason. There are certain people that believe in the law of Karma and think that everyone would at certain time, taste of the cruelty they have meted out to people in time past; but that’s not what the scripture teaches – if a man runs into the refuge, He is saved from any harm.

While the human reasoning may find it very difficult to accept the concept of the refuge; it does not invalidate its authenticity; the refuge in Jesus doesn’t just keep us save from the consequences of sin which is death; it also keeps us save from the cause of death itself (sin); a believer is allowed to walk free guiltless and without any valid accusation of the enemy. Not to believe in this is to be exposed to the avenger of the soul, the devil.

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and they are safe” – Prov 18:10

Have you called upon the name of the Lord? Do you know that therein lay your safety? Don’t you know that there is no other name given amongst men, by which anyone can be saved except by the name of Jesus? Don’t you know that anyone who calls upon His name shall be saved?
It is not about how simple it feels; it is how effective it is that should move you to run into safety; it will save you from the sting of death and of course preserve you from the cause of death. If you don’t believe in Jesus, then you have not found your refuge yet; and the avenger will get you to put you to death. The righteous runs into the name while the name is in view and why not make good use of the name at this moment and be saved from death and guilt.

Jesus is the High Priest of the people of God in this era; and indeed He has died in your place for you to have your freedom; yet He still lives now so that your safety is secured. He took your place when He paid the price and gave you the prize of life; He didn’t take your place to put you in bondage; but He took your place to give you independence from sin.
This High Priest lives, yet He has paid the price for you!

“they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’” – John 8:4-5

The woman caught in adultery didn’t kill anyone yet her offence was worthy of death, and the people who wanted to execute her ignorantly pushed her to her place of refuge; they brought her there to also make nonsense of the work of grace; they brought her there to dislodge Jesus’ teaching on mercy, they wanted to teach the Teacher that the old law was superior to the era of grace… and there the woman was pushed into her place of refuge, she didn’t know what would become of her, she was terrified; her refuge was there and if anyone would come, He will in no wise cast out, and there and then; Jesus took her in and she was saved in the refuge of her Lord.

YOU CAN’T LEAVE THE PLACE OF REFUGE

“Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, ‘Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere, for it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head.’” – 1Kings 2:36-37

Shimei was the man who cursed David in his time of trials, he was of the household of king Saul; he threw stones at David and cursed David so much, at that time, David didn’t touch him then, there was too much on him then, and taking on a political enemy isn’t top priority, but before king David died, he requested that king Solomon took care of that unfinished business; and David requested that Solomon carry out that instruction in wisdom. When Solomon took over; Shimei was one of those expected to die – but Solomon in wisdom told Shimei to build a house and make that house serve as refuge; and that the day he leaves the house; he would die. After a period of about three years, Shimei left the house for a business and that was when he was killed according to the words of King Solomon.

Many are they who are ‘in’ Christ today, who are not comfortable in the refuge Jesus brings; they want the protection and exemption of destruction but they do not want to remain and live inside the city of refuge. They think that they were ‘forced’ to stay there; and constantly they look out feeling as if they missed the activity of the city of destruction. They desire to continue in that way deserving of death, and every time they are delivered from destruction – they promise to remain in His strong refuge, only for them to renege and they are out.

You have gotten into trouble due to the habit of stealing and lying; you constantly ‘rededicate’ yourself to the Lord, but you do it out of fear and not because you really want to stop the habit. You’re always sorry because you were caught and maybe because you’re afraid of the punishment – but you really love the life out there. How long do you think such ‘going and coming’ would last? Don’t you know that the avenger might catch you at any given time? What if death meets you at that point of sin – do you think that ‘eternal salvation’ will work then?

“But if the manslayer at any time goes outside the limits of the city of refuge where he fled, and the avenger of blood finds him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood” – Numbers 35:26-27

Don’t let anyone deceive you and make the work of grace void in your life through careless living; do not confuse the work of grace to recklessness of life. There is a condition of staying within the ambits of the Saviour, you must not become careless to leave the city of refuge where your salvation lies. There are some things that shouldn’t even happen to a believer; you got stabbed in a nightclub; what were you doing there in the first place? You got raped in a brothel, what were you expecting? You had an accident while drunk, don’t you think that you are gradually slipping out of your place of refuge.

The devil goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom to devour; the person who is meat to the lion is the one who leaves the confines of His presence, while the door of the city will remain open all the time for you to run in; it is not guaranteed that you’d always make it back into the city of refuge. The devil’s strategy is always to lure the believer out of the safety zone into his own strength zone; you don’t have to be enticed – do not break the edge for the serpent will surely bite.

CONCLUSION:
You have found a refuge in Jesus; no matter the offence and penalty, the refuge is strong always to guarantee your safety. Don’t leave it for anything, don’t allow the devil entice out of His refuge.

Stay in the place of refuge!

God bless you and I love you

Further reading: Exodus 21:13, Deuteronomy 19:1-13, Numbers 35:9-34, Joshua 20:1-9

Akinsuroju Femi
©The Fundamentals