NIV.Numbers.35.6 “Six of the towns you give the Levites will be cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone may flee.”
NIV.Numbers.35.11 “select some towns to be your cities of refuge, to which a person who has killed someone accidentally may flee. 12a They will be places of refuge from the avenger…”
Many features of life for the people of the Old Testament don’t exist in New Testament times, but the beauty of scripture is that we don’t need to exercise a great amount of imagination to see the equivalent for us today, and most often, we find the pattern or principle completed in Christ.
Today we’re back for our annual visit — and our tenth visit — to a source of devotional writing which you might want to know about for yourself, or share with someone with whom it will connect. The website Broken Believers states its purpose as “all about serving through a message of Christian discipleship and helping Christians with mental illnesses and other issues.” Click the title which follows to read this on their site, and then take some time to read other articles. The author today is Brian Lowe.
Our City of Refuge
Buried in the Old Testament is the idea of the Cities of Refuge.
They speak profoundly to our situation and bring real hope for us who struggle so. Six places of safety were given to protect those who accidentally killed another person— maybe an ax-head flew and hit someone, and they died as a result.
God told Joshua to establish cities of protection where one could be safe from an avenger. There were six of them, three on the east side of the Jordan river, and three on the west. The cities were pretty much covering Israel; each was spread out intentionally so they were always close. That city became a place of asylum for those guilty of manslaughter.
Us as believers, we know that we’ve committed crimes against God and other people. The burden we carry threatens to undo us. Satan (and his minions) want to destroy us—and honestly, we deserve it. We are essential ‘criminals’ who have hurt others and damaged ourselves in the process.
Outside of the city, we’re vulnerable—but inside those walls we find safety.
Those who have killed others are protected. If we venture outside, we find our adversary who is waiting. Scripture tells us that we must stay cloistered there until the current high priest dies. Upon his death, we’re released and may leave the city walls.
For broken believers, the whole concept rings true.
The text speaks for itself, and there is spiritual logic in all of this. We see parallels here that speak to our condition. We’ve messed up big time. We also carry issues that the enemy can attack. Depression, bipolar, trauma, and even thoughts of committing suicide—they can be a real part of our lives.
I must tell you that safety is found in only a place.
Finding God and abiding in him is our place of safety. His walls protect us, Jesus is our high priest, who never dies; that means we need to stay with him, permanently. I like Hebrews 6:18, LB:
“Now all those who flee to him to save them can take new courage when they hear such assurances from God; now they can know without a doubt that he will give them the salvation he has promised them.”
For us especially, we often have problems with the doctrine of assurance of salvation. Our enemy works overtime to accuse us (Rev.12:10). We’re his targets and the lies of many demons assault us. We can, at times, wonder if we’re really saved. We wonder if we are really forgiven, and we doubt our salvation. Satan’s efforts can be constant and crippling.
I encourage you to think this over and pray about this. Numbers 35 is a good place to start. That chapter is pretty clear. Look also at Exodus 21:13-14; Joshua 20:1-6; Deuteronomy 19:2-13.
Christianity 201 