No 19

(City of Refuge)

After fighting many successful conquests in the land of Canaan and after dividing the land among the tribes of Israel, the Lord instructed Joshua to appoint 6 cities of refuge where a person who had unwillingly committed a murder or who had committed a murder of the hand but not of the heart could seek asylum. There were three cities west of the Jordan River – Kedesh, Shechem and Kirjatharba and three cities east of the Jordan River – Bezer, Ramoth and Golan (Joshua 20:7-9); interestingly, all these cities were of the tribe of Levi. It was said that these 6 cities were arranged in such a way that anyone of them could be reached within half a day’s journey from anywhere in the land of Canaan. It was also said that the roads leading to these cities were always kept clear – rivers were bridged and every obstruction removed so that a man could easily find passage to the city. What a wonderful Old-Testament type of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! How graciously do the promises of the Gospel remove stumbling blocks from the way! It is no round about road where one has to do this, that and the other thing; it is a straight road – believe and live! It is a road so hard that no self-righteous person may find his or her way and yet this road is so easy, that every sinner who admits his sin can find his way to heaven. Just as the woman who, by faith, just touched the hem of Jesus’ robe (Matt 9:20), anyone may travel this road because “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Act 4:12) and also “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom 10:13). God made it very easy for sinners to come to Him but the sinner’s release from bondage was paid at a high price – “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8)