Cities of Refuge--
Today I was reading along in Joshua, and came to chapter 20. It is very interesting, because God instructed the Children of Israel to have what was called "Cities of Refuge." If there had been some kind of an accident, and someone had killed another person but it was not at all on purpose, that person could flee to the nearest city of refuge. Once there, he was supposed to stand at the entrance of the city gate, and state his case to the city elders. They would then admit him into their city, and were to give him a place to live with them. That person would stand trial before the assembly, and if it was decided that he had really killed his neighbor unintentionally he would continue to live in that city of refuge until the high priest who was serving at that time died, and at that time the person could return to his original home town, and he was to be completely cleared of the crime and no one was to harm him in any way.
Our society today does not have cities of refuge set aside for situations such as this, though we do have trials and jurys to try and determine if a crime was intentional or an accident. But as I was reading this Bible passage, the thought occurred to me that we do still have a need for a refuge, and our city of refuge is Jesus. But it's not the same. We are not innocent of the crime--in fact, quite the opposite. We are ridden with sin, and if we stood trial before the universe there could be only one possible outcome--we would be pronounced "guilty!" Guilty of breaking all of God's perfect laws. So there is no hope for anyone to determine that we are innocent. But God.
But God loved us so much, that He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins. Jesus took our verdict of "Guilty!" so that we could have His verdict of "Innocent!" His righteousness covers our sinfulness up, and we are taken into His refuge. And THAT is a place I never want to leave!
Today I was reading along in Joshua, and came to chapter 20. It is very interesting, because God instructed the Children of Israel to have what was called "Cities of Refuge." If there had been some kind of an accident, and someone had killed another person but it was not at all on purpose, that person could flee to the nearest city of refuge. Once there, he was supposed to stand at the entrance of the city gate, and state his case to the city elders. They would then admit him into their city, and were to give him a place to live with them. That person would stand trial before the assembly, and if it was decided that he had really killed his neighbor unintentionally he would continue to live in that city of refuge until the high priest who was serving at that time died, and at that time the person could return to his original home town, and he was to be completely cleared of the crime and no one was to harm him in any way.
Our society today does not have cities of refuge set aside for situations such as this, though we do have trials and jurys to try and determine if a crime was intentional or an accident. But as I was reading this Bible passage, the thought occurred to me that we do still have a need for a refuge, and our city of refuge is Jesus. But it's not the same. We are not innocent of the crime--in fact, quite the opposite. We are ridden with sin, and if we stood trial before the universe there could be only one possible outcome--we would be pronounced "guilty!" Guilty of breaking all of God's perfect laws. So there is no hope for anyone to determine that we are innocent. But God.
But God loved us so much, that He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins. Jesus took our verdict of "Guilty!" so that we could have His verdict of "Innocent!" His righteousness covers our sinfulness up, and we are taken into His refuge. And THAT is a place I never want to leave!
2 comments:
Very nice post Mom!
Very good post! It helps me to better understand the verses that talk about Jesus being our refuge.
Have a great day!
Lisa :o)
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