THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST vs. THE AVENGER OF THE BLOOD"
THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST vs. "THE AVENGER OF THE BLOOD"
December 7, 2014, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
We continue to watch as our nation is assailed with racial protests, violence and rioting. If you are like me, my first feelings were, “Why”? Then as a Christian, the answer is simple, “these people do not have the Mind of Christ nor do they know the Prince of Peace”.
Last Monday evening prior to the Tuesday Christmas luncheon, John Mark Pool had an incredible visitation. I can’t possibly recount the “journey” the Lord took him on. He will write it all in a book. I was totally mesmerized by the “journey”. He met with and had dialogue with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah, Elijah, Elizabeth, Mary and ultimately Jesus.
At the end of each interaction, they all asked him the same question. As you travel to and fro are the people receiving and honoring the Christ? To each one, he sadly told them, “no, with the exception of a small remnant”.
The manifestation of the violence in our cities as well as the violence in the nations of the earth is a reflection of the “lawlessness of the spirit of anti-Christ”; “vengeance or avengers of the blood; and the rejection of the Grace of Jesus Christ as Savior, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
“How sweet the NAME of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.”
We are watching as police officers are being made the criminals and the criminals are being upheld as victims. I know there are bad police officers, but neither one of these officers intended to kill these men. They were doing their job and men resisting arrest were killed.
As in our own country today, this sometimes happened in the land of Canaan. A Hebrew, without any evil purpose would cause the death of a brother Hebrew. He did not intend to inflict any injury; it was the result only of an unhappy accident or circumstances, as in the case of both of these officers.
Nevertheless, to show God’s detestation of the shedding of blood, he was liable, by the Levitical law, to be killed by the Avenger, or “Goel,” – the nearest relative to the murdered man. If he wished to escape with his life, his only chance of safety was to flee to one of the Refuge-cities. It didn’t matter his age, name or station in life. He might be young or old, prince or noble, priest or prophet, he was exposed every moment to death, unless he availed himself of the offered shelter. There was no time to delay. His flight must be instant. To linger would be to perish.
The Avenger of blood could be in the adjoining street or in a dwelling nearby. “Satan answered the Lord, and said, ‘skin for skin, all that a man has will he give for his life.’” (Job. 2:4)
The unhappy fugitive’s life just ended as he knew it. Satan, the avenger of blood, claimes the legal right to his life. But God has provided mercy and provision:
Joshua 20: 5-9: “If the avenger of blood pursue after him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand; because he smote his neighbor unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime. He shall dwell in that city, until he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days. Then shall the slayer return and come unto his city, his own house, unto the city from where he fled. They appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali; Shechem in mount Ephraim; and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. On the other side in Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben; and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourned among them, that whosoever kills any person unintentionally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of the blood, until he stood before the congregation.”
These six cities reveal THE NAME OF JESUS and give us six pictures of our Lord and Savior.
This is an Old Testament picture of the sinner, and the gospel of salvation. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” But there is a glorious CITY, “salvation is its walls and bulwarks,” (Isa. 26:1) The gates are always open. The sinner is exhorted to “come;” “to linger not in the plain;” “to flee for his life, less he be consumed.” The CITY is Jesus, the sinner’s Refuge and the sinner’s Friend. Once within the walls, no enemy can touch him---no sword can terrify him. He can triumphantly exclaim, “Who shall separate me from the love of Christ?”
Jesus holds the gates and keys in His hand. He “who opens and no man shuts,” said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for such is the kingdom of heaven” (Mk. 10:14).
Within the Gospel Shelter, the “enemy” is “stilled”. The “avenger” has sheathed his sword. The redeemed march through the City, singing, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have you ordained strength because of your enemies that you might still the enemy and the avenger” (Psa. 8:2). “Blessed be the Lord; for he has shown me His marvelous kindness in a STRONG CITY” (Ps. 31:21).
The first city is Kedesh. This was near the snowy peaks of Mount Hermon and Lebanon. It was situated within the tribe of Naphtali. Jesus is “the Holy One.” Not one stain of sin polluted his holy human nature. Angels in heaven cast their crowns at his feet, crying, “Holy, Holy! Holy!” Devils on earth were compelled to exclaim, “We know who you are, the HOLY ONE of God.” He is the lamb without blemish. He is the righteous (or Holy Branch). The writer of the Hebrews proclaimed, “He is Holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.” When He was on earth, He could challenge His bitterest foes, “Which of you convinces me of sin?” (Jn. 8:46) After his ascension, he came down from His throne in the skies, proclaiming as His name, “He that is HOLY, He that is true!” (Rev. 3:7)
Jesus could never have saved us unless He had been “glorious in holiness.” (Ex. 15:11) If He had had one sin in Him, you and I would have been lost forever. Let us see “the Holy Child Jesus” (Acts 4:27; 4:30) as our city of Refuge.
He is the only Savior of the unredeemed angry, distressed and fearful souls of the world.
“I long to be like Jesus,
Meek, lowly, loving, mild;
I long to be like Jesus
The Father’s Holy Child!”
The second city is Shechem located in a valley among the hills of Ephraim. If Jerusalem was the greatest and the grandest of the cities of Palestine, Shechem was perhaps the most beautiful. Many interesting events in the Holy Writ took place there.
Shechem means “shoulder”. Jesus, our refuge, bears a guilty world upon His shoulders. “Surely he has born our grief and carried our sorrows”. “The government is upon His shoulder.” The Church and the world are upheld by Him. Believers---the poorest, the weakest, and the humblest---are on the shoulders of Jesus.
Moses speaks of God conducting the children of Israel through the wilderness of old as a kind father carries on his shoulder his weak and weary child. “You have seen how the Lord your God bare you, as a man does bear his son.” Jesus told us the story of the Good Shepherd carrying a bleating sheep or lamb back on his shoulder to the fold. “He laid it on his shoulders rejoicing”. (Lk. 15:5)
Only Jesus has the answer for the perplexity of the people in the nations.
The Third city is Hebron and the most ancient of all the cities of Canaan. Time does not permit me in one sermon to speak of all the powerful events which occurred in this city. It was in Hebron David was anointed king over Israel. It was amid its vineyards and mountain slopes that John the Baptist grew up as a little boy.
Hebron means “fellowship,” “society, “friendship”. Jesus has brought guilty man into fellowship with God. On account of sin, we forfeited this fellowship. We had made God not our friend, but our enemy. Jesus is the true Hebron---the true ladder of Jacob let down from heaven and reaching to earth. Jesus has “reconciled things on earth and things in heaven.” He has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places.” We who were once “afar off” “have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Though all earthly joys were to perish, you can always rush within the gates of that mighty Hebron of refuge, and say, “truly our FELLOWSHIP is with the Father, and with his son Jesus Christ.”
The Fourth city is Bezer situated beyond the Jordan in the tribe of Reuben. Its precise site has not been discovered. Bezer literally means “stronghold” or Rock. We are invited to “turn to the stronghold” as a “prisoner of hope.” Once within its gates, though a host encamp against us, we will fear no evil. “It is God that justifies; who is he that condemns?” “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it, and is safe.”
The fifth city is Ramoth and is situated in Gilead, within the tribe of Gad. It is somewhere near the banks of the brook Jabbok, where Jacob wrestled in prayer with the angel. It was in the direct route of the invading Syrian armies and would have been constantly exposed to hostile attacks.
Ramoth literally means exaltation. Jesus is the true Ramoth. He is exalted to be a Prince and a Savior. He is now exalted on the throne as the glorious King. “God has highly exalted Him;” ---angels exalt Him---seraphs adore Him---saints praise Him---the Church on earth magnifies Him---the Church redeemed in heaven will magnify and exalt Him for ever and ever!
Jesus is exalted in heaven. But alas, the present testimony of the peoples of the earth, he is not exalted, but rather cast down. The hearts of mankind can be compared to the inn of Bethlehem, where there was room for every guest but the Lord of glory! Let us exalt Him in everything; in thoughts, words and deeds. Let us take up the song, and sing, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest!”
The Sixth City is Golan situated in Bashan, in the tribe of Manasseh among the pastoral hills north of the lake of Gennesaret. It formed the most northerly Refuge-Sanctuary on the east side of Jordan, as Kedesh did on the west. It is the Golan Heights of the 21st Century.
Golan signifies Joy. Jesus is truly the Golan of His people. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy. We rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. When Jesus beholds us from his throne in judgment, his blessed words of welcome are “enter ye into the joy of your Lord.” (Mt. 25:23) In your presence, O Savior God, is “fullness of joy!”
There is no true joy for the people of the earth except in God. The joy of the wicked is like that of a noisy stream---noisy because it is shallow. The joy which Jesus gives, is like a great river---deep, calm, ever flowing, overflowing;---refreshing all year long. Jesus is the great gospel refuge and the only Redemption of our troubled world.
Jesus is the City of Refuge. As was said of old about Samaria, “there was great JOY in that city”. “These things have I spoken unto you,” says He, “that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”(Jn. 15:11)
Heb. 6:18: “We have a strong consolation who have fled for Refuge.”
No other refuge will do but Jesus. We are watching on our television screens as men and women are wandering in anger, fear, revenge, and destruction following a “refuge of lies” (Isa. 28:17) by the father of lies.
These are those spoken of in Ps. 44:15-16: “Confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face has covered me. The voice of him that reproaches and blasphemes; by reason of the enemy and the avenger. All this is come upon us…”
There were many other towns in Canaan of old which appeared to be as good and as safe as these six, but no city could shelter the man-slayer, except one of the six God had appointed. Only the Gospel city of Refuge can offer salvation, safety, joy, and peace.
We have been greatly distressed at the failure of Godly leadership in our nation; the result of lawlessness; distress of nations with perplexity; persecution of Israel and Christians; persecution of the righteous; and the list goes on and on.
Christian the Lord has given us the answer. We must no longer take an attitude of anxiety, but with great boldness preach and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost, dying, and fearful world.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered into the labors of John Ross MacDuff, The Cities of Refuge.