Running to the Refuge
Joshua: Pass Over and Possess • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses:
That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime. And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand 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 own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.
And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side 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 that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.
Introduction
Introduction
Chapter 20 of Joshua brings us a clear picture of the work of Christ for us. We often need to be reminded of what He has done for us. This morning, we will see a vital provision made by God for all those who have inherited the land of Promise.
We need to be looking throughout the book for our theme for 2025. The central focus of the book of Joshua is that God wants us to move forward and take ahold of the blessings of our salvation.
Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.
As we saw in our study of Ephesians, God has blessed us with spiritual blessings. All the saved have access to these blessings. Do we share them with the lost? Do we live them faithfully in our lives? Do we thank God for them daily? The book of Joshua leads us along the path of living the victorious Christian life. All we need to live victoriously, we already have in Christ. We must just cross over the river of fear and take ownership of the land of Promise!
Picture a man running along one of the main highways of the land of Canaan.
He is running as fast as he can north. He has reached the tribal inheritance of Issachar near the city of Tabor. As he stops at a signpost to rest, let us ask him why he is running.
“Sir, you seem to be out of breath. Have some water. Why are you running?” Robert
The man replies “ Thank you for the water. I…am…running north to the city of Kedesh near Galilee. I need to get to the city of refuge.”
“Why would you need to get to Kedesh in such a hurry?” Robert
“My name is Gad,” he says. “I am a carpenter by trade and I…was working on a house for a friend of mine… We had been working on it for several weeks. He had asked me to go up on the roof and pull up a load of wood to finish the top of the house. But, as I was pulling up the heavy load, the rope broke and my good friend was crushed by the wood…It was awful. I am so, so sorry to have lost my good friend.”
“But sir, why would you need to run?” Robert
“Well, my friend’s wife, Tirzah, saw what happened. She screamed when my friend was hit and their son, Joseph, came out of the house. It took him a second to process but, very quickly, he began to chase after me. It is his job to kill me in exchange for the death of his father. You see, I have killed a man by accident and I must run north until I reach the safety of Kedesh. I know that the men of the city will give me sanctuary when I arrive there.”
He waves goodbye to us. Picture the man, now having gotten his breath, beginning again to run north along the road. As you see him fading off into the distance, you notice the sign post near where he had stopped. At the top, the sign says “Refuge - Kadesh” and points north.
Such is the problem of the passage this morning. God is a good God. He knows our needs and provides for them. One of the needs of the people in the land of Canaan was provision for those who might accidentally kill someone. God had instituted capital punishment in Genesis 9 as Noah left the ark. When a person’s life is taken, the one who takes it is now also condemned to die. Now, in the Law lived out in the land of Canaan, God is going to make provision for those who are not guilty of premeditation, though they still caused someone to lose their life.
How can we make this passage in Joshua relevant to today? While it may seem that this passage has no application for us today, this morning we will see that here we have a wonderful picture of the ultimate Refuge from our common problem. The common problem of mankind is sin. Sin has but one remedy and that is found in the blood of Jesus Christ.
Declaration
Declaration
There was provision made in Canaan for those who committed manslaughter. However, no one is truly innocent of sin as we all are sinners. The refuge from the justice of God for sin is the atonement of our High Priest, Jesus Christ. Three
1. God Provided a Sufficient Refuge
1. God Provided a Sufficient Refuge
The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them.
As we draw near to the end of the book of Joshua, we arrive at chapter 20. This is final time that God will speak to Joshua, that we have recorded in Scripture. God is going to again remind Joshua of a law that had been established at Sinai and in the wilderness, the law of the cities of refuge.
One of the Ten Commandments is the command “Thou shalt not kill.” This is very clear in what it prohibits. Yet, what is the punishment that is proscribed for breaking this law? We find this punishment in Leviticus,
And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.
We have already seen a man running north in Israel. He is running because he has caused an accidental death of his friend. There is a cause for fear for his life because the son of the deceased is chasing him.
According to Statista, it appears that at least 50 million people run in the United States. This is a significant number when you consider that the current population of this country is 340 million. Running or jogging is a major hobby and form of exercise for many people.
I asked one of my coworkers this week if he ran. His reply is a typical, humorous reply to that question, “If you see me running, someone is chasing me.” How true it is of anyone running to the cities of refuge.
So, God establishes these six cities of refuge. The city of “refuge” gives us the idea of asylum or protection. Here there was a required application to enter and then a provision once the entrance had been given. Today, this process is followed throughout the world by many countries. The Babylonian Talmud tells us that there was a sign of some type at each intersection that read “refuge” to point the man or woman on their way to the nearest city of asylum.
Two descriptions are given here for the one that can seek refuge in these cities:
unawares - he must have caused a death that was not intended and was thus a mistake
unwittingly - he must have caused a death without the knowledge that something would result in death
And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbour ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past;
The avenger of blood was really a “redeemer” of blood. He was seeking to bring back a sense of equilibrium by taking the life of the person who had caused the death of his kinsman. The same word is used here as “avenger” which is used throughout the Old Testament referring to the redeemer or kinsman redeemer. This is the job of the Joseph running behind our friend Gad.
We see here in Joshua 20, verses 1-4, that God provides a sufficient refuge. There are six cities spaced out for the man to run to. They were always to be kept open and available for anytime they were needed. When the man arrived, he was to declare his cause before those in the city and if approved to take up residence in the city.
So, we must also come to a place of refuge because our sin. You might say, you have not ever killed anyone. Yet, we, the human race, caused the death of Jesus through our sin. As such, in a sense, we are all guilty of murder. Paul tells us about the message that he preached,
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
We can say with Paul that we are under a condemnation of sin.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
The refuge that God provides here was a sufficient one to allow the accused to await the resolution of his case. But what about today? Is there a sufficient refuge to remove the guilt that we stand under for our sins? Let us look on for one.
2. God Provided a Safe Refuge
2. God Provided a Safe Refuge
And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime.
What if the avenger of blood were to come to the gate of the cities of refuge? The task of the avenger of blood shows us the demand of God’s Justice. God commanded the children of Israel to not kill. There was a clear affect on the land of Canaan through the shedding of man’s blood.
And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
The demands of God’s Justice are clear. Someone must die for sin. My sin and your sin requires payment. The avenger of blood is not able to take the person who has run there out of the city of refuge. Yet, Someone must pay for the death that has occurred. The New Testament book of Hebrews gives us the requirements regarding the sin.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
God provided a safe refuge in the walled city of asylum. The elders were not to give up the refugee until there was a resolution of their case. But is there a safe refuge for us in our sin? What can be done for us?
3. God Provides a Sacrificial Refuge
3. God Provides a Sacrificial Refuge
And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand 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 own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. And on the other side 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 that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.
The final truth that we see in this passage is that God provides a sacrificial refuge. The time that the refugee stayed in the city was determined by the death of the current High Priest. The Jewish rabbis connected the High Priest with his primary function, atonement. The refuge was not just the city but the removal of the guilt of the sin through the atonement. We call this expiation.
The only time we see a reference to these cities of refuge in the New Testament is found in the book Hebrews. The writer of Hebrews has shown the superiority of Jesus over Moses and angels. The work of Jesus as the High Priest is a central focus of the book. Here in chapter 6, we see a connection with refuge,
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Jesus is our Refuge. Only in Christ are we free from the condemnation of sin. As the high priests death showed the atonement to cover the death of the Israelite, so the death of our High Priest, once for all, removed our guilt.
The one who had fled to the city of refuge awaited a review of his case to determine his guilt. Our guilt is established. Jesus took our place before the council and suffered the punishment in our place. This is the refuge we have today! God provides a sacrificial refuge.
These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.
The Refuge is not just for the Jewish person, but the Gentile. Anyone in need of refuge can run today! Jesus calls today to you and I and to the world to come to the Refuge that He has made possible through His Death and Resurrection.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Nothing you can do will save you. We are all condemned because of our sin to eternal punishment and separation from God in Hell. Yet, Jesus offers us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him in Heaven. Jesus willingly came and died for the world. He gave His life as our Refuge.
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
There is a sufficient and safe refuge in Jesus. We are no longer condemned and we have a place in Heaven prepared for us. Greater than these is the sacrificial refuge that we have in Jesus. He is our High Priest and we no longer stand condemned for our sin because He gave His life in our place. The Atonement was made.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There was provision made in Canaan for those who committed manslaughter. However, no one is truly innocent of sin as we all are sinners. The refuge from the justice of God for sin is the atonement of our High Priest, Jesus Christ.
Jesus has paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sin on the cross. When we deserved to die on the cross for our sin, He took our place there. When there was a debt we could not pay, He settled it completely. When there was guilt for our evil deeds and we stood condemned, Jesus took our place before the trial and took our punishment of death. He is our Refuge alone against the Justice of God.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Christian, as you reside in the city of Refuge, as you live in Christ, what are you doing for the King? Those in the cities of refuge were a part of the worship of the God and the training of the children of Israel, just as the Levites were. Are you following Jesus faithfully? Are you telling other about Him? What are you doing in our church today to help teach others the truth of the Word of God? We have been given refuge, yet there are more that we must point to the Saviour. Do so today!
Maybe you are not yet a Christian. You are not able to say with confidence that you have trusted in Jesus alone for salvation. His blood does not provide refuge for you. Where are you living your life? Is it out on the road by yourself, hoping to avoid the Justice of God? Come to Jesus today! Look to Him today and He will save you!
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Charles Wesley wrote,
1 Jesus, lover of my soul,
let me to thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll,
while the tempest still is high;
hide me, O my Savior, hide,
till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide,
O receive my soul at last!
2 Other refuge have I none;
hangs my helpless soul on thee;
leave, ah! leave me not alone,
still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed,
all my help from thee I bring;
cover my defenseless head
with the shadow of thy wing.
3 Plenteous grace with thee is found,
grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound;
make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art;
freely let me take of thee;
spring thou up within my heart,
rise to all eternity.
“Jesus, Lover of My Soul” by Charles Wesley
