The Cities of Refuge in Numbers 25: Pointing To Jesus Christ

[tulsa 2011]

The Cities of Refuge in Numbers 25: Pointing To Jesus Christ

Moses established six cities of refuge in Numbers 35: 6. "And among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the manslayer, that he may flee thither:"

"Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares. " Number 35: 11

"The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him." Numbers 35: 19

"Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the revenger of blood according to these judgments:
25. And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil.
26. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he was fled;
27. And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood:
28. Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession." Numbers 35: 24-28

As with some Old Covenant teachings, the cities of refuge in which someone who killed another person - not intentionally - could go and be safe from the revenger of blood can be taken as metaphors, though they were real laws at that time, for the Gospel of Christ which was to come.

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." I Corinthians 10: 11

The person who kills without intent to do so represents the sinner, not only as one who violates the moral law but also as one who follows false doctrines. The revenger of blood represents Satan who accuses the brethren (Revelation 12: 10). The priest who has the power to grant refuge to the person whom the revenger of blood is after represents Jesus Christ who, in the flesh of man, sacrificed himself in order to forgive us our sins.

But - Numbers 35: 26-28 state that if the slayer, the sinner, leaves the city of refuge, where he is safe from the revenger of blood, then the revenger of blood may kill him. In the New Covenant this would represent staying in Jesus Christ in order to be safe from the revenger of blood, Satan. Staying in Christ, who is himself the way, the truth, and the life (John 14: 6), means remaining in Christ's truth and continuing to love that truth. Going off into false doctrines is leaving the real Christ for another Jesus and another Gospel (II Corinthians 11: 4).

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God." II Corinthians 2: 3-4

And "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." II Thessalonians 2: 10-12

After the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3-4 the church teaches false doctrines, and Revelation 18: 4 calls those who are God's people still in that system, called Babylon, out of it.

After the falling away, the church, where the word "church" must have the same meaning as the Greek ekklesia, a meeting, assembly or congregation, the church cannot be equal to the elect, the Body of Christ, the saints or even Sion in the New Testament. In false doctrines it is in another Jesus and another Gospel and like the unintetional killer of Numbers 35: 26-28 who leaves the city of refuge, which is Christ, it is no longer in Christ and no longer protected from the revenger, though a few still in it will come out of its false doctrines to the truth before they die.

 

[clark thompson]

Christ is our refuge but it only a small part of who He truly is.

 

[tulsa 2011]

"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people," Luke 1: 68

But dispensationalism teaches that God now has two peoples, Israel and the church, and that in the future God is going to save Old Covenant or physical Israel. Luke 1: 68 says God has redeemed Israel, not that sometime in the future he will redeem Israel. The prophecies of II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 29: 16 and Jeremiah 18: 1-6 were fulfilled in the remnant of Old Covenant israel seen in Romans 11: 5 who accepted Christ.

"As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.." Romans 9: 25

"And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God." Hosea 2: 23

"Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?.........Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ..........

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[TD="align: left"]"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]<bdo dir="ltr">27</bdo>.[/TD]
[TD="align: left"]For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]<bdo dir="ltr">28</bdo>.[/TD]
[TD="align: left"]There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.[/TD]

[TD="align: right"]<bdo dir="ltr">29</bdo>.[/TD]
[TD="align: left"]And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Galatians 3: 3, 16, 27-29

All who are in Christ are the seed of Abraham, which means there is no longer a chosen people of God based on that which is physical, or genetics from Abraham. Those of Old Covenant Israel
in Romans 11: 15-20 who rejected Christ were cut off.

Romans 2: 17-29 agrees with Galatians 3: 16-29 in saying that the Jew who is only a physical Jew, that is, only claiming to be a physical descendant of Abraham is no longer a real Jew but all those who are Jews in the Spirit are real Jews. Romans 9: 6-9 says they which are only children of the flesh are not the children of God, and here Paul means that those of Old Covenant Israel who are only Israel after the flesh (I Corinthians 10:18) are not the children of God.

Christ teaches in John 10: 16 there there is one fold, and Romans 12: 5 says we, being many are one Body of Christ, not two.

Like everyone else, those who claim to be the physical descendants of Abraham must come to Christ one at a time, and the whole house of Old Covenant Israel becoming saved contradicts Galatians 3: 3-29, Romans 2: 17-29 and Romans 9: 6-8. God changed Old Covenant Israel, making it into a spiritual house (I Peter 2: 5), and required all of Old Covenant Israel who entered into that spiritual house to be born again (John 3: 1-7).

"Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,
24. Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
25. When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
26. Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets." Luke 13: 23-26

Whence is an old English word meaning where. Christ is saying that he does not know these people because of where they have positioned themselves. He does not mean he does not know them because of where they are physically or literally in the world, but where they have positioned themselves in their beliefs, their doctrines, which are not the truth. He, being the way, the truth and the life (John 14: 6), requires those who are in him and he in them to have his truth and to love it (II Thessalonians 2: 10-12). Christ is the refuge for those in him - in his truth.
[/TD]

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