JOSHUA 20
It is interesting to see in Scripture that God not only makes known to us His mind, what is in accord with His own thoughts, but He makes provision for what is very abnormal. I suppose [p. 79] that comes out in the cities of refuge: nothing could be more abnormal than that Israel should slay their Messiah, and the fact that it was done unwittingly made it in one sense more sad.
Although Peter said, “by wicked hands have crucified and slain”, he also said. “through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers”, Acts 2:23; chapter 3:17. But how dreadful that God should have to take account of the state of His people being such that they might even do such a thing unwittingly! The Lord Himself said, “they know not what they do”. It was a dreadful thing to have to say, but it only serves to bring out the provision of God in view of the most abnormal state of things. We can see how this applies to Israel, and I think there is an application which is very encouraging and helpful for ourselves. That is, we can all realise that the division of the inheritance and the enjoyment of it together cannot be taken up normally today. Normally every Christian household would be right, the whole company of saints in each city would form one local assembly. We must be prepared to take things up in a way suitable to God, and suitable to abnormal conditions.
The man who killed his neighbour, even unwittingly, forfeited all title to live in the inheritance. He would be exposed to the activities of the avenger of blood; he would have lost what might be called the normal enjoyment of the inheritance. Have we not lost it? A great many things have been done, and in many cases done unwittingly, but they have brought about a state of things in which the normal enjoyment of the inheritance cannot be had. So, if things are to be taken up, they will have to be taken up in an abnormal way. The cities of refuge are abnormal.
When Israel killed their Messiah they forfeited all title to divine promises and blessing. Peter in Acts 2 and 3 presses that home to them, and Paul in speaking to the Jews at Antioch says the same; but both Peter and Paul open up cities of refuge for them, and show that, though the most abnormal thing possible has taken place, yet God has His own thought in reserve and has opened up a city of refuge. What could be more abnormal than that the Messiah, who came with His hands full of blessings for His people Israel, should be crucified and slain, and that it should be done unwittingly! Yet Peter and Paul show that the choicest blessings of the covenant and inheritance are still available. Peter dwells on the gift of the Spirit in Acts 2, and Paul refers to their having judged themselves [p. 80] unworthy of eternal life. The choicest blessings of the Spirit and eternal life could all be enjoyed on the principle of the city of refuge; everyone could get these things as refugees.
In Acts 2 they say, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” They owned that they had done a dreadful deed; but they had done it unwittingly and were prepared to enter the city of refuge. Peter was at the gate to gather them in, and the elders were gathered together in the city. The epistle to the Hebrews shows what can be enjoyed by those who have fled for refuge; they are the people who obtain the inheritance, who get the enjoyment of all the unchangeable purposes of God; but it is enjoyment on the principle of the city of refuge. I believe, if we are to enjoy the inheritance, we must be prepared to enjoy it on that principle.
The slaying of the Lord Jesus is peculiarly the sin of the Jews, but the sin of the Christian profession corresponds to it. The sin of the Christian profession is the setting aside of the Spirit. I think that answers in the Christian profession to the slaying of the Messiah. Everything was bound up in the Messiah for Israel; if they killed the Messiah they cut themselves off from everything. For us everything lies vitally in the Holy Spirit, and if we set aside the Holy Spirit we set aside all the true power of Christian blessing: that is the sin of christendom. The Holy Spirit is dishonoured and displaced: it is done unwittingly, but nevertheless the consequences are tremendous. It is a wonderful testimony to the heart of God that He does take account of things done unwittingly. I believe that God looks down on the state of the Christian profession, and He sees that the enjoyment of the inheritance has been forfeited through the dishonour done to the Holy Spirit and the setting aside of Him practically. God in His wondrous grace and forbearance takes account of that as done unwittingly. His people do not know what they are doing. So the principle of the city of refuge comes in for us now; we have to be content to enjoy the inheritance in conditions of strict limitations.
It is written in Numbers 35:26: “If the manslayer shall in any way come outside the limits of the city of his refuge whither he hath fled, and the avenger of blood find him outside the limits of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kill the manslayer, there shall be no blood-guiltiness upon him; for the manslayer should have remained in the city of his refuge [p. 81] until the death of the high priest”. I suppose the death of the high priest refers to the fact that the present priestly position of the Lord Jesus will not continue for ever. He is in a priestly place at the right hand of God, but then there will be a change. The dispensation will change altogether, and, when Christ is a Priest on His throne according to Zechariah 6, Israel will no longer be restricted: Israel will go back to normal enjoyment of the inheritance. And when the rapture comes we shall no longer be restricted; we shall be under no limitations, but we shall go back to the heavenly inheritance without restrictions. This dispensation will have ceased. The principle of the city of refuge is provisional; it holds sway for a certain length of time, and it imposes strict limitations.
I think that 2 Timothy gives us the principle of the city of refuge, because the state of the Christian profession has become such as is described there. Men are lovers of their own selves, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. They are going on with many things quite inconsistent with the enjoyment of the inheritance; that is the state of the public Christian profession. Paul says, “In the last days difficult times shall come”. How can people like that enjoy the inheritance? The question is, Do we want to enjoy it? If we do, we must be content to flee into the city of refuge.
The moment the church is seen as fallen, as it is at Ephesus, there is the call to repent. They might have fallen into that state unwittingly, but they did not remain in it unwittingly after the Lord called attention to it. That is the solemn thing. If the Lord calls attention to something which is contrary to His mind, it is not unwitting after that; it becomes deliberate. The position of things today is analogous to the position of Israel. When God by His servants called attention to what had been done, it was no longer a question of “unwittingly”; divine light had been shed on the position and the people who had heard the preaching were at once divided into two classes. There were those who repented and availed themselves of the cities of refuge, and there were those who, so to speak, endorsed what had been done and went on with it. They went on until they came under the hands of the avenger of blood; and that is what the Christian profession is going on to. It is going on to a most certain and appalling judgment. It is a solemn thing to go back and deliberately do a thing after God has called attention to it. There was a possibility of the [p. 82] Hebrews, who had fled for refuge, going back and putting themselves deliberately under the guilt of what God had taken account of as done unwittingly — crucifying the Son of God.
The cities of refuge were all levitical cities, which is very suggestive; they would be marked by the ministry of the word, which answers to the apostles’ teaching. God has raised up in these last days a wonderful ministry of the word, and the city of refuge is characterised by a spiritual ministry in contrast with the defective and erroneous ideas all around. There is spiritual light and instruction. Every city of refuge was full of Levites. Paul called attention to his doctrine; and the things that Timothy had learned from him were to be committed to faithful men. He called attention to the Holy Scriptures, and gave great place to ministry and divine instruction. That is what gives character to the city of refuge. Christians generally had left the city of refuge; all in Asia had turned away. They had departed from what was levitical and priestly, for all that was levitical and priestly was personified in Paul. Paul in 2 Timothy lays down the constitution of the city of refuge; there is to be a judgment of all contrary to the mind of God and separation from it, and walking with the saints on a certain restricted basis.
The limitations should not be felt as a deprivation, but as a privilege. What a wonderful thing to be kept in a sphere where we do not have the intrusion of all kinds of evil! I look out on beloved Christians in the profession. They are exposed to every kind of evil, and they know it and they groan under it, but they have no locks or bars to keep it out. What a terrible position to be in l Every year you find some fresh inroad of error. Why? Because there are no walls to the city; it is a kind of open place and anything can come in.
In a city of refuge a man got what was universal in a peculiar way; he had it in connection with what was levitical and priestly. The Levites and priests built the cities of refuge, and they had a universal outlook, the Levites were for all Israel and the priests were for all Israel. We get the enjoyment of what is universal, not by actual contact with our brethren, but in the light of spiritual and priestly ministry. How could we touch it any other way? I do not think the Levites or the priests ever give us a limited outlook. The Levites serve in all Israel, and every priest has a universal interest in the people of God. Now we can take it all up, but in a restricted way.
[p. 83] We do not, alas, come in contact with our brethren universally; the conditions are such that it is impossible to do so. That is why it is impossible to enjoy the inheritance normally today, but it can be enjoyed in a restricted way in the city of refuge. Those there had the best of it; they had the fruit of the land without doing a hand’s turn for it. They lived on the tithes; the best the land produced was carried into those cities. So while there was restriction in being confined to the city, yet it was full of the whole wealth of the land; there were no restrictions on enjoyment. A manslayer was better off than anyone else. In Malachi the windows of heaven were opened and they are opened today, and God is sending down a blessing so great that there is not room to receive it. That is the great trouble today. People want more blessing, but I feel I want more expansion.
I think that the whole wealth of the inheritance is being ministered bountifully at the present time by the Lord’s servants who are in the secret of His mind. How could anyone feel that he was shut up spiritually? We are outwardly restricted, but inwardly we can expand in the full wealth of the inheritance. We can enjoy ministry and participate in what is priestly, and realise our links with the saints universally, but realise it in a spiritual way and accept the outward restrictions. That is the principle of the city of refuge.
The elders represent the responsible element in the city of refuge. They look out for anyone seeking admission. The elders take him in, or “gather” him. They hear what he has to say and find out whether what has happened has been done unwittingly. He has been involved in many things contrary to God, and now he realises it. That is exactly the exercise that many Christians have had during the last hundred years; they have realised that they have been identified with what is contrary to God’s mind. It has been brought to their knowledge through the grace of God, through the ministry of the word. What they have done was done unwittingly, but now they know it and they want to avail themselves of the provision.
A man who felt that the avenger of blood was on his track would put as much pace on as he could. We ought to feel more seriously than we do the state of the Christian profession. We do not feel half seriously enough how the Spirit is displaced and the divine order set aside, and all kinds of things carried on that are contrary to the whole nature of the dispensation [p. 84] and would hinder the inheritance being enjoyed, and expose the people of God to every kind of danger and injury. If we felt it more, we should be more energetic to reach the city of refuge and to stop there.
The assembly is responsible to make a difference between what is unwittingly done and what is wittingly done. We come across believers who are going on with the light they have, they do many things for want of light; God has never brought to them the light of things. We regard these persons with a compassionate interest and affection; our hearts go out to them wherever we come across them, and we are thankful for the little light they have. But if we bring light to that person and show them the true mind of God — the headship of Christ and the presence of the spirit and the constitution of the assembly — and they resent it and deliberately turn it down, they are in quite a different position. That is why it is so serious to bring people light. The Christian profession at the present time as a whole is guilty of having turned from the light that God has given them; a tremendous inroad of darkness and evil is coming in as a divine judgment on those who have deliberately refused the light. It is a very solemn position.