City Of Refuge - Kedesh Series

Today’s meditation is based on Joshua 20:1-2,“Then the LORD told Joshua to say to the people of Israel, "Choose the cities of refuge that I had Moses tell you about.” (GNB)

This commandment that God had given to Moses was executed only after the people of Israel took possession of the Promised Land. The Lord reminded Joshua to allot these cities of refuge for anyone who had accidentally killed someone to take asylum in. Six cities were to be assigned for this purpose. We already studied the various reasons why these cities of refuge were allocated.

We may wonder as to why only six cities were chosen when all through the bible we see the number seven is a number that signified wholeness. Though these cities were those which gave refuge, they could only save a person from death for a few years. Nonetheless, they were looking forward to the coming of Jesus, who is the eternal city of refuge, and all those cities of refuge were onlyforeshadows to that great event.

What was most amazing about this was the fact that in order to restore the relationship that was severed between a Holy God and sinful man, there were many events that were foreshadows for the same recorded in the Old Testament.

• The ark that Noah built was one, for only those who believed and entered the ark were kept safe.

• So also, when the people of Israel were to be delivered from their bondage in Egypt, on a specified day, they were to slay a lamb, and smear the blood of the same on the door post. When the angel of death passed by, he passed over every house that had the blood of the lamb smeared on it so that the people in that could would escape death of the firstborn. This too was a symbol of Jesus, the sinless Lamb of God who was to be crucified on the cross on our behalf.

• As the people of Israel wandered through the wilderness they had to set up a tabernacle. The size, color, dimensions of this tabernacle was specified by God Himself. If we observe the details of the tabernacle, we realize that this too was a foreshadow for the coming of Jesus.

If only we can comprehend this amazing plan of salvation that God has made available to us through Jesus, so that we can be reconciled back to God, it would thrill our hearts, and we will certainly never take it for granted.

As I read the names of these six cities of refuge there too I could see that they had significance to the coming of Jesus.

We read in Joshua 20:7-8,“So, on the west side of the Jordan they set aside Kedesh in Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem, in the hill country of Ephraim; and Hebron, in the hill country of Judah. East of the Jordan, on the desert plateau east of Jericho, they chose Bezer in the territory of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead, in the territory of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, in the territory of Manasseh.” (GNB)

The reason why there is so much detail mentioned even with regards to the names of these cities, is to help us understand that this was historical, and not just a made-up story. We will look at the name Kedesh which means ‘holy’ or ‘sacred place.’

Jesus was sinless

We read in 2 Corinthians 5:21,“Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.” (GNB)

Sinless Jesus had the sins of the whole world placed on Him, so that we could receive the righteousness of God. Jesus was sinless at birth, he lived a sinless life, and though He died, He rose again on the third day. The wages of sin is death, but since Jesus was sinless, and took our sins on Himself, death had no hold over Him.

We read in Acts 2:24,“...it was impossible that death should hold him prisoner.” (GNB)

When we go into Jesus who is our city of refuge, we are made righteous, and escape eternal death. To be made righteous means that we stand before God without fault having been clothed with a righteousness which we have received through Jesus. Since Jesus was sinless, He rose from the dead. Many great men were born on the earth, and all of them have a birth day and death day which the world commemorates. Only Jesus has a birth day, a death day and a day of resurrection. Jesus is alive and He is with us every day. All other great men have their tombstones which are still unmoved, but Jesus rose from the dead, and from his birth right until His death Jesus led a sinless life.