This sermon marks the second Sunday we've talked about the cities of refuge. What I'd like to do this morning, because I love you, is start by messing with your heads a little.
Normally, people think of the OT as the "half" of the Bible that's full of wrath and justice, while the NT is the "half" of the Bible that's all about love and forgiveness and mercy.
There are times when the passages about wrath and justice really bother us. They make us nervous, and we find ourselves running to the NT to counter them.
But there are also times when we read the NT, and passages about love and forgiveness and mercy really bother us.
Usually, the passages we like best in any situation, depends on what happened to us. When you hurt people, you want love and forgiveness and mercy. You want to be able to crawl to people, and you want them to be reconciled to you. You feel terrible; you want to make things right. You don't want there to be consequences because of what you did.
But when someone wrongs you, you don't want to show love and forgiveness and mercy. You want payback. You want revenge. You want justice. You want an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life.
When you want mercy, you find yourself running to specific verses in the NT. When you want justice, you find yourself running to specific verses in the OT. And when you do this, you're assuming that the NT, and Jesus, are countering something in the OT. You think the OT doesn't believe in turning the other cheek. You think the OT doesn't believe in loving your neighbor as yourself, and not taking vengeance. But sometimes, you "need" the OT, so you close your eyes to the Sermon on the Mount, and you play the two testaments off of each other.
When we do this, and view the OT and NT as contradicting each other, are we doing this right? Is Jesus changing the OT?
Let's turn to Matthew, and talk about Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount a little first.
How does Jesus teach us we should treat each other?
Jesus says, don't be angry with your brother. Be reconciled to him (Matthew 5:21-26).
Jesus says, don't retaliate when someone wrongs you (Matthew 5:38-42).
Jesus says, don't hate your enemy. Love the one who persecutes you (Matthew 5:43-48).
Jesus says, forgive others their debts against you, so that God will forgive you (Matthew 6:14-15).
Jesus then wraps up the Sermon on the Mount by talking about serious he is about all of this. The only people who enter the kingdom of heaven are the ones who do the Father's will. Specifically, the only ones who will be safe are the ones who obey Jesus' words. Matthew 7:21-27:
(7:21) Not everyone saying to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one doing the will of my Father-- the One in the heavens.
Many will say to me on that day,
"Lord, Lord, did we not in your name prophesy?,
and in your name demons cast out?,
and in your name many miracles perform?,
and then I will declare to them that,
"Never I knew you.
Depart from you, the ones practicing lawlessness.
(24) Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them, will be like a wise man,
who built his house on the rock,
and the rain came down,
and rivers came,
and winds blew,
and they beat against that house,
and it didn't fall.
For its foundation was laid on the rock.
And everyone hearing these words of mine and not doing them will be like a foolish man,
who built his house on the sand,
and the rain came down,
and the rivers came,
and the winds blew,
and they beat against that house,
and it fell,
and its fall was great."
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Jesus expects his people to obey his words. Obedience to the law, as Jesus fulfills/interprets it, is necessary to be safe on the day of judgment. Acting like you are lawless, and you can ignore Jesus, will lead Jesus to reject you. If you've never taken on Jesus' law, he never knew you. Jesus is King; you can't come to him unless you submit yourself to him and his will.
But when people wrong you, you don't want to obey Jesus. You like Jesus better as a Savior than a Teacher. You don't want to forgive. You don't want to show mercy. What you want to do, is hate, and retaliate. And you think the OT is your friend in this.
But let's turn to Leviticus 19:17-18:
(17) You shall not hate your brother in your heart.
You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, so that you shall not incur sin in addition to him.
(18) You shall not take vengeance,
and you shall not harbor a grudge against the sons of your people,
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
I am Yahweh.
What does Jesus teach, that contradicts this? What is Jesus changing? Nothing. What God has always wanted is people who don't hate. People who don't take vengeance. People who don't harbor a grudge. People who love their neighbor as themselves.
Ah. But maybe you are clever, and you say, "I'm pretty sure you can't murder someone in the OT, and simply be forgiven. I'm pretty sure you get killed." And you're right. So how do we put that together?
That's the question I want to try to answer this morning. So let's turn to Deuteronomy 19:
(1) When Yahweh your Elohim/God has exterminated /cut off the nations that Yahweh your Elohim/God is giving to you their land, and you dispossess them, and you dwell in their cities and in their houses, (2) three cities you shall set apart for yourself in the midst of your land that Yahweh your Elohim/God is giving to you to possess it.
(3) You shall prepare/determine for yourselves the road, so that you divide the border of your land that Yahweh your God will/shall give you as an inheritance,
and it will be to flee there every manslayer,
(4) and this [is] matter of the manslayer who flees there so that he shall live, [the one] who struck his neighbor unintentionally,
while he wasn't hating him previously,
(5) and who went with his friend in the forest to cut wood, and he swings his hand with iron to cut the tree, and the iron slips from the handle, and the iron finds his neighbor and he dies.
He shall flee to one of these cities,
and he shall live,
(6) lest the redeemer of the blood pursues after him the manslayer when his heart/mind is angry, and he kills him when the road is long, and he strikes his life,
and there wasn't a judgment of death because not hating, he was, him previously.
(7) For this reason, I am commanding you, saying,
"Three cities you shall set aside for yourself,"
(8) and if Yahweh your God enlarges your territory just as he swore to your fathers, and he gives to you all the earth that he spoke to give to your fathers,
(9) because you are keeping all of this commandment to do it that I am commanding you today
to love Yahweh your God and to walk on his roads/ways all the days,
then you shall add still three cities upon these three,
(10) so that innocent blood shall not be spilled/poured out in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you [as] an inheritance,
and it shall be upon/over you blood(guilt),
(11) and when a man hates his neighbor,
and lies in wait for him,
and rises against him,
and strikes him a life
and he dies,
and he flees to one of these cities,
(12) the elders of his city shall send him,
and they shall take him from there,
and they shall give him into the hand of the redeemer of the blood,
and he shall die.
(13) Your eye shall not take pity on him,
and you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel,
and it shall be good for you.
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Why does Yahweh make cities of refuge?
Yahweh knows that if someone unintentionally kills a person close to you, you're going to be angry. You're going to want to take vengeance on them. You're not going to care about their innocence. You're not going to care that there wasn't a "judgment of death" on them (19:6).
Yahweh knows what your reaction is going to be, so He sets up three cities to protect the innocent from you. The Levitical cities will be a wall and a shield, protecting people from you.
And when Yahweh does this, it's not simply a kindness toward the manslayer. It's a kindness toward you. In verse 10, if Yahweh enlarges your territory, you need three addition cities of refuge. Why?:
(10) so that innocent blood shall not be spilled/poured out in the midst of your land that Yahweh your God is giving to you [as] an inheritance,
and it shall be upon/over you blood(guilt),
Yahweh is protecting you from yourself. Yahweh is determined to keep you from having bloodguilt.
All of this is true, but what if the manslayer is a murderer? What if it's deliberate? When you kill this person, after the "judgment of death," isn't this vengeance? Isn't this revenge?
I don't think so. When you kill the guilty person, you do so not out of revenge. You kill them because you need to purge the land of bloodguilt.
Verse 13:
(13) Your eye shall not take pity on him,
and you shall purge the blood of the innocent from Israel,
and it shall be good for you.
If Yahweh is going to live among you, you cannot have bloodguilt.
Our passage last week, Numbers 35, had more to say about this, so let's turn back there. Verse 33:
(33) and you shall not pollute the land that you [are] in because the blood-- it pollutes the land,
while with respect to the land, it cannot be covered/atoned for the blood that is spilled in it, except only by the blood of one spilling it,
(34) and you shall not defile the land that you are dwelling it, that I am dwelling in its midst,
For I Yahweh am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.
The reason you kill the murderer, is because killing that person purges the land of bloodguilt. It's only if you do that, that things will go well for you. It's only if you do that, that Yahweh can/will continue to live in your midst. But the person who actually offs the murderer is not an "avenger of blood." He is a "redeemer of blood." We need to get that right. It's not about vengeance. It's about "redeeming" the blood; it's about "purging" bloodguilt.
Are Christians supposed to kill murderers and evil doers to purge bloodguilt from churches? No. We read this instead, in 1 Cor. 5:9-13:
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church[b] whom you are to judge? 13 God judges[c] those outside. “Purge the evil from among you.”
We purge evil by expelling people from the church-- by handing them over to Satan until they repent.
Should nations kill murderers to purge the land of bloodguilt? Maybe. If they're completely sure they are guilty, with no chance of being wrong. But God is the one who judges those outside. I will leave that to the government, to make their own decision on that, and trust God to ultimately make it right. I'm not going to be the one to do that.
But, really, what I'd like to you focus on this morning, is this:
The OT is not your friend, if you are trying to resist Jesus' words to forgive people and love your enemies. What God has wanted from his people hasn't changed. God wants a people who love each other, who don't take vengeance on each other, and who don't hold grudges. And God established cities of refuge, mostly, because he knew that Israel was hard-hearted. He knew they couldn't be trusted to do what's right.
But Jesus expects you to do what's right. He expects you to obey his words, like a wise man who builds his house on a firm rock. Forgive. Show mercy. Don't take vengeance.
