This is the gospel in action. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, though without sin, became our sin, so we might become His righteousness. There is so much more here than we think. Can I show you?
Lord, permit me here, I pray, to expound upon this glorious secret. May all who can receive it, indeed receive it. Amen.
Keep the gospel in mind as I take you through the scriptures, to go a layer deeper than you have gone already. How do I know? Maybe you know it. But for those who don’t, come near to listen and see…
The gospel is this: Jesus Christ crucified, dead and buried and raised on the third day, paying the sin debt of the world. He died in my place and your place if you believe. If you have believed then you have repented of this sin and have asked forgiveness of the Lamb. Now immediately you are born a second time. The first birth for you was in the flesh. Dead. The second birth for you is a spirit birth. Alive. You must be born again to enter the Kingdom. Hallelujah.
With this unchangeable gospel in your heart let’s move on to deeper things. Hebrews 6 tells us to do such a thing. “ Leave the elementary principles of Christ now and move on to perfection”. Let’s go…
In Leviticus, we read that God told Moses how to distribute the land Israel was about to enter forever. In addition to all the cities they would dwell in, God said make sure you establish 48 cities of refuge. Why 48? I’ll have to ask God and search. I’m not sure. It might be unimportant, the number.
For those who don’t know about the cities of refuge, you should! I’d exhort you to go study that and know it and then read on here.
Roughly, the law required that there be a specific protocol for dealing with killing, with murder. If someone killed knowingly, for murder‘s sake, for hatred and intentionally, they were to be killed. No other result. Let’s get that out of the way. This represents a person who was born a sinner ( all people) but who rejected Jesus as the Savior. They are dead. There is nothing for them if they reject him. They are lost. These are the “vessels fit for destruction“ Paul mentions. God sees from before time began that these would reject Christ and are therefore murders and not unintentional killers. The former, intentionally choose death. The latter recognize they are sinners and run to safety. They did not murder. They are eligible for the City of Refuge.
But let’s look at the person who killed and it was an accident. This is a picture of the sinner who does repent and receive forgiveness through Jesus’ work on the cross. They are saved. So this is the person we are talking about here. This is so amazing.
For the person who has killed unintentionally, they are guilty. But not guilt leading to death. There is a refuge for them. Now this is the law I am going to give, so pay attention to that, but also know that this is a pattern for the salvation of the lost.
The one who has killed accidentally, he can run to one of 48 cities of refuge. If he gets to the city of refuge before the Avenger of Blood gets him and kills him, he is safe. The very fact that he runs to the city of refuge reveals a repentant heart. Repentance is required to enter Christ. The running to Him IS repentance. It is acknowledging that I need to be saved. We had better run fast, today is the day of our salvation. The Avenger of Blood is at our heels. As long as the one who has killed (the sinner) stays in that city, he is safe. If he leaves the city, the Avenger of Blood can kill him, if he finds him outside of the city of refuge. But, when the High Priest dies, he can return to his own land. He is free, restored, redeemed. Jesus is our Great High Priest.
So look at what God thinks of you: You did not intentionally decide to be born a sinner. You qualify to run to the city of refuge (Jesus Christ) and be safe. If you venture out of that city (can’t loose salvation, but can lose safety) you can be killed ( the sin unto death for the believer). Now the people who murder intentionally have no city of refuge. They are dead. There is no refuge for them. Why? They represent the ones who reject the remedy for their sin. They will not repent but remain in their sin by choice. Just like Judas chose to remain in his sin, though Jesus offers salvation to all.
God then says this to Moses: I was reading and this was underlined in my Bible years ago. God immediately dropped all of this into my heart as I looked at and marveled at this one sentence: Leviticus 35:33 says, “ the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him who shed it”. Now brace yourself for this glorious thing…
God is showing us in pattern why Jesus died on the cross for our sin. We can only be cleansed by the blood that shed our blood. Listen: I did not ask to be born. But born I was. I certainly did not choose to be born in sin. Born in sin and dead, I was. The fact that I was born in sin, dead, was not my fault God says. It was His doing. I won’t say fault because patterns break down and fail where they defame God. He cannot fail. But He can cause. Whose blood is it that can cleanse the blood shed, ie. my deadness in sin? Only the one who caused it. God. God is both the Avenger of Blood, AND the City of Refuge.
How did He cause my death? By creating me so that I could choose sin, and already in sin at birth by nature because of Adam.
God takes full responsibility for my death and sin. HE BECAME SIN, WHO KNEW NO SIN, THAT WE MIGHT BECOME HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Can we even hold this gigantic truth in our minds! Barely.
You, believer, can only be saved by the One who caused your death. God Almighty, in the person of Jesus Christ, God become flesh. How did He cause my death? By intentionally creating me with the power to choose sin. Free. He made me free, which means I absolutely will sin, whereby declaring Himself the causer or my death, my shed blood.
God in the garden told Adam, “God will provide Himself a sacrifice”. And He did.
What was that again, Lord? The land cannot be cleansed of the blood shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it.
There is life in the blood!
Amen and glory to God forever!