THE CITIES OF REFUGE. The Cities of Refuge of Old Testament times are a type of this Wilderness Refuge of the Children of Israel. The Cities of Refuge were designated cities, 3 on each side the river Jordan, where the Man-Slayer could flee for safety from the Avenger of Blood. If it was proved after trial that he had slain a man wilfully, he was turned over to the Avenger of Blood, but if he did it unwittingly, his life was spared, but he had to remain in the city until the death of the High Priest. If there were no Man-Slayer there would be no Avenger of Blood, and therefore no need for a City of Refuge.Now if I find in the New Testament that a certain class of people are called upon to flee to a Place of Refuge for the protection of their lives, then I must believe that they flee because an Avenger of Blood is after them, and that they flee because they are guilty of Manslaughter.Such a class of people I find in the Jewish Race. They were the cause of the death of Christ, and though He was crucified by the Roman authorities they assumed the guilt for they cried--His blood be on Us, and on Our Children. Matt. 27:25. At first sight it looks like wilful murder, yet from the prayer of Jesus on the Cross--Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, it is clear that Jesus death was not so much a premeditated murder as it was a murder committed in a blind religious frenzy. Paul says--had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. 1. Cor. 2:8.It is clear then that the Jewish race is only guilty of Man-slaughter. As the Man-Slayer of Jesus they have been for over 1800 years running for a City of Refuge and have not as yet reached it. The Avenger of Blood has been on their track and has hounded them from nation to nation, and the epithet of The Wandering Jew has followed them down the centuries, and the prophecy of Moses is being fulfilled that they should find no rest for the sole of their foot. Deut. 28:64-67.If the Jews are the Man-Slayer who is the Avenger of Blood? Antichrist.And now as to the City of Refuge that God will provide for Israel when the Avenger of Blood (Antichrist), who shall then be indwelt by the Dragon, is on her track.When the Lord God brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt they journeyed from the Red Sea, tarrying for a while at Mt. Sinai to receive the Law and build the Tabernacle, until they came, one year, after leaving Egypt, to Kadesh Barnea. There they sent up spies to spy out the land of Canaan, but refused to go up and take possession of the land, and were compelled to wander in the Wilderness south of the Dead Sea. There God took care of them and fed them for 40 years. Now it is in the same Wilderness that God is going to provide for them a place of Refuge in the day when the Avenger of Blood shall seek to destroy them.Speaking of the Antichrist, the Prophet Daniel says--He shall enter also into the Glorious Land (Palestine) and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom and Moab and the chief of the Children of Ammon. Dan. 11:41. Now Edom takes in the Wilderness where Israel wandered for 40 years. And it is here in Edom that the City of Refuge that God has provided for Israel is located, and is known today as Petra. It was a great commercial centre in the days of King Solomon. In A. D. 105 the Romans conquered the country and called the province Arabia Petra. When the power of Rome waned Petra gradually fell into the hands of the Arabs and became completely lost to the civilized world in the seventh century, and remained so until it was rediscovered by Burckhardt in 1812. It is located in the mountains like as in the crater of a volcano. It has but one entrance, and that is through a narrow, winding defile or canyon from 12 to 40 feet wide, the sides of which are precipitous and at times so close together as to almost shut out the blue sky above and make you think you are passing through a subterranean passageway. The height of the sides varies from 200 to 1000 feet, and the length of the canyon is about two miles. No other city in the world has such a wonderful gateway. The sides of the canyon are lined with wonderful monuments and temples carved out of the rocky sandstone of the sides. Once inside the rocky inclosure of the city we find the ruins of magnificent buildings, tombs and monuments. The cliffs that surround the city are carved and honeycombed with excavations to a height of 300 feet above the floor of the valley, and the excavations cut as they are out of different colored strata of the rock, such as red, purple, blue, black, white and yellow, lend a beauty to their appearance that is indescribable and overpowering to the beholder.When the time comes for the Man-Slayer (Israel), to escape from the hands of the Avenger of Blood (Antichrist), the rocky fastness of the ancient city of Petra will be her City of Refuge. We read that when the Woman (Israel) shall flee into the Wilderness that the Serpent (Antichrist, indwelt by Satan) shall cast a flood of water out of his mouth after her to destroy her, but that the earth shall open her mouth and swallow the flood. That is, Antichrist will send his army after the fleeing Israelites, and it will probably be swallowed up in a Sand storm of the desert, and Israel shall safely reach her place of refuge, where she shall be safe, not until the death of the High Priest, but until the return of The High Priest (Jesus) from Heaven, who as King-Priest of the Armies of Heaven will deliver her and allow her to leave her place of refuge. During the period of Israels hiding in the Wilderness God will nourish her as He did during her 40 years wandering in the same Wilderness in the days of Moses.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 22:02:23 +0000
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