“Even if I try to make the “lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15) or the “fiery furnace” (Matt. 13:42) a symbol, I am confronted with the terrifying thought that symbols are not overstatements but understatements of reality. Jesus did not choose these pictures to tell us that hell is easier than burning.”
John Piper, Brothers We Are Not Professionals, 114.
Joshua 20:1-3
1 Then the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.
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Many people pay very little attention when reading through the latter part of the book of Joshua. After all, it’s all maps and land allotments and stuff like that, isn’t it?
Second Timothy 3:16 tells us that all scripture, not just some scripture, but all scripture is inspired by God and useful. That means that the end of Joshua is, according to God, useful to us to help us to grow in him. So we want to be careful not to glaze over when reading through something that is unfamiliar to us, because we might miss something important.
Now, take a look at the verses above. Here we see Joshua setting aside the cities of refuge. These cities, as the scripture describes, are places where a man who has unintentionally killed another person can run so as not to be put to death by a relative of the person he accidentally killed. That man would flee to the city, present himself to the elders of that city, and ask to be protected there from the one who would come to do justice on him.
How much is this like a picture of us before God? Really, there is one striking difference, we have sinned against God intentionally, not unintentionally. However, the rest is quite similar. All of us have sinned against God (Romans 3:23). All of us are guilty, and we deserve to die because of our sin (Romans 6:23). And, if you understand scripture rightly, we all are being pursued by an avenger—God himself—who rightly should punish us, pouring out his wrath on us for our sin against him (Ephesians 2:3).
Where shall we run? There is no town of safety, but there is something much like a city of refuge for us. While we were sinners, guilty before God and deserving his wrath, God chose to make a way for us to be forgiven. God sent his Son, Jesus, to be the sacrifice for our sins (Romans 5:8). If we will run to Jesus, like a city of refuge, and plead with him for shelter, admitting all the while that we are guilty of our crime, he will take us in and put us under his protection (Romans 10:9-10, 13; John 3:16). We cannot pretend that we do not deserve God’s wrath. We cannot pretend that we are not guilty of our crimes. We cannot pretend that there is anything that we can do that would ever make us worthy in God’s sight. All we can do is run to Jesus, our refuge, and take shelter under his care.
The amazing thing is, when we get to the city of refuge, we will find that the one who set up that city for our protection is the very God we have so offended. God set up a refuge for people he knew would sin against him and deserve his wrath. Why did he do this? He is glorious, loving, merciful, and just. He chose to pay our penalty himself and offer us a way to be rescued, saved.
Next time you are reading through the Old Testament and come across the city of refuge, perhaps it would do you good to pause and think about the fact that we have our very own city of refuge, the Savior, Jesus Christ. He shed his blood so that our souls would be saved. He is kinder than anyone we have ever met. He is worthy of our praise. He is truly glorious.
And if you do not yet know Jesus, I urge you to realize your condition. You are guilty before God. You have committed sin against God that places you under his wrath. He has established a refuge to which you can run. Fly to Jesus, confess your sin, place yourself under his protection, and commit yourself to live in him for the rest of your life. He will forgive all who come to him seeking his grace in truth. He will be a city of refuge for guilty sinners like you and me.
Deuteronomy 34:4-5;;
4 And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord,
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The end of the book of Deuteronomy contains the above description of the death of Moses. For many, this seems simply unfathomable. How could God allow his servant to die, within sight of the promised land, but without allowing him to enter? Why could God not simply give Moses another chance? What was so bad about Moses making one mistake in front of the people, striking the rock when he was supposed to speak to it? The answer is this: God’s holiness.
When we think of how we would have treated Moses, we think from the angle of someone who is not holy. None of us is different than Moses. In fact, if we are honest, all of us fall morally below Moses, or at least it appears that way. Sure, Moses made a few mistakes, but we all have made mistakes. We want our mistakes to be overlooked, and so we likely want Moses’ mistakes to be overlooked too.
Why did God say that Moses would die outside the promised land?
Numbers 20:12 – And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
Now, here is the issue: Nothing is more important in the entire universe than the holiness and glory of God. God will be seen as holy before the entire world. When Moses struck the rock, he chose to disobey God’s direct command as if Moses could do whatever he pleased. God will not allow us to place ourselves on his level, taking to ourselves the right to ignore his word. God will not allow himself to be seen as one like us. He is the Lord. He is the King. He is the Master. And we, if we are his children, are to obey his commands. We are to demonstrate for all to see that God is holy and worthy of our total obedience. Anytime we disobey God, we affront his holiness, and this is sin worthy of great punishment.
So, when you look back and see the account of God sticking to the punishment that he pronounced on Moses, not allowing Moses to enter into the promised land, do not think to yourself that God is harsh or mean. God is certainly not harsh or mean. Instead, God is holy. It is vital that his holiness be magnified. God’s holiness and glory is more important than anything else. Moses failed here. God, however, graciously allowed Moses to see into the promised land, and God also kept Moses as his servant. God was gracious to Moses, not harsh. God chose not to smite Moses when Moses failed to uphold God as holy.
And, when you think about this account, ask yourself how you are upholding God as holy in your own life. Are you demonstrating for the world around you to see that God is worthy of obedience? Are you showing that God’s commands are more important than your ideas? Are you showing that you would rather follow God’s ways than to do things in the ways of the world? God is holy, and he will be seen as holy. It is our joy to show the world the glory of the holiness of God through our loving obedience to God’s commands in God’s word.
Deuteronomy 32:45-47
45 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law. 47 For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”
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What do you love? What do you treasure? It is easy to discover. To what do you devote your time and energy? To what do you give your attention? To what do you listen when conflicting voices arise?
Here near the end of the book of Deuteronomy, Moses gives the people of God a command that is worthy of our attention. HE calls the people to take God’s word, his law, to heart. They are supposed to look at the law as something real, something important, something sacred. They dare not ignore it. They dare not give it too little weight.
How important is God’s word according to God’s word? Moses says, “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life” (v 47). You cannot overemphasize this issue. The law as Moses presented it to the people of Israel was no empty word, it was their life. With the word of God and in obedience to it, the people of God would live. Apart from God’s word or in disobedience to it, they die.
Now we think about this issue from a gap of over 3,000 years. And, you know what, the value and importance of God’s word has not changed. We now have more books than Moses wrote. We now have the entire canon of God’s written revelation to man. We now have the words of and about the Lord Jesus Christ. But these words of God still hold true. We are to take God’s word to heart. His word, all of it, is no mere collection of empty words, it is—it must be—our life.
What do you love? What do you treasure? Do you love and treasure the word of God? How can you tell? It’s easy to determine. Do you spend time with God’s word? Do you take God’s word seriously? Do you receive God’s word as authoritative on all issues of life? Does God’s word guide your thinking on every issue? When you have an opinion, do you judge the validity of your feelings based on the written revelation of God? Do you allow God’s word to govern your actions and motives?
What is the alternative to loving God’s word? The result is death, but what does that alternative look like? Such a person would ignore God’s word. They would look at God’s word as a mere collection of writings of fallible men who are no longer in touch with our modern realities and sensitivities. Such a person would give the Bible only the most cursory of readings, or would not read it at all. Such a person would allow his or her own opinions and emotions to overrule anything written in the scripture. Such a person would find ways to justify the ignoring of clear commands of God. Such a person would be able to say that the word of God will not interfere with his or her day-to-day decision-making.
Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? If so, do you love God’s word? The Bible is no mere collection of words, it must be your very life.
Denny Burk writes quite well on the significance of what President Obama has just done
Travis’ Take: . The president’s decision is evil and immoral. With the stroke of a pen, the President has condemned countless children to death for the purposes of scientific research. Have other presidents been immoral and signed immoral legislation for weaker purposes? Of course they have. That does not, however, lessen the significance of what has just happened.
May God have mercy on us.
To read Burk’s take, read. . .
Numbers chapter 7 is 89 verses long. Twelve times in this passage, the following text is repeated:
his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense; one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male goat for a sin offering; and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old.
At the end of the chapter, there is a summary in which God gives us the same information, totaled, in only 5 verses.
As I’m reading this chapter, I first think to myself that this is dull or boring. Then it hits me: IF this stuff is boring to me, it’s my fault. God is not bored with this information. Even when the identical offering is presented again and again over twelve consecutive days, God is not bored. He is actually pleased with the monotony. This is not because God is uncreative—far from it—, instead, it is because God is pleased when things are done correctly. Obedience pleases God far, far more than creativity. Right worship when offered in accord with God’s commands never bores God.
While I’m not suggesting that we should be come intentionally dull, I do think that there is something to learn here. If we are bored in our worship services because we are doing the same old thing week after week after week, the problem is not with God or with the worship service. IF we are bored with singing songs of praise to our God, with hearing his word, with participating in communion, with giving, with praying, and with whatever else God has commanded, we are the ones with the problem.
Lord, would you fill us with such delight in your presence that we never again would dare to think that regular worship is boring. We want to please you. Our goal is your glory. Let us be overjoyed with the opportunity to offer you praise and to follow you faithfully. Let us remember that obedience is our greatest joy.
Numbers 4:20 – but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die.”
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Ephesians 3:12 describes for us that we, in Christ, may approach God freely and confidently. This is a wonderful truth and a blessed freedom that we have received from God. We have not, however, earned this right. We are free to approach God, to spiritually enter into his presence, because God grants us an imputed righteousness in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). This means that we wear a righteousness, a perfection, that is not ours—that is foreign to us—but which God allows us to have because of Christ’s perfect sacrifice.
While I am thrilled to know that I have freedom to enter into God’s presence because of Christ, it is also important that the people of God remember that such a freedom is no small thing. Reading in the book of Numbers, we see God give a set of instructions for his people as to how to handle the holy things in the tabernacle. The job of the Levites is not only to care for the objects in the tabernacle, but also to guard against the people of God getting too close to them, seeing them, touching them, and dying for their lack of holiness.
In the verse above, God tells the Levites exactly how they are to deal with the holy things. IN the prior verses, he had told them that a particular group of Levites were to go into the holy place and cover up the holy things so that no other Levite could see them. They were to use the specially designed carrying poles to carry the items so that nobody, absolutely nobody, would dare to touch the holy things. And in the verse above, God warns that for an unauthorized person to look upon the holy things would be for him to forfeit his life.
Now, think with me for a moment. Why is it that these men would die for looking at the holy things? They are not, after all, touching them or making them dirty, are they? No, but there is a sense in which an unholy person would defile a holy thing by looking upon it. The only alternative is for the holiness of the object looked upon to cause the immediate death of the one who dared look at it.
Mankind in our sinfulness simply cannot look at God or any of his things. We cannot bear to hear his voice. We cannot bear to stand in his presence. Were we to speak his name, talk of his things, or look upon him without his protection, we would surely die, and it would be right. However, God has chosen to be merciful. He has chosen to protect us from the all-consuming holiness of his glory. He has chosen to offer us a way, not only to be forgiven of our sin, but to be able to actually look into the word of God and to behold, in a small way, his glory. God has granted us the highest joy and the greatest mercy imaginable by allowing us to enter into his presence through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, let me say this to you who are believers: Don’t take this for granted. Don’t miss this point. You and I do not deserve to know God. We do not deserve to hear his word. We do not deserve to get to sing his praise. WE do not deserve to be allowed to pray to him. We do not deserve to partake of the Lord’s Supper. We do not deserve to be allowed to hear a sermon. WE do not deserve to be allowed to see the beauty of his creation. But he has chosen to love us. HE has chosen to give us mercy. HE has chosen to allow us to become his children (John 1:12-13). And we should give him thanks. We should marvel at his mercy. We should be in awe of his holiness. We should fall to our knees and cry, “Glory to God!” We should tremble to think of entering his presence, and then, by Christ’s grace, we should eagerly and humbly talk to, obey, and worship our loving heavenly Father.
Take a look at the essay
Invitation to the Pain of Learning – Mortimer Adler
Leviticus 16:1-4
1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. 3 But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. 4 He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.
Ephesians 3:11-12
11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
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There is a striking difference between myself and Aaron the high priest. In Leviticus 16, God gave Aaron some specific instructions about standing before him. Aaron was not allowed to go to the holiest place just whenever he wanted. Aaron was not allowed to formally worship God in the highest way whenever he felt the urge. In fact, Aaron heard very clearly that, should he wander into God’s presence in the wrong way or at the wrong time, he, like his sons, Nadab and Abihu, would die.
What were the standards for Aaron to meet with God in the holy place? Aaron had to take a special bath. He had to put on special clothes. He had to bring the right offerings for himself, his family, and also the nation. Aaron had to walk with fear into the presence of God, all the while staying behind the blood and the smoke of the incense in order not to die for being in the midst of God’s holiness.
Now, contrast Aaron with what God says to his children in Ephesians 3:12. We may now approach God and have access to him with confidence. We may boldly approach him. This is not to say that we should not be reverent. This is not to say that we should treat this as a flippant thing. But it is to say that we no longer need the special bath and we certainly do not need the blood of any bull or ram. No, Christ’s blood now permanently covers the children of God, and we can approach God with confidence because of what Jesus has done.
This thought is good news on any day. But today, I want to ponder this thought in relation to Sunday. It is early Sunday morning in my house, and I’m spending time with God before heading to the church building to practice music and to preach God’s word to his people. Right now, in the place where I sit, I am preparing to exercise the privilege of Ephesians 3:12. Not only can I approach God in my quiet corner of the house to pray, there is something more. I can go together with the people of God, sing the praises of God, hear the word, the very voice of God, and be changed by God. I need not bring any blood. The blood that was required for me to be made holy enough to worship God was shed by the Lord Jesus on the cross, once for all. Now the way is made open for me to meet with God, not once a year, not cowering behind the blood of animal sacrifices, but with boldness and confidence because of the glorious work of the Lord Jesus.
This thought affects my heart in many ways, but one that immediately comes to mind is the impact that it has on how I think about worship. What a privilege it is! What a joy it is! I can go and sing of my Redeemer. I can go and hear is word. I can go and give to him my tithe and offering. I can go and pray to him with others. I can go and experience him in a special way. Why would I not love Sundays? This is the best day of the week. I can approach God. I can worship him with others. And, because of Jesus, I can do so freely and confidently.
Pastor Travis Peterson 