Runnin' from the Law

I've never been a hardened criminal. I've don't really have a rap sheet to speak of. But there was that one time where I ran from the law. I'll never forget it, I was sixteen or seventeen years old driving my gray 1988 Pontiac Bonneville that was given to me by my grandfather. Let me just tell you that car was a looker to be sure. I'll never forget it, the radio didn't work in it at all, so I had little battery powered computer speakers that I had strung across the front dashboard and wedged between the window and the dash, complete with blue silly buddy on the bottom to keep them more secure. Every day after school, which was like 45 minutes away from my house, I would plug up by black Sony discman to my "system" and crank the music up as loud as those little 2 inch speakers would play (which was barely above the road noise) and drive way too fast down Route 1 from Kennet Square to my home in Kelton, PA.

Route 1 was voted nationally every year to be one of the roughest roads to travel by Truck Drivers. It was a veritable obstacle course of potholes and patch jobs, it's a wonder that car stayed in alignment at all as fast as I was driving it (which was likely about 70), but it couldn't be driven safely above 55 because of all the potholes! So there I was, blazing down Route 1 (a divided two lane highway) when just outside Kennet Square, hiding in the bushes, he was sitting in the median, waiting for me. I didn't see that cop until I blew past him in a blaze of glory. In fact I didn't notice him until I saw blue lights in the tiny side mirror of my gray Pontiac Bonneville. I panicked, my heart started racing, my dad was gonna kill me! In that moment, I have two choices. I can either endure the wrath of my Father, or I can race the cops in my gray Pontiac Bonneville! I'm ashamed to admit, I called on all the horsepower that ole car had (which was like 2 shetland ponies) and took the curve with as much speed as I could. For I knew that on the other side of that curve was an exit and an alternate way home.

As grace would have it, I got off the exit just in time to see the cop car blue lights blazing down the interstate. He didn't see me until he got past the exit and he slammed on his brakes and sat under the overpass and watched me escape narrowly the ticket he had visions of writing me. I sat at the red light, heart pounding from the brief high speed chase I had endured (you know the one that was 10 miles over the speed limit for less than a quarter of a mile), I've never driven home so slowly in my life!

Now I'm no Bo Duke and my ole Pontiac was certainly no General Lee, but I'll never forget my run-in with the po-po and I want no part of it ever again. Numbers 34 and 35 outlines for us a very different chase scene and a very different ending complete with grace and forgiveness available to anyone who can make it to the city gates. Here's what I learned from Numbers 34 & 35

Highlight:

'“Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, designate cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there. You will have the cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the one who kills someone will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. The cities you select will be your six cities of refuge. Select three cities across the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan to be cities of refuge. These six cities will serve as a refuge for the Israelites and for the alien or temporary resident among them, so that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there. ' Numbers 35:10-15

Explain:

Numbers 35 presents for us a beautiful picture. After laying out the borders of the land of promise and divvying out each portion to each tribe, clan, and family, the Lord instructed there to be built 48 cities where the priests would live. These cities would be the Levites inheritance. Six of them were to be what were called cities of refuge. Three on one side of the Jordan, three on the other side each one less than a day’s journey from the next. These cities were to be a refuge for anyone who accidentally killed someone.

The law was clear anyone who killed someone, it was the responsibility for the next of kin, called the avenger of blood, to kill the person who murdered another. This was the only way to atone for the land and the blood that was shed, to shed the blood of the one who shed blood.(35:33). God made provision for the one who accidentally killed another to flee to the city of refuge and live there until the case had been adjudicated. If the manslayer had indeed done so accidentally and he could make it to the gate of the city before the avenger of blood could overtake him, he could live there in safety and freedom as long as the high priest of that town lived. The assembly was to protect him from the avenger of blood. Once the high priest died, the man was free and could return to his land. If the manslayer ever left the walls of the city and avenger of blood could get to him he had the right to kill him.

Apply:

There is such beauty in this picture. These cities were situated on a hill and the roads to these cities were maintained well. They would even often send individuals from the assembly to meet those literally running for their lives to the city.

Using the imagery of Numbers 35 we can see a very clear picture of our own selves. For all of us are guilty of bloodshed, but we did it not maliciously, we were born with a sin nature, a propensity to sin which brings forth death. Therefore we are all murdered in one sense or another. The law is clear, those who sin deserve death. “For the wages of sin is death…”. We should view ourselves then as fleeing from the avenger of blood that pursues us because of the blood we have shed. The law is after us quite literally. We deserve this punishment because of our sin. But in our weakened state, overcome by the guilt and the grief our sin has caused we flee to the refuge that is Jesus Christ.

We have travelled the roads, which are incidentally well maintained and cleared of obstacles, and we are greeted in our journey to the city by the Holy Spirit who meets us and leads us to the High Priest, Jesus Christ.

We enter the gates of the city and cast our sinful, wearied, exhausted, guilty soul at the feet of the Priest who is able to atone and to protect us from the penalty of the law that is pursuing us. This is our new home now, for the Priest will never die and we dare not return to the land of our sin for outside the gates of safety, we stand again under the punishment and threat of the law. We live now safely within the confines of the beauty of Christ. We now serve as His body, living safely and working as a harbor set high on a hill welcoming sinners within our city to find safety and rest in the work of the High Priest, we have compassion and love them deeply for we know what it feels like to be pursued by the law and we know what I feels like to carry the burdens of guilt and shame. Now we work to shine the light of the hope and refuge and safety of the gospel as brightly as possible to those fleeing from the consequence of their own sin.

Respond:

Jesus thank You for this glorious picture. Thank You for saving me from the Avenger of Blood, the consequence of my own sin. Thank You for allowing me to live within the safety of Your city. Thank You for atoning for my sin as the great High Priest whose righteousness have become the walls of my safety. Help me to serve the You, My High Priest, with all that I can. Thank You for removing from the me the guilt and the fear of my sin. Help me to shine a light on the wall. Help us to raise up a city of refuge that welcomes sinners inside because we remember what it was like when we stumbled into the city ourselves. Help us to be a place of hope and refuge in a world filled with the consequences of sin and may You the High Priest receive all the glory from the city You are building. Make it stronger with every visitor who enters the gates.