The Cities of Refuge: or, The Name of Jesus - John R. Macduff (best ebook reader for laptop txt) 📗

for children still,
Though now as King He reigneth
On Zion's heavenly hill;
We'll humbly come before Him
To celebrate His praise,
And while His saints adore Him,
Our youthful voices raise."

[Illustration: Golan]


Sixth City-Golan.

GOLAN was situated in Bashan, in the tribe of Manasseh, among the pastoral hills north of the lake of Gennesaret. It formed the most northerly Refuge-Sanctuary on the east side of Jordan, as Kedesh did on the west; but there are no particular events connected with it in Bible story.

What does the name of this last City of Refuge tell us regarding
Jesus ?

Golan literally signifies Joy . Jesus is truly the Golan of His people; they may have many others, but He is their "chief joy!" Well may they call Him GOLAN; for not one joy could have ever visited them had it not been for Him . The world would have been to them, from first to last, a "valley of Baca," (weeping,) had not Jesus died for their sins, and saved their souls. Well might the angel say, when he came to the plains of Bethlehem to announce the Saviour's birth, " Behold, I bring you good tidings of GREAT JOY!"

There is not one step the Christian takes but Jesus is GOLAN to him-"joy." He is straying, a lost sheep on the dark mountains, in search of peace: Jesus meets him, and says, " Your sins are all forgiven you ;"-he is joyful at that . He is wandering a prodigal from his Father's house: Jesus brings him to his lost home, and calls him His own child; and he is joyful at that . He has to travel a long and dreary journey ere he reaches his true home in heaven: Jesus gives him His arm to lean upon; and he "goes on his way rejoicing ." He has many fiery trials to try him: Jesus tells him not to think these "strange," but rather to " rejoice ," inasmuch as He is "partaker with him in his sufferings."[51] He has, at last, to walk through the dark Valley: Jesus meets him there, and supports him there. He sees "the King in His beauty," and the land that is yet "afar off;" and, believing, " he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory ."[52] When Jesus beholds him from His throne in judgment, what are to be His blessed words of welcome? " Enter ye into the JOY of your Lord ."[53] And when, as a ransomed one, he enters the streets of the New Jerusalem, at whose feet is it that he is to cast, through all eternity, his crown? "In thy presence," O Saviour God, is "fullness of JOY!"

Young reader, love often to gaze on the walls of this City of Refuge. The sacred writer, in giving the list of these six cities, seems to have kept it to the last because it is a happy word, and speaks of the happy prospects of all those that love the Lord Jesus. Believe me, there is no true joy but in God. The joy of the wicked is like that of a noisy stream-noisy because it is shallow. The joy, on the other hand, which Jesus gives, is like a great river,-deep, calm, ever-flowing, overflowing;-not full in winter and dry in summer, but full, and clear, and refreshing all the year long. It may be always truly said of Jesus, the great Gospel Refuge, and of those who have fled to Him, what was said of old about Samaria, "There was great JOY in that CITY."[54] It was the object of all that Christ did and said on earth to give you this joy. " These things have I spoken unto you ," says He, " that my JOY
might remain in you, and that your JOY might be full ."[55] Love Him now, and serve Him now and follow Him now, that you may come at last to the true Golan, in His glorious presence above, and "REJOICE
evermore !"

"Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing Thy power to save,
When this poor lisping, stammering tongue
Lies silent in the grave.

"Lord, I believe Thou hast prepared,
Unworthy though I be,
For me a blood-bought, free reward,
A golden harp for me!

"'Tis strung, and tuned, for endless years,
And form'd, by power divine,
To sound in God the Father's ears
No other NAME but Thine!"


III.

THE GOSPEL REFUGE.

"We have a strong consolation who have fled for Refuge."-HEB. vi. 18.


III.


And now, my young friends, we have finished the survey of our picture-gallery. We have wandered among these six cities in the old land of promise. I shall repeat their names once more, that you may remember them.

KEDESH, Holiness.
SHECHEM, Shoulder.
HEBRON, Fellowship.
BEZER, Stronghold.
RAMOTH, Exaltation.
GOLAN, Joy.

What a complete Saviour! In Him "all fullness dwells." In the case of some of these Hebrew cities, "not one stone has been left upon another that has not been thrown down." Owls are screaming amid their ruins, and jackals prowling for their prey. But not so with HIM of whom they were types. Jesus ever lives! He never changes. Time and decay cannot crumble the walls of the Gospel Refuge. He is "the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."[56]

I want, in this last chapter, to say one or two additional things to you about the Cities of Refuge. Let me ask you to give me your earnest attention.

The first thing I wish you to remember is, that all the preciousness of that NAME of Jesus, and all the security of the Gospel REFUGE,
is derived from the merits of His death for you upon the cross .

This is the truth of all truths, and one, too, strikingly taught in these olden types. If you read the Bible account, you will find that the manslayer had his liberty restored to him upon the death of the High Priest .[57] When the tidings of the decease of this great Head of the Jewish nation reached these refuge towns, I daresay many of their citizens would be heard, with wailing cry, mourning the loss of God's faithful servant. But the intelligence was very different to the captive Hebrew. It brought him joyful news! For that event enabled him to go forth from his banishment, and to terminate years of painful separation from all he loved on earth. The avenger could no longer injure him. He could return, happy and secure, to the comforts of his long-lost home.

So, dear reader, it is the death of your great High Priest that has purchased your release from spiritual captivity. The law can no longer hold you. Justice can no longer threaten you. You can go forth with the glorious liberty of a child of God, saying, " Who is he that condemneth?- It is Christ that died. "[58]

You can picture to yourselves, on the death of the Jewish High Priest, the Hebrew captive going forth from the city, within whose gloomy walls he had long been enclosed. You can picture him, with merry heart, making the valleys through which he hurried to his native dwelling, echo with songs of joy! And shall not you , with happier heart and voice, sing this song as you journey on to your heavenly home, and see it gleaming in the distance, on the other side of Jordan-

"When from the dust of death I rise,
To take my mansion in the skies,
This all my hope-this all my plea,
That Jesus lived and died for me !"

The second thing I want to say to you is, that God has made the gospel City of Refuge easy of access, and has filled it with rich provision.

He made the way as plain as possible to the manslayer of old. The cities themselves were generally on a height, so as to be seen at a far distance. The roads leading to them were carefully kept. They were broader than others in Palestine, (sixteen yards wide.) The Jewish magistrates and judges went once every year to inspect them, and to order repairs. Where streams occurred, there were bridges thrown across. Where there were angles or by-roads, posts with " Refuge " on them were set up; and as there were no bridges across Jordan, three of the cities were placed, as I have already mentioned, on one side of the river, and three on the other; so that all might easily get at them, and none might have any excuse for not fleeing. The nearest city could always be reached by the manslayer in half a day. Moreover, we are informed there were ample stores of provisions laid up in them. They were supplied with wells of water, and Levites were placed in turn as porters or gatekeepers, to be ready to welcome every fugitive into these homes of safety.

So God has done everything for you , to make the Gospel Refuge accessible. Your parents and ministers-your Bibles and churches and good books-are all, just like these refuge signals, pointing away from the cross-roads and by-roads of human reason, and human error, and self-righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and saying, "Flee! flee! flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you!" Jesus , too, the true Gospel Refuge, is full of rich provision. "Ye are complete in Him." He, as the true Joseph, gives forth out of the storehouses in His "treasure-cities," to all His needy people. What are some of these provisions? There is pardon-peace-justification-adoption-sanctification,-strength for the hour of weakness,-grace for the hour of temptation,-and the good hope of everlasting life for the hour of death. No wonder that he says to every poor sinner seeking admission within these gates, " I am the bread of life: he that cometh unto me shall never hunger. "[59]

As in the cities of Canaan, so in this glorious Gospel-City of which they were types, there is a Well of living water. What is this? It is the Holy Spirit. He is often in Scripture compared to water. " If any man thirst ," said Jesus, " let him come unto me, and drink. This spake he of the Spirit ."[60] This all-glorious well-spring, moreover, is not like those of the Palestine cities, which were sometimes dried up in seasons of drought, but "springing up