Part 2

There is _Satan_, with his artful wiles and countless temptations. He was once a bright angel himself. He knows what holiness and happiness are. But being now a wicked spirit, he would make others as wicked and unhappy as himself. He is spoken of in the Bible as "a strong man armed."[38] But Jesus is "stronger" than this strong man. If you have fled for refuge to this great gospel _Bezer_, seated within its secure bulwarks you can joyfully exclaim, "_I will say of the Lord, He is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whose I will put my trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower._"[39]

There is your own _Wicked Heart_, with its sinful thoughts, and vain imaginations, and deep corruptions--for a man's worst foes are often those of his own household. One of these heart-foes will tempt you to tell a lie; another to swear; another to be dishonest; another to be selfish; another to be passionate; another to be unkind. But He that is _for_ you, is greater than they that are _against_ you. Safer than in any earthly castle, you can take up your warrior-song, "_The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe._"[40]

There are the _Trials and Sorrows and Distresses of this world_,--those things that cause sad hearts and tearful eyes. But that blessed Saviour--your Rock and Stronghold--"knows your sorrows," for He felt them. He marks your tears, for He shed the same himself. Fleeing to this true BEZER in the time of affliction, you can dry your tears and sing, "_God also will be a refuge for the distressed, a refuge in the time of trouble; and they that know thy name shall put their trust in thee._"[41]

And there is _Death_, the last enemy of all. But even over this King of terrors and Terror of kings, you can shout in triumph from your Divine shelter, "_O death, where is thy sting?... Thanks be to God, who giveth me the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ._"[42]

And Jesus is a Stronghold for _all_. I have already spoken of the little children of old rushing to its gates,--infants smiling fearless in the Saviour's arms. He combines the majesty of Deity with the tenderness of man. If He had been the great God alone, you might have been awed at the thought of going to Him. But what says the prophet Isaiah of this true BEZER?--"_A MAN shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest._"[43] He Himself says in another scripture, "_I will turn mine hand upon the little ones._"[44]

In one of the great strongholds that were besieged in our last Indian rebellion, the Christian mothers were wont to hush their infants asleep by singing, "_God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble._" My young friends, "_as one whom his mother comforteth_," so is God willing to "_comfort you_;" and here is His word of comfort: "_The Lord is good, a STRONGHOLD in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him._"[45] In the old Cities of Refuge no weapons of any kind were allowed to be made. Those who possessed them had to surrender them. This is true in a nobler and better sense regarding the Gospel Stronghold. There can be no deadly weapons forged there. Their edge is blunted: "_There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus._"[46] Satan's armoury has been plundered; the "Stronger than he" has "_taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divided the spoil_."[47]

I have said that the word BEZER means "_Rock_" as well as "stronghold." "_Trust in the Lord for ever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength_," or, (marginal reading,) "THE ROCK OF AGES."[48] May you not well say, with your eye on this glorious "Refuge"--

"Dear NAME, the ROCK on which I build, My shield and _hiding-place_; My never-failing treasury, fill'd With boundless stores of grace!"

"ROCK of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee!"

Fifth City--Ramoth.

RAMOTH was situated in Gilead, within the tribe of Gad, and somewhere near the banks of the brook Jabbok, where, you know, Jacob wrestled in prayer with the angel. It must have occupied a commanding position among the beautifully-wooded glens of Gilead, and, like Bezer, been strongly fortified. We infer this latter from the many sieges it had undergone. Being not only, like the other, a border town of Palestine, but situated in the direct route taken by the invading Syrian armies, it must have been constantly exposed to hostile attacks.

You can think of Ramoth, then, among the hills and slopes on the other side of the Jordan, with their forests of native oak, which the famous "_bulls_ of Bashan" (herds of wild cattle) roamed at large; while more peaceful flocks browsed on the meadows which fringed the mountain-streams.

What does the name RAMOTH tell us regarding Christ?

_Ramoth_ literally means EXALTATION. Jesus is the true _Ramoth_; He is "_exalted_ to be a Prince and a Saviour!" He was once lowly, despised, rejected, crucified, slain. He compares Himself to a poor outcast and exile amid these forests of Gilead: "_Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion._"[49] But having been exalted on the cross as a _suffering_ Saviour, He is now exalted on the throne as a _glorious_ King. "_God hath highly_ EXALTED _Him_;"[50]--angels exalt Him--seraphs adore Him--saints praise Him--the Church on earth magnifies Him--the Church redeemed in heaven will magnify and exalt Him for ever and ever!

Young reader, delight often to walk around the walls of _Ramoth_, and think of Jesus "exalted at God's right hand." He is there pleading your cause. Though exalted, He has not forgotten the lowliest or humblest of His people. He is the Greatest of all Beings, but He is the Kindest of all too. The first time after His exaltation when He came down to earth to speak to the aged apostle John, John wondered if the glories of heaven had altered His love and tenderness. He remembered how often before he used to lean on His bosom. When he looked, however, _now_, upon the glorious Being that stood before him in His lustrous garment, with "His eyes like a flame of fire," "he fell down at His feet like one dead." But the same gentle hand touched him, the same gentle voice he was wont to hear so often in past years, said to him, "Fear not!" How sweet for us to think that we have _exalted_ on the highest throne of the universe an unchanged and unchanging Saviour, an ever-living, never-dying Friend.

"Though now ascended up on high, He bends on earth a brother's eye."

JESUS is exalted in heaven, and exalted by all the glorious family of heaven. But, alas! there is one place where He is often _not_ exalted, but rather cast down, and that is the human heart. That heart has been too truly compared to the inn of Bethlehem, where there was room for every guest but the Lord of glory! Ye of tender years, whom Christ loved so much on earth--whom He fondled in His arms of mercy; see that it is not so with you. "My son," He says, "give me thine heart." See that He is enthroned there as Lord of all. Exalt Him in everything: in your thoughts, in your words, in your deeds. Welcome Him, as the children of the temple welcomed Him to Jerusalem of old. Take up their song, and sing, "_Hosannah to the Son of David! hosannah in the highest!_"

"When, His salvation bringing, To Zion Jesus came, The children follow'd singing Hosanna to His name. Nor was the Lord offended That children joined the throng; But smiled that they attended, And loved to hear their song.

"And since the Lord retaineth His love 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."

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 unto everlasting life." Angels, too, are the porters,--the blessed warders that keep the gates of this Gospel-City. "_Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who are heirs of salvation?_"[61] They love to watch by these gates, and to welcome every wanderer. How gladly they give the word, "_Open ye the gates, that the righteous_ (those made righteous through the righteousness of Jesus) _may enter in_!"[62]

It is delightful, moreover, to think, that just as the Jewish cities were easily got at from all parts of Palestine, so from all parts of the world, may people go to the Greater and more Glorious Gospel Refuge. Poor Pagan of the far East! cast away your idols; the gates of the Gospel-City stand ready to welcome _you_. Indian of the far West! cast aside your warrior spear and your offerings of blood, and flee to the portals of mercy and to the blood which cleanseth from all sin. Laplander of the far North, amid your polar snows! Negro of Africa, amid your burning sands! rush to the provided shelter. There is salvation there for _you_. "The same Lord is rich to ALL that call upon Him." Happy prospect!--the time will come when the whole world will be found singing together the same song and uttering the same prayer, "_Open unto us the gates of righteousness, that we may enter into them, and praise the Lord!_"[63]

Will none of my young friends rejoice if they are able, by aiding the cause of missions abroad, to help putting this "new song" into the lips of those who are still "wandering in the wilderness in a solitary way, and have NO CITY to dwell in?"[64]

* * * * *

The _third_ thing I want to say to you is, that _no_ OTHER _Refuge will do but_ JESUS.

I would like you to take as your motto the simple and beautiful words which a Sabbath scholar, I knew well about, lately gone to glory, wrote to his minister. "I am sure I may be very thankful to God for His great mercy toward me.... _I must just keep in mind that there is one Refuge to flee to, and that is Jesus._"

There are many other refuges people try to take shelter in. They think they will be as safe in them as in the ONE of God's providing; but these will never stand in that day which will try every refuge of what sort it is.

I have seen some making their _own goodness_ their refuge-city. They imagined they were not so bad as others. They trusted in the falling Siloam-tower of their own righteousness!

I have seen some making _God's goodness_ their refuge-city. They said to themselves, "God is kind. He surely will not deal hardly with sinners at last. Justice, the avenger, will not surely always pursue with her flaming sword. The love of God will surely get the better of his justice."

Don't let Satan deceive you. There are many of _his_ refuges which _appear_ to be safe enough, but on which God has written "_Refuges of lies_."

There were many other towns in Canaan of old which _appeared_ to be as good and as safe as those I have been speaking of. But no city could afford shelter to the manslayer, excepting one of the six God had specially appointed.

What would have happened if the fugitive of old, in fleeing from the avenger, had said to himself, "What is the use of my going so far away as to Hebron or Golan? I would rather flee to a nearer place. I will go to Jericho, the old city of palm-trees; or to Bethlehem, in the hills of Judah; or, better still, I will go to Jerusalem, the capital of the nation, where the temple of Zion is, and the palace of the King. Surely I shall be safer far within its lofty walls and bulwarks than in one of these little cities of the Levites. Is it not said that '_God is known in all her Palaces for a Refuge?_'"

If he had done so, he would undoubtedly have perished. Neither King nor Priest, nor Golden gate nor Beautiful gate, nor wall nor bulwark, could have saved him from the avenger's sword. The refuge-towns appointed in the olden time may have been "the least amid the cities of Judah." But they were God's selection, God's ordering, and that was enough. In them, and in them only, was the manslayer safe from the avenger of blood.

And so it is with our Gospel Refuge. "_Neither is there salvation in any other._" Rejecting Jesus, we are lost for ever. All other refuges, however good or great or strong they may _appear_ to be, will prove only Babel-towers, that will fall on the poor builders, and crush them in their ruins.

When God told the children of Israel to sprinkle their lintels and door-posts with blood, they might have been foolish enough to say, "No; we shall do better. We shall not be content with doing so trifling a thing; we shall rather build up great walls around our houses, so that the destroying angel may not get in." Do you think, if they had done so, their first-born would have been saved? No; there would have been death in every such household; these high walls would have proved useless. Nothing but the red mark on the doorway of the dwelling would be of any avail in warding off the fell stroke.

So it is with the sinner. All the walls which pride, and self-righteousness, and good works can rear, will do nothing to keep out the sword of avenging Justice. But _the sprinkled blood of covenant mercy will_; for "_the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth_ (and alone cleanseth) _from_ ALL SIN!"[65]