2024 Fasting Devotional

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.

Proverbs 18: 10

In the book of Numbers 35:9-24, God gives Moses instructions to build six cities of refuge when they enter the Promised Land. These cities were to provide refuge to anyone who killed someone unintentionally.  All the person had to do was flee to one of these cities and they would be safe from anyone wanting to avenge the death of the person who was killed.  

In those days, an ‘eye for an eye’ was the law of the land.  Anyone taking a life, regardless of the reason, was subject to being killed by “the avenger of blood” – a term used to refer to a person taking revenge for someone else’s death.  These cities were strategically located throughout the Promise Land and easy to get to from all points within Israel’s borders.  Numbers 35:25 loosely spells out for us the law concerning Cities of Refuge:

The assembly is to protect the one who kills someone from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge he fled to, and he must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. Numbers 35:25(CSB)

 According to verses 26- 28 of this chapter, the only requirement for protection was that you make it to one of the cities of refuge before the avenger of blood found you, and that you stay inside the borders of the city until the death of the High Priest.  The death of the High Priest signaled a cleansing and forgiveness for past sins in the nation, and a new start for people who had accidentally taken a life.

The Old Testament ordinance about the cities of refuge were meant to prefigure a wonderful truth about the Lord Jesus Christ.  These cities of refuges have all been replaced with the person of the Lord Jesus. He is our refuge, and when we run to Him we are safe.  Not only are the cities of refuge a type of Christ, but the pardon that is granted by the death of the High Priest is also a foreshadowing of the death of Jesus on the cross, which paid for our sins.  Not only the sins from our past, but also our present and future sins as well.   The Lord Jesus Christ is our City of Refuge, and when we place our faith in Him, we are placed safely and eternally within the borders of His love. 

If you are in trouble and being chased by any enemy of the soul, run to Jesus. He is just a prayer away.