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Read NUMBERS 35:2, 6, 11-29, 31-34
Hebr 6:18-20 That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [even] Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Zech 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare [that] I will render double unto thee;
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HISTORY
Just before Israel entered Canaan, God told Moses to choose out 48 cities for the Levites, the priestly tribe, since they would have no land while all the other tribes did have land, but each of the tribes would supply place for them (Numbers 35).
Though the temple be in Jerusalem only, the Levites would be everywhere to minister the word of God to the people.
Six of those cities would be cities of refuge
Three on the east side of Jordan and three on the west side of Jordan.
The placement of these cities would make them no further than half a day’s journey from any location in the land.
They were designed for people who accidentally murdered someone to save them from being killed by a kin of the murdered victim.
They would dwell in the city of refuge until the trial came where they would stand and be judged.
If a man intentionally killed another, then he yet could dwell in the city, but at trial he would be charged guilty and worthy of death by the avenger.
But if a man unintentionally killed a person, after the trial, when he was deemed innocent, the man could dwell in the city of refuge and remain there.
If he went out of the city of refuge, he would have to risk being killed by the avenger.
The killer would not be judged because the murderer, though innocent, should have stayed in the city of refuge.
And he would have to live in that city of refuge until the High Priest died.
When the High Priest died, he was free to leave the City and was free of his guilt.
The avenger had to respect the fact that the man was innocent of all that he committed.
REASONING FOR LAW
Blood defiles the land.
The killer, even though innocent, could not return to his land unless the debt of murder was paid.
Even though it was a mistake that the death occurred.
God said that the land in which he dwelt was not to be defiled.
There could be no "satisfaction", or ransom money paid to free the man from guilt.
The only thing that would free the man from guilt was the death of the murderer.
The blood of the murderer alone could cleanse the land of the blood of the victim.
But when the High Priest died, the man could return to the land.
This means one thing.
IMPLICATION
Think of it.
No other payment cleansed the blood of the victim but the blood of the murderer.
If the person returned to the land, the land had to be cleansed.
For two reasons did the murderer have to see the land cleansed.
It was going to be cleansed one way or another.
Only his blood could pay the price.
But if He chose to dwell in the city of refuge, he could take the option of waiting for the high priest to die, and that would remove the guilt of blood.
Otherwise, if he left, he would be hunted down until his blood cleansed the land.
This means that the high priest could die instead of the murderer.
The death of the High Priest redeemed a man from the guilt and freed him from the debt to pay by his own blood.
APPLICATION
Hebr 6:17-20 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [even] Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Hebrews said that the people who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon a hope have an anchor in that hope.
We see the law of cities of refuge noted here.
Like the rock beneath the house of the wise man, that anchored the house down when storms came, this hope is sure and stedfast.
You can stand on it and find that it will not break down underneath you.
You can be safe from death here.
God’s promise is solid and sure.
We have a (1) promise and (2) an oath.
Neither of which can be broken.
A two-fold band of surety that is indestructible.
Wrath is revealed against sin.
And we have a hope.
If you are not ready to see Jesus, you are a prisoner.
Prisoners, due to sin, but, praise God, PRISONERS OF HOPE, because of this opportunity.
We can return to the fortress.
We hear a lot of hell-fire and brimstone preaching to sinners.
There is a hell.
There is fire.
And there is brimstone.
But I want to present the Gospel to people in the manner the Bible presented it.
Sinners are prisoners.
But there is hope for the prisoners of sin.
So God called them PRISONERS OF HOPE.
Zech 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare [that] I will render double unto thee;
Though we are guilty of sin that demands vengeance in the form of death, and though the penalty cannot be paid any other than by our death, the death of the High Priest sets us free from the penalty.
The picture of the high priest dying instead of the unintentional murderer is a perfect picture of Jesus, the great High Priest, dying instead of us.
And the wonderful thing is that our High Priest, died and then rose from the dead.
And the unintentional murderer could return to the land where his home is.
And the Bible said this land where his home was, was also the land where the Lord dwelt.
The reason he could not return HOME was the land was defiled where he lived by his sin.
Notice the idea of returning to the place of home, or his possession:...
Numb 35:28 Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.
God gave the Garden of Eden for the land of our possession.
But our sin drove us out, and the only thing that would pay for the crime was our own blood.
That meant our own deaths.
No other means would pay for our crime other than our blood.
But what good would that do for us?
We could not enjoy the land again, once cleansed by the sin, for we would be dead.
Numb 35:31 Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which [is] guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.
Numb 35:33 So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye [are]: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
No other "satisfaction" (or ransom money or ransom payment of any kind would do.
But the only other recourse was the death of the high priest.
Numb 35:32 And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
That means that
if no other payment besides his death could remove the guilt of blood in the land, and ...
the high priest’s death accomplished the same thing, then...
the blood of the high priest was as good as the blood of the slayer.
And the law of the city of refuge combines together with the law of the day of atonement.
Notice that Hebrews 6 mentions the fleeing for refuge, which brings into the picture the law of the city of refuge for the manslayer.
But it also mentions something else -- elements from a totally separate law.
Hebr 6:18 -20 That by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which [hope] we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [even] Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
THERE IS THE NOTE OF HIGH PRIEST ENTERING PAST THE VEIL.
This brings in another Law of the Old testament besides the Law of the Cities of Refuge.
The law of the atonement said that every year the high priest could enter the holiest of holies with blood and remove the sins of Israel for that past year.
He walked past a veil and entered the place where God dwelt.
So put these two pictures together, as Hebrews 6 did, and we see the Gospel.
Hebrews notes both the aspect of
the City of refuge, and
the aspect of the High Priest passing into the holiest through the veil.
I. ASPECT OF CITY OF REFUGE
A slayer, who defiled the land due to his sin, had to leave his home and possession and flee to a refuge to be free of death.
Had he tried to return home, he would have been slain by the avenger.
His death alone would cleanse the land where he lived and the Lord lived.
We see that at one time he and the Lord lived together in the same land.
But now the Lord alone is there, and he cannot return until the land is cleansed.
But there was one other recourse.
The death of the high priest would be the same as his own death, and that would cleanse the land and allow him to return and once again dwell with the Lord.
The death of the high priest would REDEEM the prisoner of Hope, setting him free from guilt to return home again..
II. ASPECT OF VEIL
The day of atonement had a High Priest enter the Holiest past the veil, where God’s presence dwelt, so long as he had blood of a spotless lamb.
PUT BOTH ASPECTS TOGETHER
You have a man out of his home where God dwelt once with him, wanting to return home where God dwells, but meeting death should he try, due to his sin not having been paid for. And the only way he can return is when the high priest dies to remove his sin and cleanse the land.
And you have a high priest carrying blood past the veil into the holiest where God wells, and removing Israel’s sin.
Put the two together and you have a picture of returning to the Garden of Eden.
Man and God dwelt together in the Garden.
But man’s sin defiled the land and he was driven out.
Look at what was said about man having been driven out of his home due to sin.
Gene 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
This links with the thought of the veil
Exod 26:31 And thou shalt make a vail [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:
We see the thought of being driven from home in the Garden.
And the thought of the veil is also seen in the Garden, since the veil had cherubims that were seen blocking man from his home in the Garden after he was driven out due to his sin.
So the Garden story brings both the elements of the CITY OF REFUGE LAW and the VEIL ASPECT of the day of atonement.
The picture of passing the veil is the picture of passing the entrance blocked by cherubims in the Garden of Eden, to return HOME where God placed man in the beginning.
Man became a prisoner outside of home.
One who is confined away from his home is a prisoner.
But God had a plan.
And that plan rendered man, not just a prisoner, but a prisoner of hope.
Man could not return, for he would have died had he tried.
There, standing at the entrance to the Garden, was a flaming sword.
Just like the avenger of blood, the flaming sword was there to kill him should he return home.
But one day, in time ahead, since Adam was driven from home, there was going to be a High Priest who was going to die.
And that death would allow the sinner to return home.
Adam stands for all mankind.
Adam means MAN.
So Adam waited as a prisoner of hope for centuries, until THE HIGH PRIEST JESUS CHRIST CAME AND DIED.
AND MAN COULD RETURN HOME AGAIN.
EDEN means PARADISE or HEAVEN in english.
John saw Heaven opened and here is what he saw occur in Heaven, the true holiest of holies:
Reve 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,
Reve 5:8-9 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four [and] twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
The LAMB is the HIGH PRIEST, also.
And his death redeemed us all to God.
The twenty four elders represent humanity as prisoners of hope.
Waiting and looking.
WHY ARE TWO OLD TESTAMENT STORIES INVOLVED?
The only flaw with the Old Testament picture of the high priest was that you could not find a man who could be killed and bring his blood into the Holiest to show that the sinner’s blood can be paid from by the High Priest’s blood.
That is why God had to put two two stories in the Old Testament.
The High priest takes an animal’s blood, representing his own, into the holiest.
And in another picture, the death of the high priest allows the slayer to return home.
Put them together and the High Priest, Jesus, dies, and takes his own blood into Heaven to pay for our sin, and allows us to go home, into heaven, behind him.
And that is what Hebrews 6 said.
Is it not wonderful that God looks at us as prisoners away from home, but not only prisoners. BUT PRISONERS OF HOPE?
Zech 9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare [that] I will render double unto thee;
Job lost all he had, and the devil destroyed much.
But Job held onto hope.
And in the end, God gave him twice as much as he had.
Turn to the stronghold, THE CITY OF REFUGE, prisoner of hope.
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