NUMBERS 35 GOD CARES ABOUT JUSTICE2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Numbers 35 God Cares About Justice

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2021. Well, this morning as we look at Numbers chapter 35, I've titled the message, God Cares About Justice.

As we look at this passage where God establishes what is called the cities of refuge, I think we can learn here a lot of things about the Lord and what is important to him, especially concerning the idea of justice. And it's an important subject for us to consider and an important thing for us to meditate on

for the society that we live in, for ourselves personally, and for our spiritual lives as well. The reality of what God sees as important and the justice that he requires and demands.

Now, the cities of refuge are mentioned several times in the scriptures, and really it shows how important it is to God. They were first kind of sneak previewed in Exodus chapter 21, where God addresses the issue of accidental deaths and says, I'm going to talk to you more about cities that they can run to later in those kinds of situations. And so he kind of gave the information about that ahead of time, but said there's more details to come.

Then here in Numbers chapter 35, we get the explanation of it. We get another reference to the cities of refuge in Deuteronomy chapter 4, and then more instruction about the cities of refuge in Deuteronomy chapter 19. And then finally, Joshua chapter 20, we see these implemented and the cities are appointed after they've conquered the land.

And so you can see five times God makes sure to clearly address this issue of the cities of refuge because it's important to him and because these things include for us important concepts that we need to understand. Now, one part of the cities of refuge is just completely practical. God is establishing a society.

He's establishing a government, a society where no society has been. They've been in captivity for 400 years in Egypt. And so they weren't in control of any laws. They didn't have any say in how they lived or what governed them and that kind of thing. And so as they came out, God was giving them principles by which to establish, this is how we will operate as a society.

And there's many different aspects to that. Worship is one of the aspects and the tabernacle and all of that. But there's also many things that practically they would need in order to be able to live next to each other, to be good neighbors, to maintain relationships,

lawfulness within their society. And so the cities of refuge is one little piece of this society that God is establishing. And he tells us why it's so important for them to do this at the end of the chapter. Check out verse 33 and 34. It says, so you shall not pollute the land where you are.

For blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land except for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore, do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell. For I, the Lord, dwell among the children of Israel."

Here the Lord says, look, you're coming into this land, you're going to be established here, you're going to live here, and I'm going to dwell in your presence. And so it's very important that you do not defile the land, that you make sure to keep not just yourself holy, but keep your land holy, keep your nation holy. And one of the things that defiles, one of the things that God is really concerned about is...

Innocent blood being shed. He says blood defiles the land.

innocent blood being shed. And if blood is shed, he says the only thing that can remedy that, that can atone for that, is for the shedding of the blood of the one who shed the blood. That is, you have to deal with the injustice, address the crime, in order to atone for the blood that was shed upon the land. And the idea here is that otherwise, the land is defiled.

And God says, I dwell in your midst. Don't let that happen. Don't let this be a place where, you know, unholiness continues or is fostered and exists. And so here, for very practical reasons, God's establishing a society and says, look, these are really important principles. Life is incredibly valuable and it cannot be wasted. It should not be spent needlessly or without consequences.

Now, there's also some spiritual things that are attached to the cities of refuge, because not only is it a practical establishing of a society, but in the spiritual realm, God is foreshadowing a Savior. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 17 and 18, write that down, look that up later on. The author of Hebrews talks about the idea that we have fled for refuge to Jesus.

We have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope that is set before us, the hope that is the anchor of our soul. It's the hope and trust that we have in Jesus Christ. And this idea of fleeing for refuge to Jesus is a reference to this idea of fleeing to the city of refuge.

And so there are ways in which the cities of refuge picture and foreshadow the work and the ministry of Jesus that we can look to and hold on to and can be described as the hope that is set before us.

And so again this morning, God cares about justice. And we'll see that as we walk through this chapter, looking at four different things, four different points to help us understand what God thinks about, what God values and says is important in regards to justice. And so we're going to start out here in these first few verses, verses 9 through 15. Here's point number one this morning. God requires a fair trial for people.

God requires a fair trial for people. When I say that God cares about justice, he's interested in and values fairness in evaluating situations that unfold between people in society.

Let's read again verses 9 through 12. It says,

God gives this instruction to Moses, and that's the first thing to notice here in verse 9. Then the Lord spoke to Moses. Pay attention to these are direct commands from God. God is expressly, clearly declaring here, this is what you must do. This is why this is important to me. You shall establish these cities of refuge. And the

he gives, the purpose for it is that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. The idea here is that there is a situation that unfolds there in the community, accidents happen, and you're working together perhaps out in the woods, you're swinging the axe, the axe head flies off the hammer and hits somebody and kills them. That was not intentional, that was accidental and

But now, well, someone has died and what must be done? God says for this exact idea, for this exact situation, the cities of refuge must be established so that the person who has been involved in this accident can run there and seek refuge within the city. Because the way that the

they as a society dealt with those situations was for each family, there was what's known as the kinsman redeemer. That might be a phrase you've heard about, you know. You might be familiar with Boaz and being the kinsman redeemer for Ruth. And there's some cool pictures there of the Lord as well. One of the responsibilities of the kinsman redeemer was also to be the avenger of blood.

That is, you kill someone in my family, I'm the kinsman redeemer. I'm responsible for the family. That means I need to make sure that justice is served. And for them in their society, that meant that that avenger of blood didn't just like go to the police station and make sure that there was a police report filed, make sure a detective was on it, you know, make sure all of that was in place. They had a court system that

They're in ancient Israel, but they didn't have a police force. They didn't have those things yet. It wasn't time for them in their society at that point in history. And so it was responsible or the responsibility laid upon the family to make sure that justice took place. Now, the problem with that is if you're responsible for your family and someone hurts your family, well, you may not be so interested in whether or not it was an accident.

You may not be so, you know, intensely looking out to see, now, am I being objective about this? And, you know, should I be handling this in this way? Or, you know, is there other circumstances that I need to factor in? No, of course, it would be very easy then for the avenger of blood to go beyond what was right and pay back blood for blood when necessary.

Really, the situation was an accident. So God's saying, look, you need to make a distinction when there is an injury, when there is a death, that there's a difference between accidental and intentional. There's a difference between manslaughter and murder. But to expect the avenger of blood to do this, that might be too much. And so here's what we need to do. We're going to establish cities of refuge.

where the person who's involved in a situation like this can run to for protection until a trial can take place. Notice verse 12. They shall be cities of refuge for you from the avenger that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment. And so the city of refuge itself was not a guarantee of continuing life. It was a guarantee of life.

a preservation until a proper investigation and trial could take place. There's an investigation that must go on, and you can see that if you jump down a little bit to verse 30. It says, "...whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses. But one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty."

And so God establishes here, look, there needs to be some investigation that happens. You need to interview the witnesses who saw this take place. And if there's not sufficient witnesses, if there's not sufficient evidence, we're

Well, that takes you down a different course. If there is sufficient evidence, then what does the evidence show? What does the evidence reveal? The guarantee here for the cities of refuge was that there would be an investigation that would take place and a trial that would happen. Now, these cities of refuge then were God's guarantee of a fair trial for people who were involved in these situations. God says, look, this is important to me.

It's important to me that people get treated fairly in situations that they might be involved in that were not their fault, that were not, you know, their intentions, they weren't instrumental in causing that to take place. It was something that happened upon them. They experienced this accidental situation. And God says, look, this needs to be accessible to

And so he appoints six cities of refuge in verse 13. Three on one side of the Jordan and three on the other side of the Jordan. So that no matter where you were in the land of Israel, you wouldn't have to cross a river to get to the city of refuge.

Right? So that you wouldn't get maybe, you know, the avenger of blood would catch up with you while you were trying to cross the river. That it would slow you down and cause you to be dealt with prematurely. No, no. God says, look, you need to make sure. And later on, he'll go on to say, look, if your borders increase, you know, I give you more territory, then continue to add cities of refuge.

so that there's always a city that's accessible, you know, within a street shot, within running distance. If an accident happens, someone can go there for refuge, for shelter, and be safe from the avenger of blood. In Deuteronomy chapter 19, as God is giving the instructions there, he goes on to say in verse 3 of Deuteronomy 19, "...you shall prepare roads to go to these cities of refuge."

So don't just appoint the cities, but make sure that you develop and maintain roads so that people have easy access, that they're able to get to these cities for protection. And so it's important to God that people have the opportunity for a fair trial.

It's important to God that the fair trial be accessible and easy to get to. It's also important to God that this be available to every person. Notice in verse 15, these six cities shall be a refuge for the children of Israel, for the stranger, for the sojourner among them, that anyone who kills a person accidentally may flee there. And so these are intended for the children of Israel, those who were residents of the nation.

For the stranger, so those who live within Israel, but they're foreigners. Those who they've moved to Israel, perhaps they haven't become Jewish yet. They haven't proselytized and fully converted in that way, but they're living there amongst the nation. And so they're the foreigners or the strangers, but then also the sojourners. For the random person of whatever nationality who just happens to be traveling through the land,

Anybody who is in the land should have this right, should have this opportunity for a fair trial. God cares about justice. It's important to him. It's important to him. So important, he says and establishes in the scriptures and references five times here in the law of God. These cities must be established. This must be available for people.

Now, of course, as we look at these things, we need to consider, okay, so I get it. This was established for Israel. What does that mean for us? Living, you know, in 2021, are we supposed to establish cities of refuge? Is that, you know, how we apply this? Is that how we consider these things? What does this mean for us today? And I would encourage you to consider it this way, that it has application for us as a society, right?

As members of a society, there's things that we can learn about God from this, the principles of God, and it directs us then in some of our behavior. I would suggest it has some things for us to learn personally and to evaluate in how we address and deal with situations and personal interactions between people around us personally.

And then there's things that we can consider spiritually as we look to the illustration of the Lord in the midst of it. And so I want to just walk you through some of these things and help us to begin to evaluate what we're learning about God in the light of the way that we live and the things that are happening today. In regards to society, we are incredibly blessed to live in a society where we get to have a say about what we do today.

in society, about what is called right and what is called wrong. We're blessed to live in a society where we have a say about what laws are instituted and the way that we govern ourselves. We are blessed in that regard. And so when it comes time for elections, when it comes time for voting and those kinds of things, we're often reminded to vote our Christian values. Now, there's a lot of things that could

play into that concept of voting our Christian values. I'm not going to try to address all of those, but I would suggest this is part of what's included when we talk about voting our Christian values. We need to factor in as we go to the polls, as we address things in society, we need to go to the polls and understand that God really values a fair trial. He really values, he finds it important for us

for us to have that available to all people in the land. And I would suggest to you, this probably isn't a huge surprise, but not everyone who runs for office has a fair trial as a priority. Now, there's no perfect candidate at any time, right? That's never going to happen. But we have to then evaluate. So we lay the pieces on the board and evaluate. Okay, here's this piece.

the opportunity for a fair trial, and it has this much weight in my mind, on my heart, as far as what the Lord says. And then there's these other issues, and we have to kind of balance the different weights of the different issues, but I'm not trying to establish, you know, here's the formula. I'm just suggesting that when it comes time to vote, we say, you know what? God really values a fair trial. How does that fit

into these different platforms? How does that fit into these different decisions, into the different positions that these people take? You know, I think we are in a pretty dangerous point in our society where there is a strong call to action, many times, without all the information. There's commands and demands and cries for action by people who are not involved in the actual trials.

It happens regularly. It happens consistently. And there is opportunity for us and a danger for us to get caught up in that. And here's what I would suggest to you, that when we are calling for action in situations where we don't have the details, we might be misrepresenting God. I mean, we might be saying we're out for justice, we're crying out for justice, we want justice. But if we are not involved in the details...

of the situation, then the justice that we are crying for, the justice that we are demanding might not be actual justice. We might be in danger of misrepresenting God when we're calling for action without the information. And maybe we need to consider calling for a fair trial.

And being vocal about, you know, the need for the fairness of the situation to be evaluated. Maybe we need to think about these things a little bit differently than what is typical in our society and in our culture. Proverbs 18, verse 17 says, Listen, we're like set up for quick reactions to things that

when it's one side of the story. Like our whole society is built on that in a lot of ways. And we socially have a great temptation, I think, ahead of us. A temptation to jump on that bandwagon, to get caught up in or sucked into these agendas where it's

one side's case that has been presented. There hasn't been a fair trial. There hasn't been, you know, the investigation. There hasn't been the full information addressed and dealt with. And although we might have great noble intentions and calling for action, we also need to be careful that we don't misrepresent God by jumping the gun and getting ahead of what is right in the situation.

There's a lot of things that we want to see accomplished. There's a lot of things that we want to see done. And there's a lot of wrongs that need to be righted. And it kind of sets us up for, look, this issue needs to be addressed. And so now here's this situation. Here's this opportunity. Now this is our chance to address the situation. And perhaps it is. But also perhaps it's just an excuse to address that situation without really understanding the details of

of the current situation, the current scenario. Here's what the Lord says in Exodus chapter 23, verse 1 and 2. You shall not circulate a false report. Now just kind of put a pin there, stop there. Exodus chapter 23, verse 1. Write it down, post it on your Facebook page. You shall not circulate a false report. Well, how can I know if it's false? Exactly. There's a lot of things that we should not share, we should not circulate,

Simply because we don't know the details. We don't know the truth. We don't know enough to know whether it's a true or false report. We have to be very careful not to misrepresent God and not to address things or carry on things or pass along things that are false reports. Now the verse goes on to say, do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. To carry on a false report, to pass it along to others is to put your hand with the wicked.

It is not a righteous thing to do, not a good thing to do. It is something we must be very careful of. He goes on in verse 2 to say, you shall not follow a crowd to do evil. Now again, I think this addresses many things that we are right in the center of as a society. Circulating false reports, following a crowd to do evil. This is something that we see happening.

And so as we understand Numbers chapter 35, as we understand some of the principles here, God cares about justice. And part of that is a fair trial. And we must not get caught up in the circulation of false reports. And we must not follow along with the crowd. Everybody else says this. But if it's to do evil, well then, we know what God says about that. We know God's heart in regards to that.

And so when it comes to things of society, there's some great principles to consider here in Numbers chapter 35. How about for us personally? For us personally, I think there's some things to consider. Now we could go on and on and on about society, and I'm not going to do that, right? But there's also things that we need to think about for our own lives. Because although we may not be dealing with accidental death situations immediately around us, we are dealing with

accidents that happen, things that take place, injuries that are happening in our lives. And here, I think the cities of refuge give us a little bit of insight on how to deal with that. And specifically, I would ask you to consider Matthew chapter 18. In Matthew chapter 18, verse 15 through 17, Jesus gives us some instruction about how to respond when your brother sins against you.

When someone around you injures you, when someone around you hurts you, how are you to respond to that? Now, it's easy for us to be an avenger of blood and to just go pay back people for the wrong that they have done, right? That's something that would be easy for us, natural for us, and perhaps common for us as well. But here's what the Lord says.

If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Here's what I'm suggesting. This is the fair trial that's alluded to here in Numbers chapter 35. That brother has sinned against you. That person has injured you. That person has hurt you. Give them a fair trial. Get a chance to hear the other side. You see, that interaction with that person who has offended you or hurt you is perhaps for correction,

to inform them, hey, you have done something wrong. It hurt me. It harmed me. And maybe they're unaware of that. Or just confrontation. They know that they've done something wrong. And I need you to know that I know you did something wrong, right? And so you need to turn from this and stop this behavior. And so it might be information that you're providing. It might be confrontation that you're having. But it also might be that you are going to hear a different side.

The first one to tell his side seems right, Proverbs says. And unfortunately, you're the first voice in your head, right? So your side seems right. But there's also many occasions where you will go after someone has hurt you or harmed you, and you will go and talk to that person. And if you're able to give them a fair trial, you'll be informed about the other side. And perhaps there was no intended harm.

Perhaps there was as, you know, terrible as it was in your imagination of, you know, their intent to destroy you and wipe you out and cut off your fingers and, you know, make you miserable for the rest of your life. You might have imagined this whole thing in your head, but the reality might be really different. And we need to learn to give people a fair trial, to get a chance to hear the other side and perhaps receive some correction ourselves in how we were handling the situation.

Of course, many times we don't address the person who has hurt us, but instead we go and we address everybody around us and our best friends and our grandma and uncles and aunts and everybody on Facebook, but not the person who is actually the one who is involved. And that is a direct opposite of what God asks us to do, and it's not a fair trial. It's representative of what we see happen in our society. We are not called to be representatives of society. We are called to be representatives of God.

And so we are charged with representing God well in the way that we handle injuries to us. Here's what God says. Fair trial is really important. Yes, if they do not respond, then involve a couple others. Then, you know, do a broader investigation, right? And address the situation. Have a real trial. But don't run off circulating false reports, misrepresenting God.

When someone has sinned against you, and notice that it's a sin against you that the Lord is referring to there. People sin against us accidentally and intentionally. Both can happen, but it's a real injury. It's a real issue. It's not imagined or, you know, fake. It's a real situation that happened. We need to be diligent to give people around us a fair trial. Give them the opportunity to share a different side, to understand where they're coming from.

In the spiritual realm, this also pictures for us the accusations that come against us by the enemy. Romans 12, verse 10 describes Satan accusing Christians before God day and night. There's this ongoing onslaught of accusation against you by the enemy. But we also have a great defense attorney. We get a fair trial. The accusation comes, but also our defense comes. 1 John 2 says,

Tells us if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. The advocate, that's our defense attorney, Jesus, ever lives to make intercession for us. And so with this onslaught of accusations against us that are true, that are right, right? Like Satan doesn't have to make up things about us to accuse us of before God. We are sinful.

And so he has plenty of ammunition to bring up before God about how sinful we are and how much we don't deserve his love, his blessings, his goodness, or all eternity. But we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, who says, this person has believed in me, has received the death that I died for them upon the cross. And so, yes, they have failed. Yes, they have sinned, but their sin is forgiven. So we get that fair trial.

We get the accusation, but we also get the defense and the opportunity to be washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Well, moving on to verses 16 through 21, the second point for us to consider this morning, and that is that God requires punishment for guilty people. So the first thing we learn is that God requires a fair trial for people. Because God cares about justice, he cares that the trial, that the investigation, that it be handled fairly, objectively,

so that the truth is known, and then we can take action from there. Now, if the situation is this person has fled to the city of refuge, the trial has commenced, and now all of the evidence is brought to light, and the person is found guilty, what happens in that situation? Verse 16, it says this, but if he strikes him with an iron implement so that he dies, he is a murderer.

the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he strikes him with a stone in the hand by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon by which one could die, and he does die, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death.

If he pushes him out of hatred or while lying in wait hurls something at him so that he dies, or in enmity he strikes him with his hand so that he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he meets him. Here God addresses a situation where the person who fled to the city of refuge is guilty of murder. And that's determined a few different ways.

First of all, if the investigation reveals a murder weapon, and so it's an iron implement that is effective and useful for murder, well then, it makes it pretty clear his intentions were to kill this person. Or if he strikes him with a stone, you know, it's not like a mystery, it's not like a strange thing, I can't believe I hit him with a stone and he died. No, that's a...

Pretty clear revelation about the intention of the person who did the striking. If the person dies then as a result of that, he is a murderer. If he strikes him with a wooden hand weapon, so it's not so much about the material, right? If it's iron, if it's stone, if it's wood, if it's a weapon that is used, then, well, it brings clarity. This is intended. This was intentional, not accidental.

or if the investigation reveals a murder motive. And so verse 20, if he pushes him, but out of hatred, right? And so it's addressing, okay, now there's an investigation that's going to happen. And so the friends and family are going to be interviewed. There's going to be a discussion and a finding out what was their relationship like? What's the background on this situation? Again, it's all involved in the fair trial. And so if these guys were enemies and they

This happens. Well, that influences, that helps the judges understand what was the situation and the intention of the person who killed this other person. And so if it's determined, the judges, they evaluate the evidence, they interview the witnesses, they work through all of these details. If it's determined that this person is guilty of murder, then God makes it clear throughout this passage, the punishment for murder is death.

The avenger of blood himself, he says in verse 19, shall put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death. This goes back to Genesis chapter 9, verse 5 and 6, where God establishes, whoever sheds man's blood, by man's blood, his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God, he made him. Whether it's

an animal that has killed somebody, or whether it's a person who has killed somebody, God established there in Genesis chapter 9, and then it's consistent throughout the rest of the law, the punishment for murder is death. And so it is to be handled in this way, again, so that the land is not defiled, so that justice is served, so that the blood that is shed is atoned for in

by the correct addressing of the situation. Now, of course, this required sufficient evidence. They weren't to just execute willy-nilly or however they felt like it, or if they wanted to. There had to be sufficient evidence. Again, verse 30 requires the testimony of witnesses. And so if there's insufficient evidence...

then they could not determine guilt. If there wasn't two witnesses, if there was only one witness, God says that's not sufficient testimony against a person. That's not clear enough evidence. So then that situation would not fall under this classification of that person is guilty. They might be unknown, uncertain, highly suspected, you know, that kind of thing, but it's not clear. And so there is not to be the execution of that sentence.

Now also later on in this passage in verse 31, God says, you're not to pervert justice for money. That is, the person who is found guilty cannot pay a ransom in order to escape the death penalty. God says he shall surely be put to death. And so God requires punishment for guilty people.

How does this impact us in our society? Well, again, we get to have a say in what we do as a society. We're not the only voice. We don't get the last say necessarily, but we get to cast our vote for this is what God says. This is what's important to God. And so one of the things that we must evaluate as we head to the polls, as we address these situations, is the requirement for guilty people to be addressed.

appropriately. Now the punishment here is death penalty because it's a death issue, but that's not the case in all of God's law. The punishment is always proportional to the law that God established. And so when we're reminded to vote our Christian values, this is part of what's included, that we make sure that we consider and evaluate how does this platform, how does this person, how does this law impact the

What's right and wrong in dealing with punishment and dealing with those who are found guilty? For us personally, we of course need to evaluate this as well. Because when it comes to those who have done us wrong and we find them guilty, you have that Matthew 18 confrontation and now, all right, I've established the facts. I've heard the other side. Here's a fair trial. Now what do I do? There's a balance that we need to find between mercy and justice, right? And similar to the balance that God walks with us.

There's a balance between mercy and justice. I would suggest that you consider it this way. When punishment is good for the offender, then we need to make sure that it's implemented. When punishment is good for the offender, not when it's good for you, not when it makes you feel better, not self-centered in that evaluation, but when it's good for the offender.

for you to go and get two or three other people and to come back and say, look, this is a real issue. We need to address this. And when it's good for them, when it helps them to get where they need to be in relationship to the Lord, then we need to put a high priority on making sure that guilty people

or punished. Not necessarily that we take matters into our own hands, you know, that we become the avenger of blood. God's not saying every one of you be an avenger of blood. He's saying, look, this is the way that society deals with these issues, so here's parameters for it. Here's principles by which to navigate how to address these kinds of situations. And so for us personally, we need to understand. It's important sometimes. We don't want to allow punishment. We don't want to bring punishment, perhaps.

But sometimes it's necessary and it's good for those who have offended and hurt. Moving on to verses 22 through 25, here's point number three to consider this morning. And that is that God requires protection for innocent people. So this is the inverse. The investigation goes through. We find the person guilty. Now they must be dealt with as a guilty person. Justice needs to take place. It needs to happen. But also there is a situation where someone is falsely accused.

There is the reality where accidents happen, where things take place, and it was not intentional, and so the person is innocent. Verse 22. However, if he pushes him suddenly without enmity, or throws anything at him without lying in wait, or uses a stone by which a man could die, throwing it at him without seeing him, so that he dies while he was not his enemy or seeking his harm.

Then the congregation shall judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments. So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled. And he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil. If the investigation reveals an accidental death, so the guy pushed him, but it was without enmity.

It was not with hatred. It wasn't premeditated. Maybe it was a fight that broke out, but it was the first time they've ever fought. Or maybe it was some other circumstance that, you know, we don't have to think of all the scenarios. We understand that it's not intentional. It's without hatred. If he throws a rock in the field and doesn't see the guy laying in the field and the rock hits him and kills him, well, that's different than throwing a rock at someone intentionally, right? And so God says here, if the investigation reveals that it was an accident, then it's

Well, then the congregation is to intervene. The congregation is to judge between the manslayer and the avenger of blood. They're to come between them and say, avenger of blood, I know you're upset. This was your family member that got hurt. And so I know you want to, you know, bring about the vengeance of blood. But in this case, this person did not do this intentionally. It was accidental. Or, again, verse 30, we've investigated, but...

It's inconclusive. We can't establish the guilt or the innocence of this person. The congregation is to intervene then and to say, no, it's not right for you to execute this person under these circumstances. God wants the innocent person protected. This is important to God. God cares about justice, and part of that includes the protection of those who do not deserve justice.

The judgment that someone is trying to bring about against them. Verse 25, so the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. It's wrong to shed blood for an accident. It's tragic that the accident happened. The family is wrecked. There's many people's lives who are impacted and forever changed. But you've heard the saying, two wrongs don't make a right. Two injustices don't make justice.

And so the congregation is then to intervene and to say, no, this situation does not merit that response, and it would not be right. And if we're trying to protect the defilement of the land, protect against the defilement of the land by blood, then to allow this to continue, well, that would be a further defilement of the land by blood because it's not right to

for this person to be put to death, even though they hurt or harmed your family so greatly. The land would be just as defiled if they allowed an innocent person to be executed as if they allowed a guilty person to get away with murder. The land could be defiled both ways, either way. Again, verse 33, you shall not pollute the land where you are for blood defiles the land. And so further shedding of blood in a situation that doesn't require it

furthers the guilt of the land, it does not atone for the land. It worsens the situation. God cares about innocent people and he says they need to be protected. Now throughout the scriptures, there's some kind of classic pictures of innocent people that need protection. Again, as we evaluate these things for ourselves and for our society today, this pictures for us that the protection that we as a society must provide.

God addresses the situation of the fatherless, the child, the young person who does not have a father to defend them, to protect them, and to care for them. Well, then society around them are to step in and be that protection and provide that kind of protection. It's important to God that the fatherless be taken care of when they don't have a protector that we step in and protect, we as a society.

The widow is another classic picture that God uses of those who are vulnerable to being oppressed, taken advantage of, and hurt. And so we as a society, we as a culture, you might say we as a church, and even we ourselves personally, must be on the lookout for those who are in a position of vulnerability and to protect those who are innocent. The foreigner is another example that God uses throughout the scriptures.

And you can understand, you know, someone coming in from a foreign land, being vulnerable, easily oppressed, and God says, that's not right. You as a society, you need to make sure that you protect the foreigner that they're not taken advantage of just because they're not accepted by the people or they don't speak the language or whatever that might be, but that they're protected and covered in your society and the poor.

It's another example that God uses throughout the scriptures. Those who can't afford to defend themselves and take care of themselves, it's easy for societies, for people within society to take advantage of the poor. And so in all of these things, God is saying, look, you need to protect innocent people. You need to protect those who cannot protect themselves. God cares intensely about oppression against the helpless and the innocent.

Psalm chapter 68 calls him the father of the fatherless, the defender of widows. God says, look, if you oppress the poor and they call out to me, listen, I'm the defender of the poor. And so you better watch out because I will defend them. He cares about justice, about what's right in dealing with those who need protection, who are easily oppressed. We are to take care of innocent people, of vulnerable people.

to make sure injustice does not continue. Again, here in our society, we get to have a say in what we do as a society. We get to have a say. When we talk about voting our Christian values, this is part of it. How are we going to take care of innocent people? And you know, some of the solutions that are put forth today punish innocent people and require of innocent people more than what should be required. It's something we need to evaluate as we consider these things.

When it comes to us personally, again, evaluating things by Matthew chapter 18, we have the fair trial. We have the conversation with the person who has hurt us or harmed us. We need to understand. As much as it might be difficult for us, we have that conversation. We find out, you know, that person really is innocent. Once I conducted a fair trial and heard the other perspective, now I get it. I mean, I'm still upset about it. I'm still angry. I'm still hurt. But God asked me to protect innocent people.

not to harm them, not to slander them before all my friends and family members and everywhere that I go, that I would protect them. It was an accident, perhaps. It was not intentional. It's not the situation and scenario that I had imagined. The final thing I'll share, point number four in verses 26 through 29, God offers people refuge in Jesus forever. One of the interesting things about the cities of refuge is that if you were found innocent,

You moved into the city of refuge for good. And so the city of refuge served two purposes. It was the initial salvation from the avenger of blood to get a fair trial. But then it was for the rest of your life, you would live there. You accidentally killed somebody, it's a fair sentence. It's a fair sentence. It's an accident, but there are still consequences even from accidents. And so for the rest of your life, or really it's for the rest of the high priest's life,

you are to live there. And I've run out of time to be able to get into a lot of detail about that, but I just point to Jesus. Jesus, our great high priest, we run to him for salvation and for the rest of our life, for the rest of his life, we're to stay with him. We're fully protected. We have refuge. The picture of the city of refuge in Jesus is not exactly one for one perfect.

Because the city of refuge was a refuge really for the innocent. But Jesus is a refuge for the guilty. Because even though we have sinned, even though we do sin, even though we fall short of the kingdom of God, we can run to Jesus. And he becomes our city of refuge. He is our city of refuge because we believe in the cleansing effect of his blood, the forgiveness of sins that he promises to us.

And so like the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 6, we have fled to him for refuge. But that also means we need to abide in him, to stay there, stay close to Jesus, abide in him, walk with him, continue to seek him and pursue him so that we get to experience the protection that he provides, not just for the innocent, because none of us could run to him if it was only for the innocent.

But we are dealt with by God as innocent because we have believed in Jesus. And so we get safe harbor. We get refuge in Jesus Christ. And so this morning, I would encourage you to consider God cares about justice. That impacts us as a society and how we relate to society. It impacts us personally. It impacts us spiritually. We need to allow these things to drive us to the Lord.

God requires a fair trial for people. He requires punishment for guilty people. He requires protection for innocent people. But he also offers us refuge in Jesus forever. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much that we can find refuge in you. Even though we're unworthy and undeserving, God, may that remind us so clearly and seriously, Lord, that it would impact us in a way

as we relate to others around us, Lord, that we would extend your patience, your mercy, and your grace towards us and those around us who hurt us, who wrong us, who sin against us, whether intentionally or accidentally. Lord, may your example instruct us how to relate to one another. And God, as we are members of this society, I pray that you would help us

to put on your mindset, to value what you value, to look at what you say is important, and to use that in our opportunities to have a say in our society. Help us, Lord, to be good ambassadors for you. Lord, to be excellent representations of you in our personal lives, in our cities, in our state, in our nation. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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