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]
I remember, many years ago, attending the deathbed of a young man in E——. He told me, one day, he had dreamt of being in a shop in —— Street, which seemed to be hung round with armour and coats of mail. A number of people in the shop were girding these on; while a man was standing with a drawn sword in his hand outside the door, ready to slay them as they passed into the open street. One after another he cut down;—the armour was no protection to them—their bodies were lying dead and wounded on the pavement. In great fear and terror, the young man said, his turn seemed at last to come, when he, too, must try to cover himself with the same armour, and rush out by the fatal door. He knew not what to do. In looking around him, he observed, in the uppermost shelf, something resembling a web of coarse linen, lying apparently neglected. He resolved to take it down, and wrap himself in a portion of it, instead of the unavailing sheaths of iron and steal. Covering his head and body, he darted out, following the footsteps of the others. The sword descended; but it bounded back again. It was unable to pierce the linen covering. He alone was safe in that crowd of dead and dying.
Beautifully did this youthful dreamer apply his own “vision of the night.” It was:—How vain are all the boasted sheathings of the armour of self-righteousness; and how safe and glorious is that “white linen” covering of the righteousness of Jesus! To the eye of reason, the panoply of iron and steel seems the best, and strongest, and securest. Many will not “submit themselves to the righteousness of God,” and persist in using the others. But they will be a poor protection against the sword of God's avenging justice. Happy are those who have been led to look above for another righteousness, and who have listened to the Divine injunction, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!”[66]
Reader, let me ask, is this your case? Don't think, because you are young, and have committed few sins, that you are safer than those who have committed many, and that you have not the same urgent need to flee to Jesus for refuge. In Canaan of old, the manslayer was in danger of his life, whether he had killed one or several. One single life, like one single sin, exposed him to the fury of the avenger.
Nay, more. The Hebrew fugitive might elude his avenger! He might manage, for days, or weeks, or years, to screen himself from his wrath. He might go, as David did to avoid Saul, to some cave of Adullam; he might hide in the gloomy recesses of some forest;—amid the oaks of Bashan, or the rocky gorges of the Jordan, or amid the cedar-heights of Lebanon;—in the words of Ezekiel, “dwelling safely in the wilderness, and sleeping in the woods.”[67] But it is different with the sinner and his Avenger:—“Vengeance is mine; and I WILL repay, saith the Lord.”[68] Who can escape His glance? Who can hide from His all-seeing eye?
“If I should find some cave unknown,
Where human foot had never trod,
Even there I could not be alone—
On every side there would be God.