Our text provides the names of three refugee cities which related to the people of the Old Testament and also to us today meaning: holy place, shoulder, fellowship, stronghold, exalted, and separated. Refugee cities were designated by God where a person may flee if they killed someone and sought mercy. These refugee cities even though designated years before are symbolic of the features of Christ. They tell us there still is a place to come for refuge through Jesus!
Jesus is our refuge that we all want.(Hebrews 6:18,19) The person who is spiritually dissatisfied with the world and all the sameness that represents have the opportunity to gain what their soul craves. Such a person would flee to refuge in Christ from the pressures of the world. As our refuge, the consequence of our actions reflect to the cross. The carnal person seeks an involvement with the world while at the same time the person who has a hunger in their soul can travel where God wants them to be.
Jesus is the refuge we all need. (Hebrews 9: 14,15) A person who is guilty of a crime cannot absolved himself from any judgment that might be laid upon him. As such, repentance speaks of his own guilt separately for those who are keenly aware of their need. When a person fled to the refuge city, he judged himself in danger of retribution. By fleeing his actions speak of judgment which requires him to give up all of his former life to live under the refuge of God. While in the refuge city the guilty person can know that the very city itself speaks of the penalties due him, but not inflicted on him. Because on his own crime there was no payment for the damages that his actions caused.
The wonderful fact is that the refuge city in ancient times was a place where the refugee had the opportunity where he may go. It was not a matter of status, personal finances, or any special person the guilty knew. In the same way that any and all persons who were guilty had the opportunity to find refuge that was available for him to have. The basic refuge in the city then and of Jesus is mercy. It was not just mercy, but it was mercy for the helpless so that he might find safety in the midst of his own turmoil. This man has the opportunity to live in the refuge city based on the death of the high priest after which he was free to return home. Jesus as our high priest and through his death encompasses all other sorrows. How wonderful it is that Jesus is our refuge providing a way to go home. In our case as Christians, he provides a way to go to an eternal home.(Luke 15:5,6)
Christian Writer 