The Map of Mercy: What 6 Ancient Cities Reveal About Your Identity

In the Hebrew language, names are never random. They reveal nature, purpose, and function. Today, Austin Gardner invites you to "flee for refuge" as we explore the six ancient cities established in Israel.

If you’ve been walking through life feeling like a "Mara" (bitterness), it’s time to discover the identity God has set apart for you. Austin walks through the Hebrew roots of the Cities of Refuge to show how God provides a holy place where burdens are lifted, unions are restored, and outsiders become family.

Key Scriptures: Hebrews 6:18, Psalm 46:1, Isaiah 53, John 10:28.

A Word for the Weary:
These cities weren't just for Israel; they were for the stranger too. They were always accessible, with wide roads and signs pointing the way. If you feel far off today, this episode is your signpost.

Visit the Hub: waustingardner.com for more on the DNA of Grace book launch.

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Transcript

Scripture Wonder In Hard Seasons

Austin Gardner 0:28

I don't have words to explain how excited I can get sometimes just in my simple reading of the scriptures in the morning when I get up. And, you know, I'm just going through the Old Testament. I'm now into Deuteronomy. And the other day I was reading, and I've been wanting to talk to you about this, but we've been running to and fro, going to doctors and so on, been to Tennessee and taking just taking care of all the things that go on in, you know, in my physical life with the cancer. All going good, by the way, real good, real good. But I wanted to talk to you about the cities of refuge. And I got so much to share with you from that. Hidden inside the law is not just instruction, but revelation, not just justice, but the very heart of God. And I'm telling you, this jumped off the page at me because there's a system and it tells you about the gospel long before the gospel. I was telling one of the nurses in Tennessee this, and she came back the next day and she said, because I had to go two days for two sets of infusions. And she said, Man, tell me that again. I almost couldn't sleep thinking about that. And so let me read to you Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 18, 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. That's Hebrews, New Testament, who have fled for refuge. We have fled for refuge, and God can't lie. And we can have strong consolation, and there's a hope before us. Did you hear that? They fled for refuge. That's not casual language. That's not someone browsing for options. That's someone running because their life depends on it. Years ago, I was flying my plane. You know, I'm a I have a pilot's license, and I was flying my plane and I was up towards Chattanooga. I'd wanted to fly by the church I'd been a member of for many years, and I flew over and took some pictures. I was by myself, and my instructor wasn't there. And I'm not even sure I had my license yet or exactly where I was in that story. And I had my app on my iPad, and all of a sudden the sky got horrible, and I knew a storm was coming, and I was scared. I'll be honest with you, had my instructor been there, I wouldn't have been nervous because I'd have known he knew how to take care of it, but I didn't think I did. So I turned and I ran and tried to outrun the storm and and get back. You see, I was running for refuge. Behind me was danger, and I was afraid, and I was running to where I might could get refuge. And that's the language that we find in scripture here. It's not an idea, it's uh it's where you run when you know you haven't got anything that you can do. You know that you can't survive on your own. You know you're in massive trouble. And that's what I knew that day because I was flying that airplane and taking off from there. So in the Old Testament, we come across six cities of refuge. And the Bible explains that. Says in Numbers chapter 35, verse nine, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, When you come to the Jordan, I'm trying to read quickly here, you'll appoint the cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the slayer may flee thither, which kills any person unawares, at unawares. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger, and the manslayer, that the manslayer die not, and so he stand before the congregation in judgment. Now, the story is, you know, uh God gave a sentence of death for anybody who would kill a person premeditated on purpose and intentional. And then it was like second-degree murder, or uh, you know, what do they call that in in our Jewish in our system today? You know, uh it's it's accidental or non-premeditated manslaughter, maybe, instead of uh murder. And uh, but God had appointed an avenger, and so somebody in the family could kill you. You took their blood, they could take your blood. And so God set up these cities of refuge. They were appointed by God, and the one who had accidentally killed somebody would run there, and the avenger was trying to catch them, and there was a place where you could run and live, and you would have to stand judgment to make sure it was an accident, but you could live. In Joshua chapter 20, verse 2 speak to the children of Israel, appoint out of your cities of refuge that the slayer that kills any person unawares and unwittingly, in other words, accidental, can flee there. And they can have a refuge from the avenger of blood. So justice is real. Somebody has to pay for sin, for crimes, but mercy is also provided. That's grace. So God creates a system all the way back in the Old Testament. God creates a system where justice does not destroy the one who runs to him. These refuge really are a person. They're Jesus. Now, this is where it really gets fun. The word rev the word refuge in the Hebrew is not passive. It means to receive, to gather in, to take someone into protection. And that's what Jesus does for us. John 6, 37. All that the Father gives me shall come to me, and the him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. You catch that? Refuge isn't just a place, it's a person who receives you. Matthew 11, 28, Jesus said, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He doesn't say, Go find safety. He says, Come to me. So I want you to understand we have an open door. You know, you know, the night the wind's howling and the lightning is going crazy and the rain is coming down, and your child is afraid, and and they rush into your room and climb into your bed and uh well, it doesn't matter. All the lights on, it doesn't matter. They are scared. But it's not just the bedroom, it's you. They come to you and they run to you as a refuge. And that's what we do. So justice is real. It's not that God's like, it's okay, you did wrong, you kill somebody, it's okay. That's not what's going on. It says in Numbers 35, 19, the revenger of blood himself shall slay their murderer when he meets him, he shall slay him. So the avenger's not evil. He just represents justice. That was the justice system they still had set up in their country. That's the tension in the word of God. How can God be just and still show mercy? Listen to what he said in James chapter 2, in James chapter 2 and verse 13, for he shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment. God does not cancel justice, he creates a place where mercy can exist without destroying you. So there was a cities of refuge in the Old Testament. Now listen carefully, because this matters. In Deuteronomy 19, 3 it said, Thou shalt prepare thee a way that every slayer may flee. So they built roads. Now there's six cities, and so they're kind of equally divided so that everybody has equal access. And then they built roads that were clear and straight and extremely well marked, because you are running for your life and you need a way to get there. And isn't that what Jesus said in John 14, 6? And the way, the truth, and the life. He's not showing the way. He's the center of it all. And Isaiah 59, 20, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion. Hebrews 4.14, seeing then that we have a great high priest. Romans 3.26, that he might be just and the justifier. Do you see what's happening? Jesus is not part of the system. He's the whole system. He is the refuge. He is the high priest. He's redeemer. In the law, you run from the Avenger, and Christ, the Avenger, becomes your Savior, and He is our Redeemer, our refuge. There's one condition. Numbers 35, 26. But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border, the revenger may kill him. You have to remain. You have to abide. You don't lose your salvation. That's not the lesson that's being taught here. But do you realize that when we run to the Savior, we're in the middle of all that freedom, we're in the middle of all that beauty. It's a wonderful thing. And sin can't get to us. But if you ever quit abiding in Christ and you ever wander out in the world again, sin can still harm you. We can't do anything without him. So we're to abide in him. John chapter 15. Abiding is not striving, it's just resting where life is already at work. So we continue in his word. If you step outside, don't you realize it'd be a there'd be horrible consequences. Now, I just want to point out several things. Every word, I don't have time in this podcast, but every word, the name of every city, represented Jesus. The road was clear. Like John the Baptist cleared the way, the road was clear for you to get in. And get this, I don't have time to go into it all because I want you to meditate on this. Those were Levitical cities. In other words, they were full of people of God. And you don't have a lot of accidental slayings, let's be honest. And so the city is more full of godly people than it is of manslayers. And so now as you run to the refuge, you're surrounded by holiness and worship and beautiful music and the word of God, and that's what we have in Christ. In him, we are in the middle of all this holiness that he has provided. Outside, danger still exists, but in him we have victory. Do you understand? It's so wonderful. There's no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. We don't have less condemnation, we don't have reduced condemnation. We have no we don't have conditional condemnation. There's no condemnation to them that are in Christ. God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble. So the cities of refuge in the Old Testament are pictures. They're pictures of a place that if you did accidentally wrong, you could run there and be rescued and be saved. Those represent a person, Jesus. And there's a wide road, and all can come to him. And he has made the way for everybody to be saved, and he cares, and he's working in everybody's lives. And if as long as you stay in the city, as long as you stay in Christ, you can't get hurt. Those cities represent a signpost saying Jesus is coming to be the refuge for sinners. He is our strength, he is our refuge, he's a very present help in a time of trouble. Psalm chapter 46 and verse 1. So Jesus is the one that receives us, and Jesus is the one that covers us, and Jesus is the one that keeps us. And so we bless the name of Jesus right now. I say all that. I was just reading through the and I just went down in a wormhole. I mean, I just kept studying and studying and seeing all that Jesus has done for us. And the cities of refuge represented him. There was one, all there were every they were put so that every person that lived in Israel was equal distance. You could all get there. No one had to go a long ways, and you don't have to. And the roads were kept and wide, and signs pointed the way. Run that way for help, run that way for refuge. And all that's pointing to Jesus. And every one of those words for every one of those cities, and I'll do another one about that, maybe tomorrow. I'm just sitting here thinking about it. Because it's so beautiful. I just want you to see. Even when you're reading the Old Testament and you're reading one of these passages that don't make sense to you, take time and dig in, and you might find there's a lot more there than just things you ought to know and academically have in your head. It's about knowing the heart of our God who loves us so much and cares so much about us. You also know Don Richardson wrote several books, and they were all about from missions, and it was about eternity in their hearts. That's the name of one of his books, and I would suggest that you get that and read. And then there was The Lords of the Earth and Peace Child. Those are the most famous ones that he wrote. And Peace Child, most everybody knows about, but in Lords of the Earth, this man is running for his life, and he runs and jumps across a low wall and just drops his weapons and stands there, and all the enemies that are about to kill him drop their weapons, and no one's going to kill him. It's over. And it's like, what in the world is happening? But in their culture, somehow the cities of refuge have been passed down. And as long as he stayed on this sacred ground, the city of refuge, he couldn't be hurt. Now you and I know that's Jesus. And I want to thank you for listening to this, but it's all about Jesus and it's what he's done for you. And let me explain something to you. It's never about what we do, it's about what he did. It's about who he is, and he loves you and he cares about you. And I want you to know I'm praying for you. If these are a blessing to you in any way, share them with somebody else and let somebody else learn a little bit about how good Jesus is. God bless you. Give us a like, a thank you, a comment. I'd love to hear from you. Thank you very much.