John R. Macduff

“ Young reader, love often to gaze on the walls of this City of Refuge. The sacred writer, in giving the list of these six cities, seems to have kept it to the last because it is a happy word, and speaks of the happy prospects of all those that love the Lord Jesus. Believe me, there is no true joy but in God.Pg 61 The joy of the wicked is like that of a noisy stream—noisy because it is shallow. The joy, on the other hand, which Jesus gives, is like a great river,—deep, calm, ever-flowing, overflowing;—not full in winter and dry in summer, but full, and clear, and refreshing all the year long. ”

“ 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!” ”

“ Angels, in their errands of mercy through the universe, passed by our world; they could hold no intercourse with those who had rebelled against their Creator. Can none bridge this wide gulf which separatesPg 40 between earth and heaven? Can no ladder be let down by which happy angels can descend once more on their visits of love, and fallen man once more be raised up to hold “fellowship” with God and holy creatures?
Jesus is the true Hebron—the true ladder of Jacob let down from heaven and reaching to earth. ”

“ And Jesus is a Stronghold for all. I have already spoken of the little children of old rushing to its gates,—infants smiling fearless in the Saviour's arms. He combines the majesty of Deity with the tenderness of man. If He had been the great God alone, you might have been awed at the thought of going to Him. But what says the prophet Isaiah of this true Bezer?—“A MAN shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest.” [43] He Himself says in another scripture, “I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.” ”

“ I trust many who read this will love often to visit in thought the old city ofPg 41 the patriarchs, and to dwell on its name and meaning, “fellowship.” Think of what you would have been without Jesus, your Hebron-City of Refuge,—a poor outcast in creation, an alien from all that is holy and happy. But by Jesus all is changed. God is your Father—Christ is your elder Brother. In Him, God loves you,—angels visit you,—the Holy Spirit teaches you,—heaven is open for you. You are enrolled as a citizen of the great Hebron above—“the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” ”

“ What does the name Bezer tell of Christ?
It literally means “stronghold,” or Rock. Jesus is the believer's Bezer. The sinner is in danger everywhere else, but in Jesus he is safe. He is invited to “turn to the STRONGHOLD” as a “prisoner of hope,” and once within its gates, “though an host encamp against him,” he need “fear no evil.”
What a mighty force does encamp against him! There is God's Holy Law,Pg 45 with all its terrible threatenings and curses. But sheltered in the true Bezer he can triumphantly say, “It is God that justifieth: who is he that condemneth?” ”

“ He was once a bright angel himself. He knows what holiness and happiness are. But being now a wicked spirit, he would make others as wicked and unhappy as himself. He is spoken of in the Bible as “a strong man armed.” [38] But Jesus is “stronger” than this strong man. If you have fled for refuge to this great gospel Bezer, seated within its secure bulwarks you can joyfully exclaim, “I will say of the Lord, He is my rock, and my fortress,Pg 46 and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whose I will put my trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” ”

“ But the same gentle hand touched him, the same gentle voice he was wont to hear so often in past years, said to him, “Fear not!” How sweetPg 55 for us to think that we have exalted on the highest throne of the universe an unchanged and unchanging Saviour, an ever-living, never-dying Friend.
“Though now ascended up on high,
He bends on earth a brother's eye.”
Jesus is exalted in heaven, and exalted by all the glorious family of heaven. But, alas! there is one place where He is often not exalted, but rather cast down, and that is the human heart. ”

“ Third, The Rock of Castello was quite close at hand; though lofty, it was always near for fleeing to: so is Jesus,Pg 120 the “Rock of Ages.” We have not to say, “Who shall ascend into Heaven to bring Christ down?” “He is not far from any one of us.” Indeed, He is so very near, and so very accessible, that the only wonder is that there should be any found who do not “flee to Him for refuge!”
Fourth, The Rock of Castello was wont to shelter many children and helpless infants; many poor mothers, driven from their homes, carried their babes thither in their arms. ”

“ He marks your tears, for He shed the same himself. Fleeing to this true Bezer in the time of affliction, you can dry your tears and sing, “God also will be a refuge for the distressed, a refuge in the time of trouble; and they that know thy name shall put their trust in thee.” [41]
And there is Death, the last enemy of all. But even over this King of terrors and Terror of kings, you can shout in triumph from your Divine shelter, “O death, where is thy sting?... ThanksPg 48 be to God, who giveth me the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.” ”

“ Don't think, because you are young, and have committed few sins, that you are safer than those who have committedPg 85 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 ”

“ Every hour you put off, the time is shorter; the avenger is nearer; the chances of escape are fewer. There is no time for delay. I say this to the very youngest. I say more. As young feet can run fastest, so it is with young souls. You will never go to Jesus so easily as now. ”

“ You may bePg 42 deprived of human friendship and fellowship. The brother or sister, the father or mother, or friend you once dearly loved, may be laid in some earthly Machpelah—some silent grave. But rejoice! nothing can separate you from a better friend and more lasting fellowship. Though all earthly joys were to perish, you can always rush within the gates of that mighty Hebron of refuge, and say, “Truly our 'FELLOWSHIP' is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” ”

“ What a complete Saviour! In Him “all fullness dwells.” In the case ofPg 66 some of these Hebrew cities, “not one stone has been left upon another that has not been thrown down.” Owls are screaming amid their ruins, and jackals prowling for their prey. But not so with Him of whom they were types. Jesus ever lives! He never changes. Time and decay cannot crumble the walls of the Gospel Refuge. ”

“ But a glorious CITY, “salvation its walls and bulwarks,” opens its gates. The sinner is exhorted to “escape thither;” toPg 16 “linger not in all the plain;” to “flee for his life, lest he be consumed.” [6] That city is Jesus, the sinner's Refuge and the sinner's Friend. Once within its walls, no enemy can touch him,—no sword can terrify him. ”

“ His child may be lying pining in sickness at his cottage, but it may endanger him to return to clasp that and his other little ones in his embrace, and bid them a fond farewell. He may have no time to alter his raiment or take even his scrip or pilgrim-staff. The Avenger of blood may be in the adjoining street, or in the dwelling hard by. Another hour may be fatal;—“Skin for skin, all that a man hath will he give for his life.” ”

“ It is because I believe and know that many as young as you have obeyed the Saviour's invitation, and have already entered this happy City, that I ask you to come and hear while I speak to you about it. I believe and know that many such have learned to feel that they are sinners, and that they need a Saviour. They have been taught by God's own Word and Spirit that they have broken His holy law, and have thereby exposed themselves to eternal death. But they are now safe withinPg 18 the Gospel Shelter. The “enemy” is “stilled.” The “avenger” has sheathed his sword. ”

“ Happy prospect!—the time will come when the whole world will be found singing together the same song and uttering the same prayer, “Open unto us the gates of righteousness, that we may enter into them, and praise the Lord!” [63]
Will none of my young friends rejoice if they are able, by aiding the cause of missions abroad, to help putting this “new song” into the lips of those who Pg 76are still “wandering in the wilderness in a solitary way, and have NO CITY to dwell in?” [64]
The third thing I want to say to you is, that no OTHER Refuge will do but Jesus. ”

“ Jesus Christ is the true Atlas. “Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows!” [24] All the sins of all His people Jesus bore for ever away. Think of that heavy load which bowed Him down to the ground in the garden of Gethsemane, and caused drops of blood to fall from His brow! No other one but Jesus could have carried such an awful load and burden as this. No angel or archangel could have done so. Jesus, being God, was alone “able to save unto the uttermost.” [25] He is the only “surePg 33 foundation” that could sustain all the building. ”

“ The adjoining height is pointed out as the place from which the patriarch saw the smoke of burning Sodom rising from its own deep valley. It was in Hebron David was anointed king over Israel. It was amid its vineyards and mountain-slopes that John the Baptist grew up as a little boy, before he appeared in the wilderness of Judea, to tell of OnePg 39 mightier than he, “whose shoe-latchet” he was “not worthy to unloose.” [33]
What does the name Hebron tell of Christ?
In Hebrew it means “fellowship,” “society,” “friendship.” Jesus has brought guilty man into fellowship with God. ”

“ In the old Cities of Refuge no weapons of any kind were allowed to be made. Those who possessed them had to surrender them. This is true in a nobler and better sense regarding the Gospel Stronghold. There can be no deadly weapons forged there. TheirPg 50 edge is blunted: “There is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” [46] Satan's armoury has been plundered; the “Stronger than he” has “taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divided the spoil.” [47]
I have said that the word Bezer means “Rock” as well as “stronghold.” “Trust in the Lord for ever ”

“ It is delightful, moreover, to think, that just as the Jewish cities were easily got at from all parts of Palestine, so from all parts of the world, may people go to the Greater and more Glorious Gospel Refuge. ”

“ They were supplied with wells of water, and Levites were placed in turn as porters or gatekeepers, to be ready to welcome every fugitive into these homes of safety.
So God has done everything for you, to make the Gospel Refuge accessible. Your parents and ministers—your Bibles and churches and good books—are all, just like these refuge signals, pointing away from the cross-roads and by-roads of human reason, and human error, and self-righteousness, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and saying, “Flee! flee! flee forPg 72 refuge to lay hold on the hope set before you!” ”

“ The Saviour who called little children to come to Him will listen to you, no matter what the subjects be, if you be but in earnest and need His help. If you have a difficult lesson to learn, a hasty spirit to subdue, an unkind word to bear, a proud spirit to humble—whatever your difficulty, take it to God in the name of Jesus, and He will help you. If even we, who see so little beneath the surface, are not pleased with outward appearances without good qualities within, how much less is the great God who searches the inmost rePg 94cesses of the heart? 'The Lord seeth not as man seeth ”

“ There is your own Wicked Heart, with its sinful thoughts, and vain imaginations, and deep corruptions—for a man's worst foes are often those of his own household. One of these heart-foes will tempt you to tell a lie ”

“ Some have been carried thither, in a state of insensibility, by unknown benefactors, and on gradually awaking to consciousness, have blessed the kind hearts and hands which have saved them from certain death, and are now ministering to their necessities. ”

“ Often, often, then, when the wintry tempests and Alpine storms, and drifting snows, were raging fiercely around, adding to the terrors of the enemy, did these peasant warriors find in the Rock of Castello a secure shelter and retreat.Pg 113 With their fountain and blazing fire, their Bibles and their God, they would make the rocky cavern ring with praise. ”

“ Where there were angles or by-roads, posts with “Refuge” on them were set up; and as there were no bridges across Jordan, three of the cities were placed, as I have already mentioned, on one side of the river, and three on the other; so that all might easily get at them, and none might have any excuse forPg 71 not fleeing. The nearest city could always be reached by the manslayer in half a day. ”

“ We need not wonder at their selection of the old Canaanite city, on the peaceful slope of the southern hills, nestling amid olive-groves and terebinths, and looking down on one of the most fertilePg 38 valleys in Palestine, with its orchards and corn-fields. On its eastern height is the spot which gives it to this day perhaps its most sacred interest—the cave of Machpelah, where the dust of the patriarchs has reposed for four thousand years. ”