Sunset last night, just before the Revival Service!
I’m writing you at 5:42 am this morning.
With well over an eight hour drive ahead of us!
But at the same time I am thrilled over the Word of God!
Pray for us today, please.
By the way …
On the way to Church each night, we passed Port Canaveral where the cruise ships come in and out of harbor! I made this picture yesterday morning. They are BIG!
Another Lesson from Joshua, Lord willing, Monday morning.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Concerning the Levites, when they asked Joshua for places to live: … “The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs.” Joshua 21:2-3
First note, they quoted Scripture! (Among the Levites were the priests, who well knew the Law of Moses, taught it to the people in fact.)
“Give us cities,” they cried!
Remember, the Tribe of Levi did NOT get any assigned land, not in the sense of many square miles! No vast tribal allotment! That was NOT their inheritance, material real estate. “Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.” Numbers 18:24
No inheritance?
Quite the contrary! Listen to God talk to Aaron, and the Levites through him: “I AM thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.” Numbers 18:20, wow. an early “I AM” statement!
Deuteronomy 10:9 makes this even more lucid. “Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; THE LORD IS HIS INHERITANCE, according as the LORD thy God promised him.” God speaking directly to Moses.
But … as per our Text today … the Levites were going to be given a few “cities” in which to live, to dwell when they were not “on duty” at Jerusalem, serving God in the things of the Tabernacle or Temple. But that’s a far cry from mega-grants of the Promised Land the other Jews enjoyed.
But with the LORD as their inheritance, they did not seem to mind a bit!
Now, the rest of Joshua 21 simply lists the cities in which the Levites could establish residence.
But I have already hit upon my “POINT” for today’s Lesson.
In a sentence, although compound … “God’s Old Testament children the Jews (generally) were given MATERIAL blessing for serving Him; but God’s New Testament children are given (generally) SPIRITUAL blessings!”
The Levites here are an obvious exception to the rule, maybe even being “types or symbols” of the principle I just named, typed, observed.
Again … “God’s Old Testament children (the Jews) generally were given MATERIAL blessing for serving Him; God’s New Testament children (the saints, the Church) are given generally SPIRITUAL blessings!
Wow!
Ephesians 1:4 says it perfectly … “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in heavenly places in Christ.” Amen!
So today, even though you may not have a lot of this world’s goods … remember what you have “in Christ Jesus!”
Spiritual Blessings innumerable!
Hallelujah!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
As we transition from Joshua chapter 20 to Joshua chapter 21 … we also are shifting from the Book’s shortest chapter (20) to its longest chapter! Yes, chapter 21 has a total of 45 verses!
Therefore it must be of significant importance, judging from the Holy Spirit’s “emphasis” placed on its content. Yet still, we are in the geographical section of the Book!
More about this later, this “Block” of Scripture will occupy (merit) several days of study, several Lessons.
But for this morning, verse 1 caught my attention. “Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel.” Joshua 21:1
Something about the “Levites,” the men in “full-time” Service for God, they being allowed no other jobs but those involved caring for the things of their Lord. Like caring for the Tabernacle and all its trimmings, its accessories. Hint: they are going to be asking for a place to locate their families! After all, the other Tribes of Israel already have homesteads!
But, look!
They of course approach their leader “Joshua the son of Num.” But also “Eleazar the Priest!” That would be the “High Priest,” of course.
But what happened to “Aaron?” The original High Priest, brother of Moses? Oh, he died! Numbers 33:38 tells the story, briefly. “And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and DIED there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.”
With a dead High Priest, what’s going to happen to the worship patterns of Israel? How will they approach God? How will they deal with their incessant sins?
God, as always, had a remedy!
A nearby verse reminds us: “And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, AND PUT THEM UPON ELEAZAR HIS SON; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount.” Numbers 20:28
One High Priest dead … another one, younger and of the same spirit, waiting to assume that high and holy ministry! Yes, from father to son … both being Levites, would the progression continue for many, many years!
Again, without a High Priest, the religious life of Israel could not have continued! They had to have a “succession” plan in place!
Now to the “point” this morning!
We too, as Christians have a High Priest, Jesus our Saviour!
And He once died!
On Calvary, crucified.
But He was raised from the dead, from the grave! Literally and victoriously so!
Then after 40 days on earth, this living Jesus ascended to Heaven, to His Father’s Side!
Where, now … “He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” The “them” being His people, “us” to be more precise, “us” who are born-again Christians! So says Hebrews 7:25. “Making intercession,” that’s as priestly a job as one can imagine!
Wow!
We, friends, have a High Priest Who will never die!
Never again!
We therefore shall never experience a single “interruption” in His Ministry to us, Jesus’ serving as High Priest!
“And Aaron was AN HUNDRED AND TWENTY THREE years old when he died in mount Hor.” Numbers 33:39, word for word.
But Jesus says: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE.” Revelation 1:18, thrilling! Did you get it? “Alive for evermore!”
Hallelujah!
Hebrews 13:8 … “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
Ever interceding!
I’m feeling pretty secure this morning! How about you?
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
As of last week an Atlanta (Georgia) area radio station has been airing a short segment each day (Monday through Friday) of one of our Bible Study CD Sermons! I realize most of you cannot hear those broadcasts in a local sense … but they are on the Internet as well … live! At 11:30 this morning (until 11:45) visit WorldChristianBroadcasting.com and “click” the “Listen Online Now” tab. Monday we began a study of Psalm 13, verse by verse.
“These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them, that whosoever killeth any person at unawares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood, until he stood before the congregation.” Joshua 20:9, the great chapter’s final verse.
I earlier said that these Cities were lovely “pictures” of Jesus Christ our Lord. One might honestly ask “How so?” In at least these ways:
The Cities were God’s Idea, not man’s. And Jesus coming to earth to be our Saviour, the same, God’s Idea indeed. The greatest Idea ever conceived, I believe. “And we have seen and do testify that THE FATHER SENT THE SON TO BE THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.” 1 John 4:14
These Cities protected from the wrath of an avenger! So does Jesus. He is our “Ark of Safety!” Psalm 46:1 says: “God (Jesus) is our REFUGE and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Because of Jesus … God’s Hot Wrath no longer rests on me! (See here … “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:36)
These Cities were built in easily accessible places! Jesus too is an accessible Saviour! “WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13 (The door, front entrance to the Old Testament Tabernacle was 30 feet wide! Ease of access!)
Plus … the road leading to any one of these Cities had to be clearly marked! As in Deuteronomy 19:3 … “Thou shalt prepare thee a way (road, highway, route), and divide the coasts of thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit … that every slayer may flee thither.” And so with Jesus Who said “I am the WAY!” The readily marked Way! (See Isaiah 57:14 too. “Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.” Thrilling!)
Also the manslayer (the inadvertent killer) had TO REMAIN in the City to enjoy safety! Even so we who are saved REMAIN in Christ Jesus, eternally secure in His Arms! The New Testament verb for “remain” is often “to abide!” In John 15:4 Jesus teaches us: “ABIDE in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” So true.
These Cities (surprisingly) were for Gentiles as well as Jews! (Proof: “These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the STRANGER (foreigner), and for the SOJOURNER (temporary resident even) among them: that EVERY ONE that killeth any person unawares may flee thither.” Numbers 35:15, what Mercy!) And Jesus is too for any nationality, and race, anyone! Wow, Romans 10:12 … “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.” No difference!)
Folks, many other parallels indeed exist, but these at least give you a good start in the area of Jesus being our “Place of Refuge!”
Hallelujah!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
The remaining three Cities of Refuge are listed today, three of six. (With six in the Bible being the number of lost mankind! Human beings, who sinned against God, were created on the sixth day! The number of the coming anti-Christ is six hundred and sixty and six! And many more instances are available! Lucid proof that God loves sinners and has provided for their salvation!)
Yes, Joshua 20:8 informs us: “And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.”
This verse “drips” with mercy, God’s Mercy!
“The other side” Jordan?
Ideally no one would have lived there. Israel was originally asked (commanded) to “cross” the Jordan and live in the Land of Canaan. But some of the (I think half-hearted) Tribes begged Moses: “Bring us not over Jordan.” Numbers 32:5, settling for “less” than God’s Best in their lives!
Yet still, IN MERCY, God is giving those people Cities of Refuge as well!
And “given” is the right word, too. Because unlike the first three Cities … which were “sanctified” (in our King James Bible “appointed,” spelled “qadash” in Hebrew) unto the Jews … verse 8’s “assigned” simply translates the verb “nathan” in Hebrew, generally rendered as “to give” in our Bibles, in fact nearly 1,100 times so!
God “gave” to some undeserving people … Cities of Refuge as well … tokens of His Amazing Grace!
Wow!
But to the names of these three Cities now, Cities of Safety, Salvation, Refuge! “They assigned BEZER in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and RAMOTH in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and GOLAN in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.”
“Bezer” means “fortified,” or “a fortified place.” May I say this? Jesus IS our Fortress! Unto HIM we are to flee for salvation! As in Nahum 1:7 … “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” Amen! Or in beautiful Psalm 91:2 … “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” And one of my favorites, Psalm 18:2 … “The LORD is my rock, and MY FORTRESS, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” Yes!
Next was the City of “Ramoth,” located in hard, rocky uninviting Gilead! And Ramoth means “heights,” the “high places” of the land! Is this Jesus? Oh yes, we Christians (right now) are the subject of Ephesians 2:6 … “And (God) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in HEAVENLY PLACES in Christ Jesus.” High places for sure, “heavenly places!” One more verse, God and high places … “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto THE MOST HIGH.” Psalm 50:14 (And God can sometimes be seen as the very “most high” when we are in the harsh, “hard places” of life!)
Lastly was given the City of “Golan,” meaning (some say “exultation”) but I can only find “captivity” as its definition, background! And does that “ruin” our uniform six “Pictures” of Jesus? No indeed. Who came to me when I was a lost sinner (in captivity to wickedness) and set me free? Jesus, of course! “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17
(And even if “Golan” means “exultation” or “joy,” as some Bible teachers say, still Jesus is in view. “But we also JOY in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Romans 5:11)
What names … all six Cities now … Kedesh (Holy Place) and Shechem (back shoulder, thus our Strength) and Kirjatharba (Perfectly Proportioned) also known as Hebron (Fellowship)! Then on the other side of Jordan, eastward, Bezer (Fortification) and Ramoth (the High Place) and Golan (Liberation or Joyful Exultation)!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Amen.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Who could say more?