The Blood Avenger!
My Bible reading this week had me in the book of 2 Samuel. David is certainly one of the most interesting people to read about in all of the Bible. He is certainly not one of the individuals who has only glowing accolades to describe them. David was certainly fallible. He had many wives and concubines, though by God's designs, a man is to be the husband of one wife. Any sexual relations outside of that marriage is sin, so we know that much of David's life was filled with sin. Additionally, King David had sexual relations with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of the commanders of David's army. Unable to cover that sin by coercing Uriah to sleep with the pregnant Bathsheba, David had Uriah killed. So in addition to being an adulterer, David was a murderer. That is comforting to me. Why? Because in 1 Samuel 13:16, David is described as being a man after God's heart!
How could a man so filled with sin be a man after God's heart? Read Psalms and you will discover the answer! David, with all of his failings and frailties, was a man of prayer and worship. God doesn't expect us to be perfect, though He does expect us as Christians to try and follow His laws. The moment when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and ask for His forgiveness, He removes our past, present and future sin as far as the east is from the west. We are no longer clothed in the filthy rags of our sinful lives, but are clothed in His righteousness, covered by the innocent blood of the Lamb of God. So many people don't want to go to church, for they say that the church is filled with hypocrites. The biggest difference between believers and unbelievers isn't in the lack of sin in the lives of Christians...it is in the fact that the Christians' sins are forgiven.
As Christians, we should have different lives than the ones we had before coming to Christ, but those changes are not made instantaneously. Remember the comments of John the Baptist. He (Jesus) must increase and I must decrease. Every day as a Christian, a little more of Jesus should be alive in me and a little more of the old man should be dead. This passage in Ephesians speaks of that transition:
17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Ephesians 4:17-24 (NKJV)
Notice where the sin begins -- in the mind. The sin goes from the mind to the heart, and as the heart grows hard, the actions become sinful. In the Bible, the number 6 symbolizes man. Interestingly, there are six descriptions here of the characteristics of a person without the presence of God in their lives.
Having their understanding darkened
Being alienated from the life of God
Because of the ignorance that is in them
Because of the blindness of their hearts
Have given themselves over to lewdness
To work all uncleanness with greediness
It sure sounds a lot like what I see in people all around me and in the media, though this was written many years ago! According to this passage, the following questions can be answered. What have we learned? Christ! What have we heard? Christ! Who taught us about Christ? Christ! Where is the truth? In Christ! He is everything! Verse 22 is the key verse of the section. Notice that there are behaviors that we are responsible for and there is a response by God. What are we responsible for doing? Put off the former conduct and put off the former man. So what will God do? Notice what the following verse says, "be renewed in the spirit of your mind." It doesn't say that you need to renew your mind. It says "be renewed!" Who does the renewing? God does!
Another verse I came across this week sent me in an entirely different direction:
Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.
2 Samuel 14:14 (NKJV)
That is exactly what God did by sending Jesus to die for our sins. He devised a means, in fact, the only one possible, that we as banished ones are not expelled from Him. In the Old Testament, there was a term called the Blood Avenger. You can read about it in Numbers 35:19-27. That signified a person who takes revenge on another person who killed or hurt someone dear to them. In 2 Samuel, Absalom murdered Amnon, who had raped their sister Tamar. Absalom then flees to Geshur. When giving the Law to the Israelites, God had designated six cities as cities of refuge. There were three cities east of the Jordan River and three cities west of the Jordan River. In the case of second-degree murder or manslaughter, the person responsible for the crime was allowed to remain in the city unhurt as long as the high priest was alive.
'So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
Numbers 35:25 (NKJV)
The designation for whether or not people were first-degree murderers or second-degree murderers had to do with premeditation, just as it does today, and whether or not they committed the murder or had someone else do it for them. In the case of Absalom, he commanded his servants to strike and kill Amnon.
Why is this important in our lives? Each one of us is responsible for the brutal death on the cross of Jesus, as He died for the sins that each of us have committed. Are we first-degree murderers or second-degree murderers? That would be a hard question, if Jesus had not given us the answer:
34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
Luke 23:34 (NKJV)
Jesus did not hold us accountable for knowing that our sins would kill Him. We know by His words that we are not directly responsible. That makes us guilty of manslaughter. So, just as in the model of the Old Testament, we are allowed to flee to the city of refuge. If we are Christians, where do we dwell? We live in Christ Jesus and He lives in us! And we can remain there until the High Priest dies. Who is the High Priest? Jesus, who will never die, according to Hebrews 6:20. Comforting, to say the least!
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