Cities of Refuge | Part 3

As we continue this quest, discussing the cities set aside as places of refuge, I'm aiming to reveal the journey, the spiritual path Jesus walked with the disciples, and the unity from the resurrection to the Ascension for forty days. Jesus died once and for all, as Hebrews 9 confirms, where he is described as our high priest. 

Jesus also embodied the phrase 'Christ all in all,' signifying more than just humanity; it encompasses all creation, including the land. This signifies the realization of everything outlined in Genesis chapter one, days one to six. The completion described in Genesis chapter two, where everything—including all of humanity—is at rest in heaven and on earth with God in harmony, points to the finished work of the cross and to Jesus Christ's resurrection. 

“Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.  And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground” (Genesis 2:1-5 KJV).

Jesus had to go to these refuge cities to serve as the high priest who died but is now alive, fulfilling the scriptures, “The manslayer should remain in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession” (Numbers 25:28 KJV).

If you had unintentionally committed an act of manslaughter, the avenger could not come and take your life while you dwelled in any of the refuge cities. Today, if you are living in these cities, which were overseen by the Levitical priesthood, a manslaughter is not about someone who literally kills another, but about judging someone’s identity in Christ through the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts, which would bring separation and division to the body of Christ.

We have only limited knowledge and wisdom about others and the circumstances they face, but God knows the heart of each one of us. Our job is not to condemn or point fingers, but to allow the Holy Spirit to speak within us so that we, too, can honor their hearts with compassion and mercy. That's what all these cities were establishing, though each had its own unique journey.

I mentioned earlier that the disciples quickly went from Jerusalem to Galilee after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, recalling His conversation at the Passover meal in which He said He would see them in Galilee. They most likely would have taken the shortest route, through Samaria. Even though it was the most dangerous route, they could reach Galilee in 3 days rather than 5. They would have remembered the incident in John chapter four when Jesus said He had to go to Samaria, giving them the encouragement that this was a place that Jesus purposely visited.

The refuge city they would have gone to was Kadesh, which was situated on a mountain in Galilee, within the territory of Naphtali. In Samaria, they would have gone to the refuge city of Shechem, but probably wouldn’t have thought much of it because they were eager to see Jesus in Galilee.

Kadesh was the refuge city where Jesus not only healed everyone but also met their needs by feeding them first. He used seven loaves and a few fish, provided by a young boy, to do this. Many sermons have been preached on this story. I hope you're familiar with it: when Jesus blessed the food and distributed it, the miracle was not just healing but also providing enough nourishment for everyone to sustain their healing (Matthew 15:30-39 NIV). 

In Matthew 15, on the mountain of Kadesh, Jesus healed everyone seeking refuge from sickness, disease, or any affliction caused by spoken words that had been ingrained in their bodies. These may not have been their direct thoughts or words, but they could have been passed down through their generations.

Now, the people were able to leave the refuge city – the place of holiness, sanctification, and separation from everything they were before they came to Kadesh –they were sent back to their homeland, transformed. The disciples also had enough for themselves as they gathered up seven baskets of leftover food (Matthew 15:37 KJV). 

When we unintentionally think or say something against another person, it can amount to manslaughter with the tongue, even if we don’t intend to hurt anyone. But when we come to Jesus to seek His righteousness and hunger and thirst for it, we will be filled (Matthew 5:6 KJV). Paul shares this with us in Romans 7, describing how he would say or do things he didn’t mean to, and then not do what he knew he should have done. In his own ego, he couldn’t mentally become transformed by the renewing of his mind, but…in Christ, there is no condemnation! (Romans 7-8 NIV).

The healing of our words and judgments – manslaughter with the tongue – has been reset, refreshed, and reconciled through compassion and love, allowing us to reunite what was lost in the division and separation of our actions and thoughts. We are brought back to a position of righteousness and Holiness unto the lord. We never lost our identity, but the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart can keep us from the truth, even as we know we are already a Beloved child of the Most High God.

Many people stop here in their relationship with Father God. They find redemption in a desperate situation, then return to what was familiar to them in their lifestyle and actions. They have a story to tell of a man in the Galilee who healed them and performed a miracle which they may keep; however, what they don’t have is the ability to pass on a healing or miracle anointing to someone who wasn’t there because they don’t have a relationship with this man called Jesus. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6 NIV).

From Kadesh, our identity has been established as who we are in Jesus Christ – a Beloved child of God, holy and righteous.

Jesus traveled from Kadesh to the city of Golan in the land of Manasseh, which was east of the Jordan. He had traveled this journey with the disciples after he left Kadesh before the cross and resurrection, as recorded in Matthew 19:1 NIV, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.” He now travels on the forty-day journey as the Resurrected Christ, reclaiming the land of the refuge cities as the High Priest for all creation.

This journey would have taken them through a familiar territory called Caesarea Philippi, located north of the Sea of Galilee. This is also the area on the road to Damascus where Paul encountered Jesus, not as a miracle worker, but as the Light of the world.

Caesarea Philippi was the site of virgin sacrifices to the god Pan. It looks like a garden sanctuary, with lush forests and beautiful, flowing rivers. However, the land had been corrupted with sacrifices on the highest level – a place of the worst thing a person could do, and the Jewish people avoided this place. The sacrifice of virgin women to a foreign god who represented fertility was the lowest level of humanity's thoughts. Our pure thoughts to reproduce Life, Love, and Light were thrown into the waters to produce the intimacy of ego or religion.

The key factor on this journey is that we are reminded of the conversation Jesus had with His disciples: “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I am, the Son of man? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but who say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-19 KJV).

 After we leave Kadesh, Jesus asks us, “Who do you say I am?” If our relationship with Jesus is that He is my Savior, Redeemer, Provider, and healer in many basic, provisional things, these are all wonderful, but most of those relationship areas are staying in the Kardash area of our thoughts.

 This land is a comfortable place with provisions for new believers in Christ. Most of the mind's ideas about sharing Jesus come from being a follower or disciple of Christ, looking for His return, or for the day when we leave our bodies and go to heaven. They are complacent in their relationship with the Lord, not hungering for what God wants to give them today. 

So, who do you say God is? Can you refer to God as your father? Can you refer to Jesus as your husband? Caesarea Philippi is a visual location where the rivers of water that flow from Mount Hermon, known for fallen angels and demonic activity related to gender issues of identity and reproduction, create beautiful, fertile gardens.

As the church of Jesus Christ, if we settle for the physical gender identity of male and female, we are limited to what God created in the beginning for us to go forth and multiply, filling the earth with His glory. This is the place where Jesus told Peter that He would build His church. The church is a female WORD represented by both men and women. The Holy Spirit speaks through both as the many cells of the body of Christ – the ecclesia or assembly of one body, but in intimacy as brides/wives of Jesus Christ.

By traveling to this place with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the land was being cleansed from the intensity of man’s thoughts from the Tree of Knowledge to begin eating from the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden – releasing the ability to “go forth and multiply, filling the earth with Divine Kind (Genesis 1:27-28).

Many people receive the blessings of Life that they are forgiven, cleansed, redeemed, and now Holy and righteous. Unfortunately, they don’t continue the journey; they consider the everlasting Life a ticket to heaven someday, when they leave their natural bodies.

I know I am repeating myself, dwelling on this place between Kadesh and Caesarea Philippi, but considering we are over 2000 years later from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we still are dominated in the Christian community by the sin of an identity crisis in the church. Kadesh is a refuge for being born again and for claiming our identity as a new creation in Christ. However, growing up in Christ and becoming a bride who has prepared herself for her husband (Revelation 21:2) is a journey beyond Kadesh. 

It begins with establishing that His name is our name, and we are intimate with His presence today, not someday. It is a fertility issue with the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart releasing LIFE, LOVE, and LIGHT from our innermost being, where the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding our spirit, soul, and body. The journey brings about transformation, so that we can say, “As He is, so are we today in this world” (1 John 4:17 KJV). We hear the voice of our Beloved tell us as His wife, “Because you believe in Me – in Name, Nature, and Identity – the works that you have seen Me do, you can now do, and greater than what I did” (John 14:12 Passion).

To have the experience of resurrection life, we must first get out of the confusion of religion that kills, steals, and destroys, using the Word of God as our sword of truth. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6 KJV).

This is the door to the Gospel of Good News. The salvation message Jesus told His disciples to share in Matthew chapter ten. Jesus sent His disciples into a city to tell the people that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand – now, in their midst. The evidence was signs and wonders, healings, deliverances, and the raising of the dead (vs. 7-9). This should be good news, excitement for all, yet Jesus also warned them that they would be taunted even to the point of death. Why? Why would anyone want to kill someone who brings healing and life? They would have seen what the disciples were saying as blasphemy/manslaughter with words that came to their city.

An Amorite spirit is often present in this situation – a spirit of pride and fame seeking recognition, leading with an offensive spirit. This is the journey to the next refuge city as the resurrection body of Christ Jesus.