First of all, my apologies for an error in this month’s study. Number seven (page 68) if you have the workbook) refers you back to the previous month’s chart. That chart is actually in Month Seven, number 13 (page 56 in the book). It’s the chart we did comparing the Old Testament priest to our High Priest, Jesus Christ. So make that correction as you study.
Next, several ladies have had questions about the cities of refuge in question two of this month’s study. Perhaps the instructions were not very clear. Here’s where we’re going with that one.
Notice the meaning of each city’s name and try and find characteristics of our refuge (the church) that correspond to the Old Testament name. For example, the first site is Kedesh, meaning “Holy Place”. So we are looking for passages that describe the church as being holy, or passages that instruct us to be holy, or sanctified, as His church today.
My passages for this particular city begin with a prophetic passage about the church. It’s Isaiah 66:17-24. ( I know this is not a New Testament passage, but I had to cheat here. This one is so good for this!) Just go there and read this passage and marvel at the emphasis on sanctification for the church. Then I noted the holiness commanded in I Corinthians chapters five and six—just throughout those chapters, the emphasis is keeping clean and holy. Then I made a note of I Peter 1: 15, 16 in which we are commanded, as his people, to be holy:
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Finally, for this city, I noted that the Greek word for “church” is ekklesia meaning ‘the called” or “called out”.
Obviously for the next city, Shechem, we will be looking for passages about the strength of the Lord, since Shechem means strong shoulder. The shoulder upon which the church rests is Jesus.
You get the drill. Just give yourself a little wiggle room. Your passages do not have to have the same wording as the name of the city. They just need to refer to the church or Christians using the same general characteristics or descriptions that lend themselves to the general idea suggested by the city’s name.
This is a beneficial study when we consider the purpose of the cities. It’s not a complete parallel between these cities and the refuge we have in the body, but it is an interesting comparison. May He bless your study!
