No unfinished business

The wheelie bins were out ready for emptying first thing on the morning of collection day. Perhaps I worry too much when setting off for a day’s work leaving the bins by the kerbside. Will they fall over in the wind, leaving an embarrassing spillage? Will the collection people turn up? Will they somehow bypass my property? Will I find the bins again when I get back? These are pointless fears, because nearly all the time things go right, and I am duly grateful to the Council for the service it so consistently provides.

This particular morning, the collection people turned up early, before I had left the house. As they returned the last bin, I gave them a cheery wave, took the bin round the back and left for church. All done. No unfinished business. Nothing to worry about for the remainder of the morning. It may seem strange to you that a bin collection could bring me such joy and reassurance, but it was a very happy feeling.

This feeling of contentment reminded me of how Jesus Christ’s work on the cross brings relief to believing sinners – that means, all of us who believe. He died for our sins exclaiming, “It is finished”. There remains nothing more to be done. Other religions leave you living life under a cloud of guilt, always feeling there is some other step that you need to take to satisfy a god who is impossible to please. Christianity is different.

Working that out in day to day life, however, is at times problematic. Many saintly men and women live life tortured by guilt. Critics of religion think that guilt goes hand in hand with religious belief and is cast off whenever anybody “grows up” and rejects religion as immature superstition. This is not true. Guilt is not an inevitable companion of faith. Instead it is the enemy’s way of exploiting issues from the past that we have not properly worked through, to burden us in the here and now.

In that sense guilt can be lifelong. But Christ died to free us both from the penalty of sin and from its power to destroy us. 1 Peter 2 verse 24 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (NIV).

Father God, in your forgiving grace allow us at this Easter time to face remaining guilt and fully appreciate the scope of Christ’s victory.

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ, my own.

                                                 Charles Wesley

The Peace Chair

The provision of cities of refuge for people in Israel accused of crimes is fascinating and thought-provoking. God's Law sets it out in some detail in Numbers 35 and verses 6 to 15.

Policing in ancient times didn't exist in the way it does today. If one person suffered at the hands of another, the first person's family was strongly tempted to take the law into their own hands. It seems the same is happening again today with social networking on the internet. If someone is thought to have done wrong and it becomes known, their characters may be destroyed in a flurry of messages without their having a chance to put their side of the story and defend themselves.

It is a fearful thing to fall foul of somebody who becomes emotional and lashes out. Once King David angered God by taking an unauthorised census of the people. God set three alternative punishments before him. Two were long drawn out and would leave David and his people very exposed to retribution from men. The third was short and sharp. David commented,  “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men” (2 Samuel 24:14 NIV).

So those who killed, perhaps accidentally, might find themselves on the wrong end of a vendetta by the whole family of the person who died. They needed a safe place to stay while heads cooled down and a fair trial could be arranged. Six towns were earmarked for the purpose, places that were easy for a fleeing person to reach. Intriguingly, the custom carried on into Christian times. It was known as sanctuary. My favourite piece of furniture in Beverley Minster is called the Peace Chair because a fleeing person could sit on it, get his breath back and know that he had the protection of sanctuary. But in fact the whole town of Beverley counted as a sanctuary. There were boundary markers indicating the area into which a fugitive must come and stay in order to be safe.

The right of sanctuary has long since gone. But this fascinating concept continues to give us a lovely picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us by dying for us at Calvary.

• Like the towns of refuge, the Lord Jesus is easy for us to reach: He is just a prayer away.
• Those who flee to Him are sheltered from the wrath of God. There is no condemnation.
• The towns belonged to the Jewish priests, who could comfort and teach the fugitive. As we come to Jesus for refuge, we have the benefit of learning the good news of salvation.
• People of any race could make use of the town of refuge. Those redeemed in Christ are made up of every nation, tribe, people and language.
• Even the outer suburbs of the town of refuge afforded protection. In the same way even people who just touched the fringe of Jesus' clothes found healing and salvation.
• What made the city a protection was not its physical strength, for instance its walls or fortifications, but divine provision. In the same way, you and I are saved by sheer mercy.
• Anyone who strayed outside the town lost the benefit of its protection. In the same way those that are in Christ must remain in Him.

Give me the provision of God rather than the wrath of man!

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in His excellent word;
what more can He say than to you He hath said,
you who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

Rippon's Selection, 1787