Chapter 20 of Joshua is a rather intriguing one, titled the Establishment of Cities of Refuge. However, upon close reading, as a leader of Bible study, it can be perplexing: what is there to share? I tell you, when reading the Bible, one must discern what the author intends to convey.

So, what exactly is God trying to tell us in this chapter? This is of utmost importance. After the Israelites entered the Promised Land and divided the land, they immediately discussed establishing cities of refuge. Why speak of establishing cities of refuge?

Establishing Cities of Refuge to Avoid Shedding Innocent Blood

Next, let us reflect together on these questions:

First, why did God establish cities of refuge? When answering why, you need to understand the key verses in the Bible to support your arguments.

Second, after dividing the land, the first thing they did was to establish cities of refuge. If you refer to Genesis 9:6, after Noah came out of the ark, God said:

And surely I will require the life of any man who sheds your blood—life for life; and I will require it of every beast also. And from his fellow man I will require it. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. (Genesis 9:5-6)

Whether it is a beast or a man, shedding human blood and causing death is a very serious matter. If you refer to this passage, what conclusion can you draw? That is, establishing cities of refuge avoids the shedding of innocent blood.

You can go back and read Exodus. In group discussions, you can refer to Exodus 20:1-17, which includes the commandment not to murder. What conclusion can you draw? If we look at the establishment of cities of refuge, we can also refer to Numbers chapter 35, from verses 20-something to 30-something, which all discuss establishing cities of refuge.

At this time, Joshua established cities of refuge according to what God had previously commanded Moses. Where did God command Moses? In Numbers chapter 35. If we only look at this chapter, it is difficult to find the theme of this chapter and difficult to understand what this chapter is about. If we return to Numbers 35:33-34, you will find:

“So you shall not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. You shall not defile the land where you live and where I dwell among you, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.”

Behind Accidents Lies the Manipulation of Evil Spirits

Let us consider together what the theme of this chapter is. The theme of this chapter is Do not defile the Promised Land. Because God dwells in this land.

There is something very interesting about establishing these cities of refuge, which is that if someone accidentally kills someone, there are many kinds of accidental killings, such as accidentally hitting someone and killing them while driving; or if an axe head falls off while chopping wood and flies out, killing someone. These things all have regulations.

We must ask: Why didn't God protect the person who was accidentally killed? Why not avoid such a thing? Can God avoid it? God absolutely can avoid it. As a result, the person who accidentally killed someone might be killed by the dead person's family seeking revenge. If that person is killed, it is shedding innocent blood. In fact, that person is very innocent.

We see that there are many strange things in this world, and people die inexplicably. I want to tell you that in fact, people's lives and deaths are closely related to the operations of evil spirits behind them.

How did this person who was accidentally killed die? This person died in an accident. In fact, if he did not have an accident at the hands of this person, he might have had an accident elsewhere. It's just that the person who accidentally killed him was unlucky. So, you must know for sure that the person who accidentally killed someone is unlucky, and the person who was accidentally killed is also unlucky. Being unlucky is itself very spiritual, and behind it is a kind of manipulation by evil spirits.

Let me give you a few examples:

When I cast out demons, I often asked these demons, because the demons were defeated, and the demons confessed all the bad things they had done. Then the demon said: I walked to a place, saw someone driving, and then blew a breath... As a result, that person and the car rolled into the valley, the car was destroyed, but the person did not die.

But we find this very strange. How could this suddenly happen? Today, if you look closely at many accidents, they are actually very strange. If you watch videos of accident sites, you will find that the car was driving fine, but suddenly it went out of control. We really cannot understand how it could suddenly go out of control.

We must know that a person without God, without God's protection, is in great danger. Without God's protection, evil spirits can strike at any time and take your life. We all need God, and not just today, and then not need God when things are going well. But we need God every day.

The other day I met someone, and I asked him: What does it mean to be blessed? Because the Bible says that if you carefully keep and follow God's words, God will bless everything you do. What does it mean that God blesses everything you do? I asked several people, and several people could not answer. They talked about this and that, they talked about a lot.

I said, can it be simpler? That is, if what you do cannot be touched by the devil, because God does not allow it, that is called being blessed. If what a person does is always touched by evil spirits, that is called being cursed. Everyone thinks that the things they encounter are the same, but they are not. The things that blessed people and cursed people encounter are actually very different.

Some time ago, I met someone who asked me: It's strange, I help others do projects, solve their problems, and save them a lot of money, but I can't get my fees back. Why do I always encounter this unlucky thing? Is there a demon on my client?

I said you are wrong. It is that everything you do has demons with you, demons are causing trouble, and there will be this result. The reason lies in yourself. What is the most important thing in a person's life? The most important thing is that everything we do is blessed by God.

Seeing Defilement from a Spiritual Perspective

I have explained the matter of accidental killing to you. But after the accidental killing happened, if the person involved was killed by the avenger, this is not good. Why? Because it defiles the land. Once this land is defiled, it is unclean, and then this land is cursed, and this land attracts demons.

You must know that sometimes it is difficult for us to understand. For example, if a murder case occurs in a house, I encourage everyone not to buy this kind of house. Why? Because after a murder case occurs, this house is cursed, and this house is defiled.

What is defiled? It is not because the blood cannot be removed, nor is it from a sanitary perspective, but from a spiritual perspective. If there is a person who was killed in this place, if human blood has been shed in this place, this place is defiled. Being defiled is not from a worldly perspective, but from a spiritual perspective. That is to say, evil spirits often operate in this place.

In fact, don't be surprised. Many people talk about haunted houses, and you must believe in haunted houses. Haunted houses are a big deal. It's not because we who live inside are bigger than those outside. Don't be like traditional churches say, it's not like that.

The traditional church says that He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world. As a result, they bought a haunted house. Try it out. Because God cursed this place, this place was defiled. After it was defiled, it was cursed. Human blood was shed, and then there were ghosts in this place. Don't think that ghosts are not under God's management. Ghosts are also under God's management. The Bible never says that the Holy Spirit and evil spirits contend. Evil spirits are not the opponent of God's Spirit at all.

Why did God create evil spirits? Evil spirits were originally created by God, because God created all things beautiful in its time. How to become beautiful? Because it is not a good thing to have no ghosts. Why? Because God intends to sift out the treasures.

People have different levels, you are used to saying that everyone is equal, all beings are equal, but after shouting for a long time, you find that some people are unlucky and some people are blessed. There is no way, it is so unfair. Where is the problem? The problem is that God wants to receive his people into his kingdom and let the demons take away those who do not belong to him and belong to the devil.

After being taken away by the devil, they fell into the lake of fire and brimstone. So the devil works very diligently. The devil is diligently collecting garbage. So when we establish a church, we are receiving treasures into the kingdom of God. But the question is, are you that treasure? No one can choose for you, only you can choose. You choose to be a treasure, you are a treasure, you choose to be garbage, you are garbage, it is your own choice.

Shedding human blood on earth is a very serious matter. Why is there shedding of human blood? This chapter mentions accidental killing. In addition to accidental killing, there is also murder. Why do people murder? Because there are conflicts of interest in this world, and people are willing to pay the price of shedding human blood for their own interests.

Everyone must begin to observe: if a family has the sin of shedding human blood in its ancestry, such as killing people to silence them, and other things that belong to the Ten Commandments, they are all very serious. You cannot worship idols, worshiping idols is cursed; you cannot kill, killing is cursed; you cannot steal, stealing is cursed; you cannot bear false witness, bearing false witness is cursed; if you carefully observe these things that are cursed, a family is cursed, and the descendants of this family also live very hard and not easily.

Why did God establish cities of refuge? Because God dwells in this place. If someone defiles this place where God dwells, God will not be able to continue to dwell in this place. This place is dirty and filthy. God does not like it. It is not a matter of big or small. The whole earth belongs to our God, but if it is defiled, God does not like it. So God established cities of refuge.

The Place Where God is With You is the Promised Land

Let us extend this further, extending to a very important concept. Why is this place called the Promised Land? Actually, if you take a closer look at that place, ah, it’s not that great. I’ve been to that place, it’s the land of milk and honey. Or you can watch the news about Israel on TV. They are all stone houses. It’s really not the land of milk and honey. I can’t see it. But later I gradually understood that whether this place is the Promised Land does not depend on the place, but on the person. If the people in this place have God with them, this place, even if it is a desert, will flow out sweet springs.

I have a deep experience in this matter: for example, Abraham and Lot recorded in the Bible, these two uncles and nephews, Lot's father died, so Abraham took Lot as his own son. As a result, after both of them began to get rich, Lot, the nephew, began to act muddleheaded, saying that we can't stay like this, it's not good for your shepherds and my shepherds to quarrel. Then Abraham said: Then you choose first, if you go east, I will go west; if you go south, I will go north.

As a result, Lot chose a fertile place, and Abraham chose a barren place. Later, God said to Abraham: I will give you this barren place and make it the Promised Land. Ordinary people like us do not have God’s perspective, and it will be very serious. What is this place called, the land of milk and honey, what is the Promised Land, it is barren. For example, the mounds around Jerusalem are mounds of earth, piles and piles, like a desert. How is it a land of milk and honey? We don’t quite understand that our eyes can’t see it.

Later I understood that the place where God is present is called the Promised Land. Because God dwells in this land, God dwells among the Israelites, so you must not defile the land where you live. This is why talking about the city of refuge is actually not defiling this land.

Establishing cities of refuge avoids the shedding of more people's blood; shedding more people's blood defiles more; more defilement results in more curses; more curses result in more ghosts coming here to make trouble, and people become more and more distressed. In fact, if people want to gain this and gain that for selfish interests, this is human ignorance. What do people need most? What you and I need most is God's presence.

As long as the land where the soles of your feet stand has God with you, it is called the Promised Land. Where does the promise come from? The promise comes from God. It is very important that God blesses the place where you stand and everything you do. Why can't we learn to recognize blessings and curses? People cannot recognize blessings and curses, and often do things that take advantage and are harmful to nature and reason. As a result, they are cursed and it is impossible for them to get better. The problem lies here, because people's internal logic system is different.

Let’s ask another question, will killing chickens, pigs, and cows in this place defile this land because the blood of these animals is shed? No. Why? This thing is very interesting. We refer to Genesis 9:6, which says that shedding human blood is not okay, because people are made in the image of God. If this person is killed, this land will be defiled, which is very serious. Why is this? Because people have the image of God.

So you will understand, why did God establish cities of refuge? It is to avoid the shedding of innocent blood. Accidental killing is innocent, and if this place often sheds human blood, this place will be very serious.

Man Needs God to Live

We need to understand a concept, that is, what can we summarize from the phenomena we observe? We can conclude that man needs God to live.

The Israelites, in the days of Moses, wrote the books of Genesis, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus, and Exodus, giving them many regulations. For example, if someone's ox gores someone to death, is that unlucky or not? Why is it like this? Who was the Bible written for?

In fact, if people diligently keep and follow God's word, these things should not happen. So why do they happen? Because these people often deviate from God's word. People deviate from God's word in order to live a good life, but deviating from God's word leads to a bad life and accidents. Frequent accidents are deadly.

We need to know one thing: if someone is driving a Ferrari and dies, that car might be worth ten million, maybe fifty million, or even a hundred million, but it's useless. Once dead, life is immediately over. Whether you did career planning yesterday, wrote a plan, or what you were thinking... it's all useless. Once the sentence is drawn, it's over.

One accident, and it's all gone. No need for two accidents. With the first accident, the second one won't happen because the period is already drawn. If a person has frequent accidents, maybe one accident doesn't draw a period, only a comma, which means they can still live. Another accident, they can still live, but once a period is drawn, it's over.

In the past few years, I have attended two funerals of brothers and sisters in the church who died in car accidents, one of whom was a pastor. In this process, I summarized this matter and said: God, have mercy. May you protect me so that the arrows that fly by day, the plague that strikes by night, and all kinds of strange things will not come upon me. I am willing to serve you well all my life. I know that I cannot sin and offend you for my own benefit and be cursed.

I said: God, I am very clear about the matter of blessings and curses. I need your presence. May every place where the soles of my feet tread become the promised land, because you are with me!

So you ask me why I serve God so much? Because I value this matter very much. You ask me why I love God so much? Loving God is so good! Those who love God, evil spirits stay away from you. Why is it that the things we do today are not prosperous? Because evil spirits are always interfering. You can't do anything to overcome the spiritual realm. Do you think that what you do can determine your future? No. Only with blessings is there a future; under a curse, no matter how hard you work, there is no future. Working hard under a curse is just another Cain.

Shedding Human Blood Defiles God's Image and Brings a Curse

In fact, we need to understand today that the land we live on is very important. If you want to immigrate to a certain city, I don't encourage you to go to a place where there has been a severe disaster. For example, some cities have had major earthquakes. Don't go there. Hundreds of thousands of people died in those places. Or a place where there has been a massacre. Zeng Guofan killed his way into the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and massacred the city. That place is not good. Where should you go? Go to a blessed place. A place that is not so severely defiled, a place that is relatively good.

I think once our brothers and sisters understand this matter, they will understand that people have God's image, and shedding human blood defiles this place. Those who shed human blood are deeply cursed. If you deliberately kill someone, you may escape the judgment of the law, but you cannot escape the judgment of the spiritual realm. So killing is a very serious matter.

In the process of my ministry, sometimes when I minister to some brothers and sisters, the demons in them are very evil. After praying and asking, I find out that their ancestors had a problem with shedding human blood. But can they be delivered? Yes, they can be delivered, but they have experienced a lot of interference from evil spirits.

Therefore, if we hope that we and our descendants can be blessed by God, we must not covet some financial benefits or other things, or be afraid of some powerful people, and then bear false witness, frame people, shed human blood... The curses for these things are very deep. Not only in your future generations, but even in your own generation, you will suffer enough.

So, my fellow brothers and sisters, loving money and loving the world is a very serious problem. Even if these people love the world and love money, and then do some outrageous things, you will find that even if they are not killed by others, they are sometimes accidentally killed, because evil spirits are constantly working in these people. So, these things about shedding human blood are very deadly.

We Must Live by Trusting in God

What do we rely on to live? For example, we discussed a topic: Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel had different attitudes towards offering. I asked my colleagues a question: What is the key difference? Cain's foundation for living was relying on himself, while Abel's foundation for living was trusting in God.

Anyway, I trust in God. People who rely on themselves can't stop anything. So Cain killed Abel. Don't ask me first why someone who loves God so much was killed. Let's first talk about killing someone and shedding human blood. As a result, this place was defiled, and Cain lived an extremely painful life in the world. We only see that he lived, but we don't see the pain he lived in.

In fact, if a person lives for a thousand years, and then another thousand years, without joy every day, living in fear every day, and laboring and worrying, living in pain, entanglement, and depression, what's the point of living another thousand years? I don't know what the point is. So, after learning these lessons, we must know how we should live.

Sometimes, people are involuntarily caught up in the world, in dynasties, in the workplace, in officialdom, or in business. It's not easy. But today, if my purpose in living is to trust in God, you just need to be strong and greatly courageous. We live to live by trusting in God. We will never shed human blood, nor will we defile the place where we live. Even if we enter the promised land, we will never defile the land where we live. Once the land where we live is defiled, and the sins become so deep, God will forsake us.

After God left, the Israelites experienced a deep curse, being tossed around among the nations for more than two thousand years. Take World War II as an example. Jews all over the world were running around, and no place would take them in. It was very pitiful. Why? Because during the time of Jesus, those who crucified Jesus said some very foolish words. They didn't know what they were doing. They said, Let his blood be on us and on our children. In the end, it was very tragic. They didn't know what they were saying.

So what should we do if our ancestors had such things? It's simple. Because our sins have all been placed on Jesus Christ, today, no matter what kind of evil spirits, we can be saved and redeemed by the precious blood shed by Jesus Christ. We can completely cast out these demons, and from now on, we can live a holy life and live in the grace of Jesus Christ.

I think we should pursue God all our lives. Some people pursue becoming the richest person, but later they find that the life of the richest person is not easy. But they still want to pursue becoming the richest person. It's very strange. Many people want to pursue becoming scientists, famous people, or mighty and famous people. After they become them, what then? If you study carefully, Genghis Khan, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizu of Song, Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han, you will find that none of them ended well.

Being the richest person is not good, being an emperor is not good either. So what do we need most? What we need most is to have God's presence. What we need most is that every place where the soles of our feet tread becomes the promised land where we can experience God.

Today, I no longer live by my own strength. Today, I live by my God. If my God helps me, who can stand against me? If my God helps me, do I need to covet money? No. Do I need to harm others to gain benefits? No. I live by God's promise. No matter how desolate or terrible the situation is where I stand, the place where the soles of our feet tread is called the promised land, because we, this place, have God's presence. God lives among us. That is the most important thing.

For example, many people build churches, but after they build the churches, they don't have God's presence. Some people say, Yesterday I saw Jesus. But if there is no God's presence, what's the use of seeing Jesus? It's useless. Many people pursue seeing this and seeing that. In fact, if you pursue having God's presence, then everything you do will be blessed. But interpreting this blessing is not easy.

If you want to know what it means to be blessed, read Deuteronomy 28:1-14. If you want to learn what it means to be blessed, I encourage you to read my Bible study on Deuteronomy: Blessings and Curses. This book has two volumes. Deuteronomy says that if we diligently observe the commands of the Lord our God, and diligently observe the statutes, ordinances, and commandments of our God, we will surely be blessed.

If we are blessed, we must have the appearance of being blessed. So, what do we rely on to live? This matter is very important. So in the Bible, there are always two kinds of people described: one kind of people rely on their own hands, their own swords, their own efforts, and their own talents, and as a result, they are cursed. Some people rely on God's blessing, God's promise, and God's grace, and as a result, they are blessed. Which one do you choose? What do you choose? If you choose the path of being cursed, who knows what will happen in the future? Either you accidentally kill someone, or you are accidentally killed by someone.

Let me tell you a story. This is what I saw with my own eyes. Once I went out to minister, the parents raised a child. This child went to school and came home every day and was a very good girl. As a result, this little girl's classmate was raped and killed on the way home and thrown into the ditch by the roadside. Later, after the police found the body, this child was extremely afraid every day when she went to school and came home, passing by that ditch.

Before long, the child got meningitis, spent a lot of money, and also had serious sequelae. Her whole body twitched. As a result, I went to minister to that couple and that child. When I went to see her, the little girl's hands were all clenched together. It was quite scary. I wanted to cast out the demons in this child. Later, after learning about it, I found out that this couple, they are both Christians, but they are very bad Christians. They thought, I have to work hard. I don't have time to believe in the Lord! I have to make money! As a result, they didn't make any money, but earned a lot of trouble. Later, the child died.

But I thought, did these parents learn a lesson from this matter? I hope these parents learned a lesson. Why did such a thing happen? Such a thing happened because we humans violated God's word.

Today, are we willing to live by God's word? If you believe that the spiritual realm is real, and you believe that our Jesus Christ is the highest authority in the spiritual realm, then what do you rely on to live? As for me, I rely on diligently observing and following God's word, so that the land where we stand will not be defiled because of ourselves, because of these things for living, and because of these money and benefits, and then do these things that harm others and harm the natural order, and defile the land where we live.

Yes, the promised land has been obtained. It shouldn't have been ours. We obtained it, we fought for it, we also won, and we also obtained this promised land. As a result, to keep this promised land, are you able to continue to diligently observe and follow God's word? If you can continue to diligently observe and follow God's word, I think that is a great grace. But the problem is that people live their lives, and as they live, they forget that people live by God's word.

We think that we live by taking advantage and doing some strange things. You might say, I haven't killed anyone. I haven't shed human blood. In fact, does not shedding human blood make you holy? No, it doesn't. Shedding human blood will definitely be cursed. If you don't shed human blood, but you have a strong worldly logic system inside, and then you violate God's word, you will not be under this curse, but you will be under that curse. There are many curses.

Holiness says that if we become rich and we live a good life, and then we are not willing to serve the Lord our God, you will serve the enemies whom the Lord sends against you. Do you understand? Those things are the things that come from the spiritual world to plunder your wealth and plunder your health.

I advise everyone to think carefully about one thing: after we obtain the promise, how should we hold on to it? This is a deadly matter. A person must know throughout their life that there are many things we cannot manage. We need to trust in God to live. There is nothing in this world that is better than God. So I encourage you, let us all diligently observe and follow God's word, and according to what God has revealed, build a glorious church on this earth and become a blessing to all nations and peoples on earth.

May God bless everyone!