Num 35:34, 'And you shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.'" 
	Once again we turn to Dr. Ronald B. Allen in his commentary on the Book of Numbers to begin our consideration of this morning’s text. Quote, The underlying theology of this text is most significant: the shedding of man’s blood pollutes the land. The crime of murder is not only an offense against the sanctity of life; it is in fact a pollutant to the Lord’s sacred land. It is like the blood of innocent Abel screaming out to the Lord (Gen 4:10, And He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground). Only the blood of Christ will be able to speak a better word (Heb 12:24, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel). 
	The point of the passage is not just that there be cities for the Levites to inhabit or that there be cities of asylum for the inadvertent man-slayer to find refuge. All the theology of the chapter culminates in the last words of v.34: “For I am Yahweh who dwells in the midst of the people of Israel.” ….This is the issue. If God is to be resident among His people, then the land may not be polluted. With all the attention we (rightly) give to issues of ecology and pollution in our own day, there is an act of pollution that far transcends the trashing of rivers, the killing of lakes, the denuding of forests, and the spilling of oils to mar even the seas; this is the abuse of persons. The worst abuse of all is wrongful death. God will not draw near a land where blood is the polluting agent. End quote. 
	This is something that should strike a severe chord in our innermost beings. There is a sanctity of life that is to be honored because each of us is a creation of God. From the youngest child in the womb to the eldest brother and sister in Christ, each person is deserving of the respect and the honor and the consideration as a fellow creation of God, created in the image of God. That is why the Lord put such emphasis on this throughout His Word.
	Even as God was preparing His Chosen Nation to go forth into the Promised Land, He did so with the following admonishment as recorded in Lev 18:24-28, if you would please turn to it. In this Lev 18 chapter, God detailed why the nations that inhabited the Promised Land were being dispossessed. They had chosen to do all those things which defiled one another as the creation of God. It was not just murder, but the complete debasement of one another as nothing but things to use for personal pleasure as opposed to treating others as people worthy of respect and honor in the sight of God.
	As a result, The Lord made this direct pronouncement to His people. Lev 18:24-28, 'Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. 'For the land has become defiled, therefore I have visited its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. 'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled); so that the land may not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. 
    	Then, in Deut 21:1-9, if you would please turn to it, The Lord was very specific about even the fact that if a dead person was found and there were no means of the identification of the killer, the people of the surrounding area and towns of the Promised Land would do whatever was necessary to honor God and that slain person in order to not defile the land of God’s habitation. It was a matter of treating each other as God so treats us, with every sense of dignity and provision and respect. As we so treat one another, God is blessed and His work in creation is acknowledged and upheld in the minds and hearts of His people.
	Deut 21:1-9, "If a slain person is found lying in the open country in the land which the Lord your God gives you to possess, and it is not known who has struck him, then your elders and your judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities which are around the slain one. And it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man, that is, the elders of that city, shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked and which has not pulled in a yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with running water, which has not been plowed or sown, and shall break the heifer's neck there in the valley. Then the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near, for the Lord your God has chosen them to serve Him and to bless in the name of the Lord; and every dispute and every assault shall be settled by them. And all the elders of that city which is nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley; and they shall answer and say,' Our hands have not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. 'Forgive Thy people Israel whom Thou hast redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Thy people Israel.' And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. 
    	There had to be a way for the people to keep themselves and their land honoring to the Lord and unpolluted by blood. Therefore, if a body was found, it would be treated with the dignity that was required and the people of the area would have a means of cleansing themselves and their territory from the stain of that innocent blood. 
	In another way of being honoring to the Lord when a person’s death was required, the corpse of that guilty person was still treated in such a way as to not defile the land, as we read in Deut 21:22+23. The Lord made a provision for the land to not be besmirched with the blood of the guilty one who was justly put to death. 
Deut 21:22+23, "And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance. 
    	The Prophet Isaiah, in Isa 26:20+21, dealt with the fact that the Lord will not leave the nations unpunished when they shed innocent blood. The iniquity can not be hidden away and unseen by God. His creation will reveal all that is attempted to be done in secret, as was the case with Cain and Abel. There will be no escape from the searching justice and righteous judgment of the Lord upon those who defile His creation with their abominable acts. 
Isa 26:20+21, Come, my people, enter into your rooms, And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while, Until indignation runs its course. For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed, And will no longer cover her slain. 
       This righteous judgment included even the Chosen Nation of God, as was the warning in this morning’s passage. The Prophet Jeremiah, centuries later in Jer 26:12-16, would remind the nation that they were under the mighty hand of God’s Holiness in the manner in which they treated the prophets and the people of God in the land of Promise. Please open to it and read along with me.
	Jer 26:12-16, Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, "The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. "Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you. "But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight. "Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing." Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God." 
	The Prophet Ezekiel, as well, gave voice to the Word of the Lord as the people fell deeper and deeper into the defilement of those nations who had been dispossessed from the Promised Land. In Ezek 22:24-27, the Lord finally laid forth His full case against the people who were polluting His land, and therefore had no care for the presence of the Lord in their midst. 
	Ezek 22:24-27, "Son of man, say to her, 'You are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.' "There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. "Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. "Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. 
	This was also attested unto by the Prophet Hosea in Hos 4:1-3, as the Lord was in the midst of withdrawing His presence from the nation that had withdrawn itself from the Lord. The people were reveling in the defilement of the world, shunning the Lord and His Holiness and His Righteousness. They had allowed their land and themselves to be polluted by the filth of this age. 
Hos 4:1-3, Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness or kindness Or knowledge of God in the land. There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, And everyone who lives in it languishes Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky; And also the fish of the sea disappear. 
    	The final pronouncement of the guilt of the nation was voiced by the very Son of God upon those who were supposed to be leading the nation in the way and the laws of The Lord unto holiness and honor and respect for Who He was and all that He had done. It was the very One Who came to save the world Who pointed out the absolute need for that salvation as Jesus dealt with the Scribes and the Pharisees in Matt 23:29-35, if you would read along with me. 
	Matt 23:29-35, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say,' If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' "Consequently you bear witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. "Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell? "Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 
	When they could no longer stand for the purity of God that was expressed by Jesus, the crowds were stirred up by those same religious leaders to do away with this One Who had shown a light on their very transgressions. We can hear the cries of the people, in Matt 27:22-25, as they were instigated to call for the death of the One Who was innocent and pure and sinless. 
    	Matt 27:22-25, Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let Him be crucified!" And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Let Him be crucified!" And when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves." And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us and on our children!" 
    	The truth of the matter is that His blood is upon all of us. We all are guilty of sin and trespass against the Holiness of God. We are all lost and without hope in this world. We are all polluted in our transgressions and guilt and we are all partakers of the very reason that His innocent and pure blood had to be shed. 
As detailed for us in Heb 7:23-28, by that gracious act of giving Himself for our salvation, He became the Eternal High Priest Whose blood covers all our iniquities. He cleanses away all our pollution, all our guilt, all our shame, and all our defilement. 
Heb 7:23-28, And the former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers, because they were prevented by death from continuing, but He, on the other hand, because He abides forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Hence, also, He is able to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever. 
	It is by virtue of Jesus Christ that our abominable actions and disregard for the Holiness and the Splendor and the Majesty of the Lord God Almighty can be eternally dealt with. In Him, we know the indwelling presence of the Lord in our lives every moment of every day, now and forevermore. So be it!
'And you shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel. Amen!
	This morning’s benediction is Num 6:24-26. The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.' Amen.