Cities of Refuge - Shechem

Another one of the cities of refuge was Shechem, which means shoulder or support. With these cities of refuge being a picture of what Christ does for us we can ask, “in what way is Christ a shoulder or support to us.”

The first verse that comes to mind is Isaiah 9:6 which says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder:” This verse speaks of all government, but we also know that Christ governs His Church. One of Christ’s main offices is to be our king. As our king He has, and will, sovereignly oversee His kingdom by subduing our enemies such as sin and death, and protecting the rights and liberties which pertain to us as children of God. His rule is also eternal which means we will never have to worry about a new king coming into power who will not protect us.

Another way that Christ is our shoulder or support is that He gives rest to the weary and heavy laden. Much like Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, we come to Him with the weight of sin upon our backs, knowing that it is more than we could bear. On the cross He takes that burden from us and endures it on our behalf by taking our wrath and giving us His righteousness. In this we find rest knowing that it is not our work that makes us right with God but His.

Praise God for being our shoulder and support.

-Doug Eaton-