WHY GOD GAVE US A MEDIATOR
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim. 2:5, R.S.V.
We all know it by heart: Jesus stands before the judgment bar of God, pleading His blood for our pardon. He is our mediator. Is there an implied reticence on God's part to accept the likes of us? If Jesus were suddenly to stand aside, would God's face drop into a menacing scowl, His lips parting with words of our impending destruction?
Jesus said that the Father Himself loves us (John 16:27), that because He loves us so much, He sent His Son into the world, not to make sure we know how mad He is with us, but to help us understand that He has made provision for us to be reunited once again with Him (chap. 3:16, 17). That provision is Jesus.
The problem always has been that we are afraid of God. It started in Eden when our first parents hid from Him. Having acted wrongly, they must have thought that He had come "gunning" for them. Their fears were never confirmed. Quite the opposite! God told them of the plan He had to reinstate their friendship. It involved a mediator.
But why a mediator? Consider: We are afraid of God, afraid that when we do wrong He'll come gunning for us. It makes us hide from Him--hide in our life's work, our pretended indifference, our religious pretenses. We have many ways to hide. And all because we do not understand that God's attitude toward us has never changed! Our fears will never be confirmed. Meanwhile, in His loving and practical way, God has addressed the problem that our fear creates. He has kept His distance from us to calm our fears, sending Someone to explain to us the true situation. (That Someone was even born as a totally helpless infant, as if to underscore the "safeness" of His person!)
God is safe! In the judgment the blood Christ pleads is God's message to us that He's taken care of the results of our separation from Him. As we begin to understand that we need not hide from God, Christ can finally step aside. We no longer feel the need of having someone between us and the Father. Christ will then be given another task. He will be sent to bring us back into the Father's actual presence.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. 1 Tim. 2:5, R.S.V.
We all know it by heart: Jesus stands before the judgment bar of God, pleading His blood for our pardon. He is our mediator. Is there an implied reticence on God's part to accept the likes of us? If Jesus were suddenly to stand aside, would God's face drop into a menacing scowl, His lips parting with words of our impending destruction?
Jesus said that the Father Himself loves us (John 16:27), that because He loves us so much, He sent His Son into the world, not to make sure we know how mad He is with us, but to help us understand that He has made provision for us to be reunited once again with Him (chap. 3:16, 17). That provision is Jesus.
The problem always has been that we are afraid of God. It started in Eden when our first parents hid from Him. Having acted wrongly, they must have thought that He had come "gunning" for them. Their fears were never confirmed. Quite the opposite! God told them of the plan He had to reinstate their friendship. It involved a mediator.
But why a mediator? Consider: We are afraid of God, afraid that when we do wrong He'll come gunning for us. It makes us hide from Him--hide in our life's work, our pretended indifference, our religious pretenses. We have many ways to hide. And all because we do not understand that God's attitude toward us has never changed! Our fears will never be confirmed. Meanwhile, in His loving and practical way, God has addressed the problem that our fear creates. He has kept His distance from us to calm our fears, sending Someone to explain to us the true situation. (That Someone was even born as a totally helpless infant, as if to underscore the "safeness" of His person!)
God is safe! In the judgment the blood Christ pleads is God's message to us that He's taken care of the results of our separation from Him. As we begin to understand that we need not hide from God, Christ can finally step aside. We no longer feel the need of having someone between us and the Father. Christ will then be given another task. He will be sent to bring us back into the Father's actual presence.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
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