There is only one fit to be our Mediator
CHAPTER 8: Of Christ the Mediator
(Parts One and Two)
God’s plan to save sinners, which is actually about His grace more than it is about our salvation, begins with His decision from all eternity past that the eternally begotten Son of God be the Savior of His people (Matthew 1:21). He alone is the perfect Mediator between God who is holy and man who is sinful (1 Timothy 2:5).
He is the perfect Prophet who represents God to man and gives man God’s Word (Matthew 7:28-29, John 4:19). He is the perfect Priest who represents man to God, interceding on man’s behalf (Hebrews 4:14-15, 7:25-26). He is the perfect King who rules over all with perfect justice and who teaches by His example that the way to rule is to serve (John 12:14-15, 1 Timothy 6:13-15, Revelation 19:16). He is the perfect Head over the company of those He saves, which we call the Church (Ephesians 1:22, Colossians 1:18).
He is the Heir of all things—all things are His because He is God (Hebrews 1:2).
He is the perfect Judge of all the world because as God, He knows all things and is righteous in all His ways (Matthew 25:31-46). The Father has given to Him from all eternity an elect people who He has graciously redeemed from sin (John 18:9), called to Himself, justified (declared righteous because of what He has done for them), is sanctifying (making holy), and will glorify (one day removing them from all sin and delivering them safely into the presence of God in Heaven for eternity.)
(Part Two)
The Confession rightly points out that the Bible teaches that Jesus, the Son of God, is God (John1:1). He is the second Person of the Trinity. (We dealt more specifically with the Trinity when we covered Chapter 2 of the Confession.) What is pertinent in this chapter is that Jesus, the Son of God, is God. He is one in essence and being with the Father and the Holy Spirit. He is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit. The Son is the co-Creator of all things; He sustains and governs all things that He has created.
At a specific point in time, the Son became a Man in every way (except without sin). In so doing He never ceased, even for an instant, to be less than God in every way. He is the only Person ever to have both a human and divine nature. His two distinct natures are inseparably joined together in one Person and cannot be co-mingled into one hybrid nature, or separated into two persons. While His deity is from eternity past, His humanity began when He was conceived in the womb of the virgin, Mary. He is the God-Man forever into eternity future. As the God-Man, Jesus is the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).
Our Mediator lived for us (sinlessly), died for us (vicariously), rose for us (victoriously), intercedes for us (ceaselessly), and will return again for us (triumphantly).
Jesus, who is God, is the only Mediator. To have any others is blasphemy.
Chapter 8: Of Christ the Mediator
(Parts Three and Four)
It pleased God from all eternity past to ordain Jesus, the eternally Begotten Son of God, to be the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). As Mediator, Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King.
As the Prophet, He represents God to man, not only declaring God’s Word (Mark 1:14, 38), but by being the Incarnate Word of God (John 1:1).
As our Great High Priest, He represents man to God, not only offering a sacrifice for man’s sin, but offering Himself as the once-for-all, never-to-be-repeated Sacrifice for man’s sin (Hebrews 7:27, 10:11-12). He continues as our Great High Priest, ever living to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).
As our King, He rules over all things (Ephesians 1:22, Revelation 19:16).
Christ is the Head of His Body, the Church (Colossians 1:18). He is the Savior of His Church (Ephesians 5:23). He is the Heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2). He is the Judge of all the world (John 5:22; 2 Corinthians 5:10).
(Part Four)
The Son of God is the second Person in the Holy Trinity. He is eternal God, equal in every way with the Father and the Holy Spirit—including in His substance, essence, and being. He is the physical expression of the brightness of the Father's glory (Hebrews 1:3). Everything that is made was made through Christ (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16). He also sustains and governs all He has created (Colossians 1:16).
In the fullness of time, Christ assumed a human nature (Philippians 2:7), was conceived by a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:20) and born of the virgin, Mary (Matthew 1:23; Luke 2:4-7). While never being any less God, He became a man in every way except that He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
From that time forward and on into eternity, Christ has two natures, divine and human, that are inseparably joined in one Person. His two natures are distinct, yet never separated, never confused, or co-mingled as one nature. This God Man is the one and only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5).
The Mediator solves our TWO big problems
CHAPTER 8: Of Christ the Mediator
(Parts Five and Six)
Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was, and is, both God and man; having both natures in One Person. He was like no other man who ever lived (Matthew 8:27). Besides having a divine nature, He was filled with the Holy Spirit as no other man ever was or will be: “holy, harmless, undefiled” (Hebrews 7:26), and “full of grace and truth” (John 1:17). When it was time to execute the office of Mediator, He did so willingly, not of His own accord alone, but in obedience to the will of His Father (John 5:19).
As the Mediator, He fulfilled the Law for those He represents (Matthew 5:17). He underwent the punishment due those He came to save (Romans 4:25, Matthew 1:21). Though He “knew no sin,” He was “made sin” and was a “accursed” for His elect (2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 3:13). He endured not only the hatred of the Jewish religious elite, but also the wrath of Rome as He was beaten, mocked, and scorned. Yet these were nothing compared to His death on the cross where He received the unbridled wrath of His Father for the sin and guilt of His people.
While dead for three days, He experienced no corruption and on the third day He arose from the dead with the same body in which He suffered (John 2:19-21), with which He also ascended into Heaven (Luke 24:51, Acts 1:9-11), where he continues as Mediator, ever interceding for His own (Hebrews 7:25).
(Part Six)
We were all born with two BIG problems. The first is that our sin condemns us (Romans 3:23, 6:23). The second is that even if our sins were forgiven, we lack righteousness (Romans 3:10). Jesus, our perfect Mediator, has addressed and overcome both of those problems. How?
First, by His active obedience to do the Father’s will throughout His sinless life, Jesus earned the reward that He would give to the righteous, if there were any righteous—which there are not. Second, by His passive obedience Jesus subjected Himself to death on the cross, by which He purchased complete forgiveness for all sins of those He came to save.
By these two acts of obedience, our Mediator made His people “not guilty” and altogether “righteous” in the eyes of God. God’s justice regarding our sins has been satisfied, and His requirement of righteousness has been met—not by us, but by Jesus on our behalf.
Our Mediator will one day return to earth as Judge of all people. Those who have sinned (all men) and who have rejected God’s one and only Mediator, will be assigned their place in the eternal lake of fire (Revelation 20:15). Those who have sinned (all men) but who have received God’s one and only Mediator as Savior and Lord, will be gathered by Christ and will be delivered safely into Heaven for eternity as both “not guilty,” and as “righteous as Christ is righteous.”
One Mediator Two Natures
CHAPTER 8: Of Christ the Mediator
(Parts Seven and Eight)
The strength of our Mediator is incredibly great. He not only atoned for the sins of and redeemed all those who would ever believe in Him after His work on the cross was finished, but the benefit of that same work was applied and communicated to the elect of all ages—including those who lived and died before His work on the cross. All who were ever saved, are saved, or will be saved, are saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ and by no other means whatsoever.
How is this possible? Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God slain from before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), and He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
No one at any time has been or will be saved except by faith in what Christ has done to redeem His elect. The elect who lived before Christ trusted in what God would do for them—even though they had no knowledge of the details of how He would do it. All of the elect who have lived, or will live after Christ, trust in what God has already done in Christ. Because of where we live on the timeline, we have greater knowledge of Christ and of what He has accomplished on behalf of those He came to save, than those who lived and died before Jesus accomplished salvation for His people.
(Part Eight)
To be our Mediator Jesus had to be fully God and fully man. From eternity past He was fully God and not man, but when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, while not becoming any less than fully God, He also became fully man. He continues to be fully God and fully man ever since, and He will continue as fully God and fully man forever.
Both natures (divine and human) are resident in one Person. Sometimes Jesus’ humanity is in clearer view in the scriptures (John 1:14; Luke 23 46). At other times His deity is more in view (John 1:1, 5:18; Colossians 2:9). This is no problem because He is fully God and fully man. That is why He is the perfect (only) Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5); the Prophet, Priest and King of the Church of God.
We need His prophetic office, since without His Word, we remain in darkness (John 6:67-68; Luke 4:24). We need His priestly office because if He had not offered Himself as the sinless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of those He came to save, we would remain enemies of God, deserving only of His wrath. He continues as our Priest by constantly interceding for us (Hebrews 7:25). We need His kingly office to convince, subdue, draw, uphold, deliver, and preserve us to His heavenly kingdom (John 12:15, 18:37; 1 Timothy 6:15).
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