Christ our Mediator
Mediator - a person who attempts to make people involved in a conflict come to an agreement; a go-between. A conciliator
Christ our Mediator - He is the middle man and the foundation of our union and friendship with God.
Now to help you understand WHY we need a mediator, I'm gonna take you back to a very famous Bible character that people love to quote - Job. If you haven't read the book of Job, I would suggest that you read it through and study it as soon as you can. Job went through some hard things during his life but He got them back afterwards. I'm going to take you guys to a few verses that will change the way you see this story.
Job 9:32-35 (NLT)
32 “God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.
33 If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together.
34 The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment.
35 Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.
As you can see, Job didn't have a mediator (Christ) and neither did anyone else in the Old Testament. Now we know that Christ said that nobody could get to the Father except through Him and unfortunately, that means that people in the Old Testament didn't really see God for who He is. Job himself identifies a gap between Him and God as you see in v33 and then we see that in the verse following, he makes a claim that is wilD - He claims that God was beating him.
If we look at the KJV of that verse, it uses the word "rod" which translates to shebet (pronounced sha'·vet) in Hebrew and according to Strong's definition it means from an unused root probably meaning to branch off; a scion, i.e. (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, fighting, ruling, walking, etc.) or (figuratively) a clan:— correction, dart, rod, sceptre, staff, tribe.
The one's that I've highlighted are the one that fit in this context. (in my opinion) We know that Satan was the one that was throwing all these mad things at him but the question is did Job KNOW that it was satan?? If you look through the book, you see that he makes NO references to satan and looks to God as the source of all his misfortunes. The point that I'm trying to make is that when Job was talking throughout this book, He thought it was GOD that was doing all this and since we know that it wasn't, it automatically puts everything he said about God in the gutter. He saw God as the God who "gives and takes away" (Job 1:21) but we know that it was Satan who took everything away from him. He also sees God as a God who "bruises and bandages" (Job 5:18) but we know that it was Satan who did all those horrible to him. Do you see what I'm getting at? Job didn't know God at all! We know that from John 10:10 that it is Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy not Christ (the express image of God - I'll come back to this later)
If you think I'm mad at this point, I'm going to ensure you that I'm not. Please follow me to Job 38, 39 and 40. These chapters are God basically saying to Job, DO YOU KNOW ME?????
Job in his right mind in Job 42:3 finally admits that he was talking about things that he knew nothing about
Job 42:3 - You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. (NLT)
Guys, Job actually didn't know God at all. The lens he was looking at God at was biased - it was full of anger, depression and distress. If you look through the book, Job expresses it very loud and clear. If we only had the book of Job to study the nature of God from, I PROMISE YOU, nobody would want to have God as a Father. Job is actually the worst person to quote from because as he was in his pain and anguish, he wrote this book. So when we read this book, we read it from the lens of Job that is clouded with his pain. It's basically like asking an unbeliever who has only experienced pain to describe God to you - it will only be negative but that doesn't mean that is who God actually is. We know the nature of God through our MEDIATOR, our MIDDLE MAN who clears up all the confusion created in the Old Testament - Jesus!
Colossians 1:15 - Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,(NLT)
Hebrews 1:3 - The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.(NLT)
The only other way I can describe is that Christ is the mirror image of God. Your reflection won't do anything that you don't do. This is the same way that we should look to Christ to find the true nature of God that has been clouded by the emotions of some of the writers of the Old Testament just like Job.
This can be backed up by other verses.
John 14:8-9 (NKJV)
8 - Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient[it will be enough] for us.”
9- Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 6:46 - (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.) (NKJV)
That last scriptures automatically means that anyone in the Old Testament who thought they saw God, didn't. This means that anything that they wrote and described to be God wasn't actually Him... this changes the game right? This is why we need to go back to the scripture and study it properly. Look through the lens of Christ because it will all point and testify to Him.
Christ came to show men who God really was. Colossians 1:19 states this too - God was pleased to present Himself in all His fullness in Christ!
Now back to Christ our Mediator - Christ isn't only the mediator of the New Covenant, but He is also the clear image of the cloudy God that used to see without Him. Through Christ we are made right with God and are able to finally have a relationship with Him and through Christ, God revealed Himself to us so that we may finally get to know Him. Pastor David (Head Pastor of Kharis Church whooop) said something in His series titled 'The Word series' - "The Old Testament was a shadow - pointing to Christ. The New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament" (I'm gonna link the series down below because it was an EYE OPENER!!!!!)
Understanding Christ as our Mediator is really key. There are few things that Christ as our Mediator does but this is just the foundation. Just remember to study the word yourself!
That's all for today people. I hope you enjoyed and learned a bit. As usual if you have any questions or want to have a healthy (emphasis on the healthy) discussion, my dm's are open - https://twitter.com/johnpaulk01.
The posts for today aren't over yet. Like I said, today is a 2 in 1 drop.
Believers, it's time we start wearing our identity :) - it will all become clear in my next post
Enjoy your day and stay blessed!
Link to my next post -
Link to Pastor David's series - click here
Thank you very much John-Paul. I am truly blessed and encouraged. I pray that may God Almighty continue to use you as a Kingdom Warrior and empower you for His good will 🙏🏾🙏🏾
ReplyDeleteGreat post brother, I pray you continue to grow in grace and knowledge of the fullness of God 🙏🏾
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