THE MEDIATOR
1 Tim. 2:5
Morning Meditation 6/1/16
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;”
I want us to think of the truths set forth in this verse. We have God, Christ, and men and the thought of bringing them together. Jesus is said to be our Mediator. Do we need a mediator? It is possible to make it without one? Can we approach God without one? Can another be substituted for him? Let’s look at the verse.
The words “For there is one God” declare a truth that is basic and a person is not going to make any headway in knowing the one true God until he acknowledges this fact. God is not willing to take a place in man’s thinking as one of many Gods. He has declared from the beginning that he is one God. 1 Cor. 8:6 “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” Eph. 4:6 “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Deut. 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:” Isa. 45:5 “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:”
There is one God and he is uncreated which mean that he has always been. He is infinite which means he is without limits. He cannot be measured. He cannot be understood because if he could be described the description would put limits on him. He is spirit and therefore cannot be seen. When we worship, it must be by faith. Faith sees the unseen. God is awesomely holy. Lev. 11:44 “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
The words “and one mediator between God and men” declare the mediator. The word “one” means “only one.” It is just like there is only one God. This leaves no room for Mary as a mediator. The blessed virgin mother should always be held in high esteem by believers. But she would be the first to object that she is no mediator. There is only one mediator and Mary would make two. The word “mediator” (mesites) means “ one who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant, a medium of communication, arbitrator.” It comes from the word “mesos” which means “middle.”
Why do we need a mediator? Because God dwells in the light unapproachable. First Timothy 6:15-16 says, “Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen..” Man has lost his capacity to approach that infinitely thrice holy God. When man sinned in the Garden of Eden, he forfeited the privilege of the continuous presence of God. A barrier was immediately erected between man and God. It is a sin barrier and it is still there. We need a mediator to penetrate that barrier and restore us to fellowship.
The words “the man Christ Jesus” identify the mediator. He could have said “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men” and left it there and it would have satisfied most of us. But the Holy Spirit knew the heresies that would arise and so in advance he declared a truth that would refute any heresy that tried to make another mediator. There is only one and he is Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah) Jesus (The Saviour, the one who died to save us). This is what Paul is telling Timothy.
How important is the Mediator? Genesis 3:23-24 says, “Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Supposed Adam tried to get by the Cherubims with the flaming swords and steal his way into the garden? What do you think would have happened? If God is omnipresent and omnipotent and means what he says, there could be no break in. Do we really understand this? If God is God we are at his mercy. There is not the slightest chance that we can find a way of approach that will be acceptable to God. There is nothing man can devise that can usurp God’s power or authority. If what I am saying is true, and it is, man must have a Mediator.
We do have a Mediator and his name is Jesus. He is the one and only mediator. He is not man’s invention.. He is the Mediator who came from God’s side of the barrier to make a way for man to come back through. Jesus said, “I am the way . . .” The way to where? Jesus said, “I am the door . . .” The door to where? You say “Jesus is the way to heaven. He is the door to heaven.” No. You would be wrong. Well, maybe partly right. But the real truth is that Jesus is the Way to God and the Door to God. One cannot get to God’s heaven and escape a devil’s hell (Matt. 25:41) without coming through Jesus. He is the way, he is the door. The barrier is not distance (to heaven), or, location. The barrier is God’s holiness and his justice. So Jesus is the way to God and the door to God. We do have a Mediator and he is the only way.
The words “the man Christ Jesus” speak of his incarnation. This is where he made the door through the barrier. My old sin nature is a barrier to God’s holiness and God’s justice. His holiness is the moral barrier and his justice is the legal barrier. What is man to do? He is in an impossible situation. That is, from his side of the barrier. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Jesus is the “only begotten Son.” This is how Jesus became a man. He was truly man without a human father. He was truly God because he had incarnated himself in the man Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:19). So you have the barrier penetrated from God’s side. Now we have a man as a qualified mediator (Christ Jesus) on man’s side of the barrier. Now when this man goes back through this barrier to God’s side will he open the way for others? This is the reason he came. He lived a perfect life which is what God requires. He died a substitutionary death which is God’s idea (See Gen. 3:21 where God made the first sacrifice in man’s behalf). So God’s need and man’s need are both satisfied in the person of Christ. This is what a mediator does. He is one who stands between and reconciles differences.
