1 Timothy 2:5-6
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people. (NIV)
There is one mediator, Jesus Christ. It is interesting that the Holy Spirit uses this term to refer to Jesus. A mediator works toward a mutual agreement. We might think that God would insist that all His demands be met. After all, He is God. He has the authority to insist His demands be met in full. But then the word in our passage today would have to be ‘the enforcer,’ not the mediator.
God allows for a mediator because He is fully aware of our inability to meet all His demands. He has known this from the beginning. Adam and Eve could not resist the forbidden fruit. The people of Israel could not resist the gods of other nations. Other nations could not adhere to the standard of morality God had written on their hearts. And even when we desperately want to obey the Lord, we struggle and fail. The Holy Spirit reminds us that we are liars if we claim we are without sin. God knows we cannot meet His demands, so He allows for a mediator.
He also allows for a mediator because the mediator Himself fulfilled all the demands of God. We are the client who cannot do what is necessary, so our mediator has done it for us. He lived without sin and took our punishment upon Him. God accepts that Jesus stood in our place of punishment and took it all. So now, because all God’s demands were met in Christ, we have a mediator.
Finally, God allows for the mediator because He is the mediator. The Father and the Son are the same. The one who might insist His demands be met decided to meet these demands for us. Through Himself, in Christ, He satisfied every demand placed on us by the law of God.
We worry so often whether or not we are good enough for God to accept. The answer is ‘no.’ We are not. But we have a mediator. Yet, though we have sinned against God, He does not get offended, but instead, He became flesh on Earth and did for us what we could not do for ourselves. How great was God’s desire to reconcile with us!
We worry that our sin will release His anger, but this is untrue. Knowing we have a mediator should tell us all we need to know about God’s character. He is very slow to anger when we sin while abounding in overflowing love. We need not worry about God’s wrath because God’s grace has been made clear through our mediator.
When the enemy attempts to convince you that God is angry at you, remember that God did not send an enforcer but a mediator. To God be the glory!
Prayer: Lord, let Your grace abide in me so that my guilt is overwhelmed and snuffed out. Amen.
