What does it mean that Jesus is our mediator?

Long before Christ appeared the hearts of men yearned for a mediator. The book of Job is evidence of this, for that patriarch felt the immense gulf that lay between God and himself. "He is not a man as I am" was his complaint, "neither is there any Daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both" (Job 9:32-33). The One who takes up the part of Daysman or Mediator must Himself be God to fully represent God, and must be Man to rightly represent man. The Man Christ Jesus is He. Being Man we have no need of further men to come in as subsidiary mediators between Him and ourselves.

We must not leave this epistle without noticing the striking way in which the whole story illustrates what mediatorship means and involves; illustrating really the statement, "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the Man, Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5). God is the One offended by sin: man, the offender: the Man Christ Jesus, the Mediator.

God Himself, has clearly demonstrated His desire for the salvation of all in that Christ has given His life a ransom for all. He has died, the testimony has now to be maintained, God is one — the Mediator between God and men one — the Man Christ Jesus. This proves the utter worthlessness of all men, for only Christ can bring men to God, and all need so to be brought. The Mediator is great enough to put His hand upon the throne of God. In taking Manhood and going into death He stooped low enough to put His hand upon the sinner that He might bring such righteously to God.

Thus, as we need, we have an adequate image of the invisible God; and this Jesus is "mediator of God and men," though mediation of course goes farther than representation. For there are two parts in it — His manhood and His ransom, both of special moment if God is to be known, and if man, sinful man, is to be suitably blessed in the knowledge of God.

"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be rendered in due time." Judaism was the revelation and testimony of the one God. Christianity reveals also the true God, but brings forth the equally great truth that there is but one mediator, as there is but one God. And this one mediator is the Man Christ Jesus, who came into the world and who gave Himself a ransom for all.

I have read these verses, beloved friends, not with the thought of trying to bring out, in any wise, even in outline, all that might present itself to me here, but rather taking them as the key to some thoughts with regard to our blessed Lord Himself, in that character which is His exclusively, the character of Mediator. He is the "one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus." And this word, Mediator, means, one who is in the midst — between two. Thus Christ is, on the one hand, with God, for God, and God and with man, for man, and man. The fact of what He is in His own person is, I would say, the basis-fact for all the rest.

The one Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus, was as necessary for Jews as for Gentiles: neither could actually be brought to the true God except by and through Him. And His becoming Man was an absolute essential, in order that any man might really know the eternal God. He is the "Daysman," of whom Job speaks, one who might lay His hand both upon God and upon man (Job 9:33). For of necessity there is between God and man a naturally impassable barrier. How can mere finite, earthbound man comprehend an infinite, eternal, omniscient God? In fact men commonly use this argument to dismiss any consideration of their responsibility Godward. Of course, this is vain, for the fact is that God is a God who reveals Himself. Admittedly, in the Old Testament this was only a partial revelation, though progressive. But this is completely changed in the person of the Man Christ Jesus. His incarnation involves more than mediatorship, for He is Himself the revelation of the eternal God in human form; but His mediatorship is of vital consequence for all men, for only through Him may anyone actually be brought into contact with the Living God.

These two passages in Hebrews make it abundantly clear that the truth as to the place of our Lord Jesus Christ as our Mediator and Priest hangs upon the fact of His becoming MAN in the full and proper sense of that word; hence the emphasis placed upon His manhood in 1 Timothy 2:5: "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." He is, indeed, that "Daysman" whom Job sighed for, who "might lay His hand upon us both" (see Job 9:32-33). He knew that God is not a man as he was, and hence the imperative necessity of One great enough to lay His hand upon God, yet gracious enough to lay His hand upon such an one as Job.

God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. He has taken up the attitude of Saviour toward all, and has approached man in the Mediator, One who can lay His hand upon us both. He is great enough to lay His hand upon God, for He is a divine Person; and not too great to lay His hand upon me, for He is a man—the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all. An angel would not do, for he is too great for me; his hand would be too heavy upon me. I am weak and feeble, and he knows nothing of weakness. But he is not great enough to lay his hand upon God, for he is but a creature. But in Jesus my need and the need of God are perfectly met. I cannot now say of God, "He is not a man, as I am," for He has become man in the person of Christ. And in this way God has drawn near to us that He might gain the confidence of our hearts.

Middle man, one who can stand between two and have intercourse with both. Such was Moses: he conveyed to the people the words of Jehovah, and carried to Jehovah the replies of the people. Again and again he pleaded their cause. The very fact of a mediator acting between two, is used by the apostle to show that God's acting with Abraham was on a different principle. "A mediator is not of one, but God is one," and He made to Abraham personally an unconditional promise. Gal. 3:19-20. The Lord Jesus is the Mediator — the only mediator — "between God and men" universally. It is through Him that God has been enabled to approach men in a Man with forgiveness of sins, and consequently to Him any poor sinner can go, and will in no wise be cast out. He is the Mediator of the new covenant that will be made with Israel in the future: they will be blessed only through Him, as the saints of God are now blessed through Him and in Him. 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; Heb. 9:15; Heb. 12:24.