“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”
– 1 Tim 2:5

I have never been more aware of my need for a Mediator than I am at present. As the days pass, the Holiness of God expands in my understanding in its height, depth, length and breadth – and it is truly a fearful sight whilst I live in this fallen world in a fallen body with a fallen heart. I have never felt so small as I do now. Even the thought of trying to write what it means that Jesus is our Mediator feels beyond me at present. So I shall use some borrowed words from the Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, instead.

“A Mediator! That must be for persons between whom them and God there is ground of quarrel. Sinner! Sinner, this is good news for you! A Mediator is not for a man who is perfectly at one with God, but for you, who has by many sins provoked God! For you who by the sinfulness of your nature stand at a distance from Him! There is need of a Mediator between you and the thrice-holy God—and it is for such as you that a Mediator has appeared! Do you understand this Truth of God? A mediator is not a mediator between those who are at one. He is a mediator between persons who differ—and that is the case with you as to your God!

“A mediator, when he would make peace, goes to this one and he states the case. And he urges him and pleads with him. When he has done that, he returns to the other party and states the other side. He pleads with the one on the behalf of the other. Even so our Lord Jesus Christ comes in between God and man. Oh, how wonderful! He pleads with God for sinners, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” And then he turns round and pleads with sinners for God and bids them turn to Him and be reconciled to Him, since He is their Father and their Friend!

“His pardoning blood can take away the guilt that angers God and the water which flowed with the blood from His dear pierced side can take away the propensity to rebellion within your own bosom! Surely I ought, by such words as these, to comfort some souls and lead them to Jesus! Reconciliation, worked out by Christ, is absolutely perfect! It means eternal life! O my Hearer, if Jesus reconciles you to God now, you will never quarrel with God again, nor God with you! If the Mediator takes away the ground of feud—your sin and sinfulness—He will take it away forever! He will cast your iniquities into the depths of the sea, blotting out your sins like a cloud and like a thick cloud your transgressions. He will make such peace between you and God that He will love you forever and you will love Him forever—and nothing shall separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
“I have heard of some mend-all which so puts the pieces of broken plates together that the articles are said to be stronger than they were before they were broken. I know not how that may be. This I know—the union between God and the sinner reconciled by the blood of Jesus—is closer and stronger than the union between God and unfallen Adam! That was broken by a single stroke—but if Christ joins you to the Father by His own precious blood, He will keep you there by the inflowing of His Divine Grace into your soul—for who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?”

I was driven to my knees in the kitchen a few weeks ago whilst preparing dinner for the family, weeping silently on the floor as I reflected on the huge gulf between man and God, but also weeping with longing for that moment when we are finally with Him in His Kingdom for all eternity, we will be perfected, sin will be gone, and we will finally see Him face to face. Face to face – nothing separating us, perfectly, completely at one. Until then – I will cling to my Mediator with all my heart.

Let me conclude with this exhortation from JC Ryle: “Let us strive to know more and more, every year we live, our need of a mediator between ourselves and God. Let us seek more and more to realize that without a mediator our thoughts of God can never be comfortable, and the more clearly we see God the more uncomfortable we must feel. Above all, let us be thankful that we have in Jesus the very Mediator whose help our souls require, and that through Him we may draw near to God with boldness, and cast fear away. Out of Christ, God is a consuming fire. In Christ, He is a reconciled Father. Without Christ, the strictest moralist may well tremble, as he looks forward to his end. Through Christ, the chief of sinners may approach God with confidence, and feel perfect peace.”

About the Author: Diana Lovegrove, who blogs at Waiting for our Blessed Hope, lives in England with her husband, Pete, her 6 year old son Harry, and her Jack Russell terrier, Patch.

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