ONE MAN ONE MEDIATOR

Thursday 21 November

For there [is only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:5 (AMPC)

I was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So I myself stepped in to save them with my strong arm, and my wrath sustained me. Isaiah 63:5 (NLT)

In the book of Job, Job wanted a Daysman between himself and God. An arbitrator, an umpire, a go between, who was able to step in and mediate or settle the matter between Job and the Lord. There was nobody.

Isaiah 59:15b -16 says ‘Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.’

Ezekiel 22:30 talks about finding someone to ‘stand in the gap’. This is the essence of intercession but truth be told there was only one man that could intercede for humanity. This is the ‘Man Christ Jesus’.

Think about it for a moment. Who does the Bible refer to as The Intercessor? Furthermore, who does the Bible say He ever lives to make intercession for us? The answer for both questions is the same. The Holy Spirit who is Jesus Christ.

Let me explain. Jesus carries out His intercessory ministry through us by His Spirit. So where does Jesus ‘ever live to make intercession for us?’ The same place; our spirit. In reality, it is talking about the same person performing the same thing. Jesus lives in you. The Holy Spirit lives in you. The Holy Spirit is Jesus without limits and we are one Spirit with Him. Amazing!

If this is true, then it establishes the fact that the man in Job, the man in Isaiah & the man in Ezekiel that they desired to mediate and intercede between God and man, was the Man Christ Jesus. We are not the intercessors. It’s not our ministry, it’s His.

‘Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.’

This statement confirms that this one man, one mediator was Jesus. Jesus is the image of the Father expressed in bodily form which is why Isaiah says ‘His own arm brought salvation’ What does this tell us? Nobody else was qualified for the task except the Lord Jesus.

The word mediator also means ‘reconciler’ which by definition 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’.

‘that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.’ 2 Corinthians 5:19 (NKJV)

None of us had the wherewithal to do that.

Two notable things here. Firstly, Jesus Christ was the only one who could ‘ratify’ or seal the deal for the New Covenant with His blood.

Secondly, He gives us the responsibility to let everyone know that He is the reconciler, the Intercessor, the Mediator between God and man.

This is why our message must always be Christ-centred. Jesus is God who became man to save man.

He is the one who is ‘able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him’. He is the only man and the only mediator for the salvation of all humanity.

God looked for a man and found one. The best man for the job. Himself.

APPLICATION

Thank the Lord Jesus Christ that He is actively carrying out His ministry of intercession in you by His Holy Spirit as you speak in other tongues and agonisomai in the place of prayer.