Devotional – Plus Interesting Reads – 07/10/2023 – Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

Since the great fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden sin has separated man from God. In the old covenant/testament, man had to follow a set of rules/commandments and had priests making sacrifices in order to find favor with God. Of course, this was impossible for man to do perfectly. If fact every Great man of the OT was found righteous, not because he was sinless or made great sacrifices, but because of his faith.

God pre-determined that mankind would need a clear bridge, a path, call it what you may, to obtain the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. We needed Christ, the propitiation, the mediator between man and God the Father.

MEDIATOR—one who intervenes between two persons who are at variance, with a view to reconcile them. This word is not found in the Old Testament; but the idea it expresses is found in Job 9:33, in the word “daysman” (q.v.), marg., “umpire.”

This word is used in the New Testament to denote simply an internuncius, an ambassador, one who acts as a medium of communication between two contracting parties. In this sense Moses is called a mediator in Gal. 3:19.

Christ is the one and only mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24). He makes reconciliation between God and man by his all-perfect atoning sacrifice. Such a mediator must be at once divine and human, divine, that his obedience and his sufferings might possess infinite worth, and that he might possess infinite wisdom and knowledge and power to direct all things in the kingdoms of providence and grace which are committed to his hands (Matt. 28:18; John 5:22, 25, 26, 27); and human, that in his work he might represent man, and be capable of rendering obedience to the law and satisfying the claims of justice (Heb. 2:17, 18; 4:15, 16), and that in his glorified humanity he might be the head of a glorified Church (Rom. 8:29).

This office involves the three functions of prophet, priest, and king, all of which are discharged by Christ both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation. These functions are so inherent in the one office that the quality appertaining to each gives character to every mediatorial act. They are never separated in the exercise of the office of mediator.
M. G. Easton, Illustrated Bible Dictionary and Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1893), 453–454.

Scripture List; mediator
Job 9:33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, That might lay his hand upon us both.
Job 33:23 If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, One among a thousand, To shew unto man his uprightness:
Isaiah 43:27 Thy first father hath sinned, And thy teachers have transgressed against me.
Galatians 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Hebrews 8:6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
Hebrews 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
Hebrews 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 07:19 10 July, 2023.

—And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.—Coloss. 1:17.
HOW doth the apostle mean that Jesus is before all things? Not as God only, for then the observation would have been needless; and not as man only, for then how could all things consist by him? What is it then, my soul? Is it not as Mediator, both God and man? And was not Christ thus set up from everlasting? Not openly revealed indeed, neither openly manifested in a body of flesh, until the fulness of time; but secretly, and in the divine counsels. What a blessed thought for the redeemed to exercise their rapturous meditations upon! And is it not this which the apostle hath said, He is the image of the invisible God? The image! Yes! that representation of what is in itself invisible; that identical image concerning which Jehovah, when calling Adam into existence, said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So then Adam was the first man indeed openly, but not so secretly, for it is plain that Adam was made after this likeness, which was set up from everlasting. Hence this union of natures, subsisting in one Person, formed the one glorious Mediator, who is and was before all things, and by whom all things consist. Here is the foundation then of the church, and that from everlasting: without this, the church, and indeed all things beside, had wanted foundation. For there is nothing created that can stand out of God; and there was nothing created that could stand in God by a personal union, but him. What a glorious thought! Cherish it, my soul! Never lose sight of it! In Christ the Mediator, all things consist. The church is preserved, redeemed, sanctified, glorified! And how are all his redeemed ones personally and individually secured, but by the same? By him all things consist. Hence their consisting is in him; they are living in him, feeding on him, made righteous in his righteousness, and hereafter will be glorified in his glory. My soul! think what a world of mysteries thou art in! think what an unspeakable life is a life of grace here! think what a world of glory in Jesus hereafter! Now see if thou canst better enter into an apprehension of those divine words of Jesus, Because I live, ye shall live also. And again, At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Robert Hawker, The Poor Man’s Morning Portion (New York; Pittsburg: Robert Carter, 1845), 188.