Today we will look at life with and without our Mediator. As I prayed this morning over the nations, the church and our families, I stopped to reflect on all that’s happening around me, witnessing the open rebellion against God and His Word. The persecution of Christians worldwide, the debauchery and filth that is being paraded as normal. The daily onslaught by legislators of godless and reckless policies that are being forced upon us and our children. The threats for noncompliance. I heard myself saying. ‘It’s not because You’re weak, silent, blind and deaf, why we haven’t experienced Your wrath and judgment, it’s because we have a Mediator. I had to let that thought sink in. The Holy Spirit was quickening me to a reality most of us miss or take for granted. Lamentations 3:22-23. The Bible records these beautiful Words:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17 NKJV
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,” I Timothy 2:5 NKJV
We do take a lot for granted. But where would we be without our Mediator? Moses became a mediator of sorts between God and Israel, but there were times when he couldn’t prevent the wrath of God from being meted out. There have even been times when Moses had to exact judgment on behalf of Jehovah. But thanks to Calvary, we have a permanent Mediator between us and the wrath of God. The Bible says; “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Hebrews 7:25. Without a Mediator, God’s judgment is swift and exact. We’re not getting away with anything, we’re being spared through mediation. But don’t celebrate quite yet. His wrath is reserved for those who refuse to accept the mediation that Jesus provides. Romans 2:5
Those are the ones who have become a god unto themselves, or worship idols who are no gods at all. Isaiah 44:9-20. Lovers of themselves. 2 Timothy 3:1-5. As I read through the Old Testament, I consider myself blessed to have Jesus as my Mediator. Without Him I wouldn’t be alive. My sin demanded justice, His mediation brought mercy to my case. Those who reject Jesus have no idea what they are doing. That’s why Jesus’ last words on the cross were so pivotal for us. He started the plan of mediation with these timeless words in Luke 23:34. Read please. Now let us explore life before the cross. Life before Jesus stood between us and God’s justice. I pray these verses will bring us to a place of gratitude and surrender.
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” Genesis 6:5-7 NKJV
“And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”
Exodus 12:29-30 NKJV
“And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
Exodus 32:7-14 NKJV
“then Moses stood in the entrance of the camp, and said, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side—come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ ” So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.” Exodus 32:26-28 NKJV
Contrast this scripture with Acts 2. How many people got saved that day? Thank God for our Mediator Jesus.
“And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”
Numbers 21:5-6, 8-9 NKJV
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:14-15 NKJV
Thank God For our Mediator Jesus! Instead of writing out all the scriptures that shows life before our Mediator, I will be referencing a few that you can go read on your own. We are a blessed generation. Not because our God has changed His position on disobedience and lawlessness, but because we have a faithful Mediator. Israel is our example of life before Jesus. If God could turn His face away while our sin was being dealt with in the body of His sinless Lamb, what makes us think for one moment that He’s tolerating our rebellion? Thank God for our Mediator Jesus!
“Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”
Numbers 25:1-4 NKJV
Genesis 19:1-29
Leviticus 10:1-7
Numbers 12
Numbers 16:1-35
1 Kings 13
1 Samuel 2:22-36
Joshua 7
Even with a Mediator in the age of grace, God doesn’t condone sin in our lives. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? Acts 5, Elymas the sorcerer. Acts 13.
There are many more scriptures like these to show the fate of man without a Mediator. Before Jesus Christ we were under God’s wrath but now we have obtained mercy through His sacrifice. The book of Judges, Kings, Chronicles, Jeremiah, Isaiah all warns against open rebellion and disobedience against God and the consequences. There was no mediator in the garden of Eden. Man rebelled, God uprooted them and drove them out. In Judges His judgment was swift, but so was His mercy. I thank God for Jesus. We are a generation that have received grace on top of grace. New mercy every morning. May we not mistake the mediation of Jesus for the complicity of God. Galatians 6:7.
Now is the time, today is the day, to harken to the voice of God. Our Mediator Jesus is soon to return. He stands between us and what we deserve. Let us not mistake His long suffering for weakness, nor what we think we’re currently getting away with as acceptance of the current norms. He calls us to be holy as He is holy. Consider the length of your days as the time He is giving you to accept or reject His offer of salvation.
THANK GOD! WE HAVE A MEDIATOR! Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant
June 24, 2021