Thursday, April 27, 2017

ONLY ONE MEDIATOR




"For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus... – (1 Tim. 2:5)

The power of this statement really hit me recently.

Here, Paul the Apostle is clearly saying that there is one, and only one, mediator between God and man – Jesus.

Not your pastor.

Not your church.

Not your denomination.

Not your bishops, or elders, or deacons.

Just Jesus.

In fact, this verse means that Jesus – and only Jesus – is your mediator.

Only Jesus stands between you and God. 
Only Jesus connects you to God. 
Only Jesus reveals who the Father is, and what the Father is like.

So, no one – and nothing – else is stands between you and God.

Not even the Bible.

[wait…what?]

Yes, that’s right. Jesus – not the Bible – is the one mediator between you and God.

“But…the Bible is the Word of God!”

No, actually Jesus is the Word of God. [The Bible says so]

“But…you wouldn’t even know that if it wasn’t in the Bible!”

Yes, but just because the Bible tells me this information, that doesn’t mean I worship the Bible.

For example, if you called me and let me know you loved me, wouldn't it be weird if I attributed that to my phone and not to you? [But, I wouldn't even know that you loved me without my phone!]

So…I will continue to affirm what the Bible says:

That Jesus is the Word of God and that Jesus is the one mediator between God and man.

So, what does this actually mean in a practical sense?

It means that Jesus is the Good Shepherd and that His sheep can hear His voice. 

It also means that Jesus is more than capable of making Himself known and heard loud and clear.

It also means that we don’t need to go to another person – a pastor, a teacher, a guru, or anyone else – to hear the voice of God or to discern the will of God for our lives.

Dare I say it: Jesus is capable of revealing Himself to us today by His Spirit.

Yes, the scriptures also help us to know things about Jesus, and that can help to point us to Him and help us to know Him in a deeper way.

But, that's not the only way we can know Jesus.

He is not limited by ancient texts or scholarship. We can come to Him to receive life directly. 

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." -Jesus [John 5:39-40]

Jesus also promised us that He would send the Holy Spirit to us and that it would be better for us than if he remained with us in person. [See John 14]

That’s a pretty big claim.

Jesus says that having the Holy Spirit live within us is better than having Jesus remain with us in the flesh.

Take some time to meditate on that. I’ll wait…

To review:
Jesus is the one mediator between God and man.
Jesus is capable of speaking to us clearly.
We are capable of hearing Jesus speak to us.
We do not need anyone else to tell us what God is like, or to reveal what God wants to say to us.
Jesus is exactly what God has to say to all of us.

So, let’s spend as much time as possible with Jesus. 

He is alive. He is within us. He is the one and only mediator between us and the Father.

This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” - God [Matt. 17:5]

-kg



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