The Mediator // 1 Timothy 2:5-6
1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NIV) | For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
Have you ever experienced any form of mediation? The idea behind mediation is to bring someone in to help two warring parties arrive at some mutually agreeable settlement to an ongoing situation. So often the key turns out to help each other see the reality from the other’s point of view. We can get so wrapped up in being convinced we are right that we lose the ability to compromise. Therein lies a problem, though, in that compromise requires us to walk away with less than our original demands.
Romans 8:7 gives us the uncomfortable truth that our sinful nature is at war with God. We have no power to stand in opposition to God and the Lord doesn’t want that anyway. So far from sending an impartial figure to mediate in our ongoing battle, God came in the flesh to mediate our contentious conflict. Jesus showed us that the heartbeat of heaven beats for you and me, and that our sin separates us from the pure relationship that God desires. This chasm couldn’t be crossed without help, so God set and provided the solution. Jesus simultaneously took on the sin of the world and the wrath of God to solve our sin problem. And solve it He did since He was set by God the Father to be the solution for you and me!
Salvation is found in no one or no thing apart from Jesus Christ who came to stand in the breach caused by sin and pay the required penalty for our waywardness. This is God’s cost for mediation — He gave His one and only Son so those who believe in Him will never perish. Our cost requires us to turn away from our old worn-out, burned-out way of living to live for God. It might sound easy, but it isn’t. Still, that’s a pretty good trade-off if you ask me. Jesus came to pay a penalty we could never pay\\ to give a gift we could never earn. So, let’s accept God’s offer of salvation through the forgiveness of sins; believe in Jesus as the one and only Son of God raised from the dead; and confess our ongoing need for the Lord’s hope and help!
