Heidelberg 16-19

¹⁸For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18)

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

I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. (Job 16:21 NLT)

Thoughts: We need someone who can be a mediator between us and God- in order to bring us peace with God.  But it would be even better if that mediator who does this work of lawyer like mediation- would be willing to pay the penalty he exacts from us.  Imagine if someone sues you for a wrong that you know you have done.  Imagine then that you go to mediation (in order to bypass a prolonged court).  There the mediator says you owe a tremendous debt that you cannot possibly begin to pay- but the mediator pulls out his checkbook and pays it for you.  This is not a made up story. We know of it from the scriptures themselves- the story from God's people to God's people inspired by God Himself.  This is good news- God cares for us- and wants to make us friends with Him.  

Prayer: Thank you Lord, for interceding, mediating, sacrificing for me.  Help me to trust your mediation and love.  

Q & A 16

Q. Why must the mediator be a true and righteous human?

A. God’s justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for sin;1  but a sinful human could never pay for others.2

1 Rom. 5:12, 15; 1 Cor. 15:21; Heb. 2:14-16
2 Heb. 7:26-27; 1 Pet. 3:18

Q & A 17

Q. Why must the mediator also be true God?

A. So that the mediator, by the power of his divinity, might bear the weight of God’s wrath in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.1

1 Isa. 53; John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21

Q & A 18

Q. Then who is this mediator— true God and at the same time a true and righteous human?

A. Our Lord Jesus Christ,1 who was given to us to completely deliver us and make us right with God.2

1 Matt. 1:21-23; Luke 2:11; 1 Tim. 2:5
2 1 Cor. 1:30

Q & A 19

Q. How do you come to know this?
A. The holy gospel tells me. God began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise;1 later God proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs2 and prophets3 and foreshadowed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law;4 and finally God fulfilled it through his own beloved Son.5

1 Gen. 3:15
2 Gen. 22:18; 49:10
3 Isa. 53; Jer. 23:5-6; Mic. 7:18-20; Acts 10:43; Heb. 1:1-2
4 Lev. 1-7; John 5:46; Heb. 10:1-10
5 Rom. 10:4; Gal. 4:4-5; Col. 2:17

20- 3/12- WLC- 40

Q. 40. Why was it requisite that the mediator should be God and man in one person?
A. It was requisite that the mediator, who was to reconcile God and man, should himself be both God and man, and this in one person, that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us, and relied on by us, as the works of the whole person.

For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. (Hebrews 9:15)

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)

Thoughts: On the one hand Christ holds the hand of the Father.  He is His beloved Son- the Father even said so at Christ’s baptism and transfiguration.  On the other hand, Christ holds our hand.  He reconciles us to God- bringing the Father to us and us to the Father.  The cross's arms reach from heaven to the earth.

Prayer: Thank you, God-man, for coming and reconciling us to God.  May we be ambassadors of your reconciliation too.

3/10/12- Why A Mediator who is God and Man?

18- 3/10- WLC- 38

Q. 38. Why was it requisite that the mediator should be God?
A. It was requisite that the mediator should be God, that he might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of God, and the power of death; give worth and efficacy to his sufferings, obedience, and intercession; and to satisfy God's justice, procure his favor, purchase a peculiar people, give his Spirit to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring them to everlasting salvation.

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:6-8)

The Word became flesh and lived among us.  We have seen His glory , the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father full of grace and truth.  (John 1:14)

Thoughts: Christ the God-man mediates between God and us.  He tells us- and embodies to us- the love and care of God.  If God cares enough to become human in order to save us, does He not care about what we do, how we speak, and what we think?  God is not so distant that He is not love.  Christ is Immanuel- God with us.  That Christ, the infinite God, embodied  flesh means His sufferings and prayers have infinite value.  Once an emissary from the Archbishop of Canterbury in Britain went to Lebannon and released four captives substituting himself for them.  He was in captivity from 1987 to 1991, and most considered him dead for several years until he was suddenly released.  Christ’s value is not worth four- but because He is God- He is worth all of humanity forever.  He is the Creator of all- and without Him none of us would ever be here.  The Son of God mediates to the Father-God asking for our release paid for by His ransom on the cross. 

Prayer: May I remember your humility in becoming human, and imitate your love by giving myself to others, Lord. 

(Terry Waite, Mediator between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Terrorists in Lebannon who held  several captive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Waite) 

(Terry Waite commenting on John Bunyan postcard and prayers of those while he was in captivity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5buBeSIPXmc).

(Interview with Terry Waite 2007: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlukFxqcYeo)