The Only Mediator Revealed

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Hebrews 2; Lord's Day 6
Psalters: 131, 69, 223, 208
  1. What He must be.
    1. Our deliverance from our sins and miseries comes from the “Mediator.”
    2. Our Mediator/Substitute must be completely human, perfectly righteous, and very God (q. 15).
      1. First, He must have the same human nature all humans have (Hebrews 2:14-17).
      2. Second, He must be perfectly righteous, without any corruption or actual sin.
    3. And third, our Mediator must be very God.
      1. He must be sustained by Divine power, as He endures God’s infinite wrath.
      2. He must earn eternal life and everlasting happiness, which only the infinite God can do.
  2. God Himself provided the “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5).
    1. The Mediator is provided by God Himself, not by us, nor by a joint effort of God and man (cf. Gen. 15).
    2. Jesus Christ met the qualifications necessary.
    3. The union of these Divine and human natures of Jesus is called the “Incarnation” (coming in flesh).
      1. For the first few centuries the Christian Church struggled with a proper understanding of this relationship.
      2. The Counsel of Chalcedon, 451 A.D.(p. 84 of Psalter) concluded that Jesus is two natures united in One Person.
  3. Of this Mediator we learn in the Gospel.
    1. The Gospel is God’s good news about Christ and His perfect work of reconciliation.
    2. This Gospel is preached by the Church into all the world.
    3. Faith embraces the Redeemer spoken of in the Gospel.