The God-man, Mediator of a New Covenant – Another in a series on Essential Christian Doctrines.
Having willingly embraced the task of becoming our mediator, and being anointed by the Holy Spirit to an unlimited extent, Jesus perfectly fulfilled God’s law. Any reading of the Gospels makes crystal clear that Jesus was without sin of any kind. Jesus explained to those questioning him that he always kept the law of God, “I always do what pleases him [the Father]…Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?”(John 8:29, 46). When on trial, even pagan Pilate affirmed his freedom from guilt and sought to convince the crowd to release him.
The apostles testified to his sinlessness. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:20). “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22). “Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins and in him is no sin” (1 John 3:4,5). Hebrews explains that we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses, for he “was tempted in every way, just as we are—yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). “He spoke the very words of God, for God gave him the “Spirit without limit” (John 3:34).
The eternal Son of God took on human flesh through the virgin birth, grew as the man Jesus, perfectly kept the law of God throughout his life and at the age of thirty he “began to preach, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near’” (Matthew 4:17). Of his teachings people commented, “No one ever spoke the way this man does” (John 7:46).
The four gospels plus the writings of his apostles describe the three years of his earthly ministry. He taught, he healed the blind, the lame, and the dumb. He even raised the dead. At the end of his gospel, John writes of how impossible it was to describe the whole scope of his life. “This is the disciple who testifies of these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would written” (John 21:24,25).
Almost a third of the gospels describe the most crucial last week in his life—his arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection. As this week drew near, he began to prepare his disciples. At least three times “he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day’ and they were greatly distressed” (Matt. 17:22,23; Mark 9:30,31).
In the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing something of the utter desolation he would face in becoming our atoning sacrifice, he cried out in agony of spirit three times for the Father to let this cup pass from him. When he realized this was not possible, he prayed “nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”
The Gospels describe his arrest in the Garden, the stages in his trial, the mockery of the soldiers, and his crucifixion on Friday. Mark’s account simply describes this climatic event.
“They bought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get. It was the third hour when they crucified him…At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani?—which means, ‘My God, my God why have you forsaken me?…With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last’” (Mark 1522,23,25,33,37).
Very early on the first day of the week, Jesus rose from the dead. He first appeared to Mary and some other women followed by Peter, the twelve and “after that he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time” (1 Cor. 15:6). Luke informs us in Acts that “until the day he was taken up to heaven, …he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:2-3). Finally, he gathered them on a mount in “the vicinity of Bethany” and “he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts. 1:9).
The apostles summarize the saving implications of Jesus’ physical death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness, by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” ( 1 Peter 2:24,25). “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit” ( 1 Peter 3:18,19). As the sinless God-man, Jesus Christ willingly became our substitute, in his death paying the penalty for our sins.
By dying for our sins, Christ became the mediator of a new covenant, a better covenant than that mediated by old covenant priests. “Because he lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself”” (Heb. 7:24-27).
Flowing from faith in that one sacrifice issue all of the blessings of salvation; regeneration, justification, adoption, sanctification and glorification—the astounding features of our complete salvation. We’ll consider each of these in turn in the chapters that follow.
Through his death, resurrection, and session at the Father’s right hand, he becomes not only our interceding high priest but our shepherd, the one who leads us ever deeper into the joy of the redeemed.
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