Articles
The Go-Between
If you know anything at all about what the Scriptures teach, you would acknowledge the fact that man sinned against God early in history as is recorded in the word of God (Adam and Eve in the garden, Gen. 3:1-9), that “through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12), and, consequently, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).
By sinning, we are separating ourselves from God because He has no tolerance of sin and unrighteousness in His presence. While we might not fully understand that, or even if we think that somehow “unfair,” it remains that this is our situation, and simply because God’s holiness is so far superior to ours. As the psalmist put it, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways” (Psa. 145:17), and, “the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him” (Psa. 92:15). With such character, why would any man think God would tolerate unrighteousness, ungodliness, and outright wickedness?
In this condition, how could any man hope to obtain salvation, or at least be allowed into the presence of God again? If He has no tolerance of sin, and we are all guilty of sin, there is no possibility of a relationship with Him. It seems there is no solution to remedy this situation since man has no means of removing the guilt or paying the price for sin. In case we didn’t know, the price of sin is high (cf. Rom. 6:23)!
The apostle Paul wrote as one who was striving to live a righteous life and avoid the unrighteous, but who failed time after time, finally exclaiming, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom. 7:14-24). He answers that, though, in the very next line: “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25). The one who delivered us from the hopeless situation in which we all found ourselves was Jesus Christ!
The Bible itself is the story of God’s plan for our salvation, which culminated in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross as the price paid for the sins of all men. Throughout the New Testament, the writers point back to that sacrifice and its value and power — the only thing that could, in fact, make it possible to be reconciled to God. The apostle Paul put it plainly, writing, “when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom. 5:10), and went on to say, “we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:11). The writer of Hebrews tells us Jesus was “made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). The Greek word translated as “propitiation” means “the means of appeasing,” and in this case, appeasing God’s anger for our sins.
In a very real sense, the sacrifice of Jesus was what made Him the go-between for us. It was He, and it was His sacrifice, that appeased God’s anger rightly directed at each one of us. Paul reminds us that the unrepentant can only expect “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil” (Rom. 2:8), and Jesus Himself declared that the one who persists in unbelief “shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). But, as Paul noted, we need not suffer the wrath and righteous anger of God upon us, for those of us who have believed and obeyed, “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Rom. 5:9).
Now, a go-between is defined as “a person who acts as an agent or intermediary between persons or groups,” and that term perfectly describes Jesus Christ our Lord. Within Scripture, He is called a Mediator and, in fact, the apostle Paul wrote by Divine inspiration, “there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Joseph H. Thayer, in his lexicon of the New Testament, defines a mediator in this verse as “one who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant” [Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament], and that is exactly who Jesus was and is. That is who He was and is because that is what He did in giving Himself to die on the cross for our sins. He intervened between man and God and restored peace between the two.
But Jesus did not cease acting as our go-between when His work at the cross was accomplished; no, friends and brethren, He continues as the go-between for all disciples who come to God in prayer! Again, the writer of Hebrews reminds us, “He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:24, 25). Jesus now serves as our High Priest, one who, under the Old Law, stood between the Israelites and God and offered sacrifices for their sins [and for his own]. Now, because He is our go-between, we who are God’s people [Christians] may “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16).
Brethren, we who are Christians can “come boldly to the throne of grace” in prayer, seeking forgiveness of our sins and finding “grace to help in time of need” because Jesus is not only our Mediator, but also our Advocate. John reminds all Christians, “if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). This fact should cause us to rejoice even more because not only is Christ our go-between, but He is also speaking in our defense! That is what an advocate does! As our Intercessor and Advocate, Jesus speaks in our defense because He gave Himself to die for our sins and now He may plead our case to God when we sin again as Christians, pointing back to His sacrifice whereby we were forgiven of all trespasses and reconciled to God. When we sin, as Christians, and when we come to God in prayer, confessing those sins and repenting of them, Jesus again appeals to that sacrifice as the price paid, and we have the steadfast assurance God “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
In the book of Nahum, written about 100 years after Jonah had preached the need for repentance to the city of Nineveh and they responded positively to it, thus saving themselves, the city was now facing certain doom which would not be turned back. Noting the coming and certain punishment, Nahum wrote, “Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?” (Nah. 1:6). That is a rhetorical question, for any man who knows God knows that no one can stand before God’s anger. That being true, why would we continue living in such a way as to guarantee it would be brought upon us in the end?
The truth is, we are all deserving of God’s wrath because we have all sinned. But God loved us in spite of numerous faults and sent His Son to be the sacrifice that would take away or appease His anger. For Christians, Christ is still the go-between — the one who will be our Mediator, Advocate, and Intercessor.
Is He your go-between? — Steven Harper
