Our Middle Man

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

Why do most of us end our prayers with the words, “In Jesus’ Name”? Because, whether we say the words or not, we could never approach God otherwise. The fact that Jesus is called a mediator (Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24) is proof that God and we are at variance. There’s a dispute between us. In the person of Adam, and by our subsequent actions, we have committed high treason against the King of Heaven. “Haters of God,” says Paul in Romans 1:30, with “enmity,” or hostility, between us (Rom. 8:7). There’s “bad blood” between us, as the old saying goes; and the bad blood is ours.

The word mediator means, “middle person.” Strong’s Concordance defines it 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.” And our Mediator, Christ Jesus, was willing and well able to accomplish all of these.

The verse says there is only one mediator. That’s because there is only one God. Many men can arbitrate between other men—man to man; but there is only one God who became one Man, so that as the God-Man He is able to mediate between the two—God to man and vice versa. Jesus Christ has, once for all, reconciled us to God (Rom. 5:10; Col. 1:21), restoring peace between us. And by His ongoing intercession, He relates God to us. There is a connection now between us that can never be broken. Hebrews 9:24 assures us that Christ has gone “into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (emphasis mine). Get it? He’s there for us! He’s our Man in Heaven, as A.W. Tozer calls Him.       

Here’s another thought. If Jesus stands between God and us, should we not stand as best we can between this world and Him? David told God, “The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me” (Psl. 69:9). It would seem little enough to stand between Christ and the reproaches of men, since He stands between us and the wrath of God. He is our Mediator—our Middle Man—who stands in the gap that no one else could ever breach. Bless His Holy Name!

Jesus Christ knows the worst about me, but He only tells God the best. Everything else is taken care of between the two of us.