Is Jesus Christ Only A Mediator Of Small Sins?

When you find yourself in the scorching valley of sin, may the understanding of Christ as your mediator be water for your soul. We learn about this relationship in 1st Timothy —

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

-1 Timothy 2:5–6

To better understand how Jesus fills this role, we must first understand two concepts:

1. God’s Wrath

2. The Old Sacrificial System

Is God Wrathful?

This is an important question in our current age. Does God have righteous wrath towards our sins? We may be tempted to say no. And I totally understand and resonate with the hesitancy to call God wrathful. We all have mental pictures of unjust wrath and uncontrolled anger. So when someone poses a picture of God as wrathful, of course we don’t want to associate this God of Love (which is hopeful) with a God of Wrath (which is condemning). But I believe with a proper view of God’s wrath, it actually makes His love that much sweeter. Like a wine that has a more robust flavor only after you’ve let it aerate a bit.

Sin is going against God (both in action and in heart), breaking His law and attempting to be our own God. God must punish sin if He is just, right? If someone stole your car or robbed your house, would you not say: “Because of this crime done against me, I want this person to pay the penalty for their crime?” And if the judge heard your plea and said: “No, I actually am going to let this person go.” We would be outraged. We would say the judge was not just. Why? Because justice understands that sin is a wrong against someone. And if God is going to be just, He must punish sin. Romans 6:23 says: “For the wages of sin is death”. If you sin against a holy God, the punishment is death. It’s totally fair. There is wrath towards sin. How could there not be? What kind of God would not bring those who wrong His creation under justice? That would be a cruel God, if He was not just. Everyone wants justice until it’s them on the stand. Is God wrathful? Yes. If there is to be any hope for us to be reconciled to God despite our sin, we must ask, where does the wrath for our sins go?

Where Did The Wrath God?

In the Old Testament, one of the most fundamental obstacles to fellowship with God was sin. To overcome this obstacle, God set in motion a way for sinful people to enter into the presence of a Holy God. Priests were put into place as mediators. These mediators were chosen by God to represent sinful people in the holiest of holies, the inner-room of the Tabernacle. People were commanded to bring animals to the temple, those animals would then be sacrificed by the priests as sin offerings. A young, innocent, unblemished lamb would be led into the temple. A priest would kill it, draining the blood, and in so doing atone for the sins of the people. (Atone means to satisfy the debt of, or to reconcile.) This is a messy occupation. It was a picture of God’s judgment for sin- ,His wrath, being poured out on the animal, instead of the guilty. The prices of sin, paid for by another. The priest is the one who stood in between God and man, working this sacrifice out. Hence, a mediator. This sacrificial system was key in answering the question, “How will a holy, pure, just God dwell in the midst of a sinful nation?”

When we read about the wrath of God and read these type of stories in the Old Testament we can begin to think that God is this tyrannical God who never smiles. Consumed with hate and judgement. That only because of a brave mediator, His mind is changed. But we must ask the question, whose idea was atonement? We most not get the idea that God is allowing reconciliation to happen against His desire. As if the mediator is somehow changing God’s mind about sinful people whom He hates. No, God designed the sacrificial system! Meaning, he wants to pardon His people! Let that sink in. A mediator wasn’t mankind’s idea, but God’s. He wants to forgive us. We see this in the Old Sacrificial System. But what about now?

Jesus is our perfect mediator & Sacrifice

Where does the wrath of God go for your sins? This is where we transition into the proper understanding of how Jesus has become our final mediator. The true promised messiah that would take away our sins. Listen to how the prophet Isaiah said it would come to pass:

But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;[g]
when his soul makes[h] an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see[i] and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.

    He was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and makes intercession for the transgressors.

-Isaiah 53

Do you see the sacrificial language in this prophecy of the coming Messiah? We see that Christ is not only the mediator, but the sacrifice Himself! God’s son, Jesus. He was righteous. He never cursed. Never sinned sexually. Every thought was pure. He left His heavenly home to come into this broken, dirty world. Not as a King, but as an offering. To offer himself up as the final sacrificial lamb. Taking the sins upon himself of us all. And thus, taking the wrath of God due our sins upon himself too, when He was crushed and killed on the cross. Just like the lambs in the temple were slaughtered for sin. That’s why Isaiah says: “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed- the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Listen to how Paul describes this atonement of Jesus in Ephesians 1:7-8: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight”.

You Don’t Have To Be Your Own Mediator

We have a scale of sins in our minds, in our society. Things like white lies, speeding, anger, and even cursing are 'respectable sins'. We do them, perhaps feel bad, but we are not discouraged to think God has turned his back, even as we do them year after year after year. But turn your mind to a sin that as Christian culture, we have deemed larger... sexual sin in particular, and are not the weights of guilt and shame compounded and increased on us? Causing us to wonder... if I fall again, will He be there to pick me up? Or perhaps you’ve already fallen and you wonder if there is any hope for you. We must not make the mistake in thinking that the consequences of sins do not vary with their scope. Sin is always a big deal. But can we find hope in the wake of committing the deepest and darkest sins of our lives? After the affair. After the adultery. After the murder. After the deception. When we are most disillusioned about our own salvation because of our depravity, this is when the doctrine of the atonement and mediation shine brightest.

After we sin it is only natural to want to atone for them ourself. We may put ourself in a “penalty box” - not talking to God for a week while we do “spiritual” things to show Him we are cleaning ourselves up. But at the end of the day nothing we do can atone for our sins. Try as we might to step into the sacrificial system and fix our situation, we cannot. For to reconcile, the offering must be pure, and we are not. The debt required is too high of a price for us. This is when we must remind ourselves with scriptures like Romans 5, Ephesians 1, and Psalm 103 that we are not called to be our own mediator, nor can we be! But that Christ delights to.

There is an old pastor named William Bridge, who preached a sermon in 1649. Here is an excerpt of it. I hope it encourages you to continue turning to Christ:

"For though your sin be great, is not God's mercy great, exceedingly great? Is not the satisfaction made by Christ great? Are the merits of Christs's blood small? Is not God, the great God of heaven and earth, able to do great things? You grant that God is almighty in providing for you, and is He not almighty also in pardoning? Will you rob God of His almightiness in pardoning? You say your sins are great, but are they infinite? Is not God alone infinite? Is your sin as big as God, as big as Christ? Is Jesus Christ only a mediator for small sins? Will you bring down the satisfaction of Christ, and the mercy of God, to your own model? Has not the Lord said concerning pardoning mercy, that His "Thought are not as our thoughts, but as the heavens are greater than the earth, so are his thoughts beyond our thoughts"? "

Repentance & Forgiveness

Weary christian, are you tired and worn? Are you broken over your sins and devastated of the ruin you’ve made? There is hope! Massive hope! Jesus is still your mediator. You don’t have to be your own mediator! Lay yourself down at the foot of the cross.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world

-1st John 1:8-2:2

How is he just to forgive us of our most wicked sins? Simple. Because He is the fulfillment of the Old Sacrificial System. Someone has to pay for our sins, and that someone is Jesus. Our Lamb has come and offered His life to atone us of our sins. He is our Mediator. Our Advocate. Our High Priest. And because of His atoning work, we are grafted into His family. He loves us more than we could ever know. He is our purity. He is our righteousness.

You can be forgiven. Will you turn now to Jesus? If you find yourself discouraged, wondering how He could save even you... with your dirty and disgusting sins. Could I encourage you to read Romans 5 tonight? You are not too far gone. You must begin to see and love Jesus as your friend. For only in seeing Jesus as beautiful, do the allures of sin grow strangely dim.

Faithful christian, who’s not fallen into any major sin lately, are you growing cold to the beauty of grace? Thinking God loves you based on your own morality and ability to keep the law? Take heed, lest you fall. Christ is still your mediator and if He was not, you would be burned in a millisecond by God’s just wrath for your sins.

Don’t give up. Cling to Christ, even in the sea of guilt we can say because of His blood: “we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.” (Hebrews 10:19) Do you have that confidence?

We do in Jesus.

Warmly,

Josh.

---

---