Posted on Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:52 pm:

---

quote:

Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:5, “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.”

This text describes what Jesus did and why we need Him. First, Paul re-establishes the fact that there is one God—and we know that one God is triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is only one mediator—only one person who bridges the gap and works out an agreement between opposing parties. In this case the estranged parties are God and humanity. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is God—the holy One whom we cannot approach because of our sin. Yet this holy person became a man—He took on the identity of the party who separated from the Holy God. He became a man while still retaining His full identity as God in order to mediate a resolution between God and man.

Only He could do this job. He represented both parties in Himself. He came and showed estranged man the true nature and justice and holiness of God, and He took on human flesh in order to pay our human debt. He, as a man, gave Himself as a ransom for all of us—He died to pay His own required price for sin so we could be restored to fellowship with the Triune God. Jesus’ willing ransom of Himself was the testimony—the cosmic declaration of God’s love and justice and goodness. In His death and resurrection Jesus declared God’s intention and love for fallen man, and He made a way for fallen man to be redeemed.

Jesus—the one mediator between God and man—overturned our curse and death and restored us to relationship with God if we accept His sacrifice. More than that, when we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for sin on our behalf, we are adopted as God’s own children, and we become heirs of all that is His. This status is different, more intimate, than even the pre-fall status of Adam and Eve. We are not just redeemed creatures; we are adopted as God’s own children. He shares His life and His Spirit with us, and His only begotten Son shares our humanity. He has fully bridged the chasm that sin created between us and God. He has become one of us so we can become His eternal brothers and sisters claiming God as our true Father!

---

Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - 12:18 pm:

---

quote:

"15Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.
16Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as referring to many, but rather to one, 'And to your seed,' that is, Christ.
17What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
18For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.
19Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.
20Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one." (Galatians 3:15-20 NASB.)

---

Posted on Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - 5:47 pm:

---

quote:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

---