When I pastored in western Kentucky, the Eggner Ferry Bridge on Highway 68, which spanned Kentucky Lake, was hit by a barge and collapsed. This was a major route from Cadiz over “The Land between the Lakes” into Murray. People regularly traveled to Murray for doctor visits; and people worked in Murray and students drove there to attend classes at Murray State University. After that incidence, many people had to drive an extra hour, or not go at all.
This really upset a lot of people; but if being cut off from a major city by a bridge collapse upset some people, then consider being separated from God and heaven. There are millions of people across the world who, when they die, will be unable to cross over into eternal life, all because they are stuck on the wrong side of the river of eternity. However, there is hope; as God has made a bridge through His Son, Jesus Christ.
In Hebrews we read of Jesus that “He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek” (5:9-10). Jesus Christ is our great High Priest who atoned for our sins by way of the cross; offering up a spotless Lamb without blemish (Himself) that all who obey Him will receive forgiveness of sin, salvation, and eternal life. As High Priest, Jesus satisfied the official requirement that would place us in right standing with God; thus bridging the gap between God and human beings.
In Latin the word for “priest” is pontifex, meaning, “bridge builder,”(1) and it originates with the official title given to bridge builders in ancient Rome. The Emperor himself was called “Pontifiex Maximus,” and he was believed to have supernatural power to bridge impossible spans. The Catholic Church later assigned this to the Pope, because he was seen as a bridge builder to God.(2) In English, we know this word by the familiar title “pontiff.”
I am here to tell you today that Jesus Christ is the one and true Pontifex Maximus. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 9:16), far surpassing any earthly ruler or church leader in the power to reach across impossible distances. He spanned the expanse between heaven and hell to make a bridge whereby lost sinners could confess His name and cross safely into heaven’s glory; and I wish to share with you this morning why we all need help from the master bridge builder, Jesus Christ.
Man’s Problem - Sin, Separation and Death (v. 22)
22 Yes, his soul draws near the Pit, and his life to the executioners.
What Elihu declared to Job can be said of all human beings. We are all drawing near to the pit and the executioners. We are all drawing closer to death each and every day; and this is the result of our separation from God, which occurred shortly after the creation of this world.
Genesis says that in the beginning God created mankind in His likeness (2:26-27) – the image of holiness and perfection. We were created to commune with God in the Garden of Eden, and worship Him forever and ever (3:8); but all of that changed when Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, committing the very first sin in human history (3:1-6); and thereby, cutting themselves off from the Garden and the source of eternal life. Genesis 3:24 says, “So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Mankind was cut off from the presence of the Lord, thus losing all fellowship with Him. Isaiah 59:2 tells us, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” The consequence of sin is separation from God and forfeiture of our access to the tree of life. Without the tree of life, we are destined to die; and Romans 6:23 accurately says, “The wages of sin is death.”
Life is still found in the presence of God (Revelation 22:1-2); but what we need to realize is that since the time of Adam and Eve, all mankind has been separated from God’s presence, for we are each born into sin. Romans 3:10 says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” And Romans 3:23 declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When God looks at human beings today, we are no longer seen as perfect as we once were in the Garden of Eden. We are now imperfect, unholy, and unrighteous because of our disobedience; because we have chosen to live for ourselves instead of the Lord. This rebellion is called sin, and sin leads to eternal death and separation from God’s presence.
In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, we read about the rich man who went down to the pit: “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame’” (Luke 16:23-24, KJV). Right here is a picture of what spiritual death looks like. It is a place of eternal pain and torment; and it is a place called hell.
The reply given to the rich man was this: “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us” (Luke 16:26). There would be no relief for this rich man, as Lazarus was unable to cross the great expanse between heaven and hell, in order to place a cool drop of water on his tongue. We are all headed on a crash course for hell – which is a place of eternal separation – and none of us can ever cross the great divide by ourselves to reach the Lord and receive eternal life. It is simply impossible on our own (Ephesians 2:8-9); we all need help.
God’s Remedy - Salvation and Eternal Life (vv. 23-25)
23 If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man His uprightness, 24 then He is gracious to him, and says, “Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom;” 25 His flesh shall be young like a child’s, he shall return to the days of his youth.
We read here that if there is a Mediator who will show a man the Lord’s uprightness, and thus, man’s unrighteousness before Him; that God will declare that individual to be delivered from the Pit. The reason why is because within the Mediator, the Lord has found a ransom; meaning that He has found the payment for one’s freedom and rescue. Hebrews 9:15 says of Jesus Christ that “He is the Mediator . . . by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions . . . that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” The Mediator who paid the price for our transgressions was Jesus; and He did so, in order that we might receive eternal life.
Isaiah declared, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (53:5-6). Jesus took the burden of transgressions on Himself so that we could be healed from the disease of sin and receive eternal life. He died on the cross for our sins, He took our iniquities to the grave, and then He rose again defeating sin and death; so that all who believe in Him will overcome sin and death too. Our ransom was obtained by our one true Mediator, Jesus Christ.
What is a mediator? A “mediator” is defined as, “One who intervenes between two persons who are at variance, with a view to reconcile them,” and, “to be in a middle or intermediate position.”(3) In other words, a mediator connects two parties who are divided by some disagreement, strife or conflict. Peter declared, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). A mediator is one who mends broken relationships, and Jesus is our Mediator to “bring us to God.” He is the bridge to cross the great divide between heaven and hell, in order to restore us to a right relationship with God in heaven.
Jesus is the only one who can tear down the dividing wall of sin and separation that is prohibiting our communion and fellowship with God. In Ephesians we read, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation . . . that He might reconcile [us] . . . to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (2:14, 16). Jesus did away with the “enmity,” or rather, He abolished the “strife” that has been keeping us from the life-giving presence of Almighty God. He is truly our Mediator, and 1 Timothy 2:5-6 confirms this truth saying, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.”
Man’s Response - Repentance and Confession (vv. 26-28)
26 He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, for He restores to man His righteousness. 27 Then he looks at men and says, “I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and it did not profit me.” 28 He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit, and his life shall see the light.
The Mediator, Jesus Christ, will reveal to an individual God’s uprightness and his or her own unrighteousness (Job 33:23) by way of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus knocks on the door to our heart (Revelation 3:20). He will convict us that we are sinners in need of salvation, at which point there is a response that is required of us. We read here that if an individual says, “I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and it did not profit me” (v. 27), that the Lord will “redeem his soul from going down to the Pit” (v. 28). Redemption from the Pit, or rescue from hell, occurs at the moment an individual repents of his or her sins, and confesses them.
The Lord expects us to repent of our sins, once we realize our need for forgiveness. “Repent” means to do a “180” and turn and walk the other direction, never again looking back or returning to our sins. Repentance begins with the confession of sin. For example, David declared, “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5). Also, in 1 John 1:9 we read, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
We must not only confess our sins, but we must also confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 states, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
If we back up to verse 25, we can see that when a person is redeemed from the Pit that “his flesh shall be young like a child’s, and he shall return to the days of his youth.” This verse is symbolic of the change that occurs in a person’s heart and life when he or she comes to the Lord. Jesus once told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). When we repent of our sins and confess Jesus Christ, then a spiritual rebirth takes place within our heart, and we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are spiritually transformed into someone who is now seen by God as righteous in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), and who has eternal life as in the Garden of Eden.
Time of Reflection
The contemporary Christian group Point of Grace once sang, “There’s a bridge to cross the great divide. A way was made to reach the other side. The mercy of the Father, cost His son His life . . . There’s a cross to bridge the great divide . . . The cross that cost my Lord His life Has given me mine.”(4) I think the word “cross” says it all; as the cross was provided as a bridge to “cross over” the chasm of sin from death into eternal life. Jesus was truly the master bridge builder; and I want to ask you this morning, are you ready to cross the bridge He built for you and me?
The apostle Paul once declared, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). There is nothing that can keep you from reaching Jesus and His forgiveness, if you will just make the first step to cross the bridge of salvation.
NOTES
(1) “Jesus - The Bridge Builder,” The Gathering Place: http://thegatheringplacehome.myfastforum.org/archive/jesus-the-bridge-builder__o_t__t_738.html (Accessed January 21, 2012).
(2) “Why Is the Pope Called a Pontiff?,” Answers.com: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_is_the_pope_called_a_pontiff (Accessed January 21, 2012).
(3) “Mediator,” Dictionary.com: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mediator (Accessed January 23, 2012).
(4) “The Great Divide,” Point of Grace, Absolute Lyrics: http://www.absolutelyrics.com/lyrics/view/point_of_grace/the_great_divide (Accessed January 23, 2012).
