CHRIST IS OUR MEDIATOR
Hebrews 12:18-24 - Sept. 14, 2003
HEBREWS 12:18-24
18You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time"(1 TIMOTHY 2:5,6).
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
This morning our text tells us that Jesus is our mediator. That is one of those long words Very simply; it means that Jesus is our go-between. He goes between our Heavenly Father and us to plead on our behalf because of our sinfulness. Our text describes that so that we as believers would enjoy the comfort that comes from knowing that our sins have been paid for. There is only one mediator. Paul writes to Timothy: "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time"(1 TIMOTHY 2:5,6). You and I as Christians on the other side of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead have seen and heard and know and believe this testimony given at its proper time. For the people of the Old Testament, they were always looking ahead to that mediator who was yet to come. Their focus was very often on God’s commandments. That is what our text talks about to us today. Our text reminds us that:
JESUS CHRIST IS OUR MEDIATOR
I. Not on Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments
II. But from Mount Zion with God’s Gospel
I. Not on Mount Sinai
Did you notice the difference in our text, how it started with fear and trembling, but how it ended up with joy and thanksgiving? In our text the writer describes very accurately Mount Sinai. You may remember that Mount Sinai was on the way as the children of Israel were wondering in the wilderness for forty years. They came to Mount Sinai before they came to the Promised Land. It was on Mount Sinai that Moses received the Ten Commandments written on stone by God’s own finger. Listen to how that event is described: 8You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19to a trumpet blast. If you turn back into the Old Testament to Exodus 19 and read verse 16 it says just about the same thing. It was on Mount Sinai that there was gloom and a cloud and a sound like the blast of a trumpet. It was into that cloud, that gloom, and that storm that Moses went, because God had called him there. What happens? Moses spends a good amount of time there. People were wondering whether he was ever going to come back down or maybe the glory of the Lord had consumed Moses. In their own thinking they listened to the brother of Moses, Aaron who gathers together all their gold and throws it into a fire. Then he says out of that fire came the golden calf. This was his excuse, and they began worshipping a false god that they made with their own hands at the very time that Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God’s own hand.
The writer to the Hebrews describes that in our text today: 18You have not come to a mountain to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them. Moses came down and saw the idolatry and the first time broke those tablets of stone. But the children of Israel did not want to hear any more of the commandments of God that said, "You shall not have any other gods." They did not want to hear the commandments of God that said that they were doing wrong and deserved to be condemned. They begged that the voice of the Lord would stop.
He gives us one of those commands concerning just Mount Sinai, not one of the Ten Commandments that you and I are familiar with. In verse 20 he says, 20because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned." Mount Sinai was not just another ordinary place, but it was very special. The command was that even if an animal would touch that mountain which was holy to God, it should be stoned. So we can picture Mount Sinai as a very barren place, just rocks and the glory of the Lord--the storm, the cloud, the gloom, and the sound like a trumpet. We are given the reaction of Moses: 21The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear." Even though Moses went into that cloud and gloom and storm, he was trembling with fear. Moses was trembling for a number of reasons. He was trembling in fear, because he was going to be standing before the Lord God, Himself. Moses was trembling with fear, because he knew that as he stood before the Lord God, his sins also came with him. That was the picture of Mount Sinai, the giving of the Ten Commandments, the righteous law that came from the Righteous God for His people. Even though that law and those Ten Commandments were given thousands of years ago, they have not lost their effect on and for sinful mankind. God’s Law is still terrifying. For the unbeliever and mankind the Law makes us aware of sin. We would also tremble as we stood before God with nothing to offer but our sins. If we just depended on the Law, it cannot and does not save us. Listen to what Paul writes to the Romans: "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin"(ROMANS 3:20). When we think of God who is sinless and perfect and we connect that with the Law, we are reminded of the very simple fact that we are sinful and imperfect. We ought to tremble before God.
Again the Psalm writer tells us, too, that none has escaped this condemnation: "All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one"(PSALM 14:3). Yet, we know all around us in this world there are many who would like to dismiss sin or cover it up or feel that they have not led such a bad life that God would accept them. Maybe we fall into that trap once in awhile ourselves. The Lord reminds us--no, we are lumped together with everyone else. There is none of us who has done anything that is good. That is the Law that comes from Mount Sinai. It reminds us that we are by ourselves helpless, and we are by ourselves hopeless. Yet it also reminds us in our helplessness and hopelessness that there is one who is able to help and give us hope. That is Christ our Mediator.
Listen to what Peter writes: "But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect"(1 PETER 3:15). Sometimes we are quite quick to take the Law and say, "See; you were wrong. God says ’Don’t do this and don’t do that.’" We also need to remember to treat people with gentleness and respect, especially in our day and age. In our present society many may not even understand what sin is. We can never explain away sin, nor ought we want to dismiss God’s law. We have come to understand that people today have a very limited understanding of what God’s Word says. Peter reminds us to answer these people and their questioning with gentleness and respect, reminding everyone that Christ is our Redeemer. Christ is the Mediator for the sins of the whole world, and not from Mount Sinai and the Law that condemns, but as our text changes it’s tone:
II. Christ is our Mediator from Mount Zion
This letter is addressed to people, believers, who were almost too strongly connected with their past. As they look back into their history, even though the Ten Commandments was terrifying to Moses, these people felt a certain comfort knowing that God with them. We heard that in our first lesson this morning (Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18) where the people were kept safe from their enemies. But the writer says that has all changed. He says: 22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. He is going to give them all kinds of contrasts between Mount Zion and Mount Sinai from the Old Testament. He says Mount Sinai was a dead mountain. Those that touched it were to be put to death. Now Mount Zion is the New Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
The writer describes it by saying: You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly. It is not gloom and doom and a storm and lightening, but a joyful assembly of thousands of angels. (The original says, "countless numbers.") He goes on to describe that on Mount Zion there were even more than angels. He says, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. Then he describes the believers there beyond the number of angels whose names are written in heaven. He describes these believers reminding them that their names also are written in heaven. He adds: You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect. They too would stand before the Righteous Judge, but they would be righteous and made perfect, not by their own doing, but by Christ the Mediator of this new covenant.
How does this all happen when the Lord in the Old Testament gave the people the Ten Commandments? There is God’s Gospel of forgiveness. How does it happen that people who do not deserve eternal life are given heaven? In the very last verse of our text he says: You have come 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. He takes them back to the very beginning, doesn’t he? These believers are reminded when the Lord created the heavens and the earth, it was good. It was a perfect place. On earth God had placed Adam and Eve who had children. What happens to their first children, Cain and Abel? Cain kills Abel. We are told in Genesis that Abel’s blood was spilled on the ground and it cries out for justice. It demanded that something should be done. The writer here says that the sprinkling of Jesus’ blood is far better. The blood of Abel spilled on the ground cried out for justice. The blood of Jesus spilled out on the cross delivered justice, divine justice.
Sometimes it is hard for people to understand Scripture and what we would call blood theology. It is the blood of Jesus that saves us and every penitent sinner from eternal condemnation. This blood of Jesus provided divine justice, because we did not deserve to be saved. Certainly, you and I cannot earn our way into heaven. Certainly, you and I cannot pay the price to get into heaven. We cannot pay the price even for one single sin. Instead we have Jesus who is the Mediator for our sins, the go-between. In the first Epistle of John we are told: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin"(1 JOHN 1:7). There it is in black and white. Jesus’ blood saves us. Even though it may be hard for some to comprehend this blood theology, Scripture talks about it again and again.
We remember Moses coming down from the mountain the first time and saw the children of Israel worshipping the golden calf and he breaks the stones--he destroys the Commandments. Jesus did the same in the New Testament. He says in Colossians: "Christ forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross"(COLOSSIANS 2:14). Again, we can picture Jesus in a sense taking those stones or tablets and nailing them to the cross, covering them up with His blood, so that you and I are no longer held in the terror of the Law. You and I no longer have to come before God with fear and trembling wondering if we are going to spend eternity in destruction or with Him. But you and I come knowing that Christ is our Mediator--that our sins have been forgiven, paid for, covered up with the blood of Christ and the Law holds no terror for us. God’s grace and His Gospel save us.
This is the foundation of our Christian faith that we look forward to that new city, that New Jerusalem, that Zion as Scripture calls it. Isaiah describes it, too: "So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ’See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed’"(ISAIAH 28:16). That cornerstone, of course, is Christ. The church is built on that cornerstone of Christ and the foundation of the Apostles and the Prophets. We, along with every believer who trusts in Christ for our salvation, will never be dismayed.
Christ is our Mediator, not from Mount Sinai and the condemnation from the Law and the Ten Commandments. But Christ is our Mediator from Mount Zion, as we see God’s New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, and are given the forgiveness of sins. John writes in his very first chapter of his Gospel, and he talks in those very first verses about Christ becoming flesh; the Word of God becoming flesh in God’s Son, Jesus. He tells us the meaning in the middle of that chapter. He says: "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ"(JOHN 1:16,17). We have been blessed. Christ is our Mediator, not from Mount Sinai and the Law that condemns, but from Mount Zion and the Gospel that forgives. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
