A distinctive and basic truth of Christianity is that there is one (and only one) Mediator between God and men, "the man Christ Jesus." Man had sinned and was at a distance from God morally, and there was no possibility of his making his way back. God is holy, yea, "of purer eyes than to behold evil" (Hab. 1:13), and man could not, and dare not, approach.
It is true that God is love and that He loved poor fallen, degraded man, but His absolute holiness precluded any allowance of approach by one in his sins. Man, on his part, had become an enemy of God; instead of love to his Creator there was positive enmity. The creature had believed the devil's lie in the garden of Eden, which said that God was not good, and thus came to distrust God. Then in rapid sequence came the sin of disobedience, followed by fear and the regarding of God as an angry God and one to be appeased.
While God had dealings with His people of old as is clearly seen in Heb. 1:1, approach to Him was possible only on the ground of faith in the coming Mediator. Moses was the mediator of the law (Gal. 3:19, 20), and pointed forward to Christ (Deut. 18:15), the mediator of a better covenant (Heb. 8:6: 9:15, 12:24). (See also Heb. 1:3.) And it was not until the Lord Jesus Christ had finished His work of redemption that God was declared righteous in having allowed any approach whatsoever. Rom. 3:25 is a remarkable statement on this point: "Whom God bath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." God had treated the individual on the basis of his faith, wherever faith existed, but He acted in anticipation of the time that was coming which would manifestly declare that He was righteous in doing so—that all His holiness had been satisfied.
Job, at an early date, cried out in his despair, "Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." Job 9:23. He, in his measure, felt his sinfulness, the distance that existed, and the lack of one to stand between him and a holy God. But it is obvious that if one were to stand in the breach he must of necessity be equal with God, for none but One who is God could "lay his hand upon" God. No creature, however great, would dare to do this. The mightiest angel ever created could not meet the requirement here. None but One who was God could reach up to God in behalf of the sinner; likewise none but One who was a man could reach down to man, stooping to the lowest depths into which the human race had fallen.
The revealed truth of Christianity is that God has provided that Daysman—a mediator—to stand between God and men: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all." 1 Tim. 2:5, 6. A mediator need no longer be sought, nor even longed for; He has come. Phil. 2 gives us that beautiful and amazing story of the descent of Him who subsisted in the form of God—down, down, down, all the way to death, and that the death of the cross. None but the One who was both God and man could span that otherwise impassable gulf and lay His hand upon God and upon man.
There is, however, another part (and a very important one) of His being a mediator; He had to give Himself as the ransom. It was not enough that one be found who was both God and man, and one who was willing to stand in the gap and reach to both God and men: sin was there, and it must be atoned for—it must be put away before a relationship could be established between a holy God and sinful man. That blessed One had to die, the Just for the unjust, before man could be brought into God's presence. God is light, and dwells in the light, and man must he cleansed and made fit to he brought into that light. The Mediator had to die, for there was no other way to satisfy the claims of God's holiness. Blessed be God, He devised a way in which His banished could be brought back righteously (2 Sam. 14:14).
If Israel had the truth committed to them that there was one God, in contrast to the many deities of the heathen, Christianity was supposed to bear witness to the fact that there was now a mediator, but only one, between God and men. But, alas, as in everything entrusted to the hand of men, failure soon came in. Christendom added many mediators of their own choosing. What must God think of this dishonor done to His Son!
So-called Church History bears witness to the early introduction of various and sundry mediators. Men did what angels would not dare to do; they set up angels as mediators. Of course what man seeks to establish has nothing whatever to do with God and His ways; the only result of such presumption is to deceive souls. It is recorded that in the 10th century churches dedicated to Michael were thronged by multitudes seeking the intercession of Michael the archangel, for it was said that he held mass in heaven every Monday—what utter folly, to say the least! for when it was Monday in one part of the earth it was Tuesday in another. Alas, what wickedness!
Nor has Christendom stopped at making mediators of angels; men have taken upon themselves to make saints of departed souls in heaven (being ignorant of the scriptural fact that every true child of God is a saint already, and never will cease to be), and to them many pray. Surely it is the work of the enemy of God and men to suggest that anyone could share in the glorious work of the one Mediator. Among these man-made mediators (who are not mediators), the first and foremost is the Virgin Mary. What would she herself say of this? She who, when told of the birth of the Savior, said, "My spirit hash rejoiced in God my Savior." Luke 1:47. Yes, she too needed a Savior (and later had one in the Lord Jesus Christ), and rejoiced in the prospect. She would be the last one to sanction this form of idolatry.
Again, and again, and again, let it be affirmed that there is "One [and only one] mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Himself a ransom for all." 1 Tim. 2:5, 6. By His blood the way into the "Holy of holies"—the presence of God—has been opened, and we can draw near, and sing:
"The veil is rent -our souls draw near
Unto a throne of grace;
The merits of the Lord appear,
They fill the holy place.
"His precious blood has spoken there,
Before and on the throne;
And His own wounds in heaven declare,
Th' atoning work is done.
" 'Tis finished! here our souls have rest;
His work can never fail!
By Him our Sacrifice and Priest,
We pass within the veil.
"Within the holiest of all,
Cleansed by His precious blood,
Before the throne we prostrate fall,
And worship Thee, O God!
"Boldly the heart and voice we raise,
His blood, His name, our plea,
Assured our prayers and songs of praise,
Ascend, by Christ, to Thee."