A. The necessity of a Mediator.
1. What God’s justice requires which makes a Mediator necessary:
a. The righteous God can never ignore nor forget about sin.
b. But God demands complete payment in harmony with His justice for every sin.
2. Man can never save himself from his sins:
a. He could never do more than is already required of him.
b. He is dead in sin—and can only add to his guilt.
B. The knowledge of the Mediator:
1. In His Names:
a. God-given names are revelations of what the Being of God is.
b. The principal names of the Savior are:
1) Jesus (Joshua in the O.T.) meaning: Jehovah is salvation.
2) Christ (Messiah in the O.T.) meaning: Anointed One.
3) Lord—over His people and over all things.
4) Emmanuel (God with us); Son of Man; Son of God; Vine; Lamb of God; etc.
2. In His natures:
a. The human nature of Christ.
1) Christ had a real, complete, weakened, sinless human nature.
2) The necessity for a Mediator Who is human:
a) Only then could He legally represent us before God.
b) Only then could He give us life as One of us.
b. The Divine nature:
1) He is the Second Person of the Trinity.
2) The necessity for this Mediator to be Divine:
a) Only God could bear infinite wrath and deliver us.
b) Only God could give life to the creature.
c. The relationship between the two: without division, change, mixture, separation.
3. In His offices:
a. Prophet:
1) A prophet is filled with God’s Word and must speak it forth (a prophet does not merely speak concerning future things).
2) Jesus is Prophet in that He reveals God’s perfections to us.
b. Priest:
1) A priest is one consecrated to God and serves Him.
2) Sacrifice becomes necessary because of sin.
3) The manner of atonement (governmental theory; moral theory).
c. King.
4. In His states:
a. The state of humiliation.
1) A state is one’s position before the law of God.
2) The steps (degrees) of humiliation:
a) Birth (into a world of sinners and with the cross in view).
b) Suffering all His life (enduring the mockery of sinful men).
c) Death on the cross:
1/ Crucifixion was the accursed death.
2/ Christ died only for His elect people and pays for their sins only.
d) Burial (entering the corruption of the grave).
e) Descent into hell (not the literal place, but He endured the eternal wrath of God especially on the cross).
b. The state of exaltation (four steps or degrees).
1) Resurrection (four proofs for it; notice also its significance).
2) Ascension (how and where?)
3) Sitting at God’s right hand (meaning of this expression).
4) Return to judgment in the last day.