February 4 – LD 5, Day 7: The Qualifications of a Mediator

Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

We saw how our hope is concentrated in a possible mediator. Sinful man cannot do what it takes to be right with God. We need a mediator.

Now the catechism focuses on what sort of a mediator we need. The answer given is that he must be, “one who is very man and perfectly righteous; and yet more powerful than all creatures; that is, one who is also very God”.

No wonder we conclude that such a mediator can never be produced by the fallen human race, only God can bring forth such a mediator.

Let’s meditate briefly on the qualifications presented here.

He must be a righteous man. We will not now go into all the reasons why this is so, rather, let’s simply look at such a qualification in itself. The mediator must be a righteous man. Where will we ever find such a person? There are plenty of men around. The human race has continued to produce children; one of the interesting activities is to trace genealogies. You probably do this from time to time. Yes, indeed, we have parents, siblings, grandparents, great grandparents, some may be able to look back and count five generations. The remarkable thing about all of them is, they are all sinners; they were conceived and born in sin. Not one of our immediate relatives, much less our distant past relatives, are qualified to be a mediator, for none are righteous, no not one.

He must also be powerful, that is, one who is very God. There may be many people who are so proud that they like to think they are as great as a god; some have delusions of imagining themselves to be god. Sometimes, proud man is so delusional, but it can never be factual. Man can only bring forth man, not God and man.

The word of the Lord came through Isaiah when he prophesied the coming of the mediator, THE LORD Himself shall give you a sign; a VIRGIN shall conceive and bear a son. HIS name shall be called Immanuel, God with us. These are the qualifications of the needed mediator. Only THE LORD can give him, not only as a sign, but in reality.