February 7 – LD 6, Day 3: Only God Can Deliver Man from Sin

II Timothy 1:9,10 -Who hath saved us…according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

We mentioned that there are two reasons why the mediator must be more than a righteous man, he must be very God. The first we considered already, he must be God in order to bear the punishment God placed on our sins, everlasting wrath and hell. Now we focus on the second reason, he must be very God, as the catechism says, “that he might obtain for and RESTORE to us righteousness and LIFE.”  He must make the dead sinner spiritually good and alive.

Those of us who care about the salvation of those who are not Christians can testify to this important qualification of our mediator. Man cannot save himself; neither can fellow man save his neighbor. We may carry in our hearts the DESIRE to save, we may put forth the EFFORT to save, by this we refer to our effort to share the gospel with them, yet we know in our hearts that only God by the Holy Spirit can convert and change them. That Holy Spirit is given to our Mediator who is more than a righteous man, He is very God, and only God can bring forth life out of death.

The words of Timothy quoted above explain this.

He refers to God who has brought salvation and He has done this through Jesus Christ. He describes that work of salvation as two fold, first He abolished death. That He did on the cross. The Mediator was very God and bore the punishment of death. But more, He also brought forth life and immortality to light through the gospel. Bringing forth that life and immortality is the work of our Mediator as His victory over spiritual death right now. 

This is most encouraging for us.

We have a Mediator who not only paid for the sins of His own, but also has the power to deliver every one of them from the dominion of sin and the devil. That is His qualification and that is His ministry all through history.

He uses the gospel as His means.

Let’s celebrate our great God and Mediator who is abundantly qualified to save.