The Children of Israel had reached Mount Sinai. There they heard God delivering the Ten Commandments and they “saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking” (Ex 20:18). These were all tremendously impressive. The Israelites felt profoundly afraid and they moved “afar off”. They said to Moses: “Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die”. Or, as recorded in Deuteronomy, “This great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die” (5:25). They saw their need of a mediator between God and themselves. They did not feel safe when God spoke to them directly. So they asked that they might have Moses stand between them and God, to act as a prophet – one who would speak to them on behalf of God.
Yet one wonders if the Israelites really felt the solemnity and authority of, for instance, the command, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me” (Ex 20:3). Did they really understand how easy it is for sinners to make gods for themselves – whether money or possessions or people, not to speak of the imaginary gods that the Egyptians, for instance, had been worshipping. The Israelites needed a change of heart, so that they would truly love and serve the Lord, who had created them and had brought them out of bondage in Egypt. They clearly did not appreciate the full significance of their sins, and that God saw all their sins and would punish them for their lack of repentance even if He would speak to them through Moses. But the Israelites had some sense of the basic truth that sinners need a mediator.
We today fundamentally have the same needs as the Israelites; we all need a new heart, so that we may love and serve the God who made us and has given us so many blessings – in providing us with food, for instance, and His revelation in the Scriptures. Let us then seek to learn something further from that significant incident at Mount Sinai.
As a prophet, Moses was indeed a mediator between Israel and God. It was good that Israel had some understanding of their need. But something more was necessary: a mediator who could actually save their souls. In speaking to Moses, God promised a greater and more glorious Mediator: “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him” (Dt 18:18).
Peter spoke of the Lord Jesus as the One in whom God’s promise was fulfilled (Acts 3:20-22). Though Moses was indeed a type (or, a pattern) of Jesus Christ as Mediator, Christ was altogether greater. Moses could pass on to the Israelites what God had revealed to him, but he had no access to their souls; he could not apply the truth to them; he could not change their hearts and make them godly. But Christ has access to the souls of sinners. Working by the Holy Spirit, He can apply the truth to them, change their hearts and make them godly.
Let us note how God dealt with Lydia in Philippi, “whose heart the Lord opened” – gently, it would seem – so “that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul” (Acts 16:14). Christ as prophet so spoke through His ambassador Paul that Lydia believed in the Saviour and her soul was saved. But it was the same Prophet who spoke to Paul when he was going on in rebellion against the despised Jesus of Nazareth and was struck to the ground; the Prophet asked, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” and when Saul of Tarsus responded with a question about who was speaking, the Prophet answered, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts 9:4,5). By using His name Jesus, He was doing more than convincing this violent persecutor of his sin; He was revealing Himself as the Saviour, a suitable Saviour even for one who was to call himself “the chief of sinners”. And that is still part of the self-revelation of Christ, as He speaks by His Word and Spirit. He spoke to Saul directly; since the Bible was completed, He does not speak directly, but speaks powerfully and effectively into the hearts of sinners through the preaching and reading of Scripture.
Yet there can be no salvation apart from sacrifice. It is said emphatically: “without shedding of blood is no remission” of sin (Heb 9:22). And the sacrifice must be perfect if it is to be accepted; this was illustrated by the demand that the Old Testament sacrifices must be “without blemish” – though only the outside could be examined; the inside of the animal could not be checked. But the sacrifice that will effectively take away sin must not only be entirely pure and holy; it must be offered by a priest who is without blemish of any kind inwardly and outwardly. Christ was that priest and He was also the sacrifice; He said to the Father: “A body hast Thou prepared Me” (Heb 10:5). The “body” was the entire human nature, body and soul which He took into union with His divine Person; it was in that nature, which was “holy, harmless, undefiled” (Heb 7:25), that He suffered unto death. This was the work of the Mediator as priest and, by this work, those whom He was representing were to be delivered from eternal destruction and brought at last to eternal glory.
How much we sinners need the priestly work of “the one Mediator between God and men”! We cannot be saved without it. The sacrificing work has been completed; He said, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). But the priestly work of intercession continues, as the Mediator presents before the Father the merits of the substitutionary work He completed on earth. Christ stands between God and sinners as they seek to come before God and plead for blessings. But how can sinners be accepted when they come with their requests? Only because of the Mediator and, not only His great work of redemption in this world, but also His work of intercession. We sinners are under an obligation to pray, but we need to remember that our petitions are stained with sin. How can a holy God accept sinful petitions? Only when presented on the sinner’s behalf by the perfectly holy Mediator.
The Mediator also acts as king, in subduing sinners to Himself, in ruling and defending them, and in restraining and conquering all His and their enemies (see Shorter Catechism Answer 26). What a mercy, when we are altogether unable to come to Christ – to believe on Him and be saved – that He as Mediator is able to exert His authority over us and draw us to Himself! What a mercy, when His people are so weak in the face of the temptations of Satan and his followers, both human beings and devils, that Christ is able to restrain and conquer them all!
One of Christ’s functions as king is to exercise judgement. We must all appear before Him to be judged on the last day, “that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Cor 5:10). How awful it will be then if we have not availed ourselves of the Mediator when we had the opportunity!
The second coming of Christ will be reminiscent of the scene at Sinai, “when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Th 1:7-9). At Sinai, there were various signs warning of the fearfulness of transgressing God’s commands; the Israelites were very afraid and sought a mediator. In God’s mercy Moses became a mediator between them and God. The consequences of sin remain tremendously serious. A divine Mediator, Jesus, has been provided. Let us ask ourselves: Have I sought to have Him as the one Mediator between me and God?