February 7 – LD 6, Day 3: Only God can Deliver
Man from Sin
by Rev J. Kortering
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.