February 11 – LD 6, Day 7: Christ is the Mediator of the New Covenant

Romans 10:4, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Now we can reflect with great thankfulness that Jesus is indeed God’s Mediator. He is qualified from every point of view; He is personally God, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is a real man, having been born of Mary. He is a righteous man that is without personal sin, because He was born of the Virgin Mary.

With such qualification, He completed our redemption, He paid for our sins, and God received His suffering and death as a substitute for ours. God raised Him from the dead to certify our righteousness in Him. One conclusion follows from this, there is only one Mediator between God and man, and that is Christ Jesus.

We must make one final point before we leave this Lord’s Day of the catechism. The only way we can be sure that this Jesus is OUR Mediator is through faith in Him. This is the point of the verse quoted above. Christ is the END of the law for righteousness. The law refers to the law given by God from Mt. Sinai. That law states, “Do this and live”.  Fallen, sinful man cannot keep the law in order to be righteous before God. According to the law, there is no hope for man to be received into favor with God. Now we read,Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. In Jesus Christ there is righteousness because He paid the debt of the law which is death, and kept the letter of the law which is righteousness.

This righteousness which is in Christ Jesus is ours by means of faith in Him. And this is true for all mankind. There is no righteousness before God for anyone in the world, except through faith in the righteousness which Jesus merited for us.

Two things follow from this.

First, how important it is that you and I be sure that we believe in Jesus for our righteousness and commit our life to serve Him.

Second, we recognize how important it is to get the gospel out so that others may learn about Jesus and commit their lives to serve Him.

The New Covenant is God’s gracious covenant, may He be pleased to use preaching and witnessing to gain others for Christ.