Devotional Word for Friday, October 9, 2020
Over the past several devotions we have been working through the depths of our sin and the need for a mediator to redeem us. Well, today is finally the day. It is as it were the main event. We come to question 18 of the Heidelberg Catechism. It says, “Who is this mediator who is at the same time true God and a true and perfectly righteous man?” Go ahead, take a moment and give it your best guess. The answer says, “Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is freely given to us for complete redemption and righteousness.” Were any of you surprised? I hope not. We have already mentioned that the Lord Jesus is our redeemer and mediator. Even more, I am betting that this is not the first time you have heard Jesus described in this way.
Today I would like to continue the discussion however by asking, “How do you know that the redeemer and mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you know that Jesus is Lord or the Christ?” Well, this is also question 19. It says, “Whence do you know this?” (This is the knowledge that Jesus Christ is our mediator and redeemer.) The answer says, “From the holy gospel, which God Himself revealed in the beginning in the Garden of Eden, afterward proclaimed through the holy patriarchs and prophets and foreshadowed through the sacrifices and other rites of the Old Covenant, and finally fulfilled through His own well-beloved Son.”
Simply put, we know that Jesus Christ is our redeemer and mediator because the Word of God tells us. As the answer to question 19 points out, the Bible tells us about the Lord Jesus, God’s only begotten Son throughout. Let’s take just a moment and think about times the Bible directs us to our faithful Savior. Consider Genesis 3. This is right after the fall of Adam but before they have been expelled from the Garden. When the Lord is pronouncing judgment upon Adam, Eve, and the serpent, He says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heal.” Here the Lord promises a future son, born of the woman, who will bruise or crush the head of the serpent. We might think that this is a narrow promise to defeat Satan, but it is also a promise that this future son would restore creation from all of the curses of Adam’s sin. We see this demonstrated in Genesis 5:29. This is a list of the folks who descended from Adam through the line of Seth. It follows a clear pattern of this person live so long, had a child, lived more with other children and died. Verse 29 is a deviation from the pattern. It refers to the birth of Noah. It says, “Now he called his name Noah, saying, “This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.” Noah’s father knew that one was coming who would take away the curses brought about by sin. In hope, he named his son Noah because he thought Noah would be the one to save the people and land. While Noah’s father wasn’t quite right, it does show the expectation that the Lord would deliver His people. Throughout the rest of the Scriptures, we see the description of the redeemer become more and more specific directing us to the Lord Jesus as our redeemer and mediator.
What do we do with this news? There are many things. I will give three. First, we must worship the Lord who has redeemed us by His well-beloved Son. Second, we must follow the Son wherever He leads. Third, we ought to scour the Scriptures to relish in the manifold witness of God’s goodness and faithfulness to His people. Let us pray!