Today we will continue in a series of sermons from the Book of Hebrews that I am calling the Greatest of All Time. In this episode, we will see that Jesus is the Greatest Mediator.
In a previous episode we saw that the writer of Hebrews recognized Jesus as the Greatest Agent. Mediators are like agents, in that they both stand between two parties and help them to deal with an issue. The difference is that a mediator deals with trouble, whereas an agent deals with more routine issues. We might consider a mediator a type of agent who is a trouble-shooter.
Mediators are especially useful when a conflict has arisen between two parties. They bring skills and talents, and a professional distance, that can help these two parties in conflict resolve their issues. In our modern world, mediators are often lawyers, and even lawyers, when they get into difficulty, will engage another attorney to be their mediator. The power of mediation is such that a famous legal saying is, “A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.”
What the writer of Hebrews tells us in Chapter 9 is that, as we have seen before, Jesus is the Greatest Mediator. Let’s begin our study by reading Hebrews 9:1-7:
Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves. Behind the second curtain, the tabernacle was called the most holy place. It contained the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which there was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. The cherubim of glory were above it overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now. With these things set up this way, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry. But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.
Imperfect Mediators:
The role of a priest, as we have noted before, is to stand between God and His people, and to act as a mediator. This is why priests were separated from the rest of the Children of Israel. They had their own lineage, their own regulations, their own cities to live in, and even their own clothing to wear while serving in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple. They were of the people and they served God’s people.
When I was on Active Duty in the US Army, I was in the Military Police Corps. MPs are set apart to enforce regulations and laws on the behalf of their commander. They have a motto: “Of the Troops and for the Troops.” By and large, civilian police don’t patrol Army installations, and law and order are usually enforced by the Military Police. The motto reminds everyone that a MP is a soldier first, and their purpose is to protect soldiers from themselves as well as from others.
The problem, of course, is that MPs are soldiers too, and so they make mistakes also. For example, we had one MP that wrote many, many tickets, but he never registered them properly. They were only discovered in his locker during a health and welfare inspection of his room. Another MP backed a patrol car into a civilian vehicle in front of Building 3004 on Scholfield Barracks, Hawaii, which at that time was the MP barracks. A third MP showed positive on a test for illegal drugs, and a fourth fell asleep while guarding a dumpster, which was a crime scene of a murder. He only woke up when the dumpster was being emptied by the trash truck. A fifth MP had a grudge against his platoon sergeant, and he destroyed the sergeant’s shot record in an effort to make him take them all again. The wise old platoon sergeant had a duplicate copy, and the MP spent several weeks in a corrective custody facility for his efforts. All of this happened in a single year!
Lest you think that the legal profession is exempt, I also know of a unit legal clerk that had to prepare her own charge sheets for her commander to punish her for her misdeeds.
Yes, many of the priests were good, and some were great. Other priests however were not good, and some were even false priests. Even the best priests were not perfect priests, and so they could not be perfect mediators.
The fact that the priests of the Temple had to make multiples sacrifices for the people and for their own sins indicates that human mediators are imperfect. How would that affect the needs of the people?
Let’s read Hebrews 9:8-12:
The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing. This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience. They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of restoration.
Imperfect Salvation:
Another saying that people have is this: “If all you have is a hammer, then all the world is a nail.” A similar saying is, “You go with what you know.” This same was true of these imperfect mediators, the priests of Israel.
Because these priests were human and physical, all that they had available to them were physical means. They asked people to give sacrifices and offerings, and they asked people to obey certain regulations about foods, and they asked people to observe certain practices and certain holidays. This was all that they had, and it was good enough, temporarily.
These physical acts reminded God’s people of their need to seek His forgiveness and to walk closely with Him. Sadly, they, like us, were imperfect people. They, like us, strayed from following God, just as the old hymn says,
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart; O take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.
The problem that people have in relationship to God is a spiritual problem. Physical items or physical actions point to that problem, but they cannot solve it. This reminds me of many counseling classes I took during my years in seminary. These classes were great at describing the issues people face, but they were much less useful at prescribing solutions for those problems. This is exactly the issue with the Mosaic Law and the ministry of the priests. They point us toward our failings, but they fail to provide us a permanent solution for them. For that, we need a Perfect Mediator.
Let’s read Hebrews 9:11-14,
But the Messiah has appeared, high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), He entered the most holy place once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God?
A Perfect Mediator:
Like the priests in the Temple, Jesus is a mediator. He stands between us and God, and He deals with the issues that God has with us. He is like them, but He is different, and He is different in all the good ways.
First, Jesus’ work is done for us in the real Temple that is in Heaven. The Temple on the earth was a reflection of the real thing, but Jesus does His ministry for us in the real thing. Substitute items often work, but they are not as good as the genuine article, and that is what Jesus Is, and that is where He works on our behalf.
Next, Jesus finished the job. The human priests made sacrifice after sacrifice, because what they did was not sufficient to permanently solve the problem. These priests were like a car my aunt loaned to us when we came back from the mission field.
The car that she loaned us was a Lincoln Continental that had been driven by my uncle, who had been a businessman. He was deceased, and it was too much car for her, and she was glad to loan it to us. We were grateful, but I had to be careful when I drove it to visit church members. The motor’s rear main seal was leaking oil, and I didn’t want to leave oil stains on the driveways of our members. I could keep the oil topped up, but that did not solve the essential problem. My aunt was not interested in spending the money to repair it, and so for as long as I drove it, I parked it on the street, and I kept a case of oil in the trunk!
Finally, as we will see next week, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. As both God and human, as a perfect person who had never sinned, Jesus was the Greatest Sacrifice of all. His sacrifice exceeded all the other offerings that had ever been sacrificed to God, because His righteousness exceeded every other person’s righteousness who ever lived.
So, if you are O.J. Simpson, and you are on trial for murder, who do you want as your advocate? Would you choose the Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender, or would you choose Johnny Cochrane and his “Dream Team” of lawyers? As one wag said, “If I am brought before a judge, I don’t want an attorney, I want a lawyer!” Yet, even Johnny Cochrane and his “Dream Team” could not protect O.J. Simpson from later being found liable in a civil lawsuit.
In all of history only one perfect person has ever walked the earth. We should be grateful that He also is our Perfect Mediator!
Finally, let’s read Hebrews 9:15 and 27-28
Therefore, He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant . . . And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment— so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.
Perfect Salvation:
If anyone ever asks me, “I have good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?” I always want to get the bad news out of the way as soon as I can, and finish with the good news. That’s what we will do now.
The bad news is that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Because God is perfect, He cannot abide sin, and therefore He punishes it. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is spiritual death, and no power here on earth can change that in our lives. Without an external spiritual intervention, we are all dead people walking. That is bad news!
We know this fact instinctively, and as much as we try to ignore that dark stain on our soul, what’s in our hearts will ooze out. Maybe that is the reason for the popularity of the zombie and post-apocalyptic genre of books, motion pictures, and television shows. The darkness of our hearts cannot be ignored.
There is good news, however! This is what the angels, God’s messengers told the lowly shepherds about the birth of Jesus:
In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.” Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people He favors! Luke 2:8-14
Jesus, because He is the Perfect Mediator, offers us the perfect solution for our sins. He offered up a perfect sacrifice for our sins. As Isaiah 53:6 says,
We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.
Jesus has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. Jesus has done for us what our parents could not do for us. Jesus has done for us what our friends could not do for us. Jesus has done for us what our priests and pastors could not do for us.
Jesus, the Perfect Mediator, offers us the perfect salvation we need, and that’s Good News indeed!
Conclusion:
Everyone who has ever been in trouble and has had a mediator intervene on their behalf will know just how wonderful an experience that is . . . until they get into trouble again. Jesus, however, is the Greatest Mediator, who promises us a permanent and perfect solution to our sin problem. Won’t you let Him help you today?
Every blessing,
Dr. Otis Corbitt
