The Mediator

DEVOTION

EXODUS

THE MEDIATOR

Ex 34:17-28

17 "Do not make cast idols. 18 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. 19 "The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 21 "Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. 22 "Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.   23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God. 25 "Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning. 26 "Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. "Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk." 27 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel." 28 Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments.

NIV

We have heard these commands before and will hear then again. It is possible that God repeated everything he had already said to Moses so he would remember them for all his life. In addition he wrote the Ten Commandments down which were not what we have in this dialog. So we could conclude there was far more spoken to Moses then what we actually have here. Yet we still have all that was written down. Rather than reiterating the various instructions about the feasts and redeeming the firstborn, we should make sense of one of the main themes, the main issue the God is always about. There are times in which the original text reveals something more. This statement God makes about his making a covenant with Moses and with Israel is not exactly what he said. The original text says, “I have made with you, a covenant with Israel.” That word “and with” is not “and with” but rather simply “with” which is also to imply. “Hence with” So then God is telling Moses and showing us that he has made a covenant with Israel through Moses. His covenant is with Moses and hence then also with Israel. Once again Moses is shown as the mediator between God and Israel. We need to see this has been the plan all the time. We will always need a mediator between us and God. Yes, we have a personal relationship with God, Yes, we have the right to be called his children. Yes we are co-heirs with Christ. Yes, we can ask the Father for anything, but it is and can only be in the name of Jesus, our mediator. There is no covenant with God directly, but only through the blood of Jesus.

1 Tim 2:1-7

2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men — the testimony given in its proper time.

NIV

Again we see God does not desire anyone to perish. He does not want anyone to be the subject of his wrath, but rather of his covenant with them through Jesus. The Israelites could not come to God directly for they needed Moses to meet with God and then tell them what he demands of them. We cannot come to the Father directly either for no one can come to the Father except through Jesus.

John 14:6

6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

NIV

This is the lesson we always see. Moses was their mediator, Jesus is ours. We will see when Moses descends from the mountain being in the presence of the LORD, he has to cover his face because it shines with the glory of God. Jesus is the Light of the world. When he came to earth he shown the Light, the truth to men. He shown with the glory of God. Then this comes back to us again with Jesus telling us that we are the light of the world. We have the responsibility to shine with the glory of God, so men will Jesus, the one mediator between them and God. If men do not see Jesus, how will they know him? True, the Spirit convicts men of their sin and need of repentance. But as Paul was directed to tell men about Jesus, as Peter was directed to go to the Gentiles and tell them about Jesus, we too have been called to go into all the world and tell them about Jesus. How can anyone come to the Father alone? Everyone needs the Mediator. This is the story we see over and over again. God makes his covenant through his mediator.