Last week, in part one, we finished by noting that we are saved exclusively by Christ’s work for and apart from us. His person and work are fully welcome in heaven and in fact, it is these things alone which constitute the very basis of our acceptance and reception in glory. Since our salvation is entirely for Christ’s sake (Eph 4:32) and bound up in His performance if He ever becomes persona non grata in the eyes of God we will also become equivalent to undocumented illegal alien residents and will be deported from the strtreets of the heavenly city. If Christ becomes unwelcome in Heaven, we become unwelcome. To guarantees our continuing acceptance in Heaven, therefore, Christ must of a necessity be God.
Let me explain, if Jesus is not God then none of us who have trusted Him are actually safe. We will only be safe as long as Jesus and God don’t fall out! We are only secure as long as there is no disagreement between Christ and the Father. Remember, our favour and acceptance with God are not bound up with anything about us—it all has to do with Jesus. And before you say, “Oh well , Jesus and God could never fall out,” I would like to remind you that the highest created angel, a one time Prince in Heaven, Mr. Lucifer, fell out with God and was cast out of glory. So what’s to stop the same thing happening to Jesus? If Jesus is merely a created being this is not actually beyond the realm of possibility.
Let’s say it again; if Jesus is not God then there is an actual risk, be it ever so slight, that God and Jesus will, sometime, down the line, not see eye to eye and we will be lost. We must, if this is the case, face the fact that none of us have ever been irrevocably reconciled to God. So much for being reconciled to God by the death of his Son (Romans 5:10)! It’s a mere fantasy and a vain imagination. So much for preaching the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:20)! If Christ is not God then reconciliation with the Father is a mere fiction and an empty promise.
In addition, think about this; if Jesus is not God, we don’t have to wait for eternity to be disadvantaged! What about this life? We all need a compassionate, omnipresent mediating priest to get us through. We need a mediating priest who is able to save us to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25); we need a mediating priest who is able to present us faultless (Jude 1:24); we need a mediating priest who is able to keep us from falling (Jude 1:24) and able to help us when we are tempted (Hebrews 2:18). But, how can a mere man or created being do all that for us? If Jesus is not God then He is quite useless as a mediating High Priest. The kind of mediating priest we need is one who can hear all of his people’s prayers at all times. He has to know us and be able to search our hearts. A mere man could not do all of this. Only the God/Man can, therefore, be qualified to become our faithful, effective mediator.
But the wonderful news is that Christ is fully God and fully man and since God cannot fall out with Himself, we are saved, secure, reconciled and safe. This is gospel truth and worth shouting from the housetops!
The sum of what we have said is this; for Christ to be the mediator he must be fully God and fully man! No other mediator is suitable for both parties. Reject Him as God and you have no mediator. If He is merely man or an angel we have no mediator. If He understands one side, but not the other, He is inept and His judgment flawed and we have no mediator. Therefore, only in Christ Jesus , the God/Man do we have the provision of a qualified go between. What amazing comfort there is in knowing this wonderful truth! As Isaac Watts said:
O joy there sitteth in our flesh Upon a throne of light One of human mother born In perfect Godhead bright
And that’s the Gospel Truth!