Through the Bible with Les Feldick
LESSON 1 * PART 2 * BOOK 45
The Mediator Between God and Man – Part 2
I Timothy 2:3-7
In this lesson we will begin again with I Timothy chapter 2 verse 5, because I didn’t finish it in the last lesson. So now let’s continue on with our study in verse 5 where we left off in the last lesson.
I Timothy 2:5
“For there is one God, an one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus:”
Alright, so that’s what we started in our last lesson and we looked in John’s Gospel, how that the Word became flesh. Now we are going to look at Paul’s letter to the Colossians. These verses will show so explicitly that Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, ministered three years up and down the land of Israel, was indeed the visible manifestation of the invisible God. So let’s begin with Colossians chapter 1 verse 14 so that we know for certain Who we are talking about.
Colossians 1:14
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, (now I think anybody knows that that is a reference to the cross of Christ) even the forgiveness of sins:”
Colossians 1:15
“Who (the One Who shed His blood) is the image (an image is something you can see and touch- so Christ is the image) of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:”
Colossians 1:16a
“For by him were all things created,…” I am going to keep repeating this as long we are on television because a tremendous number of church people, who have been in Church all their lives, do not know that Jesus of Nazareth was the Creator of Genesis 1:1. But He was! He was very, very God! And as God, He was the Creator. He is the Sustainer of the universe, but He’s also the One Who lived and died and rose again from the dead. Alright, going on in verse 16.
Colossians 1:16b
“…that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”So He IS the Creator! Now, lest you say that is just one verse, turn back to Ephesians chapter 3 verse 9.
To illustrate the Godhead. Think of a circle which has inside God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Comprising what the Scripture refers to over and over as the Godhead, the invisible God. Now, the Scripture that we are looking at shows that God the Son stepped out of the invisible Godhead and became the visible manifestation, or the visible image of that invisible God. You will see this throughout Scripture.
Ephesians 3:9
“And to make all men see (there’s that ALL again. This isn’t just for the privileged few. This isn’t just for the chosen few. This is for the whole human race.) what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world (or the ages, is a better word) hath been hid in God, (the invisible Godhead) who (the invisible God) created all things by (Whom? What does your Bible say?) Jesus Christ”
He became the visible manifestation of the invisible God. Now come all the way back to Acts chapter 2. In this passage Peter is preaching this on the day of Pentecost and he is approaching the nation of Israel concerning the One Whom they have crucified. So he says in verse 22:
Acts 2:22
“Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man (underline that, in view of I Timothy chapter 2. The Man Christ Jesus. See? The Mediator.) approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, (which, of course was a reference to His three years of earthly ministry.) which God (the whole Godhead. Again, the invisible God performed all these signs and wonders and miracles through that visible image of God the Son.) did by him in the midst of you, (speaking of His three years) as ye yourselves also know;” Now, how did all this come about? Next verse!
Acts 2:23a
“Him, (Jesus of Nazareth) being delivered by the determinate counsel…”
In order to have a counsel, you have to have more than what? More than one! There has to be a meeting of the minds. Now, whenever our President has a Cabinet Meeting, what is basically the purpose? Well for a meeting of all the minds on some momentous decision.
I always get a kick out of Israel. They are in the news every day and they are under tremendous international pressure as well as from their Arab world neighbors. But, whenever Israel decides to do something, whether it was to react one way or another, where does it always come from first before the Prime Minister makes any kind of a statement? Well from his Security Counsel, from him Cabinet. Not necessarily the whole Knesset but from his group of advisors. When they come to a consensus, when they come to a meeting of the minds, then the Prime Minister steps out and puts out the command or the order or whatever the case may be. That’s a consensus. Now look at this verse again. Verse 23.
Acts 2:23a
“Him, (Jesus of Nazareth) being delivered (up to the cross) by the determinate counsel(by that meeting of the minds) and foreknowledge of (who?) God, (not just one Person, but a meeting of the minds of all Three, still in the invisible pre-eternal state. The invisible Godhead came together and they providentially laid out the blue print for all of earth’s history. And look what it says) ye (the Nation of Israel) have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:”
Now what does that mean? Way back in eternity past when the invisible Godhead came to a counsel and a meeting of the Triune mind, they delegated that One of the Three, in this case God the Son, would be the One that would step out, if I may use that expression, He would step out of that invisible Godhead and become the visible image of the invisible God. Does that help? I hope so.
So, then come back to Colossians again – to chapter 2, and in order to pick up the full meaning, I have to let you look at verse 8 as well as 9. Nine is the verse I really want you to see.
Colossians 2: 8-9
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9. For in him (in who? In Christ) dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead (but how?) bodily.”
So you see, when Christ stepped out of the invisible Godhead and became the visible manifestation, He never lost his make up with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Now, we could go all afternoon on this alone! Come back to John chapter 14, because if you are confused, you are not alone. The Twelve that had been with Him for three years couldn’t figure it out. John chapter 14 verse 7, 8 and 9. In our human frailty there is no way that we can just understand all of this. We must take it by faith! And it does take a lot of faith. That is what God expects. He said it and we believe it. Just because you can’t explain it, doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Here we are with Christ and the Twelve and they are in the Passover chamber. You know the account. Drop in at chapter 14 and come to verse 7. And Jesus says to the Twelve:
John 14: 7
“If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” Quite a statement, isn’t it? Now look at the next verse.
John 14: 8
“Philip (one of the Twelve who had been with Him for three years) saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Let us see that other part of the Godhead. Look what Jesus said in verse 9.
John 14:9
“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen (who?) the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” You are looking at Him!!
Unbelievable, isn’t it. But yet we believe it by faith. So this is the best way I can put it. You have the invisible Godhead from eternity past and according to that determining counsel of this three Persons of the Godhead, they delegated the Son (we don’t call him Jesus Christ back in Genesis, but we call Him, the LORD, Jehovah. Capital letters.) So God the Son stepped out of the Triune Godhead and created man, walked with him in the Garden in human form. And would come back up into the Godhead and become invisible.
When He appeared to Abraham, He again would step out and take on visible manifestation in a humanlike form and He would come back. But once He was born at Bethlehem, He never again stepped back up into the invisible. He is now the visible manifestation of the Triune God, but they are still a three person Godhead. So, these are things we just have to take by faith. Let me take you all the way back to Psalms chapter 110 verse 1. This is way back in David’s day.
Psalms 110:1
“The LORD (now you have to be careful. What’s different about the word LORD and the next word Lord? Well capitalization, that’s all.) said unto my Lord, (you have two different personalities) Sit thou at my right hand, until (time word) I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
Now stop and think a minute. Who would have said “Come and sit at my right hand until your enemies become your footstool”? Well, God the Father speaking to God the Son. It’s that simple. When Christ was here on the earth, rejected of men, and they refused to have Him as their King, what did God the Father say? Come back up and He went back from the Mount of Olives. He ascended back into Glory but He’s not sitting on the throne of the Godhead tonight. He’s sitting, where? At the Father’s right hand.
Now I always tell people. Don’t be foolish in your thinking. Don’t picture God the Father sitting on some great big chair up here and God the Son on a kitchen chair down here. This isn’t what you are supposed to think. The thing that you are supposed to realize is the positional difference. God the Son has not yet usurped the throne of God the Father, He’s at the right hand of God the Father. This falls right into what we are talking about in Timothy “and He became the mediator.”
John puts it in a little different language in his letter back there. We will look at it later. But John puts it in 1 John chapter 2 verse 1 that “if we sin we have an advocate!” The Greek word is “paraclete” which is another term for the Holy Spirit.
Here in Psalms what I want you to see is that the capitalized LORD is God the Father and He says to God the Son, come and sit at my right hand.
I read one time that Martin Luther struggled with this verse for years and he just couldn’t comprehend what this was saying. And then one morning he came out of his study and exclaimed to his wife “Now I see it!” Supposedly, like a good wife, she said “What?” He said “It was God crying out to God!”
Well, you have the same thing on the cross, when Christ said “God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Who was He talking to? It was God in the person of the Son, crying out to God the Father Who was in Glory. Then after He was rejected and from the Mount of Olives, God the Father said “Come, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”
Paul says the same thing. Now let’s go back to Hebrews. We are going to wear out our Bibles today! That’s the way I like it. Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 1. Now this is what I call Bible study! I hope everyone can agree with me, THIS is Bible study, you just pick it apart and build on it.
In Hebrews 1, we have the same connotation. Starting at verse 1. What’s the first word? God! What God? The whole Godhead.
Hebrews 1:1
“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past (that is, back in the Old Testament economy) unto the fathers (the fathers of Israel. The forefathers of the Apostle Paul and those who were living in his day) by the prophets.” Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea and all the rest of them. But, verse 2. This same God:
Hebrews 1:2
“Hath in these last days (which refer to Christ’s first advent) spoken unto us (not by the prophets but how?) by his Son,(the One who stepped out of that invisible Trinity and became the visible image of Jesus of Nazareth and went to the cross. Then) whom he hath appointed heir of all things, (that is in the future. But going into the past) by whom also he made(past tense verb) the worlds;”
What? The worlds, the universe and everything in it. We covered that once before so let’s move on into verse 3 because I came from Psalms 110, I don’t want to lose you now, where God the Father said, “come sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool“ Which, of course, will trigger the Second Coming.
Hebrews 1:3
“Who (God the Son) being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, (that is with His death, burial and resurrection. Now comes the ascension and He sat down where?) sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”
Perfect fitting with Psalms 110! Only in Psalms 110 it says that God the Father said to God the Son, come sit at my right hand. In Hebrews, it doesn’t give that invitation of the word “come,” it just simply states the fact that when Christ ascended back to Glory, he didn’t assume the throne. He is positioned at the right hand of the throne, until He will return and then He will sit upon His throne over the nations of Israel and the world, when He assumes David’s throne there in Mount Zion.
So, we are still trying to establish Christ’s role as the Man Who became then our mediator. Well, do you get the picture now? Where is the mediator? Seated at the right hand of the Father. And, He is the only connection that we have between us and the Godhead.