The divine-human Mediator - the Eternal Son of God - "The Lord from heaven."
1 Corinthians 15:47, "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven."
John 1:1-2, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God."
The divine-human Mediator - the Incarnate Son of Man - "The Word made flesh."
John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth."
"The Word became flesh." The statement is appalling, overwhelming. Out of the infinite distances into the finite nearness; from the unknowable, to the knowable; from the method of self-expression appreciable by Deity alone, to a method of self-expression understandable of the human. Christ Jesus, the Mediator, is the GOD-man. The eternal Son of God became the Incarnate Son of Man. Heaven came to earth.
In Hebrews, chapter one, the Mediator is divine. He is called "Lord," "God," "the Son." In Hebrews, chapter two, He is human. He is called "Jesus," "brother," "High priest." In chapter one He is as far above us as the heavens are above the earth; He is absolutely separate from us; He is in a class by Himself; He is the Unapproachable; the Incomprehensible; the Incomparable One. In chapter two He is on the level of our humanity. He has stooped to come to our human plane of life.
Hebrews 2:9, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man."
In chapter two He is one with us, He has entered into our humanity. He has actually become part of our flesh and blood.
Hebrews 2:11, "For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren."
Hebrews 2:14, "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."
In chapter two He is the tender, sympathetic, understanding Son of Man: the gracious, gentle One.
Hebrews 2:17-18, "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted."
Only Man could represent man in this mediatorship. Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and man is Man: the Incarnate Son: "the Word made flesh."
From the beginning to the end of Scripture this story is told: Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and man is God; the Eternal Son; the Lord from Heaven; the Alpha and the Omega. Christ Jesus, the Mediator between man and God is Man; the Incarnate Son; the Man of Galilee; the Babe of Bethlehem.
Perhaps nothing in God's holy Word challenges man to greater reverence, deeper humility, sublimer faith, than this divine record of God's supernatural entrance into human life. Yet to the truly humble, reverent, worshipful, man of faith there is no difficulty in accepting the statement of revelation that through the supernatural operation of God, the Holy Spirit, the virgin Mary gave birth "to that holy thing which was called the Son of God." He reads and accepts these two annunciations without making any attempt to explain the heart of the mystery therein because he humbly acknowledges that it transcends all human understanding.
He sees in Christ Jesus, the God-man, essential Deity and real humanity, very God and very Man. He gladly acknowledges the supernatural in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He finds no way to account for such a result except in an adequate cause. A supernatural life demands a supernatural birth. So he joyfully accepts as true God's divine revelation that in the origin of the God-man there was to be fund the cooperation of Deity and humanity. He believes that Christ Jesus, the God-man, was "conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary," as the evangelical Church has believed through the centuries.
Thus the supernatural birth of the Lord Jesus is the connecting link between eternity and time: between Heaven and earth: between Deity and humanity: between God and man. Through the door way of that supernatural conception there came into this world such a Person as had never lived in it before or ever has since. In Him there is essential Deity and essential humanity each in its wholeness and completeness. He is "the Son of God, the Word of the Father, begotten from everlasting of the Father, very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father. Being such, He took man's nature in the womb of the virgin, of her substance, so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and the manhood, were joined together in one Person, never to be divided, whereof is one Christ, very God and very Man."
~Ruth Paxson~
(continued with # 3)
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