The Divine Rescue

Last week I posted some stuff from C.J. Mahaney’s book “Christ Our Mediator” from the chapter “The Divine Dilemma.” We saw how opposite God and man is and how sin separates us.

This week I’m posting some stuff from the next chapter entitled “The Divine Rescue.” C.J. starts out asking if there was one sentence you could use to best capture the storyline of scripture, what it would be. He said the most common is John 3:16, but that he would go to 1 Timothy 2:5-6:

“For there is one God, and there is one God and mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

But as a mediator, He has to represent both sides. Here’s what C.J. had to say:

“Only someone both fully divine and truly human can effectively mediate between God and men, and Jesus is exactly that. He is unique – totally unlike anyone else. That’s why Paul insists there is only ‘one mediator’, just as surely as there is ‘one God.’”

C.J. uses a quote from Ron Rhodes on this subject:

“If Christ the redeemer had been only God he could not have died, since God by his very nature cannot die. It was only as a man that Christ could represent humanity and die as a man.

As God, however, Christ’s death had infinite value sufficient to supply redemption for the sins of all mankind. Clearly then Christ had to be both God and man to secure man’s salvation.”

So Christ mediates between us and God and this is the result:

“He paid the price you and I owed to the innocent offended party, God our Creator and Judge.

Therefore the offended party is appeased. His righteous wrath against our sin is satisfied, having been poured out not upon us, but on Christ. God’s holy hostility against us has ended. The divine dilemma is resolved.”

This should cause us to fall on our faces in worship to Christ and God. God’s wrath/hostility/judgment crushed Christ instead of us. We were saved because of Christ sacrifice. Praise him for his death, grace, and love.

Dear Jesus, I don’t understand why you would choose to save me, a continuous sinner and offender of God, but we thank you. Help us to never forget the cross. Help us to never do anything in this life, without thinking of why we are able to do anything. The only reason we are alive now is because of your grace. Your grace on the cross and your continuous grace should overwhelm us and cause us to worship with the most humble hearts, because we did nothing, and you did everything. Thank you, Lord.

Click here to watch an interview with C.J. Mahaney on why we sing songs about the cross.