November 5 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Exodus 32:30–35

Devotional

Moses was a rejected mediator. He was a mediator of the law, but not a mediator of reconciliation. He spoke to God on behalf of the people and he addressed the people on behalf of God. But Moses could not bring a sufficient payment for their sins. The words of Psalm 49:7 are also applicable to Moses: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.”

Moses lacked the sinless blood that was required to pay for the punishment of sin. Therefore, he was a powerless intercessor. He was not capable of saving the people of Israel. He was a mediator of the law who could convey the law to others, but he could not fulfill the law. Even if he had been without sin himself, his intercession would still have been rejected. He was simply a human being and a human being is too weak to bear the wrath of God. Man can make guilt but he cannot atone for guilt. Moses had a deep love for his people but he did not have the power to save them from the punishment they deserved.

If the Lord had left His redeeming work up to Moses, then both the redeemer Moses and the people would have been lost. Herein is the insufficiency of the Old Testament. But if Moses could not act as the mediator, was there then another mediator who did have the power to reconcile sinners to God? Was there still a way by which man could escape his well-deserved punishment?

Reader, realize that not only did the people of Israel stand with a powerless intercessor and with a rejected mediator, but we, too, stand with them. We also have sinned against God and no one can help us to meet God when death comes. When we die, we will stand alone— alone before God, and alone with our guilt. Everyone must carry his own burden. The Lord said, “Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.”

The Old Testament cries for the New Testament. No matter how many animal sacrifices were slaughtered in the old covenant, even if it were a human sacrifice as Moses proposed, a new covenant had to come with a better Mediator than Moses. The powerless intercession of Moses called for a miracle from heaven. It called for Jesus, who was pure, because He was conceived by the Holy Ghost, and who was truly man, because He was born of the virgin Mary. He had such love for sinners that He left the confines of heaven and descended as low as the greatest of sinners had fallen. But He also had the power to draw lost man out of the stream of misery. We may sing of Christ: Oh, lovely Child! Oh, subject of joy, gift of omnipotence! Yes, He is the Mediator with the power to reconcile man to God!

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.