Problem Solved!

In 1 Samuel 2, Eli the High Priest is talking to his two sons, of whom it is said they “were worthless men [who] did not know the LORD” (a ringing endorsement, indeed!).  In rebuking his wicked sons, Eli asks a question that seems to encapsulate the dilemma of the Old Covenant.  Here is what he says (1 Sam. 2:25): “If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”  The answer that is clearly implied is, “There is no one who can intercede between God and man!  If you continue to sin against Yahweh, my sons, you are dead!”

Of course this is not the whole of Old Testament theology.  There are many OT references to God being gracious, merciful, and longsuffering.  Yet the question remains unanswered, “Who can stand between God and Man as a mediator and interceder on behalf of Man?”  Since every man stands guilty before God for his own sins, there is no one who can act as a third-party mediator.  If I myself am at odds with God, I can’t intercede for you with God.  I need a mediator myself!  As God says in Isaiah 43:27, “Your first father sinned, and your mediators transgressed against me.”  This is a big problem!  The situation is completely hopeless as it stands in the Old Covenant.

Except for one thing: God’s promise of one to come who would be able to intercede for sinners.  “He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12).  Here we find someone who can successfully mediate between God and Man.  Someone who doesn’t have to answer for his own sin, and is thus able to answer for mine.  This man is Jesus Christ: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5-6a).

Glory be to God for his amazingly wise, shockingly unpredictable, unfathomably gracious solution to our seemingly insurmountable sin problem!