Then there is the gap between us and God's majesty and greatness. His purposes are beyond us; His intentions are hidden, except insofar as He reveals them. Our first question is not whether He agrees with us, but whether we come to Him in a way that agrees with Him. It is not we who must be pleased; it is He.

How, then, do we reach Him? The consistent teaching of the Bible is that we cannot reach up to Him if He does not first reach down to us. The Old Testament prescribed a ritual by which man was to approach God. The ritual's purpose was to teach the people about God's holiness and the need to approach Him as specified. In the New Testament that Mediator has come.

An Acceptable Mediator

All entrance into the presence of God is mediated; that is, we need someone who can represent our interests as well as those of the offended party, who in this case is God. Similarly, it is practically impossible for an ordinary citizen to get the ear of the president of the United States on his own. He needs someone who knows the president, someone who has an inside track, to make the connection. God, of course, is the President of the universe, and we have offended His justice.

In Old Testament times the priests were chosen to serve as mediators, but because they were sinners their work was ineffective for final absolution of sin. They represented Christ, who would eventually "take away the sin of the world," as John the Baptist put it. Listen to this passage, keeping in mind the contrast between the priests of the Old Testament and Christ. "Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest [Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time He waits for His enemies to be made His footstool, because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (Heb. 10:11-14).

In the Old Testament many priests offered sacrifices; in fact, they worked in shifts. But Christ, who lives forever, offered one sacrifice for all time. The previous sacrifices could take care of only past sins, which is why they had to be re-offered. But we read of Christ, "By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy" (v. 14, emphasis mine). The priests of the old order were not allowed to sit down while working their shift. But Christ sat down at the right hand of God the Father because His work was finished!

When Job was struggling in the heat of the arguments with his friends, he blurted out that he would desperately like to speak directly to God, not just pray, but dialogue with God face to face. In despair he cried, "He is not a man like me that I might answer Him, that we might confront each other in court. If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that His terror would frighten me no more" (Job 9:32-34). Oh, for a mediator!