Timothy, There is Only One God, One Mediator and Your Salvation is Here (1 Timothy 2:5-7)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men – the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle – I am telling the truth, I am not lying – and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles”

(1 Timothy 2:5-7, NIV)

“One God” is our most important Christian theology of God. Not three but one. Not the same as the god of Islam, Allah. Far from it! I heard some people, even Christians, thought that all – Moslems, Jews, Christians, etc. – worship the same god. They said, “It doesn’t make any difference how you worship just as long as you are sincere.” Eh, sincerely wrong doesn’t make you right. The only God is the God who revealed Himself through the Scriptures. He is not obscure and unknowable, but He is reaching out for men and can be known by “one mediator… the man Jesus Christ.”

One true God can only be found through only one way: the mediator, “the man Christ Jesus.” It’s not, You try to get to heaven in your way and I’ll go mine, but we’re all working for the same place. No. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Fathers except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus is the mediator, the only one, meaning He is a ‘go-between, one who stands in the middle.’ This is exactly what Jesus has done on the cross. He is in between a holy God and sinful men, uniting us through the sacrifice of Himself for our sin (if you like to appreciate Jesus as Mediator, read Hebrews 1-3). Jesus “gave Himself as a ransom for all men.” This is amazing! “Gave” means He does it voluntarily, not a victim yo (read John 10:18). “Ransom” means He brought us with a price, His blood. And “for all men” means for all, everybody! Even the worst of the sinners!

Notice here, Paul was ordained to be three things: “a herald” or a preacher, “an apostle” or the sent one, and “a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.” The Gentiles are the non-Jews – you and me. The Gospel to which Paul was commissioned knew no racial or ethnic bounds. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for me regardless of my race (an Iban) and my nationality (Malaysian). This is “the testimony given in its proper time” and “the time had fully come, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4). To me, this statement gives special meaning to Paul’s statement that: “now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). Let me recap: there is only one God, there is only one way – Jesus Christ, this offer is to everyone, and this is an invitation to you:

Now is the day of salvation,

Would you like to know the only one true God intimately?

Come through Jesus Christ, the Son.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Young Men, Consider the Ascended Jesus

“[Jesus] left them and was taken up into heaven”

(Luke 24:51, NIV)

The ascension of our Lord directs attention to the fact that He is not only risen, but enthroned. It is that event in which the risen Christ finally and visibly withdrew from His disciples and passed into the heavens – a fitting climax to His life of perfect obedience on earth. His glorious ascension was the necessary and appropriate complement to His resurrection, and the manner in which it took place was consistent with His miraculous life and achievements.

He did not vanish out of sight as He did at Emmaus (Luke 24:31) leaving a question as to whether there might be yet further appearances. He walked away from them, and then He was carried up into heaven, there to sit at the right hand of God. It took place as they were looking on, in broad daylight (Acts 1:9). There was no possibility of mistake. He was really and finally gone.

He ascended bodily, and carried His glorified human body into heaven. He left the disciples, with His hands outstretched in blessing. As soon as His nail-pierced feet left the earth, He commenced His ministry as their Advocate and Intercessor. They exchanged His physical presence for His spiritual omnipresence.

The ascension was an important part of the Lord’s ministry on our behalf. It imparted the assurance that His death was effective and that all God’s claims against sinful men had been met. It evidenced the fact that the problem created by man’s sin had been finally solved. It enabled His disciples to give a satisfying account of the disappearance of Christ’ body from the tomb.

Further, it was the necessary prelude to the coming of the Holy Spirit as promised by the Lord. As the Scriptures says, “the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:39). Now the way was open for the Pentecostal effusion. By the ascension, the local Christ became the universal Christ whose personal presence was mediated by the Holy Spirit.

To Christ, it was the reward of His obedience unto death. “Therefore God exalted Him…” (Philippians 2:9). The ascension reversed man’s verdict on the Son of God. Had the Saviour not ascended, we would be without a representative in heaven, and without the Comforter to lead and guide us on earth. His presence in heaven makes heaven a blessed reality to us. Amen.

[Edited, modified and modernized from Consider Him (1976) by J. Oswald Sanders]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.