It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King the Head and Saviour of His Church, the Heir of all things, and Judge of the world: unto whom He did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed, and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.
What is a mediator? A go-between, someone who attempts to reconcile parties in conflict.
Why is a mediator between God and man necesssary? In his fallen state, man is at enmity with God (Romans 3:10-18, 8:7; James 4:4). But does God reciprocate man's hatred? Although God exhibits just wrath against men for their sins and rebellion, it is important to recognize that God is the initiator of the reconciliation. Saving men was God's idea. It is not as though the Son placated an angry and recalcitrant Father and convinced him to have mercy on men.
The Confession speaks of the threefold mediatorial offices (sometimes styled the munex triplex in formal theological language): Prophet, priest, and king. Various Old Testament figures held one of these offices, by which God was represented to men. One figure--Melchizedek--uniquely held two offices, priest and king. It is interesting that Melchizedek is considered a "type" of Christ, and that Christ's priesthood is likened unto that of Melchizedek, "without beginning or end," rather than the Aaronic priesthood (see Hebrews 7). Christ alone holds all three offices.
A prophet is one who speaks God's word to the people. In the Old Testament, the prophet did not speak on his own behalf. Christ is the Word of God incarnate, however, and spoke with an authority the people had never heard before (see Mark 1:21-22 for one such example). Yet even in doing so he did not speak apart from the authority of God, for his words were always in complete harmony with his Father.
A priest is one who intercedes with God on behalf of the people. In the Old Testament, this involved the offering of sacrifices, various animals and plant products as stipulated by the law. Furthermore, the priests themselves were in need of covering for sin and their service was limited by age and ability. There was a succession of priests. Christ the unblemished Lamb of God, who ever lives to intercede for his people, also provided in himself the acceptable sacrifice. He is our high priest forever and requires no successor.
A king is one who rules over God's people, is invested with God's governmental authority, and is responsible to God for his people. Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords; he has all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18).
Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the only one who qualifies. Only one mediator is both truly God and truly man, as we will see in our discussion of subsequent paragraphs. Christ alone has the ability to effect our redemption and reconciliation. Such an exclusive claim may be obnoxious to non-Christians, but this does not make the supremacy of Christ any less true.
Tomorrow: Filling out the job description.
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