Christ's Mediation
Now is the time we should check-up, and "give diligence to make our calling and election sure" (II Peter 1:10). Peter said "grace and peace are multiplied through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. He said we're to add to the foundation of faith, (our clear understanding of God's Word), virtue, which is spiritual strength, and to virtue, add knowledge; to knowledge, add temperance; to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; to godliness, add brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, charity" - "without which", said Paul, "we are nothing".
Peter taught, "he that lacks these things is blind and can't see afar off." In other words, he's not born-again, and not a genuine Christian. Oh, He may pay his tithes. He may be a minister, sing in the choir and never miss church. But if he can't "see afar off" he lacks the evidence of the baptism with the Holy Ghost, or new-birth. Jesus said, "the Holy Spirit will, (not might), guide into all truth, and show you things to come". Or enable all Christians to "see afar off".
Grace and peace are multiplied to us through this knowledge. Knowing things that will come to pass in our day casts out fear caused by uncertainty, and imparts the peace of God natural men just can't understand.
So the evidence of being a genuine Spirit-filled Christian, is a clear understanding of all the Word of God revealed for your day, a perfect comprehension of what Jesus is doing now, and what He will accomplish in the near future. In other words, you will "see afar off". And what you see will be THUS SAITH THE LORD, because you'll have the mind of Christ in you.
James went on to say, if you take all diligence to add all these virtues, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer, then you'll be established in the "present truth". God is only writing epistles of the present Truth.
According to I John 1:7, "Unless our lives are manifestating the Light God is revealing now, we are not and cannot come under the blood, (or be born-again), nor even share Christian fellowship." Unless we can recognize our day and its Message, we are not Christians. Not called to at all.
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Every genuine Christian will have the evidence of the baptism with the Holy Ghost. This means the Holy Spirit will guide him into all the understanding revealed for his day, and reveal things that will come to pass in his day. So his life will be a written epistle of the present truth. What Jesus is doing now.
Last week I was speaking with one of our listeners who said to me, "there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Jesus Christ, and He's a Mediator for ever and ever". If you'll open your Bible at I Timothy 2:5, we'll study this subject of Christ's Mediation.
I said to the Sister, this is not Bible teaching. And we read the Scripture in I Timothy 2:5 which says, "There is one God, not two or three of them, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus".
It says nothing about Christ being a Mediator forever and ever. So I said to her, Jesus Christ is not a Mediator now. He hasn't been a Mediator since the Seven Church Ages ended, and the Seven Seals were revealed in 1963.
If we are Christians we'll live by faith, or a clear understanding of the present Truth. We'll know what Jesus is doing now, because He can only do it through His Body, through Christians. Regardless how dearly we love Jesus Christ and read God's Word, without faith its impossible for us to be a Christian.
If we think Jesus is a Mediator today, and He's not a Mediator, it shows we don't know Jesus Christ. We may love Him with all of our heart, but we've never received His love. We may have psychology, but we have no relationship with Him. And unless we know what He's doing now, we are not Christians.
Now's the time when we should check-up and "give diligence to make our calling and election sure" (II Peter 1:10). The Church or Body of Christ is led by the Spirit of God which is its Head, the Word. And if we are the Body of Christ we'll be in the common faith, or understanding. And we'll know what Jesus is doing now.
If we don't know what Jesus is doing now, we don't know Him, and are not baptized into His Body, not born-again Christians. We've got to have the mind of Christ in us. And His mind is not confused, it's infallible, knows precisely what His Word means and what He is doing now.
So "examine yourselves, whether you're in the faith; check yourself while grace is still available. Knowing that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are reprobate" (II Corinthians 13:5)! Check-up on yourself. If you find your faith short of God's requirement, be prepared to receive His understanding.
We're going to study five questions. What is a Mediator? Why was Jesus a Mediator? When did Jesus become a Mediator. For whom did Jesus Mediate? When was His mediation fulfilled?
What is a mediator? A Mediator is a "go-between." A Mediator is one who stands between two parties in dispute or disagreement. If two parties to a contract have a dispute, a third party will stand between them, and without taking sides, bring them into harmony according to the terms of that agreement.
A mediator must understand the frailties and necessities of both parties but his loyalty must be to the terms of the covenant. The Bible says "our High Priest understands our weaknesses, as He had the same temptations as we do, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). He was loyal to the terms of the Covenant which is the Word, and He is that Word manifest in flesh Who ratified the contract in His Own blood. He qualifies as the one and only Mediator between God and Man. He is both God and Man. Therefore He's an impartial Mediator. He is the beginning of the creation of God, the start of God, creating Himself a part of the material world, around 2000 years ago.
Jesus was a go-between for God and His elect, because they were not in agreement. In other words, these Christians were in error on God's Word. Of course God is the Word, and Jesus was that Word manifest in virgin-born flesh. Clearly therefore, He interceded in our behalf. The Church Age saints were in error but they were only required to manifest the Word for their age. As Mediator, Jesus received the Word for their day and placed their ignorance or error under the blood, so they could be born-again.
Why was Jesus a Mediator? Why did God's elect require a Mediator? Put another way, why were all of the Church Age saints in error? They were in error because as Daniel 12:4,9 and Jesus (Revelation 10:4) explain, the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals "until the time of the end," when Christ having completed His Mediation claimed the Book in response to the call of the elders, opened the Seals, and revealed them to the angel or prophet-messenger to the Laodicean Church Age, who expounded their mystery in our day.
Christ was a Mediator so long as the Book was sealed. That is, from Pentecost to the close of the Laodicean Church Age, Christ was a Mediator between God and His elect who were in disagreement in the faith because they had only PART-Word so long as the Bible was sealed. Until Christ claimed the Book, opened the Seven Seals and revealed their mystery to His elect, they were all believing and preaching error. In I Corinthians 13:10, Paul called it PART-Word, which men mixed with reasoning, or guesswork!
That's why Christ was a Mediator, and why the Church was in error.
The early saints were mainly Jewish converts until the Thyatira Age (AD606). In Pentecost, "Jewish fables" were introduced (Galatians 4; Titus 1:14). And the Ephesian Age fell from their "first love", the Word, tolerating the "deeds of the nicolatians" which established a hierarchy within the ministry that stood between God and the people. These "deeds" became enshrined in "doctrine" in the Pergamean Age when the Roman Universal church was organized at the First Nicea Council. They began killing the Christians and any who refused their Trinity of gods and baptism in three Titles. And the faith which was in the hearts of the saints was lost when they were martyred by the false church, bringing the Dark Ages upon the Western world.
Through the last three Church Ages, or Ages of PART-Word, we have the Reformation of the Catholic system of worship. The Reformers not being prophets, sought only to restore the church to what it was when it denominated at the First Nicea Council, not realizing that was where it fell.
They didn't realize Jesus ordained and recognizes only one Church. The Church He established on the day of Pentecost. Nevertheless, the last three Church Ages restored the revelations of justification by faith (not works), sanctification (or Scriptural holiness), and the baptism with the Holy Ghost.
In Pentecost and each of the Seven Church Ages, Christ received the portion of WORD (PART-Word) predestinated for the Age revealed by the Message of the angel or messenger to that Age, and interceded for their ignorance of the fullness, placing their error under the blood. The elect were born-again by virtue of their lives being written epistles or the manifestation of the Word for their day and Christ's mediation for their ignorance.
The next question is, "When did Jesus become a Mediator?" Good question! He certainly wasn't a Mediator during His earthly walk, for "without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins" (Hebrews 9:22). Prior to Calvary He was the prophet. He was not our High Priest, or our King, and only potentially our Saviour.
As Son of Man He was the God-prophet who came to His Own and was crucified for His Bride. On the Day of Pentecost He came back in the Office of Son of God. Not Son of Man. Throughout the Church Ages He was Son of God, Parakletos, Advocate or Mediator. At the end of the Laodicean Church Age, He veiled Himself behind the flesh of a sinner saved by grace and discerned the thoughts and intents of the heart, healed the sick, raised the dead, revealing Jesus Christ as Son of Man again, "the same, yesterday, and today, and forever (Luke 17:28-30; Genesis 18; Hebrews 4:12). Then the revelation of the Seven Seals brought Christ back to earth in WORD Form in the Office of Son of Man (Revelation 10:1-4).
All of the Gospels foretell Jesus returning as Son of Man in WORD Form to indict the world at the close of the Laodicean Church Age, and bring His elect into the unity of the faith. Jesus is not a Mediator today.
At the start of the Millennium, the glorified Jesus will physically return to earth with the saints of all Ages, and step upon the ashes of the wicked after Armageddon has destroyed all life. He will not be a Mediator, He will be in the Office of Son of David and as such He will be King.
Christ was a Mediator from the Day of Pentecost when the Church was inaugurated. He was not and could not possibly have been a Mediator until the Day of Pentecost had fully come.
The average church-goer thinks Christ was and is still a Mediator for everyone in the world. Regretably, the average church-goer does not think! Jesus was never a Mediator for everyone. To start with, because of original sin in the garden of Eden, the majority of earth's population are not in Adam's race, and are therefore without a Saviour and not redeemable. Jesus was the second Adam, He was not the second Cain.
Then for whom was Jesus a Mediator? Christ was a Mediator only for the elect of Adam's race - those predestinated to be born-again whilst the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals - that is, from Pentecost to the end of the Laodicean Church Age. He is not a Mediator today.
That's a stumbling-stone to the unthinking majority of nominal but false Christians, who say, "If Jesus isn't a Mediator, how can people be saved?"
Christ's Mediation has nothing to do with salvation. It has to do with being born-again. Every individual born into Adam's race is born "saved." In other words, their name is in the Book of Life. The Book of Life is the geneological record of Adam and all of his descendents from Abel to the last person born of a woman, whoever they might be. In God's foreknowledge the Book of Life was compiled from the foundation of the world. Jesus died to redeem every one of those names. So long as their name is in that Book they are "saved." But of course most names will be removed from the Book, and they'll be lost.
Jesus' Old Testament type was Aaron, who interceded for the errors or ignorance of the Children of Israel. Aaron was not a mediator for the Egyptians, Moabites, Canaanites or the mixed multitude that came out of Egypt with Israel, or for the peoples of the nations through which they travelled. He was mediator only for the chosen people or called-out ones. Aaron did not intercede for wickedness, but for the mistakes of believers in their service to God.
Likewise, Christ was not a Mediator for the Buddhists, Muslims and Jews, but for the elect of God. He interceded for mistakes they made in their Christian walk. He interceded for their ignorance or errors in the faith.
When was His Mediation fulfilled? Christ is not a Mediator for ever and ever. Jesus was only a Mediator so long as the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals. His Mediatorial Office was to bring peace and agreement between God and His elect. His prayer in Gethsemane was not for the world, but for the elect God had given Him out of the world. "That they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us".
That word "one" - "that they also may be one in Us" means what Paul called "the unity of the faith", or in agreement. And if two are in agreement, they are "one".
Now God ordained five different offices in the ministry, to edify and bring His elect to maturity in the faith so they'd always have a ready answer for sinners who inquired of the hope within their heart. These five offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher will be in the Body or Church "until they all come into the unity of the faith, fulfilling Christ's prayer that we all may be one; as the Father, is in Jesus, and He in the Father, that we also may be one in them".
Now I'd like to comment about regular house meetings without a minister, or genuine born-again brother present, one who is an elder in the faith. That's wrong. You should not run such meetings because they are likely to lead into errors that separate the brethren. This is what starts denominations and leads to confusion. You shouldn't hold these meetings without an elder to keep the doctrine true to God's unchanging Word.
Christ is no longer a Mediator. He was only a Mediator so long as the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals. Daniel and Jesus said It would be sealed to the time of the end, "but in the days of the Voice of the angel or prophet-messenger to the Laodicean Church Age, the mystery of God as spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began, should be revealed" (Acts 3:21; Revelation 10:7; I Corinthians 13:10).
That angel was the prophet William Branham. His ministry restored the apostolic faith, finished the mystery of God, and is now calling Christ's people out of the world church system, into the unity of the faith, for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation.
In Revelation chapter five, after the end of the Seven Church Ages, the elders advertised for a Kinsman Redeemer. John wept because no man alive, or who'd ever lived, was worthy to open the Book or even look thereon. Then the elders called, "Behold, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed. He overcome in the garden of Gethsemane, and He is worthy".
John looked back to see a Lion, but saw the bleeding, bloody Lamb, coming from the sacrifice altar where for 2,000 years His body lay as a memorial, while as High Priest, He interceded for the errors of the Church Age saints. As the Lamb He was our propitiation and Mediator. As the Lion He is King of kings and Judge.
In Revelation chapter four we see that the Seven Church Ages and Christ's Mediation are over, because the seven portions of the Spirit which baptized the part-Word saints into the Body, have left the earth. They are back before the throne which is no longer a Mercy seat as there is no more blood. Now it is a judgment seat upon which an angry God sits enthroned, holding the seven-sealed Book of Life.
In Revelation chapter five, Christ takes the Book which is the Title deed to all He's redeemed. He tears open the Seven Seals and sits down as Judge. No longer is He in the Office of Son of God and Mediator. Now He's Son of Man and Judge. Read John 5:27, and the Gospels.
That's why denominationals jump up and down, speak in tongues, yet receive no new birth. They're barking up the wrong tree. They believe Christ is still Son of God and Mediator, when He's Son of Man and Judge.
Revelation 4, 5, and 10:1-7 were all fulfilled in 1963. When the last saint foreknown in the Laodicean or Pentecostal Church Age was baptized into the Body and Christ's ministry of Mediation was fulfilled. Christ was only a Mediator so long as the Bible was sealed. He is not a Mediator today.
The elect of this day don't require a Mediator. Since that which is perfect is come - the fullness of the Word - PART-Word and a Mediator has been done away.
Let's check up on what we're believing. If we don't understand what we believe, we're without the faith and our knowledge is in vain. Let's study to show ourselves approved of God, not man, rightly dividing the Word to recognize our day and its Message. radio087.htm
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