A driver driving at full speed overtook and grazed another car. The driver of the second vehicle was furious and in revenge drove onto the pavement, stopping in front of the first offender. Both got out of their cars and rushed at each other with knives in their hands. A man coming the same way threw himself in between and parted them to mediate between them. But he received a wound and fell bleeding to the ground.

Likewise, but on a far higher level, Christ became a mediator between God and man. You will ask: "Is God an enemy of man?" Not at all; on the contrary, it is man who has rebelled against God and gone against His commandments. He refuses to submit to his Lord. Man is a rebel, with no regard for a Holy God. Man is proud of his technical advances, proud of his intellectual achievements, and looks upon himself as a small god. Men blaspheme God in their selfishness. Man's impurity offends God's purity, and man's iniquity makes him hate God's righteousness.

Are you God's enemy? We are truthful when we say that our sins have separated us from Him. He is holy and must punish our sins by death and condemnation. On the day of judgment sinners will go to hell.

In all humility we confess: God is holy, He is truth, He is just, pure and righteous. All who do not perfectly live up to His loving standards are displeasing to Him, and deserve His just wrath.

Yet we have to say: "God's grace is given to us." God, who is great and holy, is also full of love and mercy. In His eternal goodness He sent Christ to be the mediator between Himself and us. This blessed One stood in the gap and took our punishment, paying the price of our sin. Have you understood the true meaning of the Cross? The man Jesus was born of God's Spirit. He mediated between the Holy God and sinful man, and put out the fire of God's wrath. He endured the nails hammered by rebels into His hands and feet, and died in our place, so that we might escape judgment. Let us thank Him, who has reconciled us through His work as our mediator! From the moment of His atoning death, God's peace entered the world, and those who accept this unique reconciliation understand and believe that we are considered righteous by God, saved from destruction. "Your faith has saved you."

Christ, the Son of God, ascended to heaven after His resurrection, and sits at the right hand of God, praying to God for us. He will tell His Father: "This man is one of my own. I accept him, since he has received me and what I have done for him." From Jesus, the mediator, flow rivers of grace, power and love to His followers.

Those who reject Christ's death in our place, continue under wrath and judgment, because they have refused the grace of God offered them. The world today is composed of two parties: those who humbly thank and accept the free mediation of Christ, and the proud rebels against God. To which party do you belong?