************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 17 ************
Doctrine: Why our Mediator, Jesus, had to be truly God
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on June 10, 2001
Q & A 17
Isaiah 53
"The Only One Who Can Handle God's Anger"
I Our Mediator is True God
A Can there be any doubt that Jesus is God? Didn't the angel say to Mary:
(Lk 1:35) "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."
Wasn't He called "Immanuel" – which means "God with us" (Mt 1:23)? Didn't a voice from heaven call Him the Son of God (Mt 3:17; 17:5)? Didn't the resurrection show that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God? Doesn't the prologue of John's Gospel state this about Jesus:
(Jn 1:1-2) "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning."
B Satan knew exactly Who Jesus was. Remember on what basis he tempted Jesus: "If you are the Son of God ..." (Mt 4:3,6). And Satan's helpers, the demons, they too knew the truth about Jesus. One Sabbath day in the synagogue of Capernaum, a man possessed by a demon cried out at the top of his voice,
(Luke 4:34) "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"
After the service, Jesus went to Peter's house. The people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sicknesses and Jesus healed them. The demons that Jesus drove out of many people at that time shouted, "You are the Son of God!" (Lk 4:41; cf Mk 3:11; Mt 8:28-29).
Jesus' enemies understand exactly Who He was. When Christ said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven," some of the Jews fumed because only God can forgive sins. "This fellow is blaspheming," they said (Mt 9:2-3). "You, a mere man, claim to be God," said the Jews (Jn 10:33). For that reason Jesus' enemies wanted to stone Him, and for that reason they later crucified Him (Jn 19:7).
C In Philippians 2 Paul, inspired by the Spirit, tells us that Christ emptied Himself. He says,
(Phil 2:6-7) Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, (7) but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
According to Paul, Christ was and is and always will be God. As part of the triune Godhead His is the glory, honor, splendor, and majesty of God. In emptying Himself – that is, in making Himself nothing – Christ did not "grasp," He did not cling to, the glory, honor, splendor, and majesty that has eternally been His. Christ did not stop being God; not at all. However, He did empty Himself of the prestige of God when He made Himself nothing.
Yet, as we look through the Gospels, we see glimpses of glory, of His eternal glory, time after time. Do you remember what John wrote about Jesus' first miracle, the miracle of turning water into wine? John wrote,
(Jn 2:11) This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.
Of course, it wasn't just this miracle but every miracle that showed His divine glory: multiplying the loaves and fish, healing the sick, stopping the storm, raising the dead, casting out evil spirits. Everyone of His miracles gives us glimpses of His eternal glory.
Many of the people who witnessed Jesus' miracles and heard His teachings proclaimed Him to be the Son of God. When Jesus raised the widow of Nain's son from the dead all the people said, "God has come to help his people" (Lk 7:16). When Jesus walked on water, saved a drowning Peter, and calmed the storm, the disciples worshiped Him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God" (Mt 14:32).
One day Jesus climbed up a mountain to pray. He took Peter, John, and James with Him. As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed, and His clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor and began talking with Jesus. Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they (says Luke) "saw his glory" (Lk 9:28f).
We should also note that Jesus tended to minimize or downplay these glimpses of glory. Two times Jesus commanded people He had healed to keep quiet about what He had done (Matt 8:4; 9:30). After Peter's confession that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus "warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ" (Matt 16:20). And, when Jesus had been glorified and transfigured on the mountain He said to His disciples "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the son of Man has been raised from the dead" (Matt 17:9). Why did Jesus command silence? Because He did not want the praise or honor of men apart from being the Savior and Lord; that is, He did not want the praise or honor of men until He had gone the way of the cross and the grave.
Even though Christ emptied Himself of the divine glory, even though He downplayed that glory, glimpses of His divine glory can be seen throughout the Gospels. It was and is obvious that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, part of the eternal Godhead.
II Our Mediator Must be True God
A Jesus is the perfect Mediator because, according to the Catechism, "by the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life."
What it comes down to is this: only God is powerful or almighty enough to bear the wrath and anger of God against sin – not because man is so very weak and frail but because God is so terribly angry with sin. Remember what we learned earlier in the Catechism (Q & A 10)? We learned that God can not and will not permit man's disobedience and rebellion to go unpunished. We learned that God is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. We learned that as a just judge God punishes sin both now and in eternity. We were reminded that God said, "Cursed is everyone who do not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law" (Gal 3:10; Deut 27:26).
When some people become angry their eyes seem to spit fire and a thunder cloud seems to form in the room. But God's anger is far more fierce than that. It is an anger so great, a wrath so horrible, than no man can possibly survive it. Think of the flood at the time of Noah. Think of the fire and brimstone hailed upon Sodom and Gomorrah. It was only by grace that Noah and Lot escaped the wrath of God.
B God is so angry with sin that no mere man can bear His wrath. However, as almighty God Jesus was able to bear the weight of God's anger in His humanity. And, as the Lord's Supper reminds us, He did so on the cross.
You might say to me, "Just hold it. I know others have been crucified just like Jesus was." That is true. We can point to the two men who were crucified with our Lord. We can point to the slave, Spartacus, who rebelled against Roman rule; he, and 6000 of his followers, were crucified by the Romans.
Yet, the crucifixion of Jesus was different, much different. Consider this:
-First, when Christ hung upon the cross He was cursed, abandoned, and forsaken by God; "it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer" (Is 53:10).
-Second, when Christ hung on the cross, hanging there with Him were all the sins of the human race; "the LORD ... laid on him the iniquity of us all ... he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities" (Is 53:6,5).
-Third, Jesus had no sin of His own for He was sinless and perfect; "he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth" (Is 53:9). Yet, He died the death of a criminal.
No one else suffered such a crucifixion.
There is only One person Who can handle God's terrible anger against sin. Only God Himself is big enough and strong enough to handle God's anger against sin. No one but God could have endured all that Isaiah prophesies in our Scripture reading. We remember this and we celebrate this in the Lord's Supper today.
C This says something about all human efforts at salvation – that they are doomed. No person can save him or herself because no person can survive God's terrible anger against sin.
Think of a baby – a new-born baby. A baby is totally dependent upon her parents for everything. She cannot do a thing on her own. Others must feed her, clothe her, wash her, change her diaper, and bring her from place to place. In the same way, as the Lord's Supper reminds us, we are totally dependent upon God for our salvation. For God – and God alone – can endure God's terrible anger against our sin.
Abraham Lincoln was walking into town one day when he was overtaken by a man in a wagon going in the same direction. Lincoln hailed him and asked, "Will you have the goodness to take my overcoat to town for me?"
"With pleasure," responded the stranger, "but how will you get it again?" "Oh, very easily; I intend to remain in it!"
Mr. Lincoln's humor aside, his idea on how to get a ride roughly parallels what happens to Christians in Christ. Because we are in Him, we are assured of reaching our destination. But apart from Christ we are left, as it were, standing by the side of the road – and no amount of good works or good intentions or any kind of rituals can save us.
III Righteousness and Life
By the power of His divinity, Christ bore the weight of God's anger against our sin in His humanity. He paid the penalty for our sin.
Now look at the result: He earned for us and restored to us "righteousness and life."
Too often people think that salvation means little more than going to heaven when we die. But salvation involves much more. When Jesus shouldered God's wrath against our sin He restored what man lost in the Garden of Eden.
God created man good and in His own image. As created, man had righteousness and life. But when man fell into sin he lost both of these. "In Christ," however, we regain what we lost in Adam. As the Lord's Supper shows us, once again we are righteous and once again we have life – abundant life, life in God's presence.
Conclusion
When Jesus forgave sin, the Pharisees correctly realized that Jesus claimed to be God. They were upset about that and accused Jesus of blasphemy. But they also failed to understand something: that Jesus had to be God, for if He wasn't no sins could be forgiven. If Jesus Christ is not God, then I cannot be sure of my salvation. In fact, if Jesus Christ is not God, then I have no salvation. For, as the Lord's Supper reminds us, He alone can handle God's anger against sin.
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