Covenant Mediators and Christ as Mediator of the New Covenant

[Arial]

All of the covenants that God has with man and creation are outflows of the Covenant of Redemption. It is this eternal covenant that was within the Trinity between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that is the fountainhead from which all other covenants flow. The Father sends the Son, the Son agrees to do the work of redeeming the elect, the Holy Spirit applies this work to the individual, seals them in Christ, and sanctifies them.

Not all covenants have a human mediator. The Noahic in which Noah and all living creatures are the beneficiary, did not have a mediator; in the covenant with Abraham, Abraham was a covenant partner, not a mediator for others in the formal sense; the covenant with David where a perpetual dynasty is promised; these did not have human formal covenant mediators between God and man.

The two covenants where we see a formal human covenant mediator between God and man are the Old Covenant, (the Mosaic Covenant). And the New Covenant where Jesus is the formal mediator and fulfills all the mediating roles of Prophet, Priest, Judge, and King.

Let's define some terms.

A mediator in theology is one who stands between (bridges the enormous gap) God and man

Formal Human Covenant Mediator
They are covenant officers, not just intercessors.
They are public, representative, and foundational to the administration of a covenant.
Example: Moses for the Sinai Covenant. Jesus for the New Covenant and the OT high priest as a divinely appointed office from the line of Aaron.

The high priest had a central role in the Sinai Covenant, mediating between God and the people through sacrifices, intercession, bearing the names of the tribes of Israel on epod and breastplate (Lev 16;Exodus 28).



Informal Covenant Mediators
These function in mediating ways such as interceding, leading, warning) but are not formally appointed as covenant representatives.
They have no title or ritual office as a mediator.
They function as intercessors, judges, kings or prophets.
Often the role is temporary or situational.

All these act within the covenant but are not covenant heads.

With all this in mind, Jesus fulfilling all these roles as our mediator, for me, opens up the fullness and glory of his person and work, and expands his role of High Priest, as King, as Prophet, and as Judge, beyond his simply standing between us and God (mediating), bridging the gap that we might come before the holy God.

I will leave the reader to contemplate all these mediating roles applied to Jesus, and him being all these things for us. Prophet, priest, king and judge in the way of the typological and temporal way that is given in the OT. His eternal office and function on our behalf, accomplished by him on the cross where our sins were nailed with him. Contemplate, and see Jesus.

 

[Josheb]

Yep.

Genesis 15:17-18
It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates........."

God (in the form of a smoking oven and flaming torch), the vassal servant, pledged fealty to God, the conquering King.

Abraham slept while that happened.

Galatians 3:16
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.

In turn, the conquering King, God, made promises to the vassal servant, the seed of Abraham.

Hebrews 11:9-10
By faith he (Abraham) lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

That land that had been promised contained a city with a foundation not built by human hands, a city built by God.

Hebrews 11:16
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.

The land promised, the country desired, was a heavenly one and God has prepared a city for them/us to that end.

Hebrews 12:22-24
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly and to the church of the firstborn who are enrolled in the heavens, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

We, those who will inherit salvation, the holy brethren who are partakers of a heavenly calling, have come (past tense) to the country, the mountain, the city, the land, promised by God to Abraham, Jesus, and the body of Christ, the Church.

Made possible only through the vassal servant pledging fealty to the conquering King.