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A QUESTION RE THE MEDIATOR

CAN you quote any statement in the Scriptures to the effect that the Abrahamic Covenant did not have a Mediator?

We answer that there is no direct statement in those words, nor is it necessary. What is not stated is not to be understood. That is a rule of all reason and logic. It is what is stated that is to be taken into consideration. There was no mediator mentioned. It is for those who claim that the Abrahamic Covenant had a Mediator to prove it.

The Apostle Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews (6th chapter) tried to show the strength and power of the Abrahamic Covenant; but he does not tell us of or point to any Mediator as having had charge of it. On the other hand, he does point to God’s Word and God’s oath as the foundation of that Covenant. He says that it was approved to us by two immutable things—that God could neither lie nor break his oath. The Apostle very particularly shows that the Law Covenant was added to the Abrahamic Covenant and that, added 430 years afterward, it had a Mediator.

So St. Paul proceeds to explain that in the case of that original Covenant, because there was but one party, there was no need of a Mediator. A Mediator stands between two parties to see that each does his part. Moses was the Mediator of the Law Covenant. He stood between God and Israel. (Deut. 5:5.) On the one hand he represented God and on the other, Israel. But as respects the Abrahamic Covenant there was only one party. God is that One. Therefore there was no need of a Mediator. Why not? Because God did not make any condition with which the Seed of Abraham would have to comply. He gave his oath to this Covenant, instead of a Mediator. God said I will do it; therefore there was no place for a Mediator. And there was no Mediator. The original Covenant did not say how many additional or subordinate Covenants would be made.

As to the promised Seed of Abraham, God did not explain how he would secure to Abraham such a wonderful Seed as would bless all the families of the earth. Abraham did not know how this was to be done. We know how God secures to Abraham this wonderful Seed. He set before his Son the promise of a great reward. And he, for the sake of the glory set before him, humbled himself to become a man. When he left the heavenly glory he was merely preparing to fulfil the Covenant. He was not yet the Seed of Abraham. Jesus the babe was of Abraham’s seed according to the flesh, but not the Seed of Abraham mentioned in the Covenant. Even when Jesus was thirty years of age he was not the Seed of Abraham referred to in that Covenant. It was not until he voluntarily offered himself in consecration at Jordan that he became the Seed of Abraham. At that very moment the Seed of Abraham began to be represented in him—when he received the begetting of the holy Spirit. He reached completion as the Head of that Seed when on the third day he arose from the dead to the spirit condition. In other words, the Seed of Abraham was not yet in existence when God made that promise or Covenant to Abraham.

Then Jesus set before his followers that same joy; and when we consecrate similarly we enter into a Covenant with God by sacrifice, as “members” of the Anointed One. We thus agree to present our bodies, to lay down our lives. And we have the promise that God will raise us up as the Body to the same exalted condition of heavenly glory to which he raised our Redeemer and Master. “If ye be Christ’s (if ye comply with the conditions), then are ye Abraham’s Seed and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29.) In a certain sense we are already the Seed of Abraham, but not until we share “his (Jesus’) resurrection” will we be the Seed in the complete sense. The first work which that Seed will do will be to extend this great promise that God has made world-wide. Its utmost breadth will be attained by instituting a New Covenant with Israel by which Israel may attain eternal life on the human plane, and all nations through Israel.

A Covenant between two parties, both contracting, requires a Mediator. As, for instance, in the ordinary affairs of life, the general law of the State steps in and serves as mediator between all contracting parties. And so in contracts between God and men, it is necessary to have a Mediator. But suppose you said to me, I intend to give you tomorrow this diamond ring. Should I ask, Where is the Mediator? Who will guarantee to me that you will give me the ring? You would probably

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answer, There is no need of a Mediator; it is a voluntary gift. And so in our Covenant of sacrifice. It is a voluntary act. God has made a certain provision: “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.” We agree to enter into our sacrifice voluntarily and our Advocate agrees to help us. If we do these things that we have agreed to do, we get the reward—glory, honor and immortality.

THE OATH AS INSTEAD OF A MEDIATOR

In the Abrahamic Covenant God’s oath, attesting his Word, served to ratify the Covenant, to make it binding, to hold it sure. It thus took the place which might have been occupied by a Mediator, had there been conditions mutually binding upon the Almighty and upon some of his people. There was no Mediator, because, as already stated, the promise was an unconditional one: God proffered to do certain things—to provide through Abraham’s posterity a Seed capable of blessing the world. Hence no Mediator was necessary.

But notice that St. Paul, in speaking of this Abrahamic Covenant (Heb. 6:17), declares that God “confirmed it by an oath.” The word here rendered confirmed is defined by Strong’s lexicon, to interpose (as, arbiter). Young defines the Greek word mesiteuo, rendered confirmed in our text, “to be or act as a Mediator.”

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— September 15, 1910 —