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 are to "add to the foundation of faith [which is a clear understanding of the revealed Word of God], virtue [or 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 who lacks these things is blind and cannot see afar off." In other words, he is not a genuine born-again Christian. Oh, he may pay his tithes; sing in the choir and never miss a service. He may even be a minister, 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 you into all truth and show you things to come" (John 16:13). Or enable Christians to "see afar off".
Grace and peace are multiplied through this knowledge. Knowing things that will come to pass in your day casts out the fear caused by uncertainty and imparts the peace of God natural men cannot 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 the mind of Christ will be in you.
James observed if you take all diligence to add all these virtues, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer, then you will be established in the "present truth," and God is only writing epistles of the present Truth.
According to I John 1:7, "Unless our lives are manifesting the Light God is revealing now, we are not and cannot come under the blood, [or be born-again], nor even share true Christian fellowship." Unless we can recognize our day and it's Message, we are not Christians; not even called to at all.
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 show him things that must come to pass in his day, thus his life will be a written epistle of the present Truth—what Jesus is doing now.
Last week I was speaking with one of the listeners to our broadcast who said, "There is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Jesus Christ, and He's a Mediator forever and ever." (If you open your Bible at I Timothy 2:5, we will 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, "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 has not been a Mediator since 1963 when the Seven Church Ages ended and the Seven Seals were revealed.
If we are Christians we will live by faith or a clear understanding of the present Truth so we will know what Jesus is doing now, because whatever it is He can only do it through us Christians by our faith. Regardless how dearly someone loves Jesus Christ and reads God's Word, without faith it is impossible for them to be a Christian and to please God.
If we imagine Jesus is a Mediator today when He is not it shows we do not know Him. We may love Jesus with all of our heart, but unless we know what He is doing now we have not received His love; the relationship is not mutual but our one-sided psychology of make-believe, and without the mind of Christ we are not Christians.
Now is the time 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 will be in the common faith or understanding, and we'll know what Jesus is doing now.
If we do not know what Jesus is doing now we don't know Him, cannot serve Him, are not baptized into His Body, and are not born-again Christians. We must have the mind of Christ in us. And His mind is not confused, not guesswork, but infallible and certain, knowing precisely what His Word means and what He is doing now (I Corinthians 14:8).
So "examine yourselves, whether you're in the faith; check while grace is still available. Knowing that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are reprobate" (II Corinthians 13:5)! If your faith falls short of God's requirement be prepared to receive His correction and understanding.
We will now consider the following 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"—one who stands between two parties in disagreement. If two parties to a contract have a dispute an impartial third party will stand between them and without taking sides restore them into harmony with the terms of that agreement.
A mediator should 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 to ratify the contract in His Own blood. He qualifies as the one and only Mediator between God and Men. He is both God and Man. Therefore He is an impartial Mediator. Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God, the start of God creating Himself, initially as the Logos, then just 2,000 years ago as one with Adam's race (Revelation 3:14).
Jesus was the go-between God and His elect because they were not in agreement on His unchanging Word. God is the Word and Jesus was that Word manifest in virgin-born flesh to fulfil the part of our Kinsman Redeemer. The Church Age saints were in error through ignorance of what was not revealed to their dispensation, but so long as the Bible was sealed they were only required to manifest the Word for their age. As Mediator Jesus interceded in their behalf by receiving their revelation of the "present Truth" and placing their ignorance of the fullness under the Blood so they were born-again.
Why was Jesus a Mediator? Why did God's elect require a Mediator? In other words, why were all of the Church Age saints in error? They were in error through their ignorance of the fullness of the Word because the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals "until the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4, 9; Revelation 10:4). "The time of the end" commenced when Christ, having completed His Mediation for the last saint predestinated to the final Church Age, answered the call of the elders and claimed the Book of Redemption, opened the Seals and revealed their mystery to the "seventh angel" or messenger William Branham who expounded their mystery for Christ's end-time Bride.
Christ was only a Mediator for ignorance so long as the Book was sealed. From Pentecost to the close of the Laodicean Church Age Christ was a Mediator between God and His elect who were in disagreement with the faith because so long as the Bible was sealed they had only PART-Word. The saints were all believing and preaching a measure of error until Christ claimed the Book, opened the Seven Seals and revealed their mystery to His elect. Men fell into error when they mixed this "PART-Word" with human reasoning, or guesswork (I Corinthians 13:10; Galatians 1:8-9; Revelation 22:18-19). This explains why Christ was a Mediator, and why the Church Age saints were in error.
In the Alpha age of Pentecost "Jewish fables" began to infiltrate the Body (Acts 15; Galatians 4; Titus 1:14) and in the Ephesian Age the saints "left their first love" the Word by tolerating the "deeds of the nicolaitanes" which promoted a clerical hierarchy that stood between God and men. In the Pergamean Age these "deeds" became enshrined in "doctrine" when the Judaeo-Roman Catholic church organized at the First Nicaea Council and began killing Christians and others who refused their Trinity of gods and false baptism in three Titles. The faith in the heart of the saints was lost when they were martyred by the false church, bringing the Dark Ages upon the Western world in the Thyatira Age (606) prior to which the saints were mainly converted Israelites.
The last three Church Ages of PART-Word saw the Reformation of the Catholic system of false worship. Not being prophets the Reformers sought only to return the church to what it was when it denominated at the First Nicaea Council, not realizing that this was where that it had fallen.
They did not realize that Jesus ordained and recognizes only one Church, the one He established on the day of Pentecost. Nevertheless, the last three Church Ages restored the revelations of justification by grace through 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 and revealed by the Message of the angel or messenger to their Age, and interceding for their ignorance of the fullness He placed their errors under the blood. By the virtue of faith the lives of His elect were written epistles of the Word for their day and they were born-again by grace of Christ's mediation for their ignorance (II Peter 1:1-12).
The next question is, "When did Jesus become a Mediator?" Good question! He certainly was not a Mediator during His earthly walk, for "without shedding of blood there is no remission of sins" (Hebrews 9:22). Prior to Calvary Jesus was the Prophet; He was not then 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 received the Office Son of God, Parakletos, Advocate or Mediator for the Church Age saints. At the end of the Laodicean Church Age (1906 – 1965) and veiled behind the flesh of a sinner saved by grace He discerned the thoughts and intents of the heart, healed the sick and 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). After Laodicea the revelation of the Seven Seals brought Christ back to earth in W_O_R_D form in the Office of Son of Man (John 5:7; Revelation 10:1-4).
All four Gospels foretell Jesus returning as Son of Man in W_O_R_D 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 have the office Son of God and Mediator and neither will He be in the office of Son of man and Judge, but Son of David and 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 churchgoer thinks Christ was and is still a Mediator for everyone in the world. Regrettably, the average churchgoer 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 is not in Adam's race, consequently they are without a Saviour and not redeemable because Jesus is the "last Adam," He was not the last 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.
This is 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 in Adam's race is born "saved" because his name is in the Book of Life which is the genealogical record of the first Adam and all of his descendents from Abel to his last descendant born of woman, whoever that will be. In God's foreknowledge the Book of Life was compiled from the foundation of the world and Jesus died to redeem every one of those names. So long as their name is in that Book they are "saved." Those whose names were never in or are removed from the Book are 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 ignorant 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 the mistakes they made in their Christian walk and for their ignorance or errors in the faith.
When was His Mediation fulfilled? Christ is not a Mediator forever and ever. Jesus was only a Mediator so long as the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals. His Mediatorial Office was to bring harmony in 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 "in the unity of the faith," or of the same mind in the "common faith." And when 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 would always have a ready answer for sinners who inquired of the hope within their heart. These offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher will be in the Body or Church "until we all come in 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".
I would like to comment about regular house meetings without the presence of a minister or genuine born-again brother who is an elder in the faith, which is wrong. You should not conduct such meetings as they are likely to lead into errors that separate the brethren. This is what starts denominations and leads to confusion. You should not 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 seventh angel 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 (Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 17:11), finished the mystery of God (Revelation 10:7), and is now calling Christ's people out of the world church system (Matthew 25:6; Revelation 18:4) into the unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:13), for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation (Romans 8:19; I Corinthians 15:46-57).
In Revelation chapter five after the end of the Seven Church Ages the elders advertised for a Kinsman Redeemer. John wept because no man was worthy to answer the call to claim the Book or even look thereon, and without a kinsman redeemer all would be lost. Then the elders announced, "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has prevailed. He overcame 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 His body lay as a memorial for 2,000 years while as High Priest He interceded for the errors of the Church Age saints. As the Lamb He was our propitiation and Mediator; while 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 and stand before the throne which is no longer a Mercy seat as there is no more blood. It is now a judgment seat on which an angry God is enthroned, holding the seven-sealed Book of Life.
In Revelation chapter five, Christ took the Book which is the Title deed to all He has redeemed. He tore open the Seven Seals and sat down as Judge. He is no longer in the Office of Son of God and Mediator; He is now Son of Man, King of kings and Judge as foretold in John 5:27 and the Gospels.
Denominational believers jump up and down and speak with other tongues without receiving the new birth because they are under the "strong delusion" that Christ is still Son of God and Mediator, when He's Son of Man and Judge. They have no idea of the "present Truth" because they are not "walking in the Light as He is in the Light" but impersonating the glare of a bygone day. Hence they have fellowship neither with the Lord nor with genuine Christians, and without faith in the "present Truth—what Jesus is doing now the Blood of Jesus Christ cannot cleanse them of their sin (II Peter 1:12; I John 1:7).
Revelation 4, 5 and 10:1-7 were 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 do not require a Mediator because we are predestinated to be born-again by the fullness of the Word through the revelation of the Seven Seals as the 144,000 elect Israelites are predestinated to be born-again by the fullness of the Word through the revelation of their Seven Trumpet mysteries. Thus we were fully redeemed in Christ on Calvary whereas the PART-Word saints required a Mediator. Since that which is perfect—Christ the fullness of the Word has come by the revelation of the Seven Seals—PART-Word and mediation for ignorance is done away (I Corinthians 13:10).
Let us check up on what we believe. If we don't understand what we believe, we are without the faith and our knowledge is in vain. Let us study to show ourselves approved of God, rightly dividing the Word to recognize our day and its Message. radio087.htm
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