In order that all the readers of Present Truth may understand the reference in the first part of the following question, it may be necessary to state that the Sabbath school lessons to which the questioner refers are on the Epistle to the Galatians, and were written by the editor of this paper. The matter referred to is also more fully dealt with in the little book on Galatians, called The Glad Tidings.
In studying our S.S. Lesson, it has seemed to me that you have not recognized the fact that Moses was a mediator. He received the law for the people by their request. (Acts 7:38; Deuteronomy 5:31) Is not Moses, as a mediator, contrasted with Christ as the mediator of a better covenant?
Christ's ministry is more excellent, to the extent that, He is the mediator of a better covenant. (Hebrews 8:6) Is not His mediatorial work His ministry? Christ is the mediator of the new testament (Hebrews 9:15), and is not Moses the mediator of the first testament? (Verses 18-19)
Was it not in connection with that first covenant that the law entered because of transgressions? Christ as mediator brings man to God; Moses as mediator stood between man and God, to keep them apart "lest they die." I know that the law was spoken by Christ as a mediator; but was not the "hand of a mediator" the hand of Moses?
I can understand the law being ordained by ministering spirits in the hand of Moses, but I cannot see the meaning of its being ordained by angels in the hand of Christ. If I am wrong, I would be glad to know wherein I have missed the point.
You have asked a very comprehensive question, yet I think we may give it a fairly thorough consideration in the time allotted to us, and I am sure that no subject can be studied with greater profit.
Covenant not Testament
In the first place, let me caution you against falling into the too common habit of treating the words "covenant" and "testament" as synonymous. It is true that they are so used in our common English version, but it is wholly arbitrary and unwarranted. There is but one Greek word from which they are both translated, and in every other version than the English this word is uniformly translated by one word, which means "covenant."
Even though you may not read the Greek, you can to some extent satisfy yourself on this point. Thus: it is evident that the very same thing is referred to in both Hebrews 7:22 and 8:6-7, yet "testament" is used in one place, and "covenant" in the other. But Hebrews 8:8-11 is quoted from Jeremiah 31:31-34, where the word "covenant" is used, and the Hebrew word there used never has any other signification than that of covenant.
It is true that the Greek word for "covenant" was also used to indicate a will or testament, but this latter meaning never occurs in the Bible. So drop the word "testament" out of your vocabulary, so far as the Bible is concerned, and when in your reading you come to it, always say "covenant" instead, as it will save much confusion.
Many theories and arguments have been built on the idea of a will which Christ made, and which came into force after His death, but not before; but all of them were wasted breath and energy; yes, worse than wasted, for they tend only to mislead the hearers or readers, instead of to instruct them.
The Covenants of Promise
Before we can fully understand the office and work of the mediator of a covenant, we must have a clear understanding of the nature and object of the covenant. Remember that God's covenants are "covenants of promise." (Ephesians 2:12)
The first covenant of which we read was an unconditional promise not to destroy the earth by a flood. (Genesis 9:8-17) Indeed, every promise of God must necessarily be unconditional, since we have nothing to give, can do nothing, and are nothing.
Galatians 3:14-18 shows also that God's covenant is His promise, for the disannulling of the covenant would be to make void the promise. The promise made to Abraham, and confirmed by God's oath (Hebrews 6:12-18) is in Galatians spoken of as the covenant confirmed.
The Covenant with Abraham
God made a covenant with Abraham, promising to give Him "all the land of Canaan," (Genesis 15:3-28; 17:4-8) which constituted him "heir of the world." (Romans 4:13)
This promise was "through the righteousness of faith." (Romans 4:13)
It was "To Abraham and his seed." (Galatians 3:16)
And it assured the land to them "for an everlasting possession." (Genesis 17:8)
It was confirmed by the oath of God, (Genesis 22:15-18) not for Abraham's sake, but in order "That we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." (Hebrews 6:18)
So we see that the covenant which God made with Abraham 430 years before the law was spoken from Sinai, is the covenant by which we now find salvation. It embraces "all nations," (Galatians 3:8) even "all the families of the earth." (Genesis 28:14)
It assures righteousness to all who trust in God through Christ, and through the righteousness in Christ, everlasting life in the kingdom of God. That covenant included all that God has to give to any people, and all that He ever requires of anybody.
It was to this covenant that God referred when He said to the Israelites: "You have seen, what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine; And you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." (Exodus 19:4-6)
No other covenant than that made with Abraham was needed, for that was "confirmed in Christ." (Galatians 3:17)
And it was not God's design to make any other.
The Covenant with Israel
There are many covenants mentioned in the Bible, but the terms "first covenant" and "second covenant" have reference to two covenants made with the whole house of Israel.
The first covenant was that made at Sinai, "which genders to bondage." (Galatians 4:24)
It was essentially the people's covenant; for when God exhorted them to keep His covenant,--the covenant already made with Abraham,--which meant that they should keep the faith, the people self-confidently interposed their own promise.
God told them what He had done, and what He would do, and they, without thanking Him for His "exceeding great and precious promises," (2 Peter 1:4) immediately proceeded to tell what they would do. But inasmuch as "every man at his best state is altogether vanity," (Psalm 39:5) their promises were worth nothing, and so that covenant was "made void" (Psalm 89:39) from the beginning. They promised to keep the law, but: "By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." (Galatians 2:16)
By virtue of that first covenant, therefore, the people of Israel never got anything, for there was never any virtue in it.
The Second Covenant with Israel "If the first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." (Hebrews 8:7)
A faulty covenant can never make a perfect people; but there is nothing faulty in what God does. The covenant was not faulty because the people did not promise to do the right thing, but because the making and performing of promises that are of any value at all rests with God alone. So the second covenant is better than the first, because its promises are God's promises, and not man's. "Finding fault with them, He said, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; ... For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people; And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:8,10-12)
This covenant includes nothing that was not in the covenant with Abraham, but it is simply an act constituting "the commonwealth of Israel" (Ephesians 2:12) God's people for evermore. It has not yet been made, as can be seen by reading Jeremiah 30 to 33, but it is a matter of promise, to be fulfilled at the second coming of Christ.
The fact that Christ is the "Surety" or pledge of this covenant (Hebrews 7:22) shows that the covenant itself has not yet been made; for we need no surety for that which we already have. The house of Israel has not yet been gathered out from among the nations; among every people there are "lost sheep of the house of Israel," (Matthew 10:6; 15:24) and these must be gathered out before the second covenant with that people can be made.
When it is made, there will be no more need for the preaching of the Gospel, for all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. In the meantime, we have the covenant made with Abraham, confirmed to us by the oath of God in Christ, which brings us to God, and makes us His heirs: "Partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." (2 Peter 1:4)
The Mediator of the New Covenant
The Mediator of the new covenant is Christ, as we are plainly told in Hebrews 9:15. Knowing what God's covenant embraces, we can know the work of its Mediator. God's covenant is first of all the promise of righteousness, through which we are fitted for an eternal inheritance. Righteousness is the perfect manifestation of the requirement of the law; it is the law in living form, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:2)
It must be put into us, for we do not possess it by nature, and cannot get it for ourselves. "The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. ... witnessed by the law and the prophets, ... [is] unto all and upon all them that believe." (Romans 3:22,21-22) "Christ is of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." (1 Corinthians 1:30)
Only by His life in us, by the exercise of His power over our flesh, can we be made righteous. "By the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." (Romans 5:19)
Thus Christ is the means, the medium, by which God's promises become realities to us. "For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him, Amen." (2 Corinthians 1:20)
He is thus the Mediator. "For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." (1 Peter 3:18) "Through Him we have access by one Spirit unto the Father. ... [We] are made nigh by the blood of Christ." (Ephesians 2:18,13)
His name is Emmanuel, "God with us," (Matthew 1:23) and as He is made flesh, even our flesh, He is the means by which God, and consequently His righteousness, dwells in us, filling us with His fullness.
Christ the Only Mediator
"There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:6)
This text settles the question as to whether or not Moses was a mediator. Moreover, the very text which most plainly tells us that Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant, shows us that the first covenant had no mediator, and that herein lies the advantage of the second over the first. Thus: "He is the Mediator of the new covenant, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance." (Hebrews 9:15)
You see it is only by virtue of Christ as Mediator of the new covenant that the transgressions that were under the first covenant were forgiven.
That first covenant was the promise of the people to keep God's law. If it had only had a mediator--someone to put the law into them--it would have lacked nothing, and they would have been perfect. But it had no mediator, and so they would have been in a hopeless condition if it had not been for the covenant made with Abraham, and confirmed in Christ by an oath of God.
I must not forget to remind you that the scripture that speaks of Christ's "more excellent ministry," (Hebrews 8:6) is not contrasting His work with that of Moses, but Christ's priesthood with that of human priests. (See Hebrews 7:21-22; 7:1-7) His priesthood is as much better than theirs as God's promises are better than man's, and as "the power of an endless life" (Hebrews 7:16) is better than the weakness of mortal flesh.
A Mediator not a Separator
Christ is the Mediator between God and men, and thus He brings them together. This is the sole work of a mediator. But how was it with Moses? You have already said that he kept God away from the people. When God had spoken the Ten Commandments, they said to Moses: "Speak with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. ... And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." (Exodus 20:19,21)
God had already said to them: "I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself." (Exodus 19:4)
And this was done through Christ, the one Mediator, so that they needed no other; but they blindly rejected Christ, and asked Moses to take His place, to keep God away from them. Thus Moses was just the opposite of mediator, although he himself had free access to God. He could not be mediator, any more than you or I or any other man could.
In the Hand of Christ
This expression, "in the hand of a mediator," (Galatians 3:19) which seems so difficult to you, is one of the most precious assurances in the Bible. You say you can understand the law being ordained by ministering spirits, in the hand of Moses, but you cannot see the meaning of its being ordained by angels in the hand of Christ. The very reverse of this seems to me to be the case.
We have not time now to go much into detail, but it will help you if you will remember what the work of a real mediator is. The Mediator between God and men must bring them together, and must put His righteous law into the hearts and lives of men.
Perhaps this may help you: "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; Heshined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of His saints [holy ones]; from His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in your hand." (Deuteronomy 33:2-3)
So both the law and the saints are in the hand of Christ. That is good; that unites them. His hand under and upon us protects us and keeps us in the law, and the law in us. He says of His people: "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:28)
We need nothing except to be brought to God, and Christ is in himself alone abundantly able to do this. He joins Divinity and humanity in a perfect union. The law was "ordained to life," (Romans 7:10) but if we meet it apart from Christ we shall find it to be unto death.
We have cause for everlasting rejoicing that the hand from which the fiery law proceeds also holds us, and that in Him, who is our peace, (Ephesians 2:14) we are saved from the wrath which it works. (Romans 4:15; 5:9)--Present Truth, December 27, 1900.