Jesus

Ezekiel 22:30 reads, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD.”

While it is wholly true that God is abounding in love, He is also wholly just. God cannot allow sin to go unpunished because God cannot act against His own nature. However, God in His long-suffering for His people made provisions for them to be spared from His wrath if one were willing to stand in the “gap” for them and intercede on their behalf. Moses was one such man. Psalm 106:19-23 reads, ” At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.” God made two things clear through this incident with Moses: One, because of their sin the Israelites could not approach God and live, thus they could not intercede for themselves. Two, the only one God would allow to save them by intercession was a man by God’s own choosing, in this case it was Moses.

Well, the bible makes two things clear for us today: One, we are all sinners; we cannot approach God in the state we are in and live, there is a fixed gap between us. Two, because of His great love for us, God has made a provision for us through a Man of His own choosing. God has given us a Man to stand in the gap and intercede on our behalf—that Man is Jesus Christ. Jesus accomplished what man could not do, not even Moses. He stood in the gap for us not to turn God’s wrath away, but rather, to take it upon Himself so that the demand for justice before God would be satisfied. Moses could only beg God to turn it away for a time, but Jesus was able and willing to suffer that wrath once and for all by death on a cross, for the bible says in Hebrews 9:22, “In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.” Jesus endured the cross on our behalf, and through faith in Him our guilt is taken and we are justified before God. (1 John 1:8, Isaiah 42:1)

Now, why was Jesus able to do what man could not? Matthew 3:13 reads, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Jesus was the Son of God, the promised Messiah whom John the baptist was eagerly expecting. Jesus was the promise that God had not only given to Israel but through them He was brought forth. It was through the bloodline of King David that the Messiah was to be born, and it was for the salvation of Israel that the promise was to be fulfilled. (Jer.23:9) But what began as a promise to one man Abraham, and to his descendants after him, soon became a promise for the whole world; In speaking of the promised Messiah God declares through the prophet Isaiah, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus was the Son of God, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament and in John chapter 8 verse 58 we read, “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I AM!” Jesus was also God. When Moses asked God for His name in order to tell it to the Israelites, God replied, “I am who I am .  This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “(Ex.3:14) In Jesus more than a mouthpiece for God had arrived, God Himself had appeared in flesh to give and fulfill the final revelation to the world. He came to stand in the gap, to die for sinners, and to conquer death so that those who place their faith in Him would not only receive pardon for their sins in His death, but through His bodily resurrection receive eternal life in heaven with Himself. Jesus says in John 14:6,  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Through Jesus men and women will be able to stand before God on the day of judgment and be received into His kingdom where “God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev.21)

Jesus is the One who stood and stands in the gap for sinners before a Holy and just God; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever—and the scriptures cannot be broken. Please turn to Him today and ask Him to reveal Himself to you so that you may have rest for your souls. He promises in John 6:37, “…whoever comes to me I will never drive away.”