Hebrews
12:23b-25 You have come to God, the judge of all
men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a
new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the
blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. (NIV)
In his eternal purpose it
pleased God to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, his only begotten Son, to be
the mediator between God and man.1 Jesus is the prophet, priest, and king, the head
and savior of his church, the heir of all things, and judge of the world. From
all eternity God gave him a people to be his seed and to be in time redeemed,
called, justified, sanctified, and glorified by him.
The Son of God, the second
person of the Trinity, is truly the eternal God, of one substance and equal
with the Father. In the fullness of time he took on himself the nature of man,
with all the essential qualities and ordinary frailties of man—except that he was
sinless. Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the
Virgin Mary out of her
substance. The person Jesus
is truly God and truly man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and
man.
By his perfect obedience and
sacrifice, offered up to God once and for all through the eternal Spirit, the
Lord Jesus has completely satisfied the justice of his Father and purchased not
only reconciliation but also an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of
heaven for everyone whom the Father has given to him.
Christ insures with absolute
certainty that everyone for whom he purchased redemption actually accepts and
receives it. He makes intercession for them, reveals the mysteries of salvation
to them in and by the Word, and effectively persuades them to believe and obey
by his Spirit. He governs their hearts by his Word and Spirit and overcomes all
their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom in such ways as are most in
agreement with his wonderful and unknowable administration of things.
The Westminster Confession of Faith
