What I am Most Thankful For

Galatians 3:19-20 "Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one."

Galatians is one of those books of the bible where reading it is comparable to peeling an onion.  It is just layers and layers of doctrine and knowledge.  As  was preparing to preach this Sunday at 8AM, I had been studying Galatians and Hebrews (especially Hebrews 7-10, another onion).  The text that  actually preached from was Job 33:23-24 and the premise was that we all owe a debt to God because of sin- but none of us are able to repay it.  The scriptures read as follows:

"“If there is an angel as mediator for him,
One out of a thousand,
To remind a man what is right for him, 
Then let him (the angel, emphasis mine) be gracious to him, and say,
‘Deliver him from going down to the pit,
I have found a ransom’;"

The whole idea of an angelic mediator "finding" a ransom for a man who is on the verge of tasting death quite in intriguing.  First of all, I had to begin to search the scriptures to find evidence of "angelic mediation" on behalf of men which led me to several places, but Galatians 3:19 and Hebrews 2:2 in particular.  Both scriptures talk about the giving of the Law and how the Law was "mediated" by angels.  The scripture in Galatians says specifically that the Law was ordained by angels through a mediator, who scholars believe to be Moses.  With evidence of angelic mediation in hand, I began to ask myself several questions, namely, "why angels?", which brought something else to my attention.  The fact that angels acted as intermediaries between man and God points to something profound, that there was great distance between God and man.  The distance was created by sin and idolatry.  The whole notion of intimacy was lost because of sin.  That's not to say that God did not have intimate relationships with men and women of the Old Testament, but they were very few and far between.

This brings me to my point.  What I am most thankful for is that although the Law was given through angels, the promise to Abraham was given directly to him!  The promise that the world would be blessed through his "Seed" and redeemed from the curse of the Law is something that we should all be thankful for.  The "Seed", Immanuel, God with Us is a far cry from having to hear from angels through a mediator!  That makes the name Immanuel even more special because God kept his promise from Leviticus 26:12 and walked among his people.  What I am most thankful for is my relationship with God through Christ Jesus!  Now the same intimacy that Adam and Eve once had, I can have too.  I can talk to God without using a middle man because Jesus restored the fellowship that was lost because of sin.  Having a personal, intimate relationship with God is more precious that silver and gold.  Knowing God for ourselves is a greater privilege that any of us could ever imagine.  Christ went behind the veil and now we have unprecedented access to God!  That's what I am thankful for- not my "religion" which is based on formalities, but by "relationship" which is based on the blood of Christ!  To add to this, my "ransom" was paid in full by Jesus!  1 Timothy 2:5-6 says that there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus who gave his live as a ransom for many!  So, I guess I am thankful for two things because I also thank God for seeing the need for a ransom, going through the mediators and the priests (which is what the angelic mediators foreshadowed) and coming down to the One that could pay the ransom in full, once and for all!  Christ has "perfected (or is perfecting) for all time those that have been sanctifed" through one sacrifice, one act of ransoming us back from the clucthes of death!  That's good news, or as we preachers like to call it, the gospel!

Give thanks to God in all things.  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful unto Him and bless His name!  For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations.  Be blessed!