There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. -- 1 Timothy 2:5

My wife and I have been taking Cantonese lessons from a very patient tutor. It would be an understatement to say that the language has been difficult for us to learn. The western ear is not trained to hear “tones” and Cantonese employs seven distinct tones that make all the difference in the world when filling a sound with meaning.

Our need for an interpreter is never more apparent than when we try and move around in the city. We have been both frustrated and amused by our frequent inability to speak specific location names in a way that any given taxi driver understands. One place we travel to often, “On Ting,” is almost always a challenge to communicate, no matter how many times we repeat it, and no matter how precise our pronunciation is.

“ON Ting.”

“on TING.”

“ON TING.”

“on ting.”

“oN tInG!”

“Onnnnn TInGGGGGGG”

There have been times when we have said it perhaps 40-50 times only receiving a questioning look from the driver. So on these special occasions I’m glad I have a phone with connections to some friends here in Hong Kong that know and understand both English and Cantonese. It is incredibly humbling to “phone a friend,” then pass the phone to the taxi driver and almost in that same instant to see complete understanding spread over his face while he says “Ahhh, On Ting!”

(And I might add the driver says it in a way that sounds to us exactly how we were just saying it but obviously wasn’t at all how we were just saying it.)

I’m so thankful for a mediator, or “go-between,” that can communicate from us to him and from him to us. A good mediator knows both sides.

I’m so thankful for the Mediator, Jesus that bridges fallen man with a transcendent God. Jesus knows both sides perfectly well. He knows the side of deity; he knows the side of humanity.

He was with His Father since eternity past. He is before all things and nothing was made without Christ, Colossians says. He has come and declared God to us. He is the living Word, or message from God. And He came to do the will of His Father in heaven. Christ knows the deity side, perfectly.

But He also knows the human side perfectly well, too.

In the Old Testament we discover that the Messiah is acquainted with grief and a “man of sorrows.” (Isaiah 53:3)

In the New Testament we get a clearer picture of why Christ truly is the “Son of Man.” Hebrews 4:15 says: “For we do not have a high priest [Christ] who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (NIV)

Philippians 2:5-7 states: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (NKJV)

And perhaps the most compelling verse that demonstrates that Christ knows our side is Hebrews 5:8 which says: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.” (KJV)

The only Mediator that could finish the job must be One that is both David’s son and David’s Lord. The Son of Man and the Son of God! (see Matthew 22:41-46)

Only Jesus Christ could serve in the role of a Mediator that could reconcile sinful man to a holy God. Nobody knows both sides like Jesus does.

Jesus, You are the perfect Mediator and without You we could never find and know God! Thank you, Jesus!