There Was No Man Save Jesus Only
July/August 2024 — Grace & Truth Magazine
There Was No Man Save Jesus Only
Job answered and said, “Of a truth I know it is so; but how can man be just with God? … If I justified myself, mine own mouth would condemn me; were I perfect, He would prove me perverse … For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him; that we should come together in judgment. There is not an umpire between us, who should lay his hand upon us both. —Job 9:1-2,20,32-33 JND
When we ponder over the sacrifice of Christ, it is with wonder, for we know the Lord Jesus to be without sin. The question that often may be upon our lips is this: “Why such a One for such as I?” The answer may be found in looking at Jesus Christ, our Intercessor.
We know the wretchedness of our once sinful condition. Is it any wonder that we as sinners were far off from God? “If Thou, Lord shouldest mark our iniquities, O LORD, who shall stand?” (Ps. 130:3 KJV). We find that none in a sinful condition could stand before a holy and righteous God (consider 1 Sam. 6:20). There is none good, no, not one (Rom. 3:10). We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (v.23). There was a gulf between the sinner and God, a gulf that no man could span (Lk. 16:26). This was a permanent separation from God. It was a result of sin.
We read in Ezekiel 22: “I sought for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the breach before Me … but I found none” (v.30 JND). There was no earthly person or thing that could stand in the breach. “And He saw that there was no man, and He wondered that there was no intercessor” (Isa. 59:16). There was no one to stand between sinful man and a holy God. Revelation 5:3 reinforces this: there was “no one” – not in heaven, not on earth, not under the earth. What a shattering thought: we are unworthy! Despite our good intentions to be examples of Christ, we are not worthy.
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to break its seals?” ... And one of the elders says to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion which is of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book, and its seven seals.” And I saw in the midst of the throne … a Lamb standing, as slain. —Revelation 5:2,5-6.
When we, like the apostle John, see the Lamb in the midst, we see the Lamb as if it had been freshly slain, a fresh sacrifice. In order to become the sacrifice for sin, the Lamb had to be perfect, and this perfect Lamb is qualified to be our Intercessor. The Intercessor, the One to stand in the gap between God and man, was not just a man. He was the perfect Lamb of God, the only one worthy for sacrifice. He alone bridged the gap.
The Intercessor is most worthy. All perfections are in Him. He is fully pleasing to God. He, the express image of God, met God’s holy requirements to be our Intercessor. No man could meet these holy requirements – no man but Jesus. We are acceptable to God on the basis of the blood of the Lamb. His sacrifice allows us to draw near to God, and by the sacrificial Lamb we enter in. The gap is gone, for our Intercessor stands between God and man.
We, the Lord’s own purchased possession who live daily in the value of His work, ought to be enamored with no man except Jesus only. When times of terror come, lift up the eyes! The Lord will come and touch us. God’s great desire is that we would look up and see no man, except Jesus only. He is the only One for our hearts; the One who can meet every need and calm every fear. Would that our hearts turn to the One who daily intercedes on our behalf.
—Adapted from The Lord Is Near Daily Meditations, May 27–28, 2015
There is none, Lord Jesus, there is none like Thee,
For the brokenhearted there is none like Thee!
There is none, Lord Jesus, there is none like Thee,
For the heavy-laden there is none like Thee!
There is none, Lord Jesus, there is none like Thee,
For the soul that thirsteth there is none like Thee! —Anonymous