He is not a man like me.....

4000 or so years ago, a man named Job wondered about God.....

Job's dilemma:

He [God] is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court.

If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more.

Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot.
                  (Job 9:32-35, The Old Testament)


Does God give us a mediator (arbitrator)  to stand with us before Him?

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:5, The New Testament)

Is there someone to remove God's rod from us?

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed...(Isaiah 53:5, The Old Testament)

What Elihu told Job:

For God does speak.....to turn man from wrong doing and keep him from pride, to preserve his soul from the pit....

Yet, if there is an angel on his [man's] side as a mediator, one out of a thousand, to tell a man which is right for him, to be gracious to him and say, 'Spare him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for him'--

Then his flesh is renewed like a child's; it is restored in the days of his youth.

He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God's face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state.

Then he comes to men and says, 'I sinned, and perverted what was right, but I did not get what I deserved. He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit and I will live to enjoy the light.'

God does all these things to a man...to turn back his soul from the pit, that the light of life may shine on them.
                   (Job 33, The Old Testament)


God says, "Spare him....I have found a ransom for him!"


How did God provide a ransom?

The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Jesus, in Matthew 20:28, The New Testament).

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all men
(1 Timothy 2:5-6, The New Testament).

Do we get what we deserve?

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him (John 3:17, The New Testament).

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1, The New Testament).

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ...it is by grace you have been saved....it is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8, The New Testament).


No, we do not get what we deserve -- because of Jesus!