September 19

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost. — Luke 19:10 BSB

“The Son of man has come.” What a blessed coming! The Lord Jesus lovingly took upon himself, in tender compassion for our needs, the gracious title “the Son of man.” He has always been the Son of God from all eternity, but he delights in calling himself the Son of man. We need someone like us, sharing our human nature, with a heart like ours. We need someone who has been “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin” so that he can sympathize with us and strengthen those who are tempted.

A sinner, when made aware of their guilt and defilement, cannot approach God in his pure and holy majesty. As the glorious being who fills eternity, Jehovah is too great, too holy, and too perfect for sinful man to approach. That’s why we need a Mediator—and that Mediator must be truly a mediator, one who is both God and man, “Immanuel, God with us.” The depths of this mystery will never be fully comprehended, even in eternity.

But the tender mercy of God in providing such a Mediator, and the gracious condescension of the Son of God in becoming “the Son of man,” are matters to be believed, not fully understood. When received by faith, the humanity of the Son of God becomes a way of access to the Father. We can speak to him, approach him, and pour out our hearts before “the Son of man.” His compassionate heart and tender love draw out our feelings and desires.

We cannot approach God in his wrathful majesty, for he is a “consuming fire,” and the soul trembles before him. But when Jesus appears in the gospel as the “Mediator between God and man,” and as Job said, “a Mediator who can lay his hand upon us both” (Job 9:33), this opens a way for the guilty and condemned sinner to come near to God. When this truth is experienced, it stirs up faith to trust in him, hope to anchor in him, and love to embrace him with deep affection.