Today we begin Numbers Chapter Twelve.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.
For the King James Version, click here.
Chapter 11 ended with the grumbling of the people instigated by the resident aliens but eventually spread to the whole population of Israel.
And sadly chapter 12 begins with the grumbling of those who are closest to Moses, Moses’ brother Aaron and his sister Miriam.
In our study of Numbers Chapter 12, I want you to pay close attention to how God interacts with Moses as His chosen mediator.
The reason this is so important is because we’re going to see the same patterns in how God interacted with Moses be transferred over to Yeshua.
Let’s talk a little bit about the meaning of the word “mediator” and how it is different than a similar word “intermediary“.
This is another word often used interchangeably and mistakenly with the word “mediator“.
First, let’s clearly define the specific difference between these two words.
First, an “intermediary” is a being who stands between God and Man but is neither God nor man.
It is a kind of halfway creature.
A perfect example would be “angels“.
An “angel” is neither God nor is it a “human“, right?
Now on the other hand, a “mediator” is NOT some specially created or designed creature that stands between God and Man.
Hence, “angels” do NOT qualify to be mediators.
Scripturally speaking and when I say “scripturally speaking” I mean based ON EVERY PATTERN WE ENCOUNTER IN TORAH, a “mediator” is a being who stands between God and man but is NOT some hybrid in-between creature.
Let me say that again.
A “mediator” is a being who stands between God and man but is NOT some hybrid in-between creature that is neither man nor God.
So logically speaking, who are the “mediators” in Scripture?
The answer is simple.
They are anointed and appointed men (human beings)!
The High Priest of Israel, Aaron was a man who was a mediator.
Moses was also a man who was a mediator.
And the New Testament makes it clear that Yeshua was a man who is the mediator of the renewed covenant.
Yeshua was NOT an intermediary.
He was NOT an angel like the Jehovah’s witnesses make him out to be.
And he was NOT some God-man freak like traditional trinitarian Christianity has made him out to be.
He was a human mediator.
Can you see now why it’s so important to properly distinguish the meaning between these two terms?
The theological implications are tremendous!
In response to what I’ve just said trinitarian Christians will say “Well God mediated for Himself by becoming a man“.
The biggest problem with that argument is that you are altering the meaning of the word “mediator” when you make such a statement.
By definition, a mediator is a separate entity that stands between two different parties.
That’s what “to mediate” means.
And I would even go so far as to say the Scriptural definition of a “mediator” is a “man” who mediates between God and men.
One cannot mediate for oneself because think about it man!
If you’re mediating for yourself, you are the one directly interacting with the other party and thus you are NOT mediating.
The whole definition of the word “mediate” gets thrown out the window and we’re now talking gibberish.
One doesn’t need to be a logician or a mathematician of Einsteinian proportions to understand such a basic concept.
To conclude, I hope this post has demonstrated the importance of making a proper distinction between the terms “intermediary” and “mediator“.
If Yeshua was a mediator as the apostolic witnesses clearly say he was, then he was NOT an intermediary.
In other words, he was not some kind of hybrid combination God-man freak like the trinitarians make him out to be.
And to say he was 100% man and 100% God at the same time is another illogical statement that even a trinitarian himself will just chalk up to being one of those inscrutable mysteries of God that we just have to accept on faith.
Get outta my face with that nonsense!
Yeshua was NOT an intermediate being who was halfway between a god and a man.
He was a mediator patterned after the likeness of both the High Priest and Moses and this is what the apostolic NT writings affirm.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“For there is one God,
and one mediator between God and men,
the man Messiah Yeshua“
-1 Timothy 2:5
“Now a mediator is not
a mediator of one,
but God is one”
Galatians 3:20
I wish you’d said “Human” instead of “men” in the title cause too many people are going to think you mean gender.
The word Angel is sued of Humans sometimes, Jesus uses it of John The Baptist, and I believe the Angels of the Seven Churches were believers in those Churches who had the gift of Prophecy.
The Point of Jesus being called the Mediator in the New Testament is that it’s the same not having a Mediator. Because the Vail was torn at the Cross, and the wall of separation has been torn down. Now we are all God’s Temple.
Well of course I meant human.
This teaching is wonderful. You are my third witness that Yahusha was human. Thank you. You have wonderful insight into the scriptures and have brought them to life!
Hi Frankie, Thanks for your encouraging comment! Be blessed and Shalom!
Who Are You?
Are you a ‘person’, an ‘individual’, or a ‘human being’? These words, at law, define you as being spiritually ‘dead.’ This is how the world makes its attachment to you. The terms, ‘person’, ‘individual’, ‘human being’, etc., are not in Christ. Words like “individual,” and “human being” do not even appear in scripture! These are ‘created’ terms by the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:14). These words describe the ‘old man’, but not the ‘new man’ in Christ (Colossians 3:9-10).
In Balantine’s Self Pronouncing Law Dictionary, 1948, page 389, Human Being is defined as “See Monster.” On page 540 of this same Law Dictionary, Monster is defined as “a human being by birth, but in some part resembling a lower animal.”
In Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, 1988, pages 879-880, a Monster is defined as “a person so cruel, wicked, depraved, etc., as to horrify others.”
From the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd Edition, page 901, Human Being is defined as a “Natural man: unenlightened or unregenerate,” and on page 1461, Unregenerate means “not regenerate; unrepentant; an unregenerate sinner; not convinced by or unconverted to a particular religion; wicked, sinful, dissolute.”
In Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition, 1988, page 657, Humanitarianism is defined as “the doctrine that humankind may become perfect without divine aid.”
In Colliers New Dictionary of the English Language, 1928, Humanitarian is defined as “a philanthropist; an anti-Trinitarian who rejects the doctrine of Christ’s divinity; a perfectionist.”
And in the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 1990, page 653, Humanism is defined as “any system or mode of thought or action in which human interests, values and dignity predominate, especially an ethical theory that often rejects the importance of a belief in God.”
Therefore, when anyone calls himself or herself a ‘human being’, or a ‘humanitarian,’ they are saying (according to every definition of these words, and according to the law), “I’m an animal; I’m a monster; I’m not saved; I’m unrepentant; I’m an unregenerate sinner; I’m not converted; I’m wicked, sinful, and dissolute; I’m cruel, depraved, unenlightened; and I reject Christ’s divinity and the importance of a belief in God.” Dear reader, do you still consider yourself a human being?
The Septuagint uses the term “human beings” only one time, and its meaning is identical to the above definitions. Let’s look at the last verse of the book of Jonah, where Nineva was full of men who were unrepentant, unregenerate, unconverted, wicked, sinful, dissolute, cruel, depraved, unenlightened, rejected the importance of a belief in God. Or, in other words, “human beings.”
Jonah 4:11 (Septuagint), “and shall not I spare Nineve, the great city, in which dwell more than twelve myriads of human beings, who do not know their right hand or their left hand…?”
The “human beings” of Nineve did not know their right hand from their left because they did not know the Truth and were lost. They did not know God, they were separated from God. However, those human beings were willing to turn from their ways and learn the things of God, so He spared that city from destruction.
The term “human being” is also synonymous with the term ‘natural man.’
“The natural man is a spiritual monster. His heart is where his feet should be, fixed upon the earth; his heels are lifted up against heaven, which his heart should be set on. His face is towards hell; his back towards heaven. He loves what he should hate, and hates what he should love; joys in what he ought to mourn for, and mourns for what he ought to rejoice in; glories in his shame, and is ashamed of his glory; abhors what he should desire, and desires what he should abhor.” Thomas Boston, quoted in Augustus Toplady, Complete Works (1794, reprinted by Sprinkle Publications 1987), page 584.
And the Word confirms:
1 Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The above verse witnesses to us that the natural man is spiritually dead. The ‘natural man’ in Scripture is synonymous with the ‘natural person’ as defined in man’s laws.
“Natural Person means human being, and not an artificial or juristic person.” Shawmut Bank, N.A. v. Valley Farms, 610 A. 2d. 652, 654; 222 Conn. 361.
“Natural Person: Any human being who as such is a legal entity as distinguished from an artificial person, like a corporation, which derives its status as a legal entity from being recognized so in law. Natural Child: The ordinary euphemism for ‘bastard’ or illegitimate.” Amon v. Moreschi, 296 N.Y. 395, 73 N.E.2d 716.” Max Radin, Radin’s Law Dictionary (1955), p. 216.
Those that are spiritually dead belong to the prince of this world because he’s dead himself. Satan has dominion over the natural man, for he is the prince of this world (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11); and, as a consequence of this, he has dominion over those of the world, i.e., human beings, the natural man – those who receive not the things of the Spirit of God and reject Christ. Because the bondman in Christ is sanctified from the world, he is separated from the adversary’s dominion over him–sin (John 8:34). This is the cause for Christ having sanctified Himself in the Truth of the Word of God – to provide the entrance to the refuge in and through Himself for us.