This article is the twenty-seventh installment in our series "Christian, What Do You Believe: The Belgic Confession of Faith." Find the whole series here.
Can a sinner be reconciled with God? Some people may find that a strange question. Perhaps you didn’t realize there was a relationship that needed reconciling—but there is! We are all like the lost son in Jesus’s parable who admitted to his father, “I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Luke 15:18–19). His sin had alienated him from his father. All of us have squandered our Father’s inheritance of knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. Our sins have earned us the wages of death (Rom. 6:23).
So how can we come to God and know that he will accept us? Scripture’s answer is the intercession of Christ. The sure way of reconciliation requires that we come to terms with the problem, trust God’s solution, and act on what we know.
Admit Your Natural Estrangement from God
Without Christ “we would have no access” (BC 26) to the Lord. God communed intimately with Adam and Eve. But when they sinned, he barred the way to the tree of life (Gen. 3:23–24). The point is clear: you cannot make your way to God. You cannot fix your sin problem. You can say there is a God and even believe true things about him. But how will you stand when God summons you before his throne and judges you according to his perfect holiness?
In the Middle Ages, the practice developed of calling on saints to gain access to God. You can appreciate the logic: You can’t call the oval office and expect the president to answer, but by working through local politicians, you might get your message through. Is that how God works? In fact, the saints and angels to whom people appeal “consistently refused” any notion that they were portals to God, being more god-like than others (Acts 10:26; 14:15; Rev. 22:8–9). We should appreciate the saints and study their lives. But we may not pray to them or plead their merits in our prayers to heaven.
Some people try to solve the enigma of approaching God by saying that there are many ways to him. But this claim denies that there is one God who has revealed himself in nature and Scripture as dwelling in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). When Paul preached to the Athenians, who believed in many gods, he said that people who search in many directions for the divine do so blindly until Jesus Christ is revealed to them (Acts 17:22–31).
By nature, you are estranged from God and on your way to hell. That’s a hard truth. But it is the testimony of Scripture. Thankfully, it isn’t the only thing the Bible says about you.
Believe that Christ Is a Qualified Mediator
Paul puts it plainly: “There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5). What makes Christ uniquely qualified to restore us to God’s favor is his status as the only God-man. Our mediator is “true God and at the same time a true and righteous man.” He must be a righteous man because God’s justice requires that the same human nature which has sinned should satisfy for sin. He must be true God to bear in his human nature, by the power of God, “the weight of God’s wrath, and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life.” We can come to God through one who is both uncreated and who can truly relate to us. No one is more able to save than “he who is seated ‘at the right hand of the Father’” (see Rom. 8:34; Heb. 1:3). No one is more willing to save than “he who gave his life for us, even though ‘we were his enemies’” (see Rom. 5:10).
There are many theories about how one might be saved, but the message of salvation in Christ alone is the plain and central message of the Bible. We should trust the Scriptures which “prove themselves to be from God” (art. 5). The self-authenticating word of God is clear: Beside Jesus, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Still, even accepting Scripture’s message about Christ isn’t enough. You must come to God through him.
Come to God through Christ
You must approach the Father in Christ’s name (John 15:16), appealing to his perfect work, confident of his merits alone. And you have at least two powerful encouragements to do so.
Christ Is Loving
“Neither in heaven nor among the creatures on earth is there anyone who loves us more than Jesus Christ does.” The proof of Christ’s love is his willingness “to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10; cf. Gal. 2:20). Christ died for us while we were truly his enemies (Rom. 5:10). And yet, he died as one lays down his life for his friends (John 15:13). There is no other or better way to get to the heart of God than to come through Christ, the only well-beloved of the Father
Christ Is Compassionate
Compassion means “to suffer with.” Compassion is hard. We often can’t appreciate how others suffer. The rich struggle to sympathize with the poor. Those raised in two-parent homes minimize the hardships of single parents. Those who show the most mercy to hurting people have often suffered in similar ways. And Jesus knows our suffering best. He gave up his reputation, veiled his glory, lived in poverty, and bore the wrath of his Father. He came to earth to learn to cry like you cry. “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:17). Because of Jesus’ compassion, you can say with David, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles” (Ps. 34:6).
Christ knows the very worst things about us all. For this reason, he became our mediator, to bring fearful, doubting sinners into a beautiful friendship with God. So, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22). And God will accept us.
Footnotes
Heidelberg Catechism, Q/A 18.
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 16, 17.
