Escaping the Misery

Having considered the requirements of My Mediator, I turn to His identity. 

Who is this Mediator? 

• Jesus of Nazareth, 
• conceived by the Holy Spirit, 
• born of the virgin Mary, 
• legal son of Joseph, the Son of David, of the tribe of Judah. 

Christ is my wisdom. 

• Wisdom could be defined as the best means to the best goal. 
• Christ is the best (and only) means to the goal of our salvation.
• Over against the wisdom of the world, Christ is my wisdom. 

The world rejects the idea of the crucified Christ as a means of escaping the misery that characterizes this present world 

• and seeks its own means of healing the brokenness of life. 
• The world regards as foolish the idea that the crucified Christ is the way of escaping the misery of this present world. 
• Instead, the world seeks its own way of healing this brokenness.
• But what is foolish in the eyes of the world is the wisdom of God.

Christ is my righteousness. 

• Righteousness is the absence of the guilt of sin; perfect obedience to God. 
• Through His suffering and death, Christ has removed my guilt and acquitted me (declared me ‘Not Guilty’) before God. 
• He has also rendered for me full and perfect obedience to God’s law. 
• He has borne the curse of the covenant and fulfilled its demand on my behalf. 
• As a result, the Father looks at me as though I had never committed any sin and as though I had kept His law perfectly.

Christ is also my sanctification. 

• Sanctification means purity, holiness. 
• Christ is my holiness. 
• He not only makes me holy; He is my holiness. 
• Instead of looking at how impure and unholy my affections are, God looks past me 
• and looks at the purity and holiness of our Representative, Christ.

Furthermore, through the working of His Spirit, 

• He also causes me to be holy. 
• He renews me by His Spirit and cleanses me from my sinful inclinations 
• so that I walk in holiness.

Christ is also my redemption. 

• Redeem means, to buy back, to restore something to its previous owner. 
• Having given Himself as the ransom for sin, offering the price of His precious blood, more precious than gold or silver, 
• Christ has redeemed me. 
• He bought me so that I might once again be a child of God. 

Adapted Excerpt from Only By True Faith by Van Delden

The Heidelberg Catechism Lord's Day 6