The Principle of Mediation in God's Dealings with Men
Exodus 3:10
Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.


In the eighth verse God says, I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians; and in the tenth verse He says, "I will send thee unto Pharaoh." Is there not a discrepancy here? If God Himself came down to do a work, why did He not go and do it personally? One word from Himself would surely have done more for the cause which He had espoused than all the words which the most gifted of His creatures could have used. Looking at this incident as standing alone, it does undoubtedly appear most remarkable that God did not personally execute what He had personally conceived. The thinking was His, so was the love; all the spiritual side of the case belonged exclusively to God; yet He calls a shepherd, a lonely and unfriended man, to work out — with painful elaboration, and through a long series of bewildering disappointments — the purpose which it seems He Himself might have accomplished with a word. We find, however, that the instance is by no means an isolated one. Throughout the whole scheme of the Divine government of the human family, we find the principle of mediation. God speaks to man through man. Undoubtedly, this is mysterious. To our imperfect understanding, it would seem that the direct personal revelation of His presence and glory would instantly secure the results which are so desirable, and yet so doubtful. It is here that faith must lead us. Moreover, this principle of individual selection in the matter of all great ministries, is in keeping with the principle which embodies in a single germ the greatest forests. It is enough that God gives the one acorn, man must plant it and. develop its productiveness. God works from the one to the many.

(J. Parker, D. D.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

WEB: Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."




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