Heidelbergian Children's Catechism (age 8- 10 years)

Lord's Day 14

In Lord’s Day 6 you first read about a mediator. A mediator is someone who comes between two or more people. He does that to straighten out the broken relationship between them. Have a quick look at that Lord’s Day. Now we will speak about the Mediator with a capital M. He is the Lord Jesus. This Mediator comes between us on the one side and God on the other

side. As a result of our sin, the relationship between God and us is broken. We were unable to make it work again. But the Mediator wanted to come between God and us. He was willing to restore the broken relationship. That could only happen by taking our punishment. Because the Father, Son and Holy Spirit love us, they made a plan. The Son said: When the time is right, I will go down to the earth. I will become a man, just as they are. Then I can take their punishment. To do that, he also needed to remain the Son of God. And he would be supported by the Holy Spirit. He would be born in Bethlehem, and belong to the descendants of David. Actually, he was born in the family of Joseph and Mary, who belonged to David’s descendants. This would be different from all other children. The child Jesus would be a person just like us, and at the same time God. Jesus would grow as a baby in the body of Mary. But Joseph would not be the real father for that baby. The Holy Spirit would make this child grow in Mary. An angel had told Joseph beforehand that this would happen. Joseph was very impressed by this message. And he thought: If the Son of God is going to be born from Mary, then I should not be married to her. Then I should leave. But God sent an angel, who said:J oseph, you may not leave. You must be his father on earth. And as a father you must give him a name. God himself had chosen the name: Jesus. Remember what Jesus means? If you don’t, look back in Lord’s Day I I. Therefore we can say that the Lord Jesus had two fathers. One in heaven, because he was God. And one on earth, because he was man. Do you remember that story when Jesus was twelve years old? He was allowed to go to Jerusalem with his parents. Joseph and Mary had to go look for him, for they could not find him anywhere. Finally they found him in the temple. There they saw Jesus talking with wise teachers of God’s Word. When they heard what Jesus knew, these teachers were astonished. But Mary was angry and said: Why did you scare us? The answer Jesus gave shows that he knew he had two fathers. He said to his father and mother: Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house? He had two fathers. father Joseph on earth and God the Father in heaven. For our Mediator Jesus is both God and man.

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