If you are reading through the Bible in a year, this morning you may have read the priest Eli’s grave warning to his evil sons in 1 Samuel 2:25:

“If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”

Remember, in this case a mediator is someone who represents man before God, and pleads man’s case to God. Given the fallen condition of all humans, Eli realizes that we are in big trouble.

I wonder if David had these words in mind when he confessed to God in Psalm 51:4 that any sin against another man is really a sin against God:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…”

These two verses, taken together, present a pretty bleak picture of fallen humanity, since we have all have sinned God. But living as we do on this side of the cross of Christ, we know that there is great hope:

“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.” (1 Tim 2:5-6)

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