Intermediaries

Intermediaries: throughout God's story there are people (individuals or groups) who seem to stand in for the whole world, with dual purpose:
A) to represent the world before God AND
B) for God to demonstrate who He is to the world through the intermediary.

The position that the intermediary took before God:
Adam --> disobedience and sin
Noah --> faithfulness
Abraham --> faithfulness
Israel --> rebellious and stubborn
Christ --> holy

What God brought to the world through the intermediary:
Adam --> judgment and death (essentially an end to sin) entered the world
Noah --> mercy
Abraham --> righteousness through faith
Israel --> signs of His power and love
Christ --> God's presence with humanity

This is an incomplete list of intermediaries and a huge simplification of each intermediary's story but I thought it was a helpful way to think of the whole story of God and the fulfillment that Christ brings at the culmination of the story.

Psalm 80:16-19
"Your vine [Israel] is cut down, it is burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.
Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
Restore us, LORD God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved."