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He advocates for you!
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 2:1)
The longer a Christian walks in faith, the deeper our relationship with Him becomes. The deeper it becomes the more evident our position compared to Him becomes: He is High. We are low. Therefore it is all the more amazing to read that He loves us:
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. (John 15:9-17)
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10).
But He also advocates for you. We know that as we walk with Him, we will fail Him, but it is all the more crushing to sin because we know when we do, we feel like we disappoint Him. But He knows about all our sins already, the past ones and the future ones. He died on the cross for those, so our sins, while not optimal behavior on our part, do not diminish His love for us. We are so carnal and live in the flesh, we really can't conceive of a love that is not contingent on behavior. Even the most humble and sacrificing of husbands or wives or sisters or brothers have a tiny amount inside them believing that a loving relationship is lessened or increased based on what we do for each other. Selfishness is our currency, and it's hard to understand the Selfless Righteous One who loves us no matter what.
But then we read that He advocates for us! God is Ultimate Judge "It is appointed unto man, once to die, but after this, the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)" and though the heavenly courts are convened and books are opened; "A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." (Daniel 7:10), Jesus is there to defend us. Matthew Henry wrote:
"The nature of his advocacy may be stated in the following particulars:
(1) He admits the guilt of those for whom he becomes the advocate, to the full extent charged on them by the law of God, and by their own consciences. He does not attempt to hide or conceal it. He makes no apology for it. He neither attempts to deny the fact, nor to show that they had a right to do as they have done. He could not do this, for it would not be true; and any plea before the throne of God which should be based on a denial of our guilt would be fatal to our cause."
"(2) as our advocate, he undertakes to be security that no wrong shall be done to the universe if we are not punished as we deserve; that is, if we are pardoned, and treated as if we had not sinned. This he does by pleading what he has done in behalf of people; that is, by the plea that his sufferings and death in behalf of sinners have done as much to honor the law, and to maintain the truth and justice of God, and to prevent the extension of apostasy, as if the offenders themselves had suffered the full penalty of the law. If sinners are punished in hell, there will be some object to be accomplished by it; and the simple account of the atonement by Christ is, that his death will secure all the good results to the universe which would be secured by the punishment of the offender himself. It has done as much to maintain the honor of the law, and to impress the universe with the truth that sin cannot be committed with impunity. If all the good results can be secured by substituted sufferings which there would be by the punishment of the offender himself, then it is clear that the guilty may be acquitted and saved. Why should they not be? The Saviour, as our advocate, undertakes to be security that this shall be."
So take comfort. No matter how hard life in this fallen earth gets, no matter how badly it grieves our hearts to see the sin around us, and to stalwartly withstand its infiltration into our families' lives, sometimes we fall. But He advocates for us! The Creator of the Universe, the Alpha and the Omega, the Righteous One, has plans and thoughts of us and He advocates for us in heaven. THIS is the Jesus we serve. This is the God who calls us "friend": “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)
He has given us comfort indeed.
"My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (1 John 2:1)
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. (John 15:9-17)
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:9-10).
But He also advocates for you. We know that as we walk with Him, we will fail Him, but it is all the more crushing to sin because we know when we do, we feel like we disappoint Him. But He knows about all our sins already, the past ones and the future ones. He died on the cross for those, so our sins, while not optimal behavior on our part, do not diminish His love for us. We are so carnal and live in the flesh, we really can't conceive of a love that is not contingent on behavior. Even the most humble and sacrificing of husbands or wives or sisters or brothers have a tiny amount inside them believing that a loving relationship is lessened or increased based on what we do for each other. Selfishness is our currency, and it's hard to understand the Selfless Righteous One who loves us no matter what.
But then we read that He advocates for us! God is Ultimate Judge "It is appointed unto man, once to die, but after this, the judgment. (Hebrews 9:27)" and though the heavenly courts are convened and books are opened; "A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened." (Daniel 7:10), Jesus is there to defend us. Matthew Henry wrote:
"The nature of his advocacy may be stated in the following particulars:
(1) He admits the guilt of those for whom he becomes the advocate, to the full extent charged on them by the law of God, and by their own consciences. He does not attempt to hide or conceal it. He makes no apology for it. He neither attempts to deny the fact, nor to show that they had a right to do as they have done. He could not do this, for it would not be true; and any plea before the throne of God which should be based on a denial of our guilt would be fatal to our cause."
"(2) as our advocate, he undertakes to be security that no wrong shall be done to the universe if we are not punished as we deserve; that is, if we are pardoned, and treated as if we had not sinned. This he does by pleading what he has done in behalf of people; that is, by the plea that his sufferings and death in behalf of sinners have done as much to honor the law, and to maintain the truth and justice of God, and to prevent the extension of apostasy, as if the offenders themselves had suffered the full penalty of the law. If sinners are punished in hell, there will be some object to be accomplished by it; and the simple account of the atonement by Christ is, that his death will secure all the good results to the universe which would be secured by the punishment of the offender himself. It has done as much to maintain the honor of the law, and to impress the universe with the truth that sin cannot be committed with impunity. If all the good results can be secured by substituted sufferings which there would be by the punishment of the offender himself, then it is clear that the guilty may be acquitted and saved. Why should they not be? The Saviour, as our advocate, undertakes to be security that this shall be."
So take comfort. No matter how hard life in this fallen earth gets, no matter how badly it grieves our hearts to see the sin around us, and to stalwartly withstand its infiltration into our families' lives, sometimes we fall. But He advocates for us! The Creator of the Universe, the Alpha and the Omega, the Righteous One, has plans and thoughts of us and He advocates for us in heaven. THIS is the Jesus we serve. This is the God who calls us "friend": “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)
He has given us comfort indeed.
Encouraging & comforting. There is none like him indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elizabeth. I needed that. Satan has been pursuing me lately and accusing me right and left everytime I don't do something the way it should be done. There is really none like him and I have to keep telling myself that His love is not like any other.
ReplyDeleteKim