Christ is Our Advocate

Christ is Our Advocate.

1John 2:1,2

          In the beginning of this book we learned that God is Light and in Him there is no Darkness.  We learned to walk in the light not claim to be in the light.  Also, we learned that we still must fight the battle over sin in our lives.  The Apostle John opens the chapter by saying, “My little Children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.  And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous;”. 1John 2:1  As you can see one of the purposes of this letter is that we may not sin.  Sin is a battle we will fight for all our earthly life.  Walking in the light will lead us to confess our sins when they come up and will also help keep us from sin.  It has been said, “we are who we are around,” so if we are walking in the light we are going to be around others who walk in the light, and most importantly we will be in the light of Jesus.

          Yet, it also says, “if anyone sins.”  I as a human being would like it to say when you sin.  It’s easy to think that way because we all like to have the excuse for our sins.  The old saying of nobody’s perfect.  Yet, here John is trying to keep us focused on walking in the light which will protect us from sin.  We will have trouble with sin but it’s better to have a positive focus on it then negative.  Negative energy does cause us to be brought down and John is trying to build us up here.

          The New International Version of the bible does a good job of defining what an advocate is: “we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense.”  When a person commits a crime, or breaks a law they often hire an attorney to plead their case before a judge.  The Father, here in this scripture, is the LORD.  The LORD is a righteous and holy judge.  Jesus, when we sin, speaks to the Father for us. He makes our defense.  To top this off Jesus is righteous too, like the Father.  What an amazing thought we are defended by someone who is righteous just like The Father is Righteous.

          Verse two says that “He Himself”, that is Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins.  Propitiation is the act of gaining ones’ favor.  Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  He paid the price for our sins to gain us favor with God.  He is our advocate and the payment for our sins.  This was done through His love for us that lead Him to the cross.  Ask yourself what does your sin look like to God?  When you see it how the Lord sees it you will understand better the Love of Christ.  This will also move you to walk in the light.  Even to do your part to not sin.  How much do you love Jesus?

Thomas Carter February 19, 2017