by Jerry Senn
"My little children, I am writing these things to you so you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
— 1 John 2:1-2
As “advocate,” Jesus is our “defense attorney—or lawyer—who represents us and pleads our case before the Father in heaven,” against whom all have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).
But, it should be noted that Christ is His people’s defense attorney, not our prosecutor. He is a representative of God, completely acceptable to the Father. In this way, he makes all the resources of heaven—including divine grace, power, and mercy—freely available to His people.
We read in Ephesians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
It is an amazing and faith-building truth that “Jesus isn’t pleading your case before an angry God who wants to judge you for your sin. Instead, Christ stands alongside you as your advocate, removing the barriers that stand in the way of your fellowship with your Creator. He defends your case against ‘the accuser of our brethren,’ the Devil (Revelation 12:10).” (Frank Viola, “Jesus Now,” pp 43, 44).
"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."
— Hebrews 7:25