Jesus, Our Advocate By Babatunde Olugboji
Parakleton, the original Greek word for advocate, means, “helper, advisor, or counselor.” The dictionary defines it as “to speak or write in favor of; support or urge by argument; recommend publicly.” An advocate can also be described as a lawyer who pleads our case before a judge. In court, an advocate provides support and advice and pleads our case to the judge, navigating complicated legal situations skillfully and tactfully. When we follow Christ and have been saved, Jesus becomes our Advocate.
The blood of Jesus cleanses us from our sins and makes us righteous before God. As we receive salvation, we are instructed to put our flesh to death and live by the Spirit. (Romans 8:12–13; Galatians 2:20). This in no way means that we will not still struggle with our fleshly desires, after all, we fall short of God’s perfection because of our sin. (Romans 3:23). If we continue sinning, even after coming to Christ and living in the knowledge of Him, we are still guilty of flouting God’s standards. (Hebrew 10:26; Romans 1:21–23; 1 Timothy 2:4)
The great news is that sin no longer has dominion over us. Jesus is our advocate before God the Father. The Bible says: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1) In addition, we have the Holy Spirit our advocate. (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7)
Even when we are guilty of sinning, if we have surrendered to Christ and confessed Him as Lord of our lives, He is our advocate before the Father. His sacrifice for our sins was good once and for all: “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 10:9–10). Only because of Jesus, we can be declared “not guilty” before God the ultimate judge. (Romans 8:1; Colossians 2:14)
This does not mean that once we have been saved, we have no responsibility for our sins. Confession of sins is a key requirement, which shows that we have a humble and repentant heart and that we do not take the sacrifice of Jesus for granted: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) And we have this promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).
Jesus is our perfect advocate, because He lived here on earth as a human. He has compassion on our every struggle because like many of us, He also experienced rejection, temptation, abuse, and unfair treatment. He lived a perfect life on earth, which qualified Him to forever be our High Priest and Advocate. (Hebrew 4:15; 9:28)
Unlike a human advocate whose knowledge is based exclusively on external circumstances, we have a heavenly advocate who can also see the internal condition of our hearts. (1 Samuel 16:7; Luke 5:22; Mark 2:8)
From the foregoing we can see that Jesus is our Lord, our Savior and our perfect advocate. Can you praise Jesus this week for purchasing you with His blood?
Have a great week.
Kingdom Dynamics, a weekly column written by Dr. Babatunde Olugboji, the President, Kingdom House, a non-profit organization in New Jersey, USA.
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