December 2, 2019
My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ the Righteous One.
1 John 2:1
I’ll never forget standing before a judge in a cold Siberian courtroom. I was unfamiliar with the legal process, couldn’t speak the language, had no knowledge of local customs, and was at the complete mercy of the court. To say the least, I had no hope of trying to plead my case. Thankfully, our adoption agency provided us an advocate. This individual would take our pleas for making little Alexey and Vadim a part of the Reed family and translate it into the language of the judge. She knew the legal ins and outs and what the judge needed to know about us to rule favorably. We sat in silence as the advocate poured through our file and explained our situation to the judge. Thankfully, we were awarded custody and our dreams of being parents to the twins became a reality
When John calls Jesus “our Advocate,” he means that our Savior stands before the Father to plead our case. But Jesus’ work as our Advocate goes far above and beyond the work of an earthly defense attorney as His case for us is based on the work He has done to secure God’s favorable verdict. For those who are in Christ, God is no longer the Judge who condemns us but the Father who adopts us into His family. We are guilty of sin and unable to meet the Lord’s demands, but the perfect righteousness of Jesus has been gifted to us which sets us right with God. Matthew Henry writes: “The clients are guilty; their innocence and legal righteousness cannot be pleaded. It is the advocate’s own righteousness that he must plead for the criminals.” Praise be to God for our Great Advocate!
-Brother Kevin Reed
The AWESOMENESS of JESUS CHRIST in the Finished Work of The Cross.Wonderful Counselor, Mediator, Advocate. To be in “The Courtroom of Heaven”………