Let’s hear what John the beloved that bold and fearless disciple of Jesus Christ says to us who are still journeying in this slippery and narrow way which leads to life eternal.
He says to us: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”(1 John 2:1)
The real truth about how Christ advocates for us has been clouded by the corrupted theology of man. I am sure that you, as I, have heard that Satan the accuser of the brethren, stands before the Father up in heaven accusing us day and night. Satan tells God about all our failings; he enumerates to God every sin we commit in thought, word, or deed. The Father, on the other hand, is portrayed as greatly offended and incensed by our sins, and somehow obligated by His superior sense of justice to be the avenger of every little thing we do wrong. And I have heard some even say Satan has legal grounds on this.
We have also said that God must be appeased and turned aside from His furious vengeance, and that this can only be accomplished by our wonderful Lord and elder brother, standing opposite Satan, before the judgment-throne of the Father, as our Advocate, our Lawyer, pleading our cause, beseeching God to be kind to us for His sake, to commute our sentence, and begging for our lives on the ground that He paid the price for the forgiveness of our sins. According to this hypothesis the anger of God can only be appeased by looking upon the bloody sweat and cruel, ugly death of His Son, as He stands there interceding for us.
And if it weren’t for our Advocate, Jesus, God would listen to the Devil’s accusations and really lay it on to us. We could even lose our salvation because of Satan’s accusations, if it weren’t that the merciful Jesus is there to prevent God from casting us into hell, by presenting His blood on our behalf. Such is a gross caricature of the truth and a horrible blasphemy.
Yes the bible says we have an advocate with the father. But any scripture that seems to contradict the nature of God’s love and mercy begs for reverent attention and deeper study with knees bowed and shoes off our feet and many times I find this to be the birth of truth.
Advocate, from the Greek “parakletos” means: one called alongside to help, a comforter.
The word “with” used here is the Greek word “pros“ meaning TOWARD.
You see! The advocate is not With the father but is with us helping us TOWARD the Father. So the correct rendering will be:
“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate TOWARD the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)
We have an Advocate to help us toward the Father, helping us in all of our relationship toward God, so that we will be acceptable with Him. It is not that He is to help the Father, The Father doesn’t need any help. It was the father that sent his son even while we were yet sinners. He needs no help now but has sent the spirit of his son to our hearts to help us toward him(the father).He is the One called alongside to help me, comfort me.
The goal before us is to be fully born again, where we “sin not,” But John writes the most encouraging word, if we do sin, err, miss the mark, we have One who will come alongside us to help us back into the way, and to comfort our hearts, wipe the tears from our eyes, and bring us on our way rejoicing again. That there might be this continuous help, He sent His Spirit into our hearts, to be our Comforter.
It is my conviction that not even Satan is senseless enough to believe that he could approach OUR FATHER and convince Him to condemn us because of our failures. It is not the almighty and omniscient God, my brother, my sister, whom Satan wishes to convince of your unworthiness – it is YOU!
Nowhere does the scripture state that Satan accuses the saints to God. What it does say is that “the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which ACCUSED T-H-E-M B-E-F-O-R-E OUR GOD day and night” (Rev. 12:10). It is one thing to be accused before, that is, in the presence of, or in front of another person, and another thing altogether for the accuser to accuse you TO the other one. It should be abundantly evident that Satan does not accuse us to God, he merely accuses us before God. Satan has no misconceptions about his ability to persuade God of your weakness and worthlessness, but if he can influence YOU to believe that you are unworthy, that you are a failure, that you are hopeless, that it is impossible for you to attain to the High Calling of God in Christ, that it is beyond the realm of possibility for you to lay hold upon life and immortality; or that God does not love you, leaving you condemned and helpless – he is thereby able to rob you of all your hope, faith, confidence, joy, peace and victory.
Credits: my own dearly beloved friend and brother, Uwem Ekaette and Frama Abanitus. They are motivational speakers, inspirational writers, Authors, teachers and Entrepreneurs.
