Lesson 14: Now - What Is Jesus Doing? (3)

Another duty Jesus has today is that of Advocate (1 John 2:1). If we look in the dictionary we find "advocate" defined as "a person who pleads for a cause … a lawyer who pleads cases in court." Perhaps the most familiar use here is that of a lawyer in court, and the responsibility the lawyer has for obtaining justice for his client. Do we think of Jesus as being in court, obtaining justice for us? We should. We do not deserve the justice for which He is pleading, and indeed, it is not our own justice for our own righteousness for which He pleads. He pleads, before the court heaven, for the righteousness that He has given to us by His own shed blood. It is in His righteousness that we stand before the court. Our accuser is Satan. The problem is that all the charges he brings against us are true in the sense that we have committed every wrong action of which we are accused. But Jesus, our advocate, stands before God and says, "while the charges may be correct, Your Honor, the price has already been paid," and He holds out His hands – His pierced hands – and continues, "all further charges must be dropped." And God, the righteous judge, replies, "case dismissed!"

There is another part, however, to being an advocate which we need to look at. We find this described in Romans 8:26, 34, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words… Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”


The intersession described here is far more, far different, than the action of an attorney in court. Here there is no prosecution being demanded. Here there is no conflict. Here there is only God and Jesus in close communion and looking down on me and the Holy Spirit also in close communion. It is the four us – the two of us – talking as one with me not knowing what to say. It is me wanting something I cannot describe, asking for something I cannot understand, seeking something I have never seen. It is me being speechless and letting the Holy Spirit step in to pray for what Jesus has placed into my heart and God wants and the Holy Spirit concurs. The most beautiful part of this is that God never condemns me for not understanding completely or seeing only dimly – He sees only Jesus and the righteousness that has been placed around me by His work on the cross.

*Read the following Scriptures and write down what you find about Christ's work as your High Priest in each of them:
* Hebrews 2:17
* Hebrews 3:1
* Hebrews 4:14-15
* Hebrews 7:25
* Hebrews 8:1
* Romans 8:34