1 John 2:1-6 ESV  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.  (2)  He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Dear Fellowship of the Burning Heart:

I am sure you have heard that “only a fool would represent himself in a court of law.” Many of us remember that, as the Apostle Paul stated, we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Proper representation is necessary. We should not be representing ourselves, and fortunately, legal counsel has been appointed for us. We have the best defense possible, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is our advocate, our representative, our legal defense. He can speak for us and his presence is a reminder that our sentence has been paid. All he has to do is hold out his hands and show his scars.

Now, I think it is important that we acknowledge the purpose that the Apostle John has for sharing these thoughts. He is writing so that we may not sin. We are too quick to justify our sins, hide our sins, avoid dealing with our sins, make excuses for our sins, ignore our sins. We need to acknowledge that there is victory over sin, that we don’t have to be controlled or dominated by sin, that provision has been made for freedom from sin.

Please follow me here. I am not saying that we ever reach a point in our Christian lives where we need not be concerned about sin, not be aware of temptation, or not have to exert effort to avoid falling. If we aren’t careful, we become overconfident and fall because we weren’t looking or prepared. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

But when we believe that victory over sin is impossible, we won’t look for or depend on the resources God has made available to help us gain the victory. “I can’t” has already conceded victory to the enemy. “I can’t” is another way of saying “I won’t”. Because we “can’t”, we “won’t” try.

If we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father. We have a continual resource to call on when dealing with sin. Rather than providing an excuse for sin, it ought to offer strong encouragement to pursue the course of righteousness, knowing that failure is not final. We ought to be encouraged by our counsel as well. Not only will the court see his scarred hands, but we will also, remembering that those scars were received purchasing our pardon and cleansing from sin.

He is the “propitiation” for our sins. This word means “satisfaction” or “appeasement”. It has close associations with the theological concepts of atonement and reconciliation. The word in the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) is translated as “mercy-seat.” Because the sacrifice of Christ has satisfied the wrath of God and provides mercy to the sinner, we can expect mercy to triumph over judgment. Our advocate has provided everything necessary for our pardon and release. Such sacrifice is so awesome that it should inspire eternal gratitude from those of us who have experienced the extreme grace of God. What a wonderful Savior. This mercy is available to the world as well, though they may not be aware of it and may have rejected it. Oh the depth of the love of God and the width of his mercy. As far as the east is from the west…