OUR ADVOCATE AND THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN

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

 

“What shall we then say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us?  He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He [God] not with Him [Jesus] also freely give us all things?  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?  It is God that justifieth.  Who is he that condemneth?  It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us.”  (Romans 8:31-34 KJV).

 

Imagine that we are sitting in a vast hall of justice in heaven.  We have been brought up on some very serious charges before the Court of Heaven and before the Judge of the whole earth.  The charges against us are solid and irrefutable, and we have no viable defense that can offer us even a glimmer of hope of acquittal.  If sentenced, we will spend the rest of eternity imprisoned in the torments of hell with no parole, ever.  On the one side, there is the prosecuting attorney: Satan, the accuser of the brethren, our adversary.  He has cataloged all of our sins, faults, and failures and rehearsed them before the Judge.  His mouth waters at the prospect of devouring another child of God with his arguments and sending them to their eternal fate.  The Judge carefully hears all of the accusations and reviews the evidence against us and then says, “Is there anyone here that will speak in defense of this one who has been so accused?”  From the back of the judgment hall, One stands and approaches the bench.  It is Jesus Christ the righteous, the Lord of Glory.  He steps before the Judge and says, “I will intercede for this one; I will be their Advocate!”  Then, to the awe of those who are watching, He shows the scars in His hands and feet that were so cruelly nailed to the cross.  He lifts His garment to reveal the wound in His side that was pierced by a Roman spear.  He also shows His back that was torn and tattered by thirty-nine stripes from a soldier’s scourge.  He exposes His head to show how scarred and scabbed it is by the crown of thorns that was pressed into His flesh.  Then, with a loud voice that shakes those very halls of justice, He says, “I have borne their judgment, I have been wounded for their transgressions, I have been bruised for their iniquities!  I have walked through the gates of death and hell and overcome the grave!  I have led captivity captive, broken the eternal chains, and set My people free!  My blood has washed away all of their sins.  Are they not engraved in the palms of My hands?”  At this, the Judge stands and says, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.”  Then He looks on the accused and says, “Thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.  Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!”

 

We have an advocate on our side that has already won the victory for us!  Jesus Christ is always making intercession for us according to the will of God.  We also have an adversary, an accuser, and an arch-enemy who seeks to condemn and destroy us.  “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” (1 Peter 5:8, 9). 

 

 

Since before the creation of man there has been this controversy between Christ, the Word of God, and Satan, the prince of the power of the air.  It seems we mortals have been placed squarely in the middle of the conflict like pawns on a chessboard; but God has a grand purpose for us, and we will play an essential part in the devil’s ultimate defeat.  David, the shepherd King of Israel, pondered about man’s part in God’s plan when he wrote, “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” (Psalms 8:3, 4).  David actually answers his own question in the second verse of this Psalm when he says, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou [God] ordained strength because of Thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger [Satan].”  The babes and sucklings in this verse refer to you and me.  Spiritually, we are babes in our understanding, maturity, and strength.  Through the Lord Jesus, however, we can do all things.  God is raising an army that will stand against the wiles of the devil, and be strong in the power of the Lord.  Psalm 8:6 says that God made us to have dominion over the works of His hands.  This is an astounding thought!  In our baby state, we don’t yet see that promise fulfilled.  It is true nonetheless.  Scripture says, “…now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be [when we are mature]…” (1 John 3:2).  We are sons of God in the making!  It’s often hard to see right now what we’ll be when we grow up, but God knows our potential and is working all things together for our good.  God is in the habit of referring to things that are not as though they already are.  “Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.” (Romans 4:17).  Humankind, unfortunately, has always been content to live far below his/her inherent potential rather than to strive to apprehend what God has promised them. 

 

Before Adam and Eve were created and before God began to replenish the earth, Satan’s lust for power and dominance manifested itself.  One of Isaiah’s prophecies exposes Satan’s rebellion and wicked ambition, saying, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!  How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north [God’s dwelling place]: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15).  The name Lucifer in Hebrew means “shining one,” or “light bearer.”  Indeed, Lucifer was a cherub of extraordinary beauty and brilliance to begin with, but his pride caused him to fall.  He was then given another name: Satan, which means “adversary, opposer,” or “one who withstands.”  He can transform himself into an angel of light in order to deceive and confuse the children of God.  Do not be mistaken - he is still the father of lies.  He only comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus Christ is greater in you and me than he that is in the world!  (See 1 John 4:4).

 

The Lord allows the devil to tempt and try His people.  This is so that they may be sifted, like wheat is sifted, to remove any impurities in their character.  On the night Jesus was betrayed, He turned to Simon Peter and said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22:31, 32).  Jesus knew that Peter would deny knowing Him later that night and that this would create a crisis of the disciple’s faith and conscience.  Jesus, despite the suffering that He Himself experienced that night, was praying – interceding – for Peter so that his faith would hold strong.  Jesus is always interceding for us as well.  “Wherefore He [Jesus] is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25).  It is our faith that is in jeopardy when we are sifted.  Peter wrote, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7).  We are all purified by the fires of adversity, but you must understand that the Master Refiner never takes His eyes off us.  He will not let the fire get too hot and damage us.  “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13). 

 

In the Old Testament, God’s servant Job went through this same sifting.  Satan was sure that Job’s faith was only on the surface; and if he suffered enough loss, he would curse God.  God, however, was sure of Job’s faith.  In the end, Job saw that he was actually self-righteous and needed a good slice of humble pie to appreciate just how almighty God was.  We are all works in progress.  God is inscribing His character in us as we yield our members to His working.  We are also all at different stages of growth: some are babes, some are teens, and some are mature adults spiritually speaking.  In Christ, however, not everyone who is old is wise, and not everyone who is young is strong.  Our maturity in Christ depends on the level to which we are willing to decrease so that He might increase.  I believe that as long as we are in this flesh, there will be new ways in which we need to be refined and sifted, but those things (and the fires and sifters that God employs to reveal our impurities) will work in us “…a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

 

Ultimately, it is our faith that will overcome Satan and all of his minions.  “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4).  When Jesus cried out on the cross “It is finished” and gave up the ghost, our salvation was purchased and our sins were erased, but Christ’s victory over Satan was also secured.  His victory on Calvary was also our victory.  It is our faith, though, that allows us to latch onto that victory.  It is to those who believe Him, and receive Him, that Christ gives power!

 

“And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.  And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” (Zechariah 3:1, 2).  We see from this vision the Prophet Zechariah had that Satan’s role was also to be a resistor, or one who opposes.  He does all he can to resist the work that God wishes to do on earth, and to oppose those who God chooses to do that work.  In this case, the one he was opposing was Joshua the High Priest.  He, along with others, was commissioned by God to rebuild the Holy Temple in Jerusalem that had been destroyed by the King of Babylon.  Satan had stirred up the unbelieving peoples surrounding Jerusalem to demand a work stoppage on the temple.  Work ceased for about eight years as a result!  Certainly some stiff resistance, wouldn’t you say?  Through the words of prophets like Zechariah and Haggai, however, God was stirring the hearts of the faithful Israelites to trust the Lord and rise up to work.  He spoke to them saying, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.  Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” (Zechariah 4: 6, 7).  God was telling them to believe in His might and power, and not in their own.  By His Spirit He would move the mountains of opposition and resistance that Satan was creating around them, and the will of God would finally be accomplished!  Most importantly, it would all be done through the measureless supply of God’s grace!

 

There is a day that is fast approaching when Satan will be finally cast down and defeated.  The Apostle John saw a vision of it in the Book of Revelation.  “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.  (Revelations 12:7-11 KJV).  This will be a great day for the people of God!  Today, though, we must consider the three things that the Lord tells us are necessary in order to overcome the devil.  First, there is great power in the shed blood of our Lord and Savior.  It is by His blood that He purges our conscience from dead works so that we may serve the living God.  When our conscience is clear, then the devil’s accusations against us hold no power.  When he brings up our past sins, we need only point him to Calvary.  Second, the word of our testimony is also powerful.  It is the story of how God erased our sin, transformed us by His grace, and is changing us into His image.  When we stand on the things that God has wrought in our lives, the devil must flee.  Other people’s lives can also be changed by our testimony.  Finally, every child of God must learn not to love their lives.  Jesus said that if we love our lives, we will lose them; but if we lose our lives for His sake, we will keep them unto eternal life.  Our selfish lusts and affections are the very thing that Satan uses to keep us tied to this evil world and to his wicked purposes.  In that final battle, these three things will ensure that we are on the right side in the fight.  When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him and defend the child of God who trusts in Him (Isaiah 59:19).

 

Jesus Christ is our Advocate against the lies and accusations of the enemy.  Though the enemy condemns us, yet the scripture is clear: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1).  God’s eyes are on the righteous, and His ears are always open to their cry.  The Lord Himself intercedes day and night for us.  If God be for us, who can be against us!  Bless His name!