Do you know what an advocate is? It is a person who defends you or speaks up for you. A lawyer is an advocate. This story will help you understand the meaning.
I had to walk past a house in our area very often where the people owned a large red setter dog. They loved their dog and often boasted about how gentle and kind he was. However, that dog showed a different side when I or others passed by and the owners were not present. The dog came forward, snarling viciously, and he would bite my heels when he could sneak behind me. I complained to the owners about this dog and suggested that he really should be tied up. Of course, this was news to them, and as they looked at their lovely dog, they refused to believe what I had told them.
One evening, these people held a party, and a friend who knew me well was invited. During the evening, the dog owners began to talk about what I had said concerning their dog. They criticized and accused me of making up this story when everyone could see that their dog was such a gentle creature.
But I had an advocate in that house, someone to take my side and speak up for me. This was my friend. She told everyone there that I would never make up a story like that. She said that I had often looked after her dog and had no fear of dogs. If I said their dog was acting viciously, they should look into it and check it out. The dog owners listened and followed her advice, and so my friend cleared my name before the other guests.
When my friend told me about this incident, I thought about Christ, who is the advocate for those who belong to Him. The Bible tells us that “we have an advocate with the Father [God], Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:11My 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)). When we accept Him as our Saviour, we become part of the family of God, and Jesus will speak on our behalf even if we sin, because we belong to Him. In Him we are righteous before God. He sees us in Jesus, pure and clean from sin. Only those who belong to Jesus have Him as their Advocate with the Father. Jesus was the only perfect man who ever lived and the only One who could become “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” A children’s hymn says:
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven and let us in.
If you know you need a Saviour and accept the Lord Jesus as the One whom God has provided to save you, then you too will belong to the family of God. Jesus Christ will be your Advocate with the Father.
ML-04/07/2002