You have continual access to the Father through Jesus, who is your advocate.
1 John 2:1-2 (NIV)
My dear children,
I write this to you so that you will not sin.
But if anybody does sin,
we have an advocate with the Father—
Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins,
and not only for ours
but also for the sins of the whole world.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 26: The Intercession of Christ
We believe that we have no access to God
except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor:
Jesus Christ the Righteous.
He therefore was made man,
uniting together the divine and human natures,
so that we human beings might have access to the divine Majesty.
Otherwise we would have no access.
But this Mediator,
whom the Father has appointed between himself and us,
ought not terrify us by his greatness,
so that we have to look for another one,
according to our fancy.
For neither in heaven nor among the creatures on earth
is there anyone who loves us
more than Jesus Christ does.
Although he was “in the form of God,”
he nevertheless “emptied himself,”
taking the form of “a man” and “a servant” for us;
and he made himself “completely like his brothers.”
Suppose we had to find another intercessor.
Who would love us more than he who gave his life for us,
even though “we were his enemies”?
And suppose we had to find one who has prestige and power.
Who has as much of these as he who is seated
“at the right hand of the Father,”
and who has all power
“in heaven and on earth”?
And who will be heard more readily
than God’s own dearly beloved Son?
So then, sheer unbelief has led to the practice
of dishonoring the saints,
instead of honoring them.
That was something the saints never did nor asked for,
but which in keeping with their duty,
as appears from their writings,
they consistently refused.
We should not plead here
that we are unworthy—
for it is not a question of offering our prayers
on the basis of our own dignity
but only on the basis of the excellence and dignity
of Jesus Christ,
whose righteousness is ours
by faith.
Since the apostle for good reason
wants us to get rid of this foolish fear—
or rather, this unbelief—
he says to us that Jesus Christ
was “made like his brothers in all things,”
that he might be a high priest
who is merciful and faithful
to purify the sins of the people.
For since he suffered,
being tempted,
he is also able to help those
who are tempted.
Summary
John is the only writer in the Bible to use the word paraklētos, and this is the only time he uses it to describe who and what Jesus is. The other four times he uses the word, he's quoting Jesus as He describes who the Holy Spirit is and what He does.
When John uses the word paraklētos in His gospel, the translators struggle with it because the meaning of it is hard to capture with just one English word, and so it often gets rendered differently into words like 'comforter', 'counselor' and 'helper.'
All of those are good ways to describe who the Holy Spirit is and what He does, but all the different versions of the Bible agreed on the way to translate the use of the word paraklētos here in John's epistle to describe who Jesus is. He is our advocate.
Certainly the Holy Spirit advocates on your behalf as well, but not the way that Jesus does. Jesus is especially suited to advocate for you because it is His own blood that made atonement for you. It's not that the Holy Spirit is less vested in you than Jesus is; afterall, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are triune - three in one. But yet this blood bond you have with Christ is unique. Remember, one of the Bible's favorite ways to describe your relationship is that you are in Christ.
So not only does your faith in Christ cause forgiving grace to flood in and cleanse you from your sin, but it gives you access to God the Father - the same exact access that Jesus has, because you're inseparably bonded to Him. As the God-Man, Jesus truly and fully represents you.
Dig Deeper
These next couple of weeks we're going to be learning quite a bit about your access to God. Article 26 is one of the longest in the entire Confession, which makes sense, given that the reason the Belgic Confession was written 463 years ago was to explain to the Roman Catholic establishment the Biblical foundation of the newly constituted Reformed churches. At the time, the Roman Church directed people to pray to God via intercessors, like Mary or one of the saints, and here in Article 26, the Confession makes the case that you have full access to God through Christ, not earthly saints.
For most of us, praying through one particular patron saint or another really isn't much of a temptation anymore. But Article 26 is just as important as it's ever been! One of the biggest problems Christians experience today is feeling isolated, alone, and ignored by God, as if they aren't worthy enough to attract God's attention on their own.
But our Confession spills much ink for you to be certain of what John tells you here in chapter two of his first epistle: you have an advocate before God. And not just when you've been doing really 'holy' things!
Your most basic identity is one who is in Christ. That means that since Christ continually has full access to God the Father, so do you.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, through whom we have continual access through our Advocate, Jesus Christ.
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that, as John so simply puts it, "you will not sin;"
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 1 Corinthians 10
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