"My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2).
From the beginning God's message to man has been, "Do not sin." Yet sin man does. In Christ, "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). An "Advocate" is "one who pleads another's case before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant" (Thayer's). God says, "Do not sin." Yet we do. Jesus goes before the God we have sinned against and pleads for us. His plea is heard because He Himself is the "propitiation for our sins" (1 John 2:2). A "propitiation" is an atonement, an appeasing. Jesus paid for our sins with His own blood and appeased the wrath of God. We have a relationship with God because of Jesus, not because we do not sin.
Read 1 John 2 today in preparation for our meeting with Robert Harkrider. Determine not to sin. Rejoice that when you do, you have an Advocate with the Father.
Jason Cicero
