Unsearchable Riches

Some of the Relationships of Christ to His People

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 8

CHRIST OUR ADVOCATE.

FOR our knowledge of the advocacy of Christ we are entirely indebted to the First Epistle of St. John. Not that there are not shadows and figures of it; but we have nowhere else any direct statement concerning it. St. Paul speaks of Christ being at the right hand of God to make intercession for us (Rom. viii. 34); and no doubt the term " intercession " will cover both the advocacy and the priesthood; but he does not directly mention this office of Christ. It occupies, therefore, far less space in the Scriptures than the priesthood, which has the greater part of the Epistle to the Hebrews devoted to its exposition. It is not, on this account, an unimportant subject. So far, indeed, from this being the case, there is scarcely one that has more interest for, and demands more urgently the attention of, the children of God. For the advocacy of Christ is the provision which God in His grace has made for our daily sins. Thus, after bringing out the truth of our position in the light, as God is in the light —this being the place of every true believer—-the apostle says, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write 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 whole world " (1 John i. 8—ii. 1, 2).

Nothing, then, can be clearer than that the advocacy of Christ is exercised in relation to the sins of believers. In the 6th and 7th verses of chapter i. we find the two classes contrasted—those who walk in darkness, those who are not saved, who have no fellowship with God, whatever their claims and pretensions, for He is light, and in Him is no darkness at all (ver. 5); and those who had received the testimony of the apostles concerning " that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto " them, and thereby had been brought into fellowship with those who declared the message, and their fellowship was with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ (vers. 1-3). But if we have fellowship with God, " we walk in the light, as He is in the light "—i.e., our place or sphere is in the light—a thing which is true of every believer; and " we have fellowship one with another," for it is only in fellow ship with the Father and the Son that we can have fellowship one with another, " and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin."

This last clause needs to be understood, or we cannot apprehend the nature of the advocacy of Christ. It does not mean, as is so often maintained, that the blood of Christ is constantly applied for the continual cleansing of the believer; that, in short, it is the blood which cleanses us from our daily sins. If it were so, what need of the advocacy? Besides, it would contradict the plain teaching of other scriptures. Thus in John xiii. our Lord plainly taught Peter that being once washed (λελουμένος—bathed), he had no further need save to wash (νίψασθαι) his feet, but was clean every whit (καθαρὸς ὅλος) (John xiii. 10). So also in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is directly said, " By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. x. 14). It is indeed a cardinal truth of Christianity, that every one who is brought by faith under the efficacy of the blood of Christ is for ever cleansed from guilt, and consequently that there can be no second application of the blood. This is the whole gist of the argument in Hebrews ix. and x. We there read, that " Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself " (Heb. ix. 24-26). This scripture shows the contrast between the repeated sacrifices of old, and the one sacrifice of Christ—between, therefore, the temporary efficacy of the former, and the everlasting efficacy of the latter. The consequence is, that the sins of those who are under the efficacy of the blood of Christ are for ever gone from the sight of God; for " Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many " (Heb. ix. 28). Hence in the next chapter we find proof upon proof that there is no more remembrance of the sins of the believer; that now he has no more con science of sins, since he has been perfected for ever by the one offering of Christ; and consequently the Holy Ghost testifies, "Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more" (Heb. x. 1-17). It is essential for us to be clear upon this point; for in truth it is one of the fundamentals of our faith.

The truth, therefore, is that St. John does not speak of the application of the blood (for this were inconsistent with the truth of our having no more conscience of sins), but of its efficacy. Its characteristic is to cleanse from all sin, i.e., the blood has this property, just as we sometimes say, to borrow an illustration, Poison kills —this is the nature of poison. In like manner, the blood of Christ has the essential quality or property of cleansing from sin.

Thus understood, the connection is as beautiful as it is evident. " In the light as He is in the light." How, we might be tempted to exclaim, is it possible to be there? Conscious of the defilements daily contracted, and of the sins into which we often fall, we might well shrink from the full blaze of the light of the holiness of God. Hence we are reminded that our fitness for such a place is solely, and wholly, due to the cleansing efficacy of the blood, and that that blood is ever there before the eye of God to answer every claim that might be urged against us.

     "Though the restless foe accuses,
     Sins recounting like a flood;
     Every charge our God refuses:
     Christ has answered with His blood."

Having then asserted the truth as to our place in the presence of God, the apostle now reminds us of our practical condition. We cannot say, " We have no sin," for that were to deceive ourselves, and to overlook the fact that sin is in us, though not on us, until we depart to be with Christ, or He comes to receive us unto Him self; for the old nature is, and remains, incurably evil and corrupt. " If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins," &c. (the bearing of this scripture will be explained farther on). Neither can we say that we have not sinned; if we did, we should make God a liar, for He says all have sinned, and His word therefore would not be in us. Thereon, the apostle proceeds, " My little children, these things I write unto you that ye sin not." There is therefore no necessity for the believer to sin. This truth must be tenaciously held, and urgently insisted upon. " But if any man sin, we have an Advocate; " and thereby the apostle shows, as before remarked, what God's provision is for the daily sins of His children. Its character, the method of its application, and its effect will be explained as we pro ceed with the subject.

The term " Advocate " is never applied to the Lord Jesus except in this scripture. He Himself applies it to the Holy Ghost. " I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter,, that He may abide with you for ever" (John xiv. 16; also 26th ver.; and xv. 26; xvi. 7). The word here translated " Comforter " is the same as is rendered " Advocate " in John. It is παράκλητος —Paraclete in both cases. The word is very difficult to translate so as to preserve its full significance. The word " Advocate " seems to have been chosen, to set forth the fact that Christ is with the Father, charged with our interests, and entrusted with our cause, as One who has assumed the conduct of our case, to maintain our communion with the Father; and hence it is that, when we sin, He pleads for us, and secures for us that ministration of the word through the Spirit which brings about our self-judgment and confession, so that, in accordance with 1 John i. 9, our sin may be forgiven and our communion be restored. Christ is our Paraclete (Advocate), in this sense, on high; and the Holy Ghost is our Paraclete (Comforter) down here, as dwelling within us, His actings being in relation to the actings of our Advocate with the lather; and He, therefore, being charged with our interests below, as Christ is above.

The difference between advocacy and priesthood is twofold. The Priest is with God; the Advocate is with the Father. The Advocate has to do with sin; the Priest with our infirmities (Heb. iv. 15) —never with sins. It is true that He has made propitiation for our sins (Heb. ii. 1 7); and no doubt it was the Priest who did so—but not as a function of His office, rather because the character is inseparably connected with His person. The propitiation which He made (as indeed in the case of the advocacy) is the foundation on which He commences to exercise the office of the Priest. Hence Hebrews opens with, " When He had by Himself purged our sins, [He] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." It was, therefore, not until He had taken this place that He entered upon the functions of His office as Priest: if He were on earth He should not be a priest (Heb. viii. 4).

So with the Advocate. The proper exercise of this office commenced with His session at the right hand of God; and the foundation of its exercise is twofold — His work and His person. He is the propitiation for our sins—this is the ground, the efficacious basis, on which He is enabled to be our Advocate with the Father. And what a basis it is! It reminds us that He has for ever cleared away our sins, that the blood which He shed has been accepted by God as a full and complete atonement for all our guilt; that, there fore, it is a basis on which His intercession can never fail. But He is Jesus Christ the righteous; and thus we are reminded of what He is in Himself —the One who has met every claim of God, according to the standards of His own immutable holiness, glorified Him in every attribute of His being; One, therefore, who answers completely to the perfection of His own nature—of that God who desires truth in the inward parts, and has found it in the Man who is at His own right hand. Both the person and the work, therefore, of Christ constitute for Him, as our Advocate, an irresistible claim upon God. Nay, this were not fully to express what is in the heart of God Himself. It is not enough to say that He cannot deny the plea of our Advocate; for surely His own heart rejoices to hear and to answer His intercession; for because of what Christ is, and has done, He can righteously —He is free to go out in righteousness, according to His own heart of love, and forgive when we confess our sins. Surely it will cheer our souls to remember this when overcome by the tempter.

There are two aspects of the work of Christ as our Advocate. " If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father." This shows us its aspect toward God—that as our Advocate, as before explained, when we sin, He undertakes for us, and intercedes with the Father on our behalf. It is, therefore, not His presence alone that constitutes His advocacy, but rather His active intercession for us when we have fallen into sin. He has given us a sample and illustration of this in regard to Peter. " 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 " (Luke xxii. 31, 32). It is not forgotten that this scripture is often adduced in illustration of the priesthood, and in one aspect there is no objection to this; but, more strictly speaking, it connects itself with the advocacy, because it is spoken, not in respect of infirmity, but of Peter's sin. When we thus say, " If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father," we speak of One who actively pleads for us when we are in the circumstances which call forth His advocacy.

On the one hand, then, the advocacy of Christ is towards the Father. On the other hand, it is ministry towards us—this ministry being the effect of His inter cession. To understand this aspect of the office, we must turn to John xiii.; for while I John ii. gives us the advocacy itself, John xiii. gives its effect —the method of its application to our needs, as well as the object for which it is exercised. Let us, then, examine this scripture somewhat in detail. The first thing to be noticed is that this ministry of Christ flows from His own heart of love. " Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (ver. i). The words, " He loved them unto the end," do not simply mean, we need scarcely say, that He loved them unto the end of His earthly sojourn. The phrase is much stronger. It signifies His perpetual love for His own; and it is stated here to show that His love is the source of His unwearied ministry on our behalf, now that He is absent in the glory.

In the next place, the object of His ministry, symbolised by washing His disciples' feet, is brought before us. "And supper being ended" (or rather, during supper, or supper being come—δείπνου γενομένου), " the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself" (vers. 2-4). Jesus is thus seated in fellowship with His own at supper, and the prospect of His departure is immediately before His soul, and the place, too, which He would hereafter occupy as Man, for He knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God. He rises from being seated at supper with His disciples, and He does this to teach them, that He could not remain longer with them in the place where they were; and then, having laid aside His garments, He took a towel and girded Himself, the sign of service. " After that He poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh He to Simon Peter; and Peter saith unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me " (vers. 5-8). In these last words we have the object of the washing declared. We have seen that His rising from supper signified that He could no longer continue with them in the place where they were; and now He shows how He would fit them to have part with Him in the place where He was going. John says, " Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John i. 3). And in this scene the Lord teaches His own how He would fit them for, and maintain them in, this fellowship. The object of the feet-washing, there fore, is to enable His people to have communion with Himself, and hence also with the Father, in the place to which He was about to go in the glory.

But we have then another thing. Peter does not understand the words, " If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me; " and hence he replies, " Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed (λελουμένος) needeth not save to wash (νίψασθαι) his feet, but is clean every whit" (vers. 9, 10). This statement is the key to the understanding of the subject, and needs, consequently, careful attention.

(1.) As we have already remarked, the Lord here teaches that there was no need of a second cleansing, save as to the feet. They were washed, bathed, and that could never be repeated, for they were " clean every whit." This was indeed prefigured at the consecration of the priests. Thus Aaron and his sons were washed with water—type of the new birth through the instrumentality of the word in the power of the Holy Ghost—before they were arrayed in their priestly garments (Exod. xxix. 4); and through this process they never went again; but the laver was provided at which they were to wash their hands and feet, when they went into the tabernacle for their priestly service (Exod. xxx. 17-21). We cannot emphasise this point too strongly, that the believer once cleansed is cleansed for ever —that he remains " clean every whit." Other wise, indeed, we should have no qualification for access into God's presence; for if one spot only could be found upon us, we could not enter inside the rent veil.

(2.) While they were clean every whit, their feet would need continual washing. The feet signify walk, and the thought is that, though we are in a position of abiding acceptance before God, in our walk through this scene we constantly contract defilement, which, while it cannot touch our standing—our being in the light as God is in the light, inasmuch as we have this in virtue of what Christ is and has done —it yet disturbs, interrupts our communion. We need on this account our feet washed for our restoration to fellowship —for the enjoyment of all that belongs to us in the position in which we have been set by the grace of our God.

It may, however, be inquired, What is the nature of the defilement which we thus contract? Connecting, as we have done, this scripture with that already considered in 1 John ii., we cannot but answer that it is sin. " If any man sin, we have an Advocate." It is true that it is often maintained that defilements are not necessarily connected with sin; but does not this view lose sight of what God is in His holiness? Besides, what else can defile but sin? We do not overlook the fact that in the Old Testament a Nazarite, for example, might be even accidentally defiled by the occurrence of sudden death by his side (Numb. vi. 9). But death is the fruit of sin, and the Nazarite in some way came under its power, though his contact with it, in such a case, might seem to be entirely fortuitous. And in all such instances as these, the lesson taught is how utterly repellent holiness is from sin and death (see also Numb. xix. as to causes of defilement). The mistake is often made of taking ceremonial defilement as an exact illustration of moral defilement, whereas the former is but a type or shadow of the latter. It might even lead to dangerous consequences to maintain that we might be defiled apart from sin, for nothing else can unfit the believer for the presence of God; and the very fact that our feet need repeated washing makes it clear that defilement has been incurred—it may be unknown and unconsciously by our selves, but, as seen by the eye of God, it can only come from the polluted and polluting source of sin. We may, therefore, be sure that, whenever our communion is interrupted, we have contracted, defilement, and that through sin in some one of its manifold forms. It is this which makes us need, and calls forth, the incessant activity of our Lord and Saviour as the Advocate with the Father.

(3.) We have now to answer the question, How does the Lord wash the feet of His own? Here He poured water into a bason, and washed the disciples' feet, &c. Now water is a well-known symbol for the Word. Thus in this very Gospel the Lord says that a man must be born of water and of the Spirit. St. Peter speaks of our being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever (1 Peter i. 23; see also James i. 18). The Word, therefore, is that which water, in the language of our Lord, adumbrated. The Psalmist says, "Where withal shall a young man cleanse His way?" His answer is, "By taking heed [thereto] according to Thy Word " (Ps. cxix. 9). St. Paul speaks even more directly when he uses the term, " the washing of water by the Word," &c., and this in connection with cleansing —though here it is the Church, and not the individual believer (Eph. v. 26). It is very evident, therefore, that when the Lord used water in the scene before us, He did it to signify that after His departure He would effect the cleansing of their feet—their walk—by the application of the Word. How, then, is this application of the Word produced? When we sin, as we have seen, the Lord undertakes our cause with the Father. He thereon exercises the office of the Advocate. The result to-usward is that the Spirit of God begins, in God's due time, to deal with us about it —to bring the sin to our remembrance, to apply the Word to our consciences, to produce thereby in us self-judgment, leading us on to confession of our sin; and God is then faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (John i. 9); and thus we are restored.

Such is the method of the advocacy; and we have a striking illustration of it in one of the Gospels, and again in connection with Peter. The Lord had fore warned him of his danger; but the warning, if not unheeded at the moment, was soon forgotten; and time after time, this devoted disciple denied that he even knew Christ. Truly this was sin of the darkest hue. But the question is, Will he ever repent? No; he will never repent —if still left to himself; and he never would have repented —but for the gracious action of his Lord. Even the crowing of the cock, which had been given him as a sign, failed to recall his sin. But at that moment, " The Lord turned and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly" (Luke xxii. 61, 62). So is it now. When we fall into sin, we should never repent but for the gracious ministry of Christ as our Advocate. Thereby He secures by His intercession, as He did with Peter by His look, that the sin shall be brought to our minds by the action of the Holy Ghost through the instrumentality of the Word, and our consciences thus be awakened, so that we also might take the place of self-judgment and confession, and thereupon be brought back into fellowship both with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. And let us never forget, that it is the propitiation which He made for our sins by His death which gives Him the title thus to act. Peter shrunk from permitting the Lord to wash his feet. Ah! it was necessary that He should thus humble Himself—yea, that He should go down even to the death of the cross, —down under all God's waves and all God's billows of judicial wrath, that He might make propitiation, and be able, on that foundation, to serve us throughout the whole course of our earthly pilgrimage. What love and what grace! Surely our hearts would cry for ever, Blessed be His Name!

It is worthy once more of distinct remark, that the advocacy of Christ does not wait for our repentance. The scripture says, "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father." Our repentance, as before remarked, is the consequence of the activity of our Advocate. How this thought enhances our conceptions of His grace, His tenderness, and love. If any one sins against us, we are prone to wait for signs of contrition before we permit any outgoings of heart towards the offender. Not so with our blessed Lord. As soon as—yea, as in the case of Peter, even before — we sin, He bears us on His heart before the Father, pleads, and secures for us restoring grace.

But if, on the one hand, we are reminded of our indebtedness to His grace, we should remember, on the other, our responsibility one towards another, arising out of Christ's service to us as our Advocate. "So, after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither He that is sent greater than He that sent Him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John xiii. 12-17). We are to imitate the action of our Advocate; for if we rejoice in His present service to us in this character, we are never, at the same time, to forget the obligation under which we are laid to serve one another. Is there not room for many heart-searchings on this question? to ask ourselves whether we are as familiar with our obligation as with the doctrine of Christ's service to us? Nay, how often, if we were honest, should we have to confess that we have been unmindful of this responsibility! May the Lord Him self, while He teaches us to rejoice more and more in the thought that He washes our feet, give us the needful humility, grace, and love to wash one another's feet!

"Thy love we own, Lord Jesus;
     In service unremitting,
Within the veil, Thou dost prevail,
     Each Soul for worship fitting:
     Encompass'd here with failure,
     Each earthly refuge fails us;
Without, within, beset with sin —
     Thy name alone avails us."

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