The ministry of Christ for the human race has been seen in different stages throughout history. Before the foundation of the world, He pledged His life to become a ransom for lost sinners. God foresaw the awful plight of humanity and made provision for our great need.

“Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24). [Emphasis added.]

During the period of the Old Testament, Christ was prophesied in types, symbols, figures and shadows. It was by Christ’s pledged blood that He was able to minister to every soul who lived before the cross. Afterward, we see that Christ indeed came in reality.

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4, 5). [Emphasis added.]

The period of the New Testament saw not only Christ lay down His life as a ransom for the human race but He then also entered into another phase of His atoning work—that of a heavenly ministry. He then ministered to us by the blood He shed. This is where our faith takes us today. Our Lord is indeed alive! He ministers to us right now from heaven.

“Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22–24). [Emphasis added.]

The Bible applies to Christ’s ongoing ministry today under the titles of “Advocate,” “High Priest,” “Intercessor,” “Mediator,” “Minister of the sanctuary.” All these terms are connected in Christ and show forth the work that the Lord is engaged in today within the great span of the plan of redemption. Christ today is at the right hand of God ministering on our behalf:

“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 8:34). [Emphasis added.]

Just by looking at these terms: “Advocate,” “High Priest,” “Intercessor,” “Mediator,” “Minister of the sanctuary”; we can see what the Lord effectually does between us and God. You see, we have a representative before the Father, a defense lawyer, our “near kinsman”—but also He represents God to us, for He is “God manifest in the flesh.” He truly brings God and humanity together.

The English term “advocate” found in 1 John 2:1 brings to our minds the scene of a judgment. We often remember the words found in Daniel 7:9, 10: “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.” [Emphasis added.]

So we picture a judgment, a trial, a verdict and then the execution of a judgment. We know we have an Advocate—our defense attorney, but how comforted are you by the fact that there is a judgment, a trial? Do we shrink from the judgment? Does our faith grow dim at the prospect that we will be judged? The idea that our lives will come up in review before God often brings many a troubling thought. We are not proud of our human record.

See, we often come to wrong conclusions because we are thinking of the judgment in terms of present-day definitions. For instance, if you were guilty of a crime, you would want to get yourself a good lawyer. An advocate that knows what he is doing, and who can get as much sympathy from the judge as he possibly can. You want an advocate that knows how to plead effectively in your favor.

But we mustn’t think of the advocacy of Christ on these terms because it leads us to conclude that He is in heaven before the Father to try and get Him to have sympathy for us. Do you see? But we should have strong confidence in the judgment, because judgment is given in favor of the righteous (Psalm 5:12). Why? Because they have on a pure, white, wedding garment—and who gave them that garment? The Lord gave it to them. So when the Lord inspects the life of the Christian, all He sees is the spotless robe of Christ’s righteousness.

So, properly understanding the work of our Advocate in heaven today will inspire with the faith we need. It will inspire us with strong confidence, not in ourselves, but in Jesus Christ the righteous and in His power to save me to the uttermost. This is what I find in the scriptures. I see a confidence that we are to have in Christ that dispels doubt and fear. Notice why God both promises and confirms His promises by an oath

to us, so that:

“We might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 6:18–20). [Emphasis added.]

We need to be careful when we seek to understand a term like “Advocate” by the present-day definition of the term, or it might lead us to live under the bondage of fear, thinking that God is somehow a stern judge without as much sympathy for us as Christ has. Instead, we see in the scriptures, “that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (2 Corinthians 5:19).