[The ofiice of an advocate is to appear for his client in a court of justice, and to plead his cause. Now this office also the Lord Jesus Christ executes in behalf of his people: He is gone up to the court of heaven; where " he appears in the presence of God for usf." The Holy Spirit also is our advo- cate: but there is a very wide difference between the advocacy of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit intercedes in us at the throne of grace ; Christ intercedes for us at the throne of glory : the Spirit assists us to pray according to the will of God; Christ presents those prayers unto the Father, and renders them acceptable in his sight.
Now it was this advocacy of Christ which the Apostle had primarily in his view : and what he added respecting him as a propitiation for sin, was a subordinate subject, introduced to shew the ground of his intercession, and the reason of its ej/icacy. It will be proper therefore to notice more particu- larly the connexion between these offices, and the dependence of the one upon the other.
If we could conceive that Jesus had undertaken to be our advocate, and yet had made no atonement for sin, his advocacy would have been altogether in vain : for, what plea could he have found? he could not have denied, or extenuated, our guilt : nor could he have promised that we should ever make compensation for what we had done amiss. His mouth there- fore must have been shut as well as ours. But, having offered himself a sacrifice for our sins, he has an adequate and effec- tual plea for all who trust in him. Are they accused by their great adversary ? yea, does God himself testify against them ? " True, he will say, they are sinners, that deserve thy wrathful indignation : but behold the wounds in my hands, my feet, my side ; these I endured for them ; by these I ex- piated their guilt ; yea, I gave my own life a ransom for them ; and therefore deliver them from going down into the pit : I have satisfied the demands both of law and justice on their behalf, and on this account I look, not to thy mercy only, but to thy justice and thy faithfulness to forgive themg: out of respect to me, " thou mayest be just, and yet the justifier of all them that believe11."]
This view of his offices will naturally lead us to consider,
II. The comfort to be derived from them under every fresh-contracted guilt —
That we may speak more perspicuously on this subject, we shall notice
f Job xxxiii. 24. el John i. 9. h Rom. iii. 26.
2433.] Christ's advocacy and atonement. 37.5
1. The sensations which a view of those offices will produce —
Hope, joy, and peace, arise in succession to crown the exercise of faith. Till we are enabled to behold the crucified and exalted Saviour, we droop, and question the possibility of our acceptance with God ; but when we are enabled to believe in him, our fears are dissipated ; our sorrows are turned into joy and exultation ; and, after a season, the live- lier motion of our affections, which was occasioned by the greatness and suddenness of the change, subsides into a solid and abiding peace. This is the order marked out both by Prophets' and Apostlesk, and experienced by all who live by faith on the Son of God.]
2. The suitableness of those offices to produce them —
[The intercessions of sinful men have often availed for the benefit of those for whom they were offered : but Christ is a " righteous" advocate, who, having no sins of his own to ob- struct his access to God, may come with boldness into his presence, and with a certainty of acceptance. Besides, he is ever " with the Father," ready to offer his intercessions the very moment that he sees any danger of a breach between him and us. Moreover he is the " Christ," whom the Father anointed to this very office. It was the duty of the high-priest, not only to offer sacrifice, but to carry the blood of the sacrifice within the vail, and to burn incense before the mercy-seat : thus the office of intercession belongs to Jesus no less than that of offering an oblation : and consequently we have in his appoint-, ment to this office a pledge that he shall not intercede in vain.