THE GLORIOUS NAMES OF JESUS
REPRINT OF AMOS R. WELLS 1926
The Advocate
Chapter 6
Something To Consider:
The apostle John wrote in his first epistle, “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. But the title rests on higher authority than the beloved disciple’s biblical claim. For John records in his gospel our Lord’s own promise to send to his disciples another advocate like Himself, even the Holy Spirit of truth, to be with us forever.
It is the wonderful Greek word “parakletos” from which we get our English word “paraclete,” which means someone of skill and power “kletos”, to the side of, “para”, someone in need, to comfort, strengthen, advise, and to defend him or her in their time of need.
It is exactly the same as “advocate,” which is from the Latin word ‘advocatus,” a person summoned to another person who needs a counselor. Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are comforters, to be sure, but they are far more.
Not all of us have ever been in legal difficulties where we were obliged to defend ourselves in a lawsuit brought against us. But suppose the mortage on our house was to fall due and was not paid and we received a notice of foreclosure. How distressed would we become until our legal representative arranged for another loan or another means of having the charges dropped?
Or suppose we were involved in an automobile collision and the other driver angrily demanded compensation for our negligence resulting in the accident. Of course, we would be concerned until our attorney or insurance company could gather the evidence that proved we indeed had the right of way.
Still worse, what if a fellow employee had been stealing for years from the company you both worked for, all the while contriving things so cleverly as to throw the weight of suspicion heavily upon you? The thought of prison rises horribly to the forefront of your mind and your loved ones are in despair until a shrewd detective manages to clear up the case, exonerate you, and convict the real criminal.
Something Else To Consider:
Such deplorable experiences may not have been ours. More than likely, we have never been served with hostile legal documents. Hopefully, we have never been arrested wrongfully. Hopefully, we have never been wrongfully threatened with imprisonment, and no deceitful suspicion has ever been falsely cast against us.
Therefore, the words, “paraclete,” “advocate,” “counselor,” comforter,” may not thrill us, and may have little meaning which they instantly convey to any person who has ever been in danger of being involved in the judicial court system.
But every soul of us stands in a worse case spiritual scenario. Every one of us, therefore, is in need of an advocate. Our foolish complacency would flash into immediate horror if we could truly perceive our actual eternal plight.
The bible calls us miserable sinners, and that we all have sinned and come short of or have fallen short of the glory of God. But for most of us, that shortcoming creates no terror for us in this earthly existence. Most of us refuse to honestly consider what our sinful nature without true repentance is leading us eternally.
Without Jesus Christ as our heavenly advocate, and the Holy Spirit as our come along side Comforter, a sinful life is like attempting to climb a ladder to safety only to find it is too short to provide the help we so desperately need. To leap from a burning building to a neighboring rooftop and miss it by an inch is still disastrous no matter how close you came to being safe.
To fail at obtaining a blessed eternity by coming short of the necessary purity and righteousness found only in Jesus Christ will be an eternal shame. We may not now realize our awful need of a spiritual Advocate, but a day is coming when that need will burst upon us with appalling directness and eternally crushing force. We have been warned!
Something More To Consider:
In past centuries it appeared that the human race understood more the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Conviction of sin was more common than it is these days. And therefore, we do not dwell so eagerly as men, women, and young people formerly dwelt on the blessedness of having Christ as our Advocate.
Sin today wrongfully seems to wear many a silken disguise. Sin, to the average individual appears to have evolved into respectability. Excuses for sin have become plentiful. Humans in their ridiculous conceit are bold to appear to defend Jesus Christ but resist the concept of humbly seeking His advocacy through a personal relationship by way of confession and repentance of their sin.
Yet He, Jesus, alone is the Righteous One, and He alone can clothe us with His righteousness through our repentance of our personal sin. We are sold into sin’s slavery, and Jesus alone can ransom us! We are as if chained in sin’s prison and Jesus alone can break the fetters that insidiously binds us to Satan’s bidding.
A Few Final Words:
We stand convicted criminals at God’s eternal judgment seat, and Christ is the only Advocate who can rightfully and righteously plead our case with the Almighty Judge of all the living and the dead. Only Jesus can win a release from the eternal penalty and obtain our reinstatement into the family of God as a child of God the Father.
How glorious is the name of our Lord and Savior? Therefore, how blessed are we as we take upon ourselves the precious gift of the Paraclete, our Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God? Oh Comforter, tried by countless throngs of desperate souls and never once found wanting! We come to You in our dire distress, our infinite weakness and shame. We rest our case as we rest in You, and we know that we shall be justified.
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, cause us to cling to the biblical concept of Jesus sending us a comforting Advocate in the person of the Holy Spirit of God. May we never quench the Holy Spirit’s earthly and eternal work in our lives. May we be ever aware of His nearness and that sin is always first and foremost against our heavenly Father and Almighty God. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 