Of all these verses below, I love these two that show that not only does Christ advocate to have our sins remitted, He also advocates to bring us blessings to help us with our challenges in life:
Elder Ronald A. Rasband,
““Behold I Am the Light Which Ye Shall Hold Up,” Oct 2024
The Savior is not absent from our mortal journeys. Time and again, with His pure love and mercy, He sustains us as we face the drama of life. Nephi describes: “My God hath been my support; he hath led me though mine afflictions. … He hath filled me with his love.”
Elder Patrick Kearon, “Welcome
to the Church of Joy,” Oct. 2024
The
glorious focal point of our services is the blessing and receiving of the
sacrament itself, the bread and the water representing the atoning gift of our
Lord and the whole purpose of our gathering. This is “a sacred time of
spiritual renewal.”
We may
have been conditioned to suppose that the purpose of the sacrament is to sit in
the pew thinking only about all the ways we messed up during the week before.
But let’s turn that practice on its head. In the stillness, we can ponder the
many ways we have seen the Lord relentlessly pursue us with His wonderful love
that week! We can reflect on what it means to “discover the joy of
daily repentance.” We can give thanks for the times the Saviour entered
into our struggles and our triumphs and the occasions when we felt His grace,
forgiveness, and power giving us strength to overcome our hardships and bear
our burdens with patience and even good cheer.
I myself will go with them and be in their midst; and I am their advocate with the Father, and nothing shall prevail against them.
28 wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens.
29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased to minister unto the children of men.
As Elder Rasband taught:
Elder
Ronald A. Rasband, ““Behold I Am the Light Which Ye Shall Hold Up,” Oct 2024
The
Savior is not absent from our mortal journeys. Time
and again, with His pure love and mercy, He sustains us as we face the drama of
life. Nephi describes: “My God hath been my support; he hath led me though mine
afflictions. … He hath filled me with his love.”
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to
be testified in due time.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them.
24 For 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:
25 Nor
yet that he should offer himself often, as the high
priest entereth into the holy place every year with
blood of others; but now once in the end of
the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself.
5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and
how can we know the way?
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the
life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who
is pleading your cause before him—
4 Saying: Father, behold
the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in
whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the
blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
5 Wherefore, Father, spare these
my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come
unto me and have everlasting life.
Doctrine and Covenants
5 Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst,
and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give
you the kingdom.
Interesting to note that with Christ as our advocate with the Father,
nothing shall prevail against us now and he will plead for mercy in the
judgement day.
3 And Ziba Peterson also shall go with them; and I
myself will go with them and be in their midst; and I am
their advocate with the Father, and nothing
shall prevail against them.
26 Whatsoever thing
ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye
shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.
27 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased
because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand
of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon
the children of men?
28 For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth
all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him
will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore
he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth
eternally in the heavens.
29 And
because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I
say unto you, Nay; neither have angels ceased
to minister unto the children of men.
Book of Mormon
8 And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having
gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to
make intercession for the children of men—
9 Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being
filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and
justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their
iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them,
and satisfied the demands of justice.
Book of Mormon
9 Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he
shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that
believe in him shall be saved.
10 And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto
God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of
him according to the truth and holiness which is in him.
Dale G.
Renlund, Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny, 2022–A:
As often as we repent and seek forgiveness with real intent, we can be forgiven.29[See Mosiah 26:29–30 Moroni 6:8 Doctrine and Covenants 58:42–43] What a remarkable gift from our Savior, Jesus Christ!30 [See Moroni 7:27–28] Remarkably, our Judge is also our Advocate.
M. Russell
Ballard, Hope in Christ, 2021–April
Fifth, our confidence in these assurances is rooted in our faith in Jesus
Christ, by whose grace all things pertaining to mortality are set right.16[See Alma
7:11–13] All promised blessings are made
possible through Him, who, by His Atonement, “descended below all
things”17[ Doctrine
and Covenants 88:6] and has “overcome the world.”18[ John
16:33 see also Doctrine
and Covenants 19:3] He “hath sat down on the right hand of God, to
claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men
… ; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men.”19[ Moroni
7:27–28]
Dale G.
Renlund, Choose You This Day, 2018–Oct.
In Jesus Christ, “we have an advocate with the Father.”7 1 John
2:1 see also Joseph Smith Translation, 1 John
2:1 (in 1 John 2:1, footnote a).] After
completing His atoning sacrifice, Jesus “ascended into heaven … to claim of the
Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men.” And, having
claimed the rights of mercy, “he advocateth the cause of the children of men.”8 Moroni
7:27–28
Christ’s advocacy with the Father in our behalf is not adversarial. Jesus Christ, who allowed His will to be swallowed up in the will of the Father,9 [See Mosiah 15:7 would not champion anything other than what the Father has wanted all along. Heavenly Father undoubtedly cheers for and applauds our successes.
Christ’s advocacy is, at least in part, to remind us that He has paid for our sins and that no one is excluded from the reach of God’s mercy.10 [See 1 John 2:2 For those who believe in Jesus Christ, repent, are baptized, and endure to the end—a process that leads to reconciliation11 [See 2 Corinthians 5:16–21 Colossians 1:19–23 2 Nephi 10:24—the Savior forgives, heals, and advocates. He is our helper, consoler, and intercessor—attesting to and vouching for our reconciliation with God.12 [The Greek word for advocate (paraklētŏs) means intercessor, helper, comforter, or consoler (see 1 John 2:1 footnote b; The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible [1984], Greek dictionary section, 55; 2 Nephi 10:23–25 Doctrine and Covenants 45:3–5
