Dear Christians, prepare for the accusations!  I do not mean the accusations from others, for they will come.  Who knows what fuels the hearts of others, but we are either fueled by self or by the Spirit!  But accusations will come, and they should not surprise us.

Yet, we see from Revelation 12:9-10 and Satan himself is the accuser of the saints.  Satan makes us aware of our sin, our shortcomings, our weaknesses, and our failures—and these will come as well, no matter your best attempts. 

But we have an advocate, dear Christian: Jesus Christ the righteous!

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ² He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1-2).

Note, if you will, that Christ will not only be an advocate for those who are righteous, but He will be an advocate for those who’ve surrendered to His righteousness in their weakness.  As the “propitiation for our sins,” the guilt and wrath for our sins that were ours were put on Christ, who in turn imputes His righteousness to His own and from those from every people group in the world.  (The “world” does not imply every person, but the ‘nations’ as opposed to only the Jews.) 

Accusations will come and go (and I know some of you have been the recipients of accusations, both false and true).  Our sin and shortcomings are ever present, and are a violation of the holiness of God.  Weaknesses will come to the fore, becoming more clear the longer you are around others (there’s only so long you can hide them).  Failures will happen, for we are not holy and are not God! 

Yet, God has defeated the ultimate accuser of the saints!  He’s living on borrowed time.  Take courage that God will not simply justify you in your righteousness (for we have none in and of ourselves) but will justify you in His righteousness and in spite of yours and in spite of mine. 

You have a choice.  You can spend time defending yourself and justifying yourself out of insecurity in self, or you can remain silent and let God be the one to sort out matters.  When you feel tempted to pursue revenge, remember that numerous times in Scriptures, we see how God says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” (Romans 12:19).  Here’s the entire passage:

¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it^[i] to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:14-21).

I know some of you now are struggling with accusations and half-truths being thrown your way.  Leave it to God, all the while praying that God give you His strength, His discernment, His hope based on the righteousness of His Son! 

Our advocate.  Jesus Christ, the righteous!  Rest in this, dear friends!  Live with the end in mind.