What solid comfort is here for the people of God! And how needful for our souls to be established in the knowledge and sense of it.

There are some who have an imperfect sense of the true standing of a Christian because they do not see what Christ has done for them in the past. Others, on the contrary, have such an entirely one-sided view of the state of the Christian, that they do not see our need of what Christ is doing for us now. Both must be corrected. The former are ignorant of the extent and value of the atonement; the latter are ignorant of the place and application of the advocacy. Such is the perfection of our standing, that the apostle can say, “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 Jn. 4:17).

If this were all, we should certainly have no need of priesthood or advocacy. But then, such is our state, that the apostle has to say, “If anyone sins” (2:1). This proves our continual need of the Advocate. And, blessed be God, we have Him continually; we have Him always living for us. He lives and serves on high. He is our subsisting righteousness before our God. He lives to keep us always right in heaven, and to set us right when we go wrong upon earth. He is the divine and indissoluble link between our souls and God.