In ascension Christ is the Righteous. First John 2:1b says, “If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” Our Lord Jesus is the only righteous man among all men. Only He is qualified to be our Advocate to care for us in our sinning condition and restore us to a righteous condition so that our Father, who is righteous, may be appeased.
Instead of saying “Jesus Christ the Righteous,” we may say “Jesus Christ, the right One.” Jesus Christ certainly is the One who is right, the right One, and only this right One can be our Advocate with the Father, taking care of our case.
Christ was the righteous One in His earthly life, for He was right with God and man. Now, in the heavens, He is still the righteous One. As the ascended One in the heavens, Christ does everything in a righteous way. He is working and ministering righteously. If He were not acting righteously in the heavens, He could not be in God’s presence. Whatever Christ is doing now in the heavens to intercede for us and to minister life to us as the High Priest according to the order of Melchisedec, He does righteously. His heavenly ministry of life today is a ministry in righteousness. In ascension He truly is the Righteous.
As our Representative, or Attorney, in the heavenly court, Christ is the righteous One. Just as an attorney cannot practice law if he is unrighteous, a lawbreaker, so Christ could not be our Attorney if He were not righteous. Christ, the Righteous, is surely the Lawkeeper, thus qualified to be our Advocate, our Attorney.
In ascension Christ is the Paraclete (1 John 2:1). He is the righteous One to be our Paraclete. The Greek word rendered “Advocate” in 1 John 2:1 is parakletos, and it denotes one who is called to another’s side to help him, hence, a helper; one who offers legal aid or one who intercedes on behalf of someone else, hence, an advocate, counsel, or intercessor. The word also denotes consoling and consolation, hence, a consoler, a comforter. Paraclete is its anglicized form. This word is used in the Gospel of John (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7) for the Spirit of reality as our Comforter within us, caring for our cause or affairs. It is used in 1 John 2:1 for the Lord Jesus as our Advocate with the Father, the One who cares for our case, intercedes on our behalf (Rom. 8:34), and pleads for us if we sin. This interceding and pleading is based on His propitiation.
Christ as our Paraclete, our Advocate in 1 John 2:1 is actually our spiritual attorney. J. N. Darby, in his note on 1 John 2:1, explains that Christ as our Advocate is like a Roman patron, who maintained the interest of his client in every way. Whenever we sin, the Father has a case against us. Therefore, we need a heavenly attorney to take care of our case. We need the Lord Jesus to be our Advocate, our Paraclete.
In His ascension Christ was also made the High Priest in the heavens. Hebrews 4:14 says that we have a “great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.” The Lord came from God to us through incarnation, and then He went back from us to God through resurrection and ascension to be our High Priest to bear us in the presence of God and to care for all our needs (Heb. 2:17-18; 4:15). Therefore, Hebrews 7:26 says, “Such a High Priest befits us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and become higher than the heavens.” In His ascension Christ was inaugurated into His priestly office. When He was on earth He did not carry on His priestly ministry as He is now doing in the heavens. As our High Priest in the heavens He is qualified to care for us in every detail.
In the Old Testament the high priest typifies Christ as our High Priest. Whenever the high priest went into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, he bore upon his shoulders and upon his breast the names of the children of Israel before God (Exo. 28:9-12, 15-30). Today Christ is our High Priest, and we are on His shoulders and on His breast. He is in the heavens as the High Priest bearing us before God. As Christ bears us before God in the Holy of Holies, He ministers God into our being.
As our High Priest, Christ is taking care of us. He is a “merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God” (Heb. 2:17), a High Priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).
Christ, our heavenly High Priest, who “sat down on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens” (Heb. 8:1), is “able to save to the uttermost those who come forward to God through Him, seeing He is always living to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25), caring for all the churches and transmitting into them the heavenly supply.
In Revelation 8 Christ is revealed as the Priest offering the incense at the golden altar: “Another Angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and much incense was given to Him that He should add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne” (v. 3). Therefore, Christ is the Priest.
Christ as the High Priest takes care of the lampstands and trims the lamps for the expression of God (Rev. 1:13; 2:1). This work includes His edifying the saints and His building up of the church for a living testimony of Jesus. And in taking care of the lampstands He is also the Priest offering incense to God. To the universe Christ is the Administrator, but to the church He is the High Priest. As the ascended One in the heavens, He is now living, working, and ministering as the High Priest caring for all the saints and all the churches for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.