Satan will never stop his accusations against the Christians. Revelation 12:10 tells us that he accuses the brothers day and night. Day and night we are the defendants and he is the accuser. But we have an Advocate, who is Jesus the Righteous. Here it says that He is the Advocate. Here He is not the gracious One, but the righteous One. Why does it not say that He is the gracious One? It is because in the heavenly law court there is no talk of grace, in the same way that there is no talk of grace in earthly law courts. Any judge who wants to forgive others is an unrighteous judge. Only those who are for righteousness can be judges. God is for righteousness. He did not forgive our sins unrighteously. He did not overlook our sins, gloss over our sins, or let us get by with our sins. Rather, He judged our sins in righteousness.

The Lord Jesus does not defend us by saying that the temptation was too great and as little children we could not handle it, and that therefore God has to grant us grace. The Lord Jesus does not say that Christians are too small and their knowledge is too little, that the flesh is too weak and the enticement of the world is too strong. He does not say that the wiles of Satan are too cunning and that there is no way to reject Satan. This is not the way that the Lord Jesus makes our defense. He does not plead for grace. Neither is He there as a dispenser of grace. John says that Jesus Christ is the Righteous. He tells God that on account of Him and what He has done, God has to forgive us.

How does this Advocate make a defense for us? We are told in the next verse: "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for those of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). The Lord Jesus makes His defense for us based on His accomplished work, that is, His propitiation on the cross for us. As a result, we are able to come to God. This is a complete propitiatory sacrifice. It includes all the sins of all the Christians in time and space. When this propitiatory sacrifice is shown to God, God no longer has a reason to punish the Christians. The Lord's propitiatory sacrifice is not just for past sins, but for all present and future sins as well. The verb in this verse is in the present tense, not in the past tense. God cannot condemn us based on Satan's accusation, because Christ's redemptive work accomplished on the cross includes all the sins of today and all the sins that will be committed until the day of His return. All our sins are included in His work. God must forgive us. He cannot do otherwise, because this forgiveness has a foundation.