Isaiah 59:1-4 English Standard Version

Evil and Oppression

¹ Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;
² but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
³ For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.
⁴ No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

Enough, we get the idea. If you want more read Isaiah 59 for yourselves. Considering the long list of evil doings, it is undesirable to associate ourselves with such evil. Rather than beat ourselves up or even try to rationalize our behavior, let us accept that none of us are perfect and that even the least of our sins, by error or omission has alienated us from God.

Sin is sin and there is no scale to weigh sin against. Just one sin, call it unbelief, is enough to tip the scales of justice to the guilty verdict. Yesterday’s blog was about advocates. In that blog was one word that should stand out but has no biblical dictionary definition in sources such as BlueLetterBible.org.

That word is intercessor. The Hebrew word is paga; to fall upon. The Hebrew and Chaldean Lexicon makes it sound even worse as it infers to set upon with violence. That is true in its purest sense but is used in the Old Testament as an action taken upon someone who gets in between the victim of wrath and the executioner. The intercessor takes the hit for the sinner.

Since the word intercessor is only used once in the KJV, Isaiah 59:16, and is ill defined, not that many studies or teachings have been done on the subject.

1 John 2:1 English Standard Version (ESV) 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.

The Greek word of advocate here is paraklētos and these are the biblical uses of that word.

I.                     summoned, called to one’s side, esp. called to one’s aid

A.                one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant, an advocate

B.                one who pleads another’s cause with one, an intercessor

i.                     of Christ in his exaltation at God’s right hand, pleading with God the Father for the pardon of our sins

C.                in the widest sense, a helper, succourer, aider, assistant

 .                     of the Holy Spirit destined to take the place of Christ with the apostles (after his ascension to the Father), to lead them to a deeper knowledge of the gospel truth, and give them divine strength needed to enable them to undergo trials and persecutions on behalf of the divine kingdom

Biblical usages are important because they underline the connection to us and the scriptures in which they relate to our understanding. The first and primary usage listed is summoned. Think of this in the same manner as having a lawyer on retainer. He is the one you call when you are accused or guilty. He should always be your first call when in trouble. The subset A clarifies the intent. Subset B adds a level of detail that goes a little beyond the bounds of legal defense, that is as an intercessor.

The secondary inset defines our lead lawyer, the courtroom and the judge. The only case to be pleased is over the issues of sins committed.

C is where it gets interesting because the wider sense identifies actions that might best be seen as the legal team who take direction from the lead attorney, Christ. It calls out the Holy Spirit in His role on that team.

Think on this, John is doing the same thing in his epistle, exhorting us not to sin.