Justified

“And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Does Job fear God for nothing?” (Job 1:9)

The Bible tells us that satan is the accuser of the brethren and accuses us before God day and night. “And I heard a great voice saying in Heaven, Now has come the salvation and power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night.”

(Revelation 12:10) He accused Job before God saying that the only reason Job was righteous was because God had blessed him. In other words, he was saying that if God removed His blessings, Job would curse God. We learn that in all his suffering and loss Job didn’t curse God. He might have complained about his suffering and situation, but he never cursed God. “For trouble from God is a terror to me, and I could not do anything because of His highness.” (Job 31:23)

Have you ever wondered why Jesus is interceding for us? He prayed for us while He was here on earth. And He continues to pray for us now in heaven. I always wondered why if our salvation is sure, why was he continuing to pray. I think we have to look at the word pray. To pray means to invoke, implore and entreat. The word that is used in the Scripture that tells us Jesus continues to pray for us in intercession means to entreat or implore. “Therefore, He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25) Why is Jesus pleading for us. Another Scripture gives us more insight. “My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1John 2:1) The truth is that we do continue to sin. It’s our flesh that rises up to sin. We have to deal with those sins of the flesh that have not been put subject to Christ. We do this by repenting and confessing it. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:9) When we fall because of our flesh, satan is there before God accusing us. But Jesus is there also pleading and interceding on our behalf because He is our Advocate. He speaks for us because we are not there to refute the accusations of satan. Yes, we sinned. But it’s covered by the Blood of the Lamb, forgiven and forgotten.

Now we understand and can see why Jesus is interceding. He is speaking for us because we are not present when satan is accusing us of sin. Jesus is our Advocate. He pleads the Blood over us. He pleads, “Innocent!” He implores, “Forgiven!” He entreats, “Forgotten!” He intercedes, “It’s in the deepest part of the sea!” He prays, “It’s as far as the east is from the west!” He cries out, “Justified!”

The accuser of the brethren not only accuses us before God but accuses us to our ourselves to bring us down, to cause us to fail, lose faith and give up. We should answer like Jesus does, “Justified and covered by the Blood of the Lamb!” Don’t receive any of the accuser’s lies. When we believe the devil’s lies and repeat it with our lips, we’re doomed. And when we believe God’s Word and speak it Word that is full of God’s life, we speak life in the situation. Our response should be, “Jesus died my death sentence.” That is why we’re so precious in God’s sight. “Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you; therefore, I will give men for you, and people for your life.” (Isaiah 43:4) God said this to the Israelites. Remember, we did not take Israel’s place, but we have become part of them, the people of God with all His Love, Promises and Blessings.

Now we see how important it is to read and reread and reread God’s Word. It is full of God’s Love and Life for us. We can’t know it unless we find it in His Word. This is God’s world, His kingdom and His desire for us to find our life in it. It’s a precious pearl, a treasure to be discovered. And we can discover it when we read it. “Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls; who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45-46)

Summing up, we learned that Jesus intercedes refuting the lies satan accuses us before the Father. We can also refute him when he tries to put his lies in our minds to get us to agree with him. We do this by knowing God’s Word which is His life, promises and blessings for us.

Let us pray:

Father God, how wonderful You are. You are love. It’s hard for me to imagine how much You love me. It’s undeserved. I fail so often. But You love continues to shine on me. Your faithful promises still bless me. Thank You Father for the intercession of Jesus. Thank You for His redeeming Blood that washes all guilt and death from me. I am so grateful. It doesn’t seem like enough. My humanity wants to repay, but there is nothing I can do or give You Lord that didn’t first come from You. All I can do is surrender. I ask You Lord to help me to refute the devil’s lies. Help me to declare Your Word, Your Life and Your Truth in my life. In the Name of Jesus I pray, amen.