"My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world." 1 John 2:1-2
Let’s take this whole thing phrase by phrase.
"My little children
I find it very intriguing that the Lord chose to instruct John to call his readers "little children." Some may think that is demeaning, but I find it very comforting, very fatherly, very endearing. It is as if the Lord is saying, ’I care for you all as little children who I must be careful to teach right from wrong.’ You don’t teach children right from wrong by beating them over the head with it. You instruct them gently because they don’t know any better. When they know better, that is when reproof and chastisement comes in. But when teaching a toddler that it is wrong to hit, you don’t smack the kid hard in the face. You correct them gently and explain why it is wrong. And so…the Lord teaches us the following with gentleness and patience because He sees us as His little children.
These things I write to you so that you may not sin.
Here again we see that this is not a chastisement or rebuke of sin. This is an instruction distinguishing right from wrong, truth from lie, and good from evil, that which is godly from that which is ungodly. He doesn’t write this because he desires to browbeat them about their sins. He writes because he desires to instruct them in the Way of the Lord so that they might not sin in the future.
And if anyone sins
This is a recognition that, regardless of the instruction, mankind will sin. Humanity is humanity. We will always struggle with our human nature; our flesh will always desire satisfaction. Our carnal man will always struggle to experience the "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." 1John 2:16 He writes so that we may not sin, but if we do sin…we have a promise, we have…
We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
I just love the way this is worded. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. WOW! How amazing is that thought! Jesus Christ, the only righteous man who ever existed, is our advocate. The word tells us that "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." Romans 8:26-27.
It also tells us that "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2. And what do you think He does at God’s right hand? He intercedes for us. He is on our side, protecting us and convincing Our Father to give us second chances when we fail. How awesome is that thought! It births so much thankfulness in me that I can hardly contain it.
And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins
This is why He is our advocate. This is why Jesus is able to intercede for us. He became the propitiation (the NIV says "atoning sacrifice") for our sins. Jesus bore our curse—He became our curse and became the atonement of our sins that we might be called God’s "Little Children."
But wait a minute; how did Jesus become a curse? Under Jewish Law, "If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." Deut 21:22-23
This is what our righteous Jesus did for us: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"*), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal 3:13-14
If that doesn’t make you want to jump up and down and shout hallelujah, I don’t know that anything will. Jesus Christ, the only sinless man who ever lived, died a cursed death and took upon the curse of our flesh so that we might RECEIVE THE PROMISE. Oh, Lord, my cup runneth over! HALLELUJAH!!!
And not for ours only but also for the whole world. But here is the thing we all get caught up in. We think that He only died for the chosen—for the predestined—for the ones who were fated (if you will) to receive salvation. Friends, that is not the case. This phrase disproves that doctrine; it disproves that mindset; it disproves the lies Satan has told us. Beloved, Jesus didn’t die for my sins alone, nor did He only die for yours. He didn’t die for only those who would believe. He died for the sins of the whole world. Here are some scriptures to back this up:
"For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God." Romans 6:10
"But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:11-12
"By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God," Hebrews 10:10-12
Friends, you should really read all of Hebrews 10. It is so rich and powerful a confirmation of this that I feel only listing 3 verses is poor of me, but I don’t have the room to list it all. Christ died once for all! The word doesn’t say that he died once for the chosen, or that He died once for some. The word distinctly says that he died ONCE FOR ALL. Christians aren’t special in the sense Jesus died for us alone. His word proclaims that He died for all. We are made a special people (1Peter 2:9) because we have accepted the sacrifice made on our behalf. We are made a special people because in accepting that sacrifice, we die to ourselves and live in Him. Satan has threaded that lie through the body and we have believed it; but Christ’s death and resurrection was ALL INCLUSIVE and perfect and complete. He died for the crack addicts, for the whores, for the murderers, for the liars, the cheaters, the rapists. He died for Adolf Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer and Osama Bin Ladin. The same Jesus who died and saved Billy Graham is the same Jesus who died to save Saddam Hussein. The only difference between the two is that Billy Graham died to himself and lived the life Jesus gave him and Saddam Hussein lived his own life and killed the life Jesus gave him.
Friends, Jesus didn’t die for "the chosen." But "the chosen" die for Jesus.
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