But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

There are many people who wish that they could have lived during the time of Christ, but that would have been problematic. Jesus was only one place at a time, He had already chosen His disciples, and His mission on earth was clear – to go to the cross. But when He rose again, He sent the Holy Spirit to all of us. We are actually in a better place, for the Spirit is everywhere, He has chosen us, and He guides us in the mission of God’s people. This is the greatest time to be alive when it comes to the purposes of God.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

The apostle John brings to us a unique tension: the words of God can effectively keep us from sin, but if we do sin, we have Jesus Christ, who speaks to the Father on our behalf. We have everything that we need to live a life of godliness on this earth, because holiness is not based upon us, but upon the power of the Scripture and the cross. It is the cross that opens the mercy of God to us, and we have the Scripture to guide us in life on a daily basis.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.

Jesus could not raise Himself from the dead: He was totally dependent upon the Father to do so. In a similar way, we can’t deliver ourselves. Only the Spirit of God can bring life into our bodies, and that life has a purpose – to bring us back to God Himself. When you feel death to your dreams, go back to God, for He is the giver of dreams. Christ died and rose again so that your conscience could be clear and God can fill you with His life. This is the power of the cross to the righteous as well as the unrighteous. He is available to all who call upon His name.