I wanted to do some in-depth scripture study, and turned to researching the various names of Christ. I turned to http://www.lds.org/ for the great online scriptures- so much faster and easier than flipping pages, and http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html to access Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the bible for word meanings in Hebrew and Greek.
The words that describe the Man we call Jesus Christ are beautiful and rich in meaning. What a bonus package! As I have studied these names one by one, I have been humbled, awed, and have drawn closer to his loving presence. I want to share what I found, and hope any who read may have similar feelings. Here, presented one at a time, is my research for each name:
In the New Testament, the Greek word for advocate is παράκλητος (par-OCK-lee-toss), and is translated also as “comforter”. The word “advocate” does not appear in the Old Testament, but the word “comforter” is used. The Hebrew word is נָחַם, pronounced “nah-KHAM. It means to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort or be comforted. How interesting that these definitions can mean almost the opposite thing. I am reminded of the sharp and two-edged sword which will discern the “thoughts and intents of the heart.”(Heb 4:12)
The Greek "advocate/comforter" means someone who is summoned to one’s side for aide. 1 John 2:1-2 states: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation (appeasement) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
The Doctrine and Covenants uses the word more frequently. D&C 29:5 joyfully declares, “Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom.”
Section 110:4 records the first words of the Savior when He appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey in the Kirtland Temple: “I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father.” In this statement Christ reminds us of his four major roles- [1] the first and last (Alpha and Omega); [2] the God who is the great I AM and lives eternally; [3] the suffering Savior; [4] and the Advocate who stands with us.
The Savior’s role of Advocate was earned through his great sacrifice. Mosiah tells us (15:7-8) that Christ would become “subject even unto death,” his will being “swallowed up in the will of the Father.” This allowed God to “break the bands of death”, gain “victory over death”, and give power to the Son to “make intercession for the children of men…” Christ himself explains in D&C 45:3-4: “Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him- saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified.”
This is why He can truly be our Advocate in this life. I used to wonder how Christ, in his short life in a different place and time from mine, could really understand my problems. One only has to read the words of Alma (Alma 7:12) to understand that Christ does know, for He took upon himself all the weaknesses of mortality, “that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.”
He understands it all, because he experienced it during the Atonement. In D&C 62:1 Christ states, “Behold, and hearken, O ye elders of my church, saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, your advocate, who knoweth the weakness of man and how to succor them who are tempted.”
Another role of the Advocate is to stand by us at the hour of judgment, when He will plead the cause of men with the Father, for no person can enter the Father’s presence without that gift of grace. As 2 Nephi 2:8 says, “No flesh…can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah.”
Even the righteous inhabitants of Enoch’s city, despite such perfection that they were taken to heaven, had to be saved by the intercession of Christ. D&C 38:4 says: I am the same which have taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom; and verily, I say, even as many as have believed in my name, for I am Christ, and in mine own name, by the virtue of the blood which I have spilt, have I pleaded before the Father for them.” The next verse reminds us that Christ will not plead the cause of the unrepentant. “But behold, the residue of the wicked have I kept in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day…” 1 John 2:1-4 clarifies: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." King Lamoni’s father clearly understood that the combination of works and faith- forsaking sin and accepting Christ- was the only way to achieve the greatest gift man can obtain. In Alma 22:18 he declares, “…I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day…”
Can we, who have the fullness of the gospel, deceive ourselves which any doctrines less that these? Let us find the joy that come to those who put their hand in the hand of the Advocate, and walk in his footsteps.
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