As the psalmist desired the Lord God to stand up for him
before his enemies, every sinner convicted of his depravity, sin, and moral
inability before the holy Lord God desires someone to stand up for him before
God. The convicted soul cries, "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord
God?" Convinced of his own utter corruption and God's infinite holiness, the sinner under
conviction of the Holy Spirit cries, "Who shall ascend into the hill of
the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?" (Ps. 94:16). "Who
will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against
the workers of iniquity?"
Good News
Here is the good news of the gospel – Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is
a representative Man who is able to stand before the holy Lord God! He has
stood, he is standing, and he shall yet stand before God as the Representative
and Substitute of God's elect. Let every poor, helpless, bankrupt sinner, who
trusts the Lord Jesus Christ as his only, all-sufficient Savior, take this
sweet revelation and go just as far with it as sanctified thought will carry
him: -- The Lord Jesus Christ is our Representative before God. He stands
before God for us.
In Eternity
The Lord Jesus Christ represented us as our Surety in the covenant of
grace. Before the worlds were made, God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit met together in the counsel chambers of eternity and made a solemn
compact of mercy, a covenant of grace in which the three divine Persons swore
themselves to the salvation of the chosen. In that covenant, Christ stood as
our Surety (Heb. 7:22), and in him we were blessed of God with all the
blessings of salvation, grace, and glory (Eph. 1:3; 2 Tim. 1:9).
On Earth
The Son of God represented his people in all his earthly life. When
he came into the world to do his Father’s will, the will of God (Heb. 10:5-9),
when he went about his life doing the Father's business as a child (Luke 2:49),
and when he fulfilled all righteousness as a man (Matt. 3:15), he was
representing us. As he fulfilled all the law and obeyed God perfectly as a man,
so all God's elect have fulfilled the law and obeyed God perfectly in him. He
is Jehovah-tsidkenu, “The Lord Our
Righteousness!” And his obedience is ours (Rom. 5:19).
At Calvary
Our Savior represented us upon the cursed tree. When Christ died
under the wrath of God, it was as a substitute in the place of God's elect
(Isa. 53:8; Gal. 1:4; 3:13; 2 Cor. 5:21). When he died, we died in him. Hence,
we are dead to the law (Rom. 6:4; Gal. 2:20; Rom. 7:4; 10:4) The law can demand
no more from us.
In Heaven
Our all-glorious Christ represents, now and forever, us as our advocate
in heaven. He took possession of heaven as a forerunner for us (Heb.
6:20). And he successfully pleads our cause with the Father (1 John 2:1-2).
Because he is the propitiation for our sins, God will never charge his elect
with sin (Rom. 4:8).
This is the thing I want you to see: – Whatever Christ did, we
have done in him. Whatever Christ is, we are in him. Whatever Christ possesses
as our Mediator, we must possess. Wherever Christ is, we must be. He stands for
us; and we stand in him before God. AMEN.