Jesus Christ, judge

So, last post I explored Christ in his role as advocate.  I delved into who Christ was advocating against, which I had previously thought was God/justice, but am realizing there is more to it and more to advocate against.  This week I wanted to study Christ as our judge.  Since I've always thought of God as taking on that role more so than Christ I thought it would be interesting particularly in light of my discoveries as Christ as advocate.

First off, Christ as our advocate and Christ as our judge -these roles seem to be a little at odds.  Wouldn't an advocate advocate against a judge?  Like a lawyer?  He's advocating for us, why would he then turn around and judge us?  These are some of the things floating around my mind as I start researching this in the topical guide.

Gen 18:25 "...Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?"

Psalm 9:8  "... he shall judge the world in righteousness..."

Isaiah 5:16  "... Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgement.."

Isa 33:22 "... Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver...."

Jer 23:5 "... our King .... shall execute judgment and justice..."

       Interesting- we see here that his role as judge comes with his role as King.  Makes sense.

John 9:39  "... for judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind..."
      
        So how does judgment enter into this?  How does Christ's role as judge help to enlighten the blind and blind the seeing??  Is it because blind means innocence here?  Christ is judging innocence and sin?  Bringing knowledge through judgment?

Acts 10:42  "...ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead..."

        I've always thought of God being the judge (justice) and Christ being the advocate (mercy) but I guess God delegated/ordained His judging authority to Christ.

Romans 2:16  "... God shall judge the secrets of man by Jesus Christ..." 

       Perhaps Christ is in a better position to judge since He's here.  He has been here.  He has felt and experienced all our sins personally.  You can't really ask for a better judge than that.  A better judge or a better advocate.

Rev 19:2  "....true and righteous are his judgments..."

1 Jn 2:1  "... we have an advocate with the Father..."

     WITH the Father, not against, but with. 

2 Nephi 2:10  "And because of the intercession for all, all men come unto God; wherefore, they stand in the presence of him, to be judged of him according to the truth and holiness which is in him..."

      So, because Christ is our advocate we are able to be in His presence and be judged of Him.  Because of the intercession we come to Him and because we come to Him, we stand in His presence to then be judged.  It is his role as advocate that qualifies Him to be our judge.

Verse 9 "..... inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all... and they that believe in Him shall be saved..."

        He is the one on the front lines making intercession- going through what we go through.  It's Him we have to accept.  That is our criteria for being saved, so of course He is he perfect judge of that.  Who knows better than He whether or not we accept Him or to what degree?  Only He can judge our relationship with Him or the degree to which we have become like Him.

John 1:1  ...the Word was with God, the Word was God...

        Christ is IN God, so the justice and mercy isn't God versus Christ.  Since they are one, it's two different aspects of the same Being. 

Every scripture under Christ, relationship with Father in the Topical Guide are about unity, not justice versus mercy.  They are one.

To further understand this relationship I looked up Jesus Christ, mediator.  Here are a few of the scriptures I found:

John 14:6 "No man cometh unto the Father but by me."

      Again, here the thought that Christ isn't mediating between us and God He's mediating us to God.

1 Tim 1:5   For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.

        Interesting that here it does say that Christ is mediator between us and God and furthermore it lists Christ as a man as opposed to a god. 

Heb 8:6  ".... he is the mediator of a better covenant..."

Gal 3:19   "[the law] was added because of transgression, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator...."

      Here it describes Christ as the mediator between transgression and the law.   This makes more sense than putting him against someone- someone upholding justice.  Rather it's just law or justice itself, not a person, not God even though God represents justice- Christ and God are not at odds- they are one. 

Verse 20  Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

      I'm not sure exactly what this is saying, but I think it backs up my idea that God and Christ are one.  Christ is not a mediator for one side or another, but for all.  For us, for God.  Against sin and transgression and injustice.  He is judge, he is advocate, he is with God and He is perfect in all of these roles.