God. The day will come when He is cast out of heaven,
but that day will not come until the church has been caught up to meet
the Lord in the air.

"And the great dragon was cast out, that serpent, called the Devil, and
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him.

"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and
strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night" (Rev. xii:9-10).

Because Satan accuses God's people before God day and night, the
Advocate is there to rebuke him. Every attack by accusation of the
sinning children of God, the Lord Jesus Christ meets with the fact that
He made propitiation; He died for their sins.

He Shall not Fail nor be Discouraged.

And this work of Himself as our Priest, the merciful and faithful High
Priest and our Advocate goes on up yonder uninterruptedly. In Isaiah we
find a word which speaks of Him, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged."
Well may we apply this to His present work as Priest and Advocate of His
own. As Priest He will never fail. He will never fail in being about His
own, in keeping them and sustaining them, in sending them help from the
sanctuary in time of need. As Advocate He will not be discouraged. The
same old failures in our lives, which humble us and break us down, but
He continues in this service in behalf of His poor sinning people. Some
Christians do not believe in the fundamental doctrine of the Gospel,
that a child of God in possession of eternal life can never be lost.
They think it depends on their walk and service. If one of His own could
ever be lost again, if even the weakest, the most imperfect could be
snatched out of His hands, His present work would be a failure as well
as His finished work on the cross. But read the great high-priestly
prayer He left for us in John xvii. There He prays the Father, who
heareth Him always, that His own may be kept.

His Work for the Church.

Another aspect of His present work is what He does for His church. We
can but briefly indicate what this means.

He is in glory the Head of the church. The church is His body, the
fullness of Him, that filleth all in all.

Every believing sinner is a member in that body. The risen Lord Himself
adds new members to that body. He puts each member into the body as it
please