Have you ever noticed how many movies and shows center around various legal proceedings? At the heart of this popular fascination with law lies something wonderful—humanity’s natural desire for righteous government. Perhaps more than ever, the world wants justice, safety, and liberty for all. The path to achieving this goal might seem elusive, but harmonious and righteous government is actually part of God’s plan for all of His children. When our desire for good government on earth is supported by an understanding of God’s heavenly government, we’re enabled to experience a divine standard of justice that blesses and protects everyone. The history recorded in the Bible gives us wonderful proof of this.
In a song of praise celebrating the freedom that God wrought for the Israelites—freedom from hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt—we read, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face” (Psalms 89:14). This is what the children of Israel learned in the wilderness—that true justice and the rule of law fall under the jurisdiction of an all-loving God.
One of the significant impacts of their deliverance was a shift in the way that the Israelites began to identify themselves. For so long they had been defendants in the court of life. They were persecuted, prosecuted, and imprisoned without any recourse or representation. After finding their freedom, however, they grew to understand that by acknowledging God’s authority as supreme, they could witness His laws protecting and sustaining them.
In a sense, you might say that the Israelites’ deliverance caused them to stop feeling like perpetual defendants, and to start feeling more like plaintiffs. Of course, it helped that they had an extraordinary advocate in the man Moses, who ably took their case and their causes to God, divine Love, and achieved remarkable victories. But Moses knew, and explained to his followers, that someday another champion would come (see Deuteronomy 18:15). Many other Old Testament prophets expanded on this prophecy and taught that one who was greater than Moses would arrive to bring a full salvation not just for a particular sect, but ultimately for all humanity.
Christians recognize that this promise was fulfilled through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christ is the people’s defender, graciously bringing the human experience under the authority and protection of divine law. As the Bible says, we have an advocate in Christ Jesus (see I John 2:1). It is through the Christ’s heavenly advocacy that we can learn to stop seeing ourselves as hapless and helpless defendants at the mercy of capricious material laws. Instead, we can see ourselves as plaintiffs, who through God’s spiritual laws can challenge and conquer evil and suffering.
Jesus himself said that divine help would appear in yet another form, the permanent, impersonal spirit of Truth: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:26). Christian Scientists recognize this Comforter as divine Science, the Holy Ghost, revealing eternal Life and bringing divine energy and healing activity to the world.
One Greek lexicon defines the biblical word translated Comforter as, “one who pleads another’s cause before a judge, a pleader, counsel for defense, legal assistant; an advocate.” According to that definition, the Science of the Christ can literally be thought of as a heavenly attorney, advocating and pleading our cases before God. This may have been what Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, had in mind when she included a rather remarkable allegory in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (see pp. 430–442).
The allegory depicts a courtroom scene full of drama, a case in which a man’s life hangs in the balance because he has helped a sick neighbor. This poor mortal is on trial as a defendant, ostensibly being prosecuted under the self-declared authority of material health laws. One material witness after the next testifies that this man is a sick mortal who deserves to die. At the end of this tragic scene, the mortal man loses the case and is sentenced to death.
But wait! Before the death knell can toll, a bold new counselor comes to the aid of the languishing man. In a new trial in a higher court—the Court of Spirit—Christian Science takes up the case and defends the man’s right to life and health. In this second trial, the man is found not guilty, and his health and vitality are fully restored.
I was not on trial here, evil was.
Although Personal Sense is still the plaintiff and Mortal Man the defendant in the Court of Spirit, the tone of the trial has undergone a seismic shift because now it is Mortal Man who is the petitioner, empowered by the agency of Christian Science, his counsel. Through the understanding of man’s true, spiritual nature that Christian Science brings to light, it’s the fraudulent material sense of life, with its sin, disease, and death, that is put on trial (see Science and Health 435:17 and 441:20). Ultimately, Mortal Man is freed from a wholly unjust sentence in the wake of vital spiritual facts being entered into evidence. Christian Science, the Christly advocate in every age, for every individual, always makes sure that the divine testimony or evidence is heard. Then, the healing power of Christ is in full force.
A number of years ago, I had an experience that illustrates how helpful it is to remember that we aren’t helpless defendants in the court of life, but that God’s love puts us on the offensive, and enables us to act as plaintiffs challenging unjust decrees.
Early on in my practice of Christian Science, I was asked to give a comforting talk in the wake of a very sad incident in my community. Through God’s loving grace, the inspiration and the words came, and an outpouring of grateful feedback following the talk showed that my message had provided needed support. There were also reports of mental, emotional, and even physical healing that had taken place during the talk. I was overjoyed that God had helped us all to feel His love in a deep and practical way.
However, a couple of hours later when I was at the grocery store, I felt as if I was under attack. Out of nowhere, my whole body suddenly became weak and I felt very ill. Unable to move, I leaned on my wife and began to pray. I prayed that God would help me to better understand that I could see myself as the plaintiff in this trial, not a defenseless victim.
It helped me to remember that in the Bible’s New Testament, the devil, a term synonymous with evil, is sometimes referred to as the accuser. That’s the treacherous nature of evil; it hides by blaming or accusing good. It has no actual power to harm or destroy good, for as Jesus said, evil is simply a lie (see John 8:44). Nonetheless, it would position itself in a seat of authority, and hurl accusations as if it were a mind or personality. It whispers subtle suggestions such as: “Good is helpless. God cannot heal you. Your life is compromised. Evil is more powerful than good.” This is, of course, exactly what illusive evil would claim because it recognizes God’s love and goodness as its tormentor and destroyer. But it has no intelligence or identity and no power to do anything. This exposure ensures the destruction of the lie.
The Bible declares, “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). And Mrs. Eddy writes, “The good you do and embody gives you the only power obtainable” (Science and Health, p. 192).
This kind of thinking strengthened my prayers in the grocery store. I knew that I had been doing good when I was asked to share a message of love and comfort with my community. I knew that good was the only real power. I knew that the Christ was present to advocate for me as God’s precious child, and that Christian Science, the law of God, was ready to defend my health and safety. I was not on trial here. Evil was. In fact, I knew that, having already been proven to be utterly powerless through the absolute triumph of Christ Jesus’ ministry, evil was “a day late and a dollar short.” After one or two minutes of consecrated prayer along these lines, every debilitating symptom instantly vanished.
Persistent and resilient, human hope longs for righteousness. Benevolent and supreme, divine Love can surely deliver it. Whatever trials we may face, we can find comfort in the fact that God empowers each one of us to be victorious. We are not meant for the role of the persecuted and prosecuted. Christian Science reveals each one of us as being a plaintiff in the trials of life. This heavenly Comforter, the Holy Ghost, faithfully advocates on behalf of our divine right to health, happiness, and justice, causing us to sing, “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:57).
