WHY MANKIND NEEDS A HELPER

'I WAS an insolent persecutor,' admitted a formerly proud and violent man.  He had been an abusive blasphemer who had heartlessly harassed and assaulted God-fearing followers of Jesus Christ.  "Nevertheless," he stated gratefully," I was shown mercy."  Incredible as it may seem, this rabid persecutor became the faithful Christian apostle Paul. -1Timothy 1:12-16; Acts 9:1-19.

Not everyone has done the sort of things that Paul did.  Yet, all of us fail to meet God's standards.  Why?  Because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  (Romans 3:23) Moreover, it is very easy to sink into a quagmire of despair, perhaps feeling that we are too bad to receive God's mercy.  While contemplating his sinful inclinations, Paul himself exclaimed:  Miserable man that I am!  Who will rescue me from the body undergoing this death?" Answering his own question, he wrote: "Thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" -Romans 7:24, 25.

How could a righteous Creator have dealings with sinners?  (Psalm 5:4) Note that Paul said:  "Thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord."  Another recipient of God's mercy explained: "If anyone does commit a sin, we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one.  A he is a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, yet not for ours  only but also for the whole  world's." -1 John 2:1, 2.

Why is Jesus Christ called "a helper with the Father?  And how is Jesus  "a propitiatory sacrifice" for sins?

Why A Helper  Is Needed

Watchtower, 2000