MERCY IN JUDGMENT by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Nov 1, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 44.

MERCY IN JUDGMENT.

By G.

THAT “the mercy of the Lord endureth forever” is shown in the fact that even His judgment is according to the Gospel. Rom. 2:12, 16. “There is no respect of persons with God” (verse 11); therefore His judgment is just. The final death of the wicked is entirely their own fault; they have chosen to follow in the way of sin, and it is only just that they receive the “wages of sin,” which is death. Rom. 6:23.

To work for one master and expect pay from another whose interests are in a different line, would be unreasonable. To demand of one man pay for work performed for a different person, would be an unjust demand. To give part of the children’s inheritance to the children of another in no way related, and whose effort has been to destroy the inheritance, would not be justice to the rightful heirs. To admit unrepentant sinners into the everlasting kingdom, to mar the joy and harmony of those who by patient endurance and well-tried faith have overcome sin in the flesh, would not be justice. To submit Christ to the ordeal of humiliation, even to death on the cross, that sinners might be saved through faith in His atonement, and then save sinners who reject the terms, and deny the atonement, would not be justice.

Faith in the God-appointed atonement for sin is the only means by which God can be just and yet be the justifier of sinners. Rom. 3:23-26. The Gospel provides a means of salvation for all (John 3:16), and is a witness to all the world (Matt. 24:14); therefore it comes into the judgment.

“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy Like the wideness of the sea; There’s a kindness in His justice That is more than liberty.”