A JUST GOD

 

Forgiven by Thomas Blackshear

On Judgment Day, the balance between justice and mercy will be so perfect that we will not be able to question it. This is the greatest lesson I learnt from David of the Old Testament.

I can think of no one who would have wept more when David forfeited his exaltation than the Saviour himself. To lose someone with so much promise and faithfulness would have been agonizing to Him. As a youth, he was said to be a man after the Lord’s “own heart” (1 Sam 13:14) and as a man, he spoke by the Spirit and had many revelations (see Guide to the Scriptures: David)

If there was anyone the Saviour could have been excessively merciful to, it would have been David but where would that have left Uriah, a man of principle and loyalty, and his innocent blood that was spilt? The man who had no say….whose wife was taken from him, who suffered an unjust death???  One truth remains….mercy cannot rob justice (Alma 42:25).

I saw the perfect nature of the God that we worship and trust through this story.  He knows all: our hearts, our capabilities, our intents, our weaknesses, our pains, our desires, our sufferings…. everything that could induce mercy….but yet He obeys all the laws that He himself is governed by. Because He is the giver of law and the sustainer of law, it is impossible for Him to violate law, including the law of justice (see Discourses of Brigham Young p1, Mormon Doctrine p 432-3, Mediation and Atonement p 168).

So  a king who was destined for exaltation fell from God’s grace and became an example of the perfect balance of justice and mercy. The justice was the loss of exaltation but the mercy was the gift of resurrection to all the human family including those who commit murder and inherit a much lesser kingdom of glory which, nevertheless, surpasses all understanding (D&C 132:38,39; D&C 76:89). David’s repentance and godly sorrow led to his gratefulness that the Saviour will not leave his soul in hell (Psalms 16:10; Acts 2:27; Acts 2:25-28; 13:22-37; Isaiah 55:3). This hope of resurrection of the unjust is known as ‘the sure mercies of David’ (see Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 272).

The Psalms of David, who ‘foresaw the Lord always before his face’, are heart wrenching evidence of his unfailing love and praise of Jehovah (Acts 2:25). Even though he committed a grievous sin, he never turned away from the God of Israel. May we follow suit when sin finds us and turn to Him who can forgive and yet rescue our souls from everlasting misery and may we harbour in our heart David’s testimony forever: “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn (strength, power) of my salvation….” (Psalms 18:2).

He is the one and only giver of mercy, forgiveness and salvation and there is none else….not in heaven above, or earth beneath…..nothing, nobody, nowhere…..(Deuteronomy 4:35,39;5:8 ;Isaiah 43:10-11; 45:5,6,14,18,22; 46:9; D&C 76:1; 2 Nephi 25:20; 31:21; Moses 6:52)

 

Will You come and carry me

When all my strength is gone?

Will Your mercy spill from You

When I can walk no more?

 

Will Your mercy lift me higher

To glimpse my eternal home?

Will I see my soul there

Before Your gilded throne?

 

When the sum of my life is done

Will You bring me home to keep?

I’ll want to kneel and honour You

Before Your Mercy Seat.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

FATHER'S MERCY

 

“I believe that Heavenly Father wants to save every one of his children. I do not think he intends to shut any of us out because of some slight transgression, some slight failure to observe some rule or regulation. There are the great elementals that we must observe, but he is not going to be captious about the lesser things.

“I believe that his juridical concept of his dealings with his children could be expressed in this way: I believe that in his justice and mercy he will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.”

-          President J. Reuben Clark, In Conference Report, October 1953, p 84

I too believe in Father’s inherent mercy because of His perfect love but I also believe that this mercy was increased in measure through the Atonement of His Beloved Son who is our Mediator and Advocate with the Father.

Father is justice and Christ is mercy (3 Nephi 20:20; 27:17; D&C 101:9; Mosiah 13:14; Moroni 7:27). Together they are the balanced scale we will face on the day of judgment. That day we will be judged so perfectly that we will not be able to question it.

Even though mercy cannot rob justice (Alma 42:25), it is the mercy that we will receive that we will remember forever because it will come from the loving heart of God. We will know then just how much we are loved…..

 

I marvel, Father, that You could perceive

every thought of my heart,

Long before you gifted one to me;

That you trusted my will to obey

With You so dim in my memory.

I stand amazed at Your sufferance

Of the struggling sinner like me,

And the steadfast flow of gifts you bestow

From the merciful heart that is in Thee.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Father by FluxPro.art)

JUSTICE AND MERCY

 

 

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22)

The resurrection is the greatest example of perfect balance between justice and mercy. Here is how it plays out. President Fielding Smith taught that no person who has lived and died on this earth will be denied the resurrection because “Adam alone was responsible for death, and therefore the Lord does not lay this to the charge of any other person. Justice demands that no person who was not responsible for death shall be held responsible for it….” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:274, New Testament Student Manual). This is fairness. Justice also, however, has demands which must be met.

When Christ appears to the world in clouds of glory, He will not come bearing a bouquet of roses. He will come to cleanse the earth of wickedness and subdue all enemies under His feet (D&C 76:61). This means all ‘fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers, thieves, drunkards, revilers, liars, extortioners, murderers’ (1 Corinthians 6:9,10). Herein enters mercy. Because of its existence, even the worst sinners, bar the sons of perdition, will be resurrected to a kingdom of glory, the telestial kingdom. When King David fell from his exaltation, he was assured his soul will not be left in hell.  This part of the resurrection is scripturally referred to as ‘the sure mercies of David’. (Acts 2:25-28; 13:22-37; Isaiah 55:1-4; Psalms 16:10; D&C 132:39).

Without justice, the faithfulness of the just would be of no value, and without mercy none of us could be saved for ‘we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23). On judgment day the balance between justice and mercy will be so perfect that none of us will be able to question it. Had the Saviour not bought us with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20), we would all be lost……something that is unthinkable to God the Father.  I give thanks that He provided a Saviour who was willing to sink into the unthinkable pit of human agony to save us all.

I have seen your sins

And the years you have lived with futile pride.

I bore your life with crimson drops

And sought forgiveness on your behalf

To pay the price of justice

And mend your broken heart.

I wait for you to come

Into the shadow of my wings,

I have paid the price,

Come unto Me,

Your God and your King. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Time Is At Hand by Danny Hahlbohm)