MERCY AND TRUTH

Both mercy and truth are required for the pardon of sin. "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged" (Pro. 16:6). The law reveals God's truth: his holiness, righteousness, and Justice. And the gospel, according to the imaginations of men, reveals his mercy. But that is not accurate. In the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, mercy and truth are united to accomplish the forgiveness of our sins. At the cross of Calvary, where our Substitute was crucified, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psa. 85:10).

The law proclaims truth without mercy, and man desires mercy without truth; but this cannot be. Truth without mercy would bring about the eternal damnation of our race. Mercy without truth would dishonor God. Truth alone would honor God, but destroy every transgressor. Mercy alone would protect the sinner, but dishonor God's holy law. If the truth of God's law stood alone, there would be no hope for any man in the world. If God showed mercy without truth, heaven would no longer be a place of holiness.

There stands God, the just Judge, who says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ez. 18:20). Before him stands fallen man, guilty of sin, deserving of eternal ruin. Can the two ever be reconciled? Upon what grounds can God, in justice, forgive the sinner? If God gives man his due, there will be no mercy. If man gets what he desires from God, there will be no truth. Are we then without hope? Must we all perish?

No! Blessed be God, he has found a way to rescue fallen man without, in the least degree, tarnishing his truth, his holiness, or his justice: He sent his Son into this world, robed in human flesh, to be a Mediator and Substitute for sinners. As a man he lived in this world in perfect compliance with God's holy will, fulfilling all righteousness; and then he died under the curse of God's holy law, satisfying divine justice, as our Substitute and Representative before God. Now, in holy justice, God makes this gracious declaration for every believing sinner, "Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom" (Job 33:24). Mercy and truth are united in the cross of Christ to purge away our sins. In the gospel of Christ both the mercy of God and the truth of God shine forth, with mysterious majesty, to manifest the glory of God in saving sinners. Only through the cross is it possible for God to be "Just and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). He is in truth "A JUST GOD and A SAVIOR" (Isa. 45:21).