I heard someone give an explanation and difference between mercy and grace on the weekend. He said, “When you get stopped for speeding by a police officer, If he let’s you go without giving you a speeding ticket…that’s mercy. But if he gives you the ticket which you deserve, and then pays it for you…that’s grace.”
I think that’s a great illustration. But let’s take it a little further. You see, if we say to the police officer, “I know I broke the law, but please be merciful to me and don’t fine me”, we are not only asking for the officer to show mercy, but we are asking the police officer to either ignore the law…or, to break the law that he is bound to uphold. That puts a little different spin on it, and we can see that this puts the officer in a very awkward position. Because we broke the law…and now in a sense, I’m asking the police officer to break the law as well, by turning a blind eye to my disobedience.
In the same way, when we ask God to ignore and overlook our sins…to be merciful to us. We are asking Him to show love without justice. This same God who has said things like:
“The wicked shall return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God” (Psalm9:17).
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Rom 1:18).
“the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience” (Eph 5:6, Col 3:6).
“the soul who sins shall die”(Eze 18:4).
And of course, we could say “yes, that is what I want. I want God’s love and not His justice…I want Him to overlook my sins.” But there’s another problem. God also said, “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD” (Prov 17:15 ESV).
In other words, we are asking God to become an abomination by justifying the wicked! God can not ignore His divine justice and instead choose to execute divine love and mercy. Sin and wickedness has been committed against God and a price must be paid. God is perfect justice and righteousness while being perfect love and mercy. So how do we get out of this mess?
The illustration about the speeding ticket that I heard on the weekend got me remembering another story I read many years ago by John MacArthur.
Satisfying Love and Law
Tribes once roamed the Soviet expanse much like Indian tribes roamed the Americas. The tribes that controlled the best hunting grounds and the choicest natural resources had the strongest and wisest leaders. I heard about one particular tribe whose success
was due to the fairness and wisdom of the laws that their great leader made and enforced. His word was law. One of his greatest laws was that parents must be loved and honored. Other laws included murder as punishable by death, and stealing required severe punishment.
The tribe was prospering greatly when a disturbing thing began to occur. Someone in the tribe was stealing. It was reported to the great leader. He sent out a proclamation that when the thief was caught, he would receive ten lashes from the tribal whip master. The thievery continued despite the warnings, so he raised the punishment to twenty. Still it continued, so he raised it to thirty. Finally he raised it to forty. He knew that only one person in the tribe could survive such a severe lashing--himself.Eventually the thief was caught. To the horror of everyone, it was the great leader's own aged mother. The people wondered what the leader would do. His law said that parents were to be loved and honored, yet thieves were to be whipped. Great arguments arose as the day of judgment approached. Would he satisfy his love and save his mother, or would he satisfy his law and watch his mother die under the whip? Soon tribal members were divided--they even bet on what he would do.
Finally the day came. The tribe gathered around the great compound. In the center was a large post driven into the ground. The leader's great throne sat in the place of
prominence. With great pomp and ceremony the leader entered and took his place on the throne. The silence was deafening. His frail little mother was led into the compound between two towering warriors. They tied her to the post. The crowd murmured in debate: will he satisfy his love at the expense of his law, or his law at the expense of his love? The tribal whip master entered carrying a long leather whip. He was a powerful man with bulging muscles. As he approached the little woman, the warriors ripped her shirt off, exposing her frail little back to the cruelty of the lash. Everyone gasped. Was the leader really going to let her die?
The leader sat staring without moving. All eyes darted from him to the whip master and back again. The whip master took his stance, his great arm cracked the whip in the air as he prepared to bring the first lash upon her.Just as the whip master started to bring his powerful arm forward with the first cutting stroke, the leader held up his hand to halt the punishment. A sigh of relief went up from the tribe. His love would be satisfied. But what about his law?
The leader rose from his throne and strode toward his mother. As he walked he removed his own shirt, throwing it aside. He then wrapped his great arms around his mother, exposing his huge muscular back to the whip master. Breaking the heavy silence he commanded, "Proceed with the punishment." Thus both his law and his love were satisfied.
Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death." Jesus
wrapped His arms around you. He satisfied His love--He enabled us to escape God's wrath. He satisfied His law--He paid the penalty for sin. That's the genius of God and the gift of salvation.
Therefore we have such precious verses like:
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (1Peter3:18).
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life”(Rom 5:8-10).
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”(2Co 5:21 ESV).
Praise be to God the Father in and through Jesus Christ…THIS IS GRACE!
