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
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.
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.