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Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other
Posted : 26 Mar, 2011 10:05 AM
This much we know about �Justice� and �Mercy�: They oppose each other. I think it can be properly said, �When Justice walks in by way of the front door, Mercy flies out the window; and when Mercy walks in by way of the front door Justice flies out the window.� The two cannot meet; and the two cannot co-exist. Like two opposing enemies �Mercy� and �Justice� will continue to avoid each other, or push against each other. It is the natural order (flow) of things � where Justice is displayed, Mercy fades away; and where Mercy is displayed, Justice fades away. But then there is God who lives outside the �natural order of things�. He not only governs the �Law of Nature�, but it is His Laws which nature must obey.
There is only one time in all the ages when �Mercy� and �Justice� met at a single point, and neither one faded away. It was a remarkable display of Wisdom on the part of God when His Justice and His Mercy rushed at a single point and kissed each other. Such a thing has never been done before, nor will it ever happen again.
God says this about Himself in the ancient Book of Malachi 3:6: �For I am the Lord, I change not�� This means since God is a �God of Love�, He cannot change in any way, shape, or form in His love. It also means God is fixed (un-changeable) in His love � He cannot increase in His love; and He cannot decrease in His love. To either increase or to decrease in His love is to change the condition of God. (�For I am the Lord, I change not��)
God is also a �God of Compassion�. Again God cannot change in His compassion. The level of compassion which God had from the beginning of the ages cannot increase or decrease with time. In fact God has a �Nature� within Himself that compares (forces) Him to remain unchanged and consistent in all His Attributes. God is a �God of Mercy�. His �Un-changeable Nature� cannot allow Him to increase in His Mercy or to decrease in His Mercy. The �Mercy of God� is just what it is for all times � the �Mercy of God�. To increase or to decrease in �His Mercy� is to create a change in God which goes against the �Very Nature of God�: �For I am the Lord, I change not��
God is, and has always been exactly who He is. God cannot change. The God of the ages past is exactly the same as He is today and He will be in the ages to come. Any change in God�s Attributes is to denote a different god who was not like the God of the ages past.
Malachi 3:6 perhaps describes God better than any other verse in Holy Scriptures: �For I am the Lord, I change not�� There is no other god known to man who has consistently spoken about his �un-changeability� as the Biblical God. The reason is because there is no other god like the Biblical God who is fixed (permanent) within His Nature (condition). He cannot change for the better, or for the worst. Whatever He was, He is today, and will always be.
Now that raises a problem: �Since Justice and Mercy cannot meet and co-exist, how does God deal with the sins of man in His Mercy and still remains un-changed in His Justice?�
Friends, I can tell you that this is not an easy task. It is a God-size task. If God forgives man of his sins simply because God wants to display His Mercy, it means God must first lower His Standard of Justice at the expense of His Mercy. This will bring about a change in God, because He now regards His Mercy far more important than He regards His Justice. This cannot happen because in order for God to remain �un-changed�, He must uphold His Mercy as equally as He upholds His Justice. Neither one (His Mercy or His Justice) must suffer at the expense of the other.
This brings us to a God-size question: Since Justice and Mercy oppose each other, and cannot meet at a single point, how then does God display His Mercy toward man while simultaneously (at the same time) equally upholding His Justice against man for his sins?
2000 years ago this question was answered at �The Cross� � the gruesome (bloody) Cross of Calvary. It is there upon which God displayed His Justice (rage, anger, fury) against the sins of man while at the very same time demonstrating His Mercy toward mankind. It is at the Cross where both Justice and Mercy met for the first and only time, and neither one opposed the other. This is remarkable � this has never happened before, and it will never happen again.
At �The Cross� while upholding His Very Own Characters: �For I am the Lord, I change not��God bend the �Arch of Mercy� and the �Arch of Justice� made them to meet at a single point in order to save mankind. No human being can accomplish such a monumental feet; and certainly no other god known to man has the Wisdom and the Power to display his mercy as equally as while expounding his justice. All other gods will have to switch between roles by displaying mercy and justice at different time period, but never displaying both simultaneously. Only the Biblical God can make such a God-size task possible. We can therefore say, �There is no god, but God.�
This is not something new to God. He spoke about it 12 centuries before it happened. Psalm 85:10 reads, �Mercy and truth (Justice) are met; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.� At �The Cross�, and for this one purpose, God changed the natural order of things so that Mercy and Justice not only met without conflict, but righteousness and peace also kissed each other. And in all this God remains true to His word: �For I am the Lord, I change not��
For those of you who are looking forward for God to change in His Justice or to lower His Justice at the expense of His Mercy in order to save you, I give you Malachi 3:6: �For I am the Lord, I change not�� I also give you John 1:12: �For as many as received Him (Christ Jesus) to them He gives the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe in His name.�
By Sazie Johnson
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