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-19-
The God Who Is
Justice
God is just. He always acts in a fair or equitable manner. He gives to each man his just due. In Genesis chapter 18, Abraham pleaded with God to spare the wicked city of Sodom. In verse 25 he says to the Lord, "That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Now, we must not be hasty to condemn Abraham for saying such a thing to the Almighty. In actuality, this is what constitutes intercessory prayer. Far from being insolent or irreverent, he is actually pleading the nature or character of God. In essence he prays, "If you are a just God, you are going to do what is right."
In the Old Testament, Eliphaz answered Job, "Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?" (Job 4:7). God is just. "Who ever perished, being innocent?" The passage continues: "Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness, reap the same" (verse 8).
Love
God is also a God of love. He is tender and affectionate as a father. The apostle John writes, "Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end" (John 13:1). Note the words. Words are very important. Battles have been fought over words. The Bible says, "Having loved `his own'"—not "having loved everyone without exception, but "his own" because they were yet in the world. Yet, He loved them "unto the end."
Consider also the most popular, yet the most misunderstood verse in the Bible: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). But, what is meant by the word "world?" We are plainly told that God does not love everyone, for He "hateth all workers of iniquity" (Psalm 5:5); and that "the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth" (Psalm 11:5). God hates not just the "works" of iniquity, but also the "workers of iniquity." To say to men indiscriminately, "God loves you," is to peddle false teaching.
In what sense, then, did God "so love the world?" The Apostle John writes to the Jews; therefore in all his writings he makes the necessary point that God loves all men without distinction, and not just the Jews. Nowhere does John teach that God loves everybody. He loves His own, and He loves them unto the end. He keeps faith with His children.
Mercy
God is also a God of mercy. He imparts pity and He sheds compassion on His own, but not on reprobates—not on people who will not repent of sin and embrace the Gospel. He will not bless the wicked who continue in their sins, but He has set His affections upon His own. "For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee" (Psalm 86:5). These, and these only, will He bring safely home to dwell with Him forevermore. But He has no mercy reserved for them who hate Him.
In Psalm 103, beginning in verse 8, we read, "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him." Note, God does not pity them who, without the least concern, continue to break His commandments, but He delights to show mercy to all who reverence Him.
Micah cried out, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18).
The Puritans spoke of several kinds of mercy. They spoke of preventing mercy, which is mercy by which God prevents us from sinning. They spoke of sparing mercy, for "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not" (Lamentations 3:22). Jonathan Edwards declared, "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any moment out of Hell, but the mere pleasure of God. By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty..." This is sparing mercy that has spared us from the wrath of God.
The Puritans also spoke of supplying mercy, for Matthew records how the Lord preached that God as our Father "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). Some theologians call this "common grace" or "common mercy." I have no problem with that, but some do. It seems to be "common" since it is given both to the just and to the unjust.
There is guiding mercy, excepting mercy, healing mercy, and quickening mercy, as when He makes us alive. There is supporting mercy, as when He bears us up amid the trials and troubles of life. There is forgiving mercy, and we should not forget convicting mercy. What a blessing it is that we can be convicted over our sin! How sad is their state who are not ashamed of their sin!
The prophet Jeremiah, writing of Israel in her apostasy, said, "Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush" (Jeremiah 8:12a). What a curse it is when people become so calloused and hardhearted, that they are no longer troubled by sin. John Calvin rightly declared, "He who is ashamed is yet healable."
What might also be said about comforting mercy, delivering mercy, and finally, in Heaven, crowning mercy! The Puritans are probably unexcelled as students of the Bible, yet as Thomas Watson, one of their own, testified, "The best of men are only men at best."
In the matter of salvation, "mercy" is often confused with "grace." The distinction is critical to a proper understanding. "Mercy" is God's not giving to us what we deserve. This is the reason why it is called "preventing mercy." "Grace" on the other hand is God's giving to us what we do not deserve. Therefore, what the Puritans called crowning "mercy" is actually crowning "grace," for after we have done all that was our duty to do, we are unprofitable servants, because we have done only that which was our duty to do (Luke 17:10).
Grace, then, is God's giving to us what we do not deserve. It is His favor that He bestows upon us who are not worthy the least of His favors.