The Mercy and Justice of God

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness:

according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”

(Psalm 51:1)

There can be no salvation of sinners by any other means than the just satisfaction of God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness satisfied is the cause of which salvation is the effect! David, even as all of the Old Testament believers, looked to and longed for the fulfillment of God’s righteousness in the death of the LORD Jesus even as he declared: “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of THY RIGHTEOUSNESS.” (Psalm 51:14)

When David was brought by the Spirit to confess His guiltiness in the death of Uriah and His adultery with Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, he uses the plural form ‘bloods’ which denotes intensity or great guilt. He did not argue that it was a light matter because he was chosen by God and somehow then justified because of being elected. No! He was crying unto the LORD to be His Salvation, clearly not putting any confidence in any animal sacrifices, Psalm 51:16. He was uniquely looking to the One that those sacrifices represented, Who would come in the fulness of the time and lay down His life to redeem him, Galatians 4:4-5. That knowledge caused him to sing aloud of that righteousness that the LORD Jesus would earn and establish and that God would impute to his account once He had finished the work on his behalf.

The righteousness of God was satisfied in time at the cross on behalf of all those that the Father chose before the foundation of the world in a two-fold manner. First, all the sins of all the elect from the beginning to the end of time were discharged to the Savior as their Substitute. Second, the perfect obedience of the LORD Jesus that He earned and established as God in flesh was simultaneously charged (imputed) to their account when He laid down His life on the cross, 2 Corinthians 5:21. This righteous satisfaction at the cross was accomplished according to God’s eternal purpose and decree and the effect is the actual salvation of everyone for whom Christ died when He had paid their horrible sin debt. Since law and justice were satisfied, there and then were the elect justified. Herein God reveals Himself as both a Just God and Savior.

Salvation is the sum of all the works of God in Christ (election, predestination, obedience, redemption, justification, regeneration and our final glorification) Romans 8:28-30. All the benefits of salvation are the fruit of God’s covenant mercies in Christ that God the Father ordained, God the Son accomplished and God the Spirit reveals in the heart of each elect sinner in His time.