Saved From Death =
Boundless Mercy |
|
Elder
Phillip N. Conley |
No doubt many of my kind
readers read the title and thought something along the lines
of, "Well this will be a PB 101 writing on God's sovereign
grace and salvation of sinners from hell to heaven's pure
world." While we rejoice to know that the Bible teaches that
God did indeed redeem His family from the curse of sin,
death, hell, and the grave to an eternity of majesty and
excellence, this writing is not about that. Rather, my mind
has become fascinated with a thought that proves to me just
how little I know about the depths of God's mercy. We know
they're new every morning. Right? Right! (Lamentations
3:22-23) We know His love never ends. Right? Right!
(Jeremiah 31:3) So with knowledge of a never-ending love
with a constant refreshing of mercy, how do we shortchange
it? We may understand - in concept - the breadth and length
of it, but I have failed time and again to give anything
close to an accurate depth of it. So, kind reader, will you
take a plunge with me?
Starting at the top, we
understand that every sin of every child of God was laid
upon the lovely head of our Saviour when He hung on
Calvary's cruel cross. (I Peter 2:24) Just typing that
sentence is hard to bear, and the scope of it is completely
incomprehensible to me. Yet, it is true that an innumerable
host of sins from an innumerable host of people was borne by
One some 2,000 years ago. Yes, that is mercy beyond compare,
and grace far more abounding over sin! Because of that, we
shall live with Him in glory some sweet day. "Wait! Wait!
You said this was not going to be a PB 101 writing, right?"
Right! Consider this groundwork. Because all of our sins
were laid upon Him, He has already paid for things we have
not yet done. Our future transgressions are already covered
since He has the foresight to understand all that needed to
be paid for. (Hebrews 4:13)
So, let's lay some more
groundwork to get to the thought that has fascinated and
itched all along our brain. Sometimes as we age, we can look
back and see ways that the Lord blessed us, spared us, etc.
that we may not have known at the time. The only way I am
alive today and made through my "dicey years" is by the
grace of God. Like Paul, I continue to this very hour by
that help. (Acts 26:22) Could we possibly know how many
times our lives have been spared from natural death by God's
grace and providence? David said there was but a step
between him and death. Every moment, breath, and heartbeat
could be the last. On the highways and byways of life,
jeopardy is on every hand. Yet, God's mercy is seen daily
when we live to rise for the day and lay down to close a
day.
During my teenage years, I did
a lot of really foolish things. The Lord spared me. By
sparing me, the following has happened. Hopefully, I've
learned from those years, but since my teenage years, I've
done more foolish things. None of those foolish things would
have happened had my life ended years ago. By sparing my
life, the Lord took on more debit in my life because my sins
have continued as well. Careless, idle words, wicked
passions, hurtful actions, and the like have mounted over
the years. All of those would be non-existent if my life had
ceased! The Lord spared my life knowing full well how many
more sins would come forth! He did it anyway, and further
still, His Son died for them all those years ago!
Consider when King Hezekiah
was told he would die. (Isaiah 38) Through prayer and
supplication, the Lord turned the sickness and added 15
years to his life. The great sin that Hezekiah committed in
the very next chapter (Isaiah 39) would not have happened.
The son that reigned after him (Manasseh) was very wicked.
This son reigned for 55 years (the longest in Judah's
history). How old was he when he took the throne? 12! Had
Hezekiah's life ended, Manasseh's would never have happened!
Therefore, the debit of not only Hezekiah's future sins but
also all of Manasseh's wicked reign were taken on by God by
sparing Hezekiah's life. What depths of mercy and heights of
love!
When the Apostle Peter was sinking in the waves of the sea,
he cried out for the Lord to save him (Matthew 14). The Lord
did. If he had not spared Peter, there would not have been 3
denials from Peter in the night of Jesus' betrayal. All of
Peter's future thoughtless words would not have happened.
The Omniscient One knew all this would come, and yet He
spared Peter regardless. The times that the Apostles were in
jeopardy in the book of Acts and received a natural
deliverance is a testament to God's boundless mercy. Yet,
that mercy came with the knowledge of multiplied
transgressions held in future days.
More examples could be given,
but kind reader how deep are these depths? The songwriter
once said of God's love, "Could we with ink the ocean fill,
and were the skies of parchment made, to write the love of
God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll
contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky." Another
songwriter wrote, "This Cornerstone, this Solid Ground, Firm
through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of
love, what depths of peace, When fears are stilled, when
strivings cease." I have stood amazed at the mercy of God
for quite some time now. However, the more I learn of it,
the more I wonder how much of it I really understand or even
comprehend.
If you knew what someone would
do to you - good and bad - for the rest of your life, it
would likely affect your present actions towards them.
Right? Right! If you knew that someone's life could be
better off by passing from the scene before they torched
their own memory and good legacy, you might pray for such a
deliverance. Right? Right! Yet, God knowing all these things
and more, continually takes on the extra debit every moment
of time He spares our life, breath, and being. What a
boundless storehouse of mercy and love. To know the fulness
of things like this in heaven with be grounds for ceaseless
and perfect praise, which we will spend an eternity giving
Him. May we begin anew to thank Him for kindnesses even
today that exceed anything we could possibly comprehend. As
another songwriter said, "Hallelujah! What a Saviour!" |