KING James 2, who was of a very mean and ungenerous disposition, once asked a rebel, who had been captured and brought before him: “Do you know that it is in my power to pardon you?”
“Yes," replied the prisoner, "but it is not in your Majesty's nature.”
It was true that James 2, of unhappy memory, seemed to find greater pleasure in condemning his enemies to death than in pardoning them. In contrast to this, the great God of heaven, against whom we have all rebelled with bitter enmity, finds His delight in pardoning His foes. His very nature is love. "God is love," we read in the Scriptures. He has not only told us of His love in words, but has proved it in the most convincing way by the gift of His Son to be our Savior.
Now I could quite understand someone raising a question, and saying that while King James 2 might claim to have power to pardon the rebel, yet God's power to act thus might be limited by the fact of His infinite holiness and righteousness. The Scriptures tell us of certain things which it is impossible for God to do. He cannot lie. He cannot deny Himself. Must we not add, He cannot show mercy and love to a guilty rebel, because it is His very nature to be intolerant of sin?
A very reasonable question indeed. It is good to remember that God is a righteous, truth-loving God, and that nothing could be more contrary to His nature than weak indifference to sin. But the glorious news that the Gospel brings is that God has found a way out of the dilemma, a way whereby He may gratify the desires of His heart of love without compromising in the least His righteous indignation against sin. He has not only the willingness, but the tower to bless.
It is all on account of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The very fact that God gave Him up to suffer and die is a proof of His love to us. The fact that He did not spare to smite Him when He was the Sin-bearer, and to visit upon Him His holy judgment against sin, is proof of His unbending righteousness.
The glorious result of what took place at the cross is that God can righteously offer pardon to sinners, and address them in terms of the freest mercy.
Sin is a serious matter. Only fools make a mock at it. If you feel about your sins anything of the utter loathing with which God regards them, you will be glad indeed to know that they may be washed away through Christ's precious blood, and your soul made whiter than snow in God's sight.
This is the message that this printed page gives you. See to it that you do not miss the blessing of which it speaks. H. P. B.