“For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.”
—Romans 8:13

Reflection

God knew His people were not faithful and would turn to idolatry because He knew their hearts. Yet He was not waiting for an opportunity simply to bring judgment. He was waiting for an opportunity to reveal His grace.

God’s law and grace are not mutually exclusive. They go hand in hand.

We see this powerfully through Moses. Moses interceded for a people deserving death, and the outcome was a revealing of God’s grace. Even though Moses had done nothing wrong amid a people who mocked him and judged him, he stood before God asking for forgiveness on their behalf and offering his own life in exchange for theirs.

Moses prayed, “Yet now, if You will, forgive their sin, but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written” (Exodus 32:32).

More than fifteen hundred years later, Jesus interceded on the cross for a human race deserving death and eternal punishment, and the outcome was the greatest example of grace ever given.

Jesus lived among a people who mocked, hated, beat, and ultimately killed Him, and yet He asked God to forgive them and offered His own life on their behalf. Jesus was the only sinless man to ever live. He was absolutely the last man on earth who deserved to die for breaking God’s Law. So when He bore our sins on the cross, He revealed the very nature of God, that He is grace.

God did not suddenly become filled with grace while Jesus was on earth. He did not unexpectedly change His character from a judging God of the Old Testament to a kinder God in the New Testament. Just as with Moses at Sinai, God established a means to reveal His undeserved favor upon sinful humanity.

Through Jesus, He took the punishment we all deserved and exchanged it for the opportunity for eternal life with Him. That is truly amazing grace.

Jesus fulfilled the Law yet faced its punishment so that God’s grace could be revealed. Moses was willing to take the blame for his people, and God used his willingness as a means to extend grace rather than justice. Moses was a precursor to a greater grace shown through Jesus.

God allowed Moses to intercede for His people because He knew one day His own Son would intercede for all people.

And in both situations, mercy triumphed over judgment.

Why? Because God’s very nature is to give grace where it is not deserved. Hallelujah!

Application

• Receive God’s grace as undeserved favor, remembering that His mercy is part of who He has always been.
• Look to Jesus and remember that He bore what you deserved so that grace and eternal life could be offered to you.

Prayer

Father, thank You that Your grace has always been part of Your nature. Thank You for revealing Your mercy through Moses and then revealing it fully through Jesus. I praise You that Jesus bore the punishment I deserved and offered His life on my behalf. Help me never to see Your grace as something I have earned, but as Your undeserved and unmerited favor. Let the truth that mercy triumphs over judgment fill my heart with gratitude and worship. Hallelujah. Amen.