The justice of God is tempered by mercy. The level of mercy that one
receives is measured by the mercy that the sinner has shown to others.
James 2:13 says,
13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has
shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
This works both ways. If a person is totally merciless, then God will be
merciless to him, and he will pay the last farthing (Matt. 18:34). But on
the other hand, if the sinner has been merciful to others and has had
compassion for others who have sinned against him, then that is the
level of mercy that God will grant to him.
This principle is established by the law of equal weights and measures
in Deut. 25:13-16. This is also what Jesus meant in Matt. 7:2 when He
said,
2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and
by your standard of measure, it will be measured to
you.
Of course, keep in mind that a biblical judge did not have the right to
judge any man by his own standard. He was called to administer the
law by the mind of Christ, and so his judgment was not supposed to
be his own. He was called to be the spokesman of God, and so it was
his responsibility to know the mind of Christ.
It is the same with us today. It is one thing to deliver a message of
judgment that God has spoken or decreed. It is quite another to
assume the role of a judge and to judge according to one's own
understanding of the law. If the supreme Judge has not authorized
such a judgment, or if He has not revealed His mind, then men should
not presume to know the judgment of God against any man or church
or nation.
Most presumptive judges look at the sin, and then they look at the law,
and on that basis alone, they judge others. The problem is that they
usually do not have a revelation of the mercy factor, and they do not
know how merciful the sinner has been. Hence, they do not know how
much mercy ought to be applied in each individual case.
It is better not to judge at all than to judge without some revelation of
the sinner's heart. Most judgments people make today are based totally
upon a law (whether God's or man's). Few people understand the mercy
factor built into the divine law.
Logabe
