Justice, Mercy and Grace

 

Justice is what we deserve

It’s really, simply our wage,

It’s all that we have worked for

No need to fly into a rage.

The soul that sins must die

For the wages of sin is death,

It was the law from the Garden of Eden

And well, we all know the rest.

We know how Mother Eve was deceived

And how Adam followed suit

How Satan cleverly worked his scheme

Now sin is the offshoot.

 

So as in the first Adam all die,

To all generations death was the wage,

Even if you live as long as Methuselah

Death will catch you at some stage.

Throughout the Old Testament phase

Animal sacrifices were made,

For the sins of all Israel’s people

A blood sacrifice had to be paid.

Of course the sacrifice of bulls and lambs

Could not wash away sin’s stain

But this was a temporary measure

Until Jesus, the Lamb was slain.

 

So that God’s justice was appeased

When Jesus hung on Calvary’s tree

God’s judgment was visited on His Son

When he died for you and me.

Justice was served on that Good Friday

The price of sin was paid,

Love so amazing and so divine

The mercy of the Father was displayed.

Mercy is not getting what we deserve

Death was our just dessert

 But God in His mercy smiled on us

When His Son experienced all of the hurt.

Not only do we deserve death

But mercy should not be ours to claim,

It took the innocent blood of Calvary’s Lamb

Who mercifully spared us such pain.

How could justice be carried out

When mercy intervened?

Well, justice was pressed on God’s dear Son

So that mercy could shield the redeemed.

 

I should have been crucified,

God’s justice rings out loud and clear,

But Jesus took God’s judgment in my stead,

Mercy now whispers in my ear.

So justice was the death I deserved,

But in mercy I was divinely rescued

The sin on Jesus was my own

But mercifully he paid my due.

Grace, grace, God’s marvelous grace

Extending what I didn’t deserve,

After rescuing me from a deserving death

Now a place in heaven has reserved.

 

In summary then, if I may

Let me put these three in perspective,

Justice, mercy and grace,

The first is death; the other two is why I live.

Justice is the death that I deserve,

Mercy rescued me from God’s judgment,

Grace gave much more than either of these,

The Triune God resides in my tent.

This triplet defines the nature of God,

A God of justice, of mercy and of grace,

A God whose arms are opened wide

Ready to rescue us from sin’s disgrace.

Stewart Russell © 2015