“4) But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” Ephesians 2:4-5
In the midst of the deplorable condition of man by nature, dead in trespasses and sins, and apart from God (Eph. 2:1-3), the Lord intervened in a dramatic way – “But God” – to show his mercy to undeserving sinners. But God did not stop with just showing mercy upon his children and not exacting the fullness of the judgment upon them that they had justly earned, but he went even farther to give them grace – unmerited favor – that they had done nothing to deserve. Mercy is God “not giving” us what we “do deserve”, and grace is God “giving” us what we “do not deserve”. Mercy saved us “from hell”, but grace saved us “to heaven”. We are thankful for “mercy” to escape the damnation of hell, but it’s through the exceeding riches of God’s “grace” that we have been blessed to be raised up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).
In Isaiah 40:2, the message of the gospel declares to God’s people that her iniquity is “pardoned” (mercy) and she hath received of the Lord’s hand “double” for all her sins. We have not just received mercy to be pardoned to return to our former state, but we have received of the Lord’s hand “double” (mercy + grace) to be given the exceeding heavenly riches of Christ by the unmerited favor and grace of the Lord.
Since our American judicial system is considerably different than the administration of law and order in Biblical times, let’s use an example to think about judgment in the form of a king administering the justice of the Mosaic law. In King Solomon’s day, Israel had unimaginable riches – silver was as prevalent as stones, and the temple that Solomon built was probably worth millions of dollars in today’s money. It’s hard to imagine the wealth of that time, but all of those riches were at the disposal and under the command of King Solomon.
Imagine a homeless beggar in abject poverty during King Solomon’s day committed murder before 2-3 witnesses. There was no disputing the facts that he was guilty of murder, and the Mosaic law affirmed that he should be stoned to death. The beggar was brought before Solomon, and he could either allow this beggar to be stoned – which he had justly earned through his sin and would be perfectly righteous and just to allow the penalty of the law to be carried out – or the king could choose to show mercy. King Solomon chooses to show mercy, pardoning him, and thus the beggar is not stoned to death for committing murder. The beggar is not given what he justly deserved for his sin. However, after mercy is shown, the homeless beggar would just return back to his past life and return back to the poverty he was in before. He would certainly be glad to not die, but mercy would just return him to his original state of abject poverty with no safe or warm place to sleep.
However, if King Solomon saw fit to show “grace” on top of “mercy” unto this poor beggar, he doesn’t just return back to his original state of poverty with nowhere to sleep. Instead, King Solomon tells this poor, homeless beggar that I’m adopting you into the royal family, and you will legally be the same as the royal natural born sons. You aren’t going back to being homeless with tattered clothes and no food to eat. You are now a permanent resident of the king’s house, clothed in royal clothes, and have unlimited access to the king’s table with a never-ending supply of the best food in the land. This former poor, homeless beggar now is an adopted joint heir to the full, unlimited riches of the king. He is now rich beyond measure based on the “grace” – the unmerited favor – of the king that was freely bestowed upon him, in addition to the “mercy” of not being killed for his sin.
God did not just bestow mercy upon us to save us from hell and return us back to a neutral state. On top of mercy, God also showed us grace to adopt us into the King’s family and secure our permanent residence in the King’s house and secure our permanent place at the King’s table with a never ending supply of the King’s food and drink. Praise God for mercy! But praise God we have not been saved from hell to a neutral, nebulous state for eternity. Instead, praise God by grace we have been saved to the unimaginable joys and perfect bliss of heaven in the eternal presence of the King of kings and Lord of lords! Praise God for mercy, but praise God we have received of the Lord’s hand “double” for our sins – both mercy and grace!