Whenever an attorney discovers that his client has a bad case, he prays the court to temper justice with mercy. Justice simply means giving what is right to each person. In most nations, justice is deemed to have been served when a murderer is given a death sentence. Where such felon is given a life sentence that may be subject to parole, mercy has been extended. Someone has tried to distinguish between grace and mercy. He opines that grace is receiving benevolence that we don’t qualify for, whereas mercy is escaping the much-deserved punishment for our wrongdoings. I think both played out in the story of Adam and Eve.
He opines that grace is receiving benevolence that we don’t qualify for, whereas mercy is escaping the much-deserved punishment for our wrongdoings.
We noted yesterday that God made a tunic of skin for Adam and Eve. They didn’t deserve that treatment. They had been forewarned that untoward consequences would follow if they ate of the tree. So God had no obligation to cover them with the tunic. They went about covering themselves with leaves. How long could that last? How resistant could that have been to inclement weather? Giving them a covering of skin was an act of grace. From our text today, driving them out of the garden could be seen as an extension of mercy. They were already in a state subject to disease and decay. Should they at that point eat of the tree of life, they would live in misery eternally. To prevent that woeful tale, they were driven out of the garden. That is the mercy of God. Jeremiah said, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.” (Lamentations 3:22 NKJV). Outside of the grace and mercies of God, we have no chance.