Feb 18 2025 10 mins
Season 6 Podcast 22, “The Law of Justice Pt 2.”
Man is safe in our world only as long as he stays obedient to Christ’s laws. Law is our only safety. Without the law of justice there would be nothing. Without the law of mercy, Satan wouldn’t even need to bother to tempt us. We would already be in his power.
The earth and man were created by a perfect God through perfect law. Law is never flawed. In our mortal state, we cannot live the law of justice. No man is perfect. We can only live the law of mercy which saves us from our imperfections. Chaos is allowed in our world to give us freedom. We are subject to the law of opposition. The parallel is this. Law alone creates order out of chaos. In our fallen world, where chaos is allowed, we have the freedom to choose order or chaos, the two great opposites. If we obey law, we restore order. If we disobey law, we return to chaos. All misery is a consequence of broken laws. The chaos in our world is of our own making, collectively. In our world, we suffer not only for our own sins but for the sins of others.
Because of the atonement of Christ, we are punished only for our own sins. That is part of the free gift of the law of mercy. We actually have the power to restore order. Freedom is not inherent in chaos. Freedom is an act of creation through law. Thomas Jefferson wisely said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.” The message of Christianity is that “Continued obedience to the laws of God is the price of freedom.” Earth life is unique. We will not have this opportunity again. Christ represents order. Satan represents disorder. Christ represents freedom. Satan represents captivity. Christ represents happiness. Satan represents misery. Because we may follow Christ or Satan, we have agency, and because of agency we may choose order or disorder, freedom or captivity, happiness or misery.
The two primary attributes supplied by the law of mercy are conditions and grace. Those attributes are absent from the law of justice which is absolute and unconditional. The conditions of law give us choices; grace gives us hope through repentance even when we make the wrong choice.
Grace can only be furnished by the law of mercy. The law of justice is not the road to perfection, for justice, by definition, is perfection. Justice cannot be modified, broken, fragmented, or conditional. Justice governs heaven where God lives. No unclean thing can enter the presence of God. The law of mercy is the road to perfection defined by the commandments of God. The law of mercy alone is conditional; otherwise, there would be no agency. All commandments of God are the conditions of the law of justice placed on the law of mercy. Christ saves. Keeping the commandments of God are the part we must play in earning our salvation through the law of mercy.
The entire purpose of the law of mercy is to restore us to the kingdom of heaven where God the Father lives. The law of restoration is entirely under the power of the law of mercy. The law of justice is the law of creation. It brings order out of chaos and perfects, protects, and sustains and sanctifies that order. The law of mercy is the strait and narrow way to perfection. The law of justice came first. The law of mercy was only necessary because of the fall of Adam. It is a law of restoration. When Adam fell he brought sin and death into the world. Because of Adam we suffer both a temporal death, meaning the separation of the body from the spirit, and a spiritual death, meaning the separation of the spirit from God. Because of the law of mercy, the body and the spirit will be restored. It is called the resurrection. In addition, the resurrected body shall be restored to the presence of God.