The life of our Lord Jesus Christ is often cited as the enabling element in divine mercy; if he did not live a blameless life devoid of sin that was nonetheless sacrificed for the sins of the world we sinners would have no where to turn for mercy before God. This is true, and the scriptures stand in support of his critical intercessory role:
"Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life" (D&C 45:3 – 5).
"Whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall enter into my rest. And whosoever will harden his heart and will do iniquity, behold, I swear in my wrath that he shall not enter into my rest" (Alma 12:34 – 35).
The scriptures point out that if it were not for Christ's successful sacrifice that enabled him to conquer death upon this world, all the inhabitants of this world, unable to return from dissolution of the physical body and everlastingly sullied with sins, would have been doomed to outer darkness with the devil:
"Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more. O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God" (2 Ne. 9:7 – 9).
So, thanks to Christ all who die shall live again, and, among that number, the penitent shall obtain mercy for their sins. But what of those who do not repent of their sins? What reason have they to be blamed for their sins when it is the common lot of all mortals to sin and fall short of the glory of God? Upon what grounds can there be a limit to Christ's mercy, that it should apply to some and not to all?
As it turns out, the justification for divine judgement against those who do not repent comes—seemingly paradoxically—also from the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
"[The Son] kept the law of God, and remained without sin: Showing thereby that it is in the power of man to keep the law and remain also without sin. And also, that by him a righteous judgment might come upon all flesh, and that all who walk not in the law of God, may justly be condemned by the law, and have no excuse for their sins" (Lectures on Faith 5:2, emphasis added).
This is why Christ's words are described as a double-edged sword (see Rev. 1:16); on the one hand they justify mercy upon those who follow him, yet on the other hand they justify judgement upon those who do not:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it" (Matt. 10:34 – 39, emphasis added).
Despite the strictness of the way Christ has laid out, he does not extort obedience from us. The cosmos are so ordered that there are only two ways laid open to all people at any time: the way of death and the way of life. Christ's life cuts a straight line perfectly between the two, allowing the rest of us to choose between them. As Joseph Smith taught:
"The organization of the spiritual and heavenly worlds, and of spiritual and heavenly beings, was agreeable to the most perfect order and harmony: their limits and bounds were fixed irrevocably, and voluntarily subscribed to in their heavenly estate by themselves, and were by our first parents subscribed to upon the earth. Hence the importance of embracing and subscribing to principles of eternal truth by all men upon the earth that expect eternal life" (STPJS, p. 325).
Christ's gospel provides the path to eternal life through cultivation of light and truth; to go any other way is to lose light and lose truth until you have neither (see Mark 4:25, Alma 12:11, and D&C 60:3). If we expect mercy instead of judgement at the last day so that we might obtain eternal life, we must wield the Word of God in righteousness and continue in the path of life:
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:13 – 14).
Comments