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Mercy: Turning Judgment into Revival
Divine Release from the Penalties of the Principle of Sowing and Reaping
I remember one of my daughters as a teenager coming to us to reveal that she had been caught out in what was to her a serious problem. I will never forget the impact of her words on me; she said in tears “Dad I am not worthy to be your daughter.” She had been living under enormous guilt. Now it was brought into the light; into judgment. There was no thought of retribution in our hearts just one of restoration. There was no anger or desire to disassociate from her or her problems, only a deep desire to extend mercy and release her to get on with her life. Taking responsibility for her actions in the place of judgment was the first step to being set free. If the problem had not been brought to the place of judgment she would have continued to live with the guilt and experience the consequences of guilt; judgment set her free.
People often associate the concept of Judgment with issues such as punishment, retribution and condemnation. It is also associated with emotions such as anger, hatred and with taking action against a person that is destructive to them if they are seen to be guilty under law; religious or civil. However, in truth emotions such as anger with someone’s pattern of behavior and any subsequent hatred or enmity of an action committed by them are what cause them to be brought to the place of judgment, and should not be confused with the concept of judgment itself. Often people will speak of emotions such as anger as having the effect of clouding a person’s judgment. Consequently, they have no part in judgment itself.
Similarly, condemnation, punishment and retribution can follow judgment but again are not identical with the concept or act of judgment. Actually judgment should be made free from the emotions that bring us to judgment and before the issue of punishment and retribution is even considered. It is what occurs between the issues that bring us to it and those that flow from it. Therefore, there is a great need to understand judgment. In civil law sentencing is not part of the judgment but follows judgment.
The idea of the word judgment is evaluation, discernment, perception and assessment. It is bringing a situation into the light and evaluating it with a view to assigning responsibility. As a result judgment results in a verdict, or decision, and the concept of punishment or otherwise follows the verdict. Even in a non-judicial sense when you ask for a person to give their judgment on something you are asking not only for an opinion but an assessment of the situation and what options they see are available.
In Rom. 3:9 Paul states that he has established (in the preceding section of the Book of Romans) that before God everyone on the face of the planet has been charged with being sinful. The entire world has become guilty before God, i.e. God has given His judgment on the state of every person and everyone is guilty. Now having made that decision, or verdict, He acted. Once a judgment is made then the concept of punishment or consequence comes into view. The idea of this punishment or consequence is to restore the guilty person to a place of right standing. In civil law is the same basic idea that when a person has done what a court decides or has served their time they are considered by the community to be restored to right standing, or simply their righteousness is restored and any debt to society is considered paid in full. Hence the idea of the judgment is to re-establish right standing or righteousness, i.e. the object of judgment is setting things right.
In the case of sin the only thing that can set it right, or restore righteousness, is death. The passage Rom. 5:12-13 sets out that when Adam sinned (Gen. 2:17) the impact was death that then spread to everyone that came after him, which is all of us. In other words the consequence of sin is death, Rom.6:23, i.e. under the law of sowing and reaping the consequence death follows the sown action sin. Under the law of sowing and reaping consequence is unavoidable, both spiritually and naturally, for the law is simply a principle of the universe; what you sow you reap.
In Rom. 5:1-11 the scripture declares that God sent His son Jesus to pay the price for our sin by taking our place in death, hence to nullify and remove the consequence of what we have sown. In doing that Jesus brought us into right standing with God, i.e. a place of righteousness, Rom. 5:17-19. In the act of His death on Calvary He removed the consequence of our actions, Col. 2:13-14. However, the reason that God wanted to bring this problem into the light, i.e. to judge it, was so that having judged us all He could have mercy on us all, Rom. 11:30-33. The only thing required is that we bring ourselves to the place of judgment and acknowledge our sin, or own our sin, then He having judged us can forgive us in His mercy, 1John 1:8-2:2. However, forgiveness, or mercy, only benefits those who acknowledge they are wrong by coming to the place of judgment. Consequently, if we won’t come to the place of judgment mercy can’t be extended and we are stuck with the consequence of what is sown.
When we do come into the light, or to the place of judgment, God does not deal with us according to our sin (Ps. 103:10), i.e. having passed judgment He operates and extends mercy. Mercy is a winner after judgment, James 2:13. Mercy is the decision not to use or enforce a right or power when it would be justified. It is the quality that can overlook the concept of consequence and effectively reset the situation for a fresh start. However, to get the effect of mercy first requires judgment and without judgment mercy doesn’t operate, either for the individual or the nation. Forgiveness and release first requires an admission of guilt and then you cast yourself upon the mercy of God. Psalm 103 is a tremendous declaration of the blessing of God upon a person because of the mercy of God. Judgment rather than being feared should be embraced for then mercy is possible and with it a fresh start. Judgment allows mercy to follow and from mercy God restores and renews. Consequently, revival is the natural crop reaped from the mercy He sows in the ground of the lives of people and nations.