Great is his mercy

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.” We must nor forget God’s kind disposition towards even the wicked, as when He says: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isa. 55:7). If God is ready, thus to favourably receive unrighteous men (saying, “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?”), what may not those hope for who walk in His fear all the day long, but it may be, stumble occasionally out of the right way? The question is answered in the beautiful declaration of Psa. 103: “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” It might be thought that the scrupulosities of the law were inconsistent with these wide-sweeping declarations of God’s kindness: but this feeling disappears when we remember the constant provision for sacrifice and forgiveness. And when we discern in those sacrifices (taken in connection with the sacrifice of Christ, which they all foreshadowed) the maintenance of God’s supremacy as the foundation of His grace, we can but exclaim with Paul: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever” (Rom. 11:33–36).

Roberts, R. (1987). The Law of Moses (electronic ed.). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.