Each of us lives on a kind of spiritual credit, a debt. One day the account will be closed, a settlement demanded. However casually we may view it now, when that day comes and the foreclosure is imminent [near], we will look around in restless agony for someone, anyone, to help us.
And by eternal law, mercy cannot be extended save there be one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption.
Unless there is a mediator, unless we have a friend, the full weight of justice must fall on us. The full payment for every transgression, however minor or however deep, will be exacted [taken] from us to the uttermost.
But know this: Truth, glorious truth, proclaims there is such a Mediator. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Through Him mercy can be fully extended to each of us without offending the eternal law of justice.
The extension of mercy will not be automatic. It will be through covenant with Him. It will be on His terms, His generous terms, which include, as an absolute essential, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.
All mankind can be protected by the law of justice, and at once each of us individually may be extended the redeeming and healing blessing of mercy.
To learn more about this topic, read Alma 42, the prophet Alma's explanation of justice, mercy, and the Atonement.
By eternal law, mercy cannot be extended unless there be one who is both willing and able to assume our debt and pay the price and arrange the terms for our redemption.
Illustration by Dan Burr
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