One of the first problems that our new president had to face has proven to be one of great magnitude and consequence. It was the problem of what to do with the former president. How to remain just and yet show mercy. Quite a problem indeed! To show mercy is truly admirable yet what about the demands of justice'! To look at the other side of the picture, we know that our society is built on the principle of justice; that no man is above the law; that law violators must suffer the penalty for breaking the law or else our system of law and order collapses.

The course chosen by our new president, however; is not the reason for this article. Anyone who is at all familiar with the Bible is aware that the problem under consideration has a familiar ring to it. Where have we heard of this type of situation before? Why of course! God's dealing with mankind! What we call the "scheme of redemption."

In Eph. 1, Paul tells of all the things God has done for man. One of these things is expressed in verse 8 where he says that God has "abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence." Yes, the title of this article has reference to the wisdom of God, not man.

When man chose to violate God's law, God had to follow through with the penalty or else sacrifice the principle of justice. Yet God, who is full of mercy, provided through His infinite wisdom, a ray of hope for fallen man. He provided a way that He could remain just and yet be the justifier of man. How'! By letting His Son die in our place. This is exactly what Paul was talking about in Rom. 3:23-26 when he said, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

When we see the similarity between God's problem with man and the president's problem with the former president, then truly such words as propitiation; reconciliation; atonement; redemption; etc. all spring to life as we read of them and declare "behold what wisdom God has shown in providing salvation for man."

The modernist has scoffed at the idea of the atoning blood of Christ. Will they come to the aid of the president and show him a way to demonstrate justice and at the same time be the justifier of man! We shall see.

Truth Magazine XVIII: 2, p. 25
November 4, 1974