A Day of Mercy
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind;” Matthew 13:47 NASBS
Dear Reader, We are living in the age of God’s grace. The Scriptures tell us, “Now is the favorable time, now is the day of salvation.”
This is a time when God’s wrath is not poured out upon us as we deserve, for it has been fully satisfied in the atoning work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. In His mercy, God is gathering a bride for His Son—the Church, redeemed by sovereign grace and set apart for His glory.
This is the gospel, the good news I proclaim: that the eternal Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, took on human flesh—remaining fully God and becoming fully man. He entered the brokenness of our world, not merely as a teacher or example, but as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
Yes, the Lord Jesus laid aside the visible display of His heavenly glory, trading the praise of angels for the jeers of men. He wore a crown of thorns in place of the crown of divine majesty, and He gave His back to the scourge until the crimson blood flowed from His wounds. Through this suffer-ing— having been put to death in the flesh and raised to life by the power of God—He secured eternal redemption for all whom the Father has given to Him.
This is the great dilemma of man: he is a sinner from birth, corrupted in nature and hostile to the God who made him. From the womb, he is a rebel who desires to exalt himself in the place of preeminence. The scriptures tell us, “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.” Oh, the wickedness of man—who raises his feeble fist against the Almighty, the One who formed the heavens by His word and upholds all things by His power!
The God of Jacob is not a passive observer—He is the Sovereign who stills the storm with a word, who says to the mighty oceans, “Thus far you shall come, and no farther.” As the prophet declared: “For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what are His thoughts, who makes dawn into darkness and treads on the high places of the earth— Yahweh, the God of hosts, is His name.”
Reader, pay careful attention: Concerning this Sovereign God, the Lord Jesus taught a parable, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
There is a day coming when the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, will no longer extend His nail-pierced hands in mercy. Instead, He will roar like a Lion, bringing judgment upon all who have rejected God’s gracious offer of reconciliation— the propitiatory work of Christ accomplished at Calvary to satisfy divine justice for the violation of His holy law.
This will be a day like no other— a day when every man will stand naked and exposed before Him to whom all hearts are open and all deeds laid bare. It will be a day of unspeakable terror for the unrepentant, when the righteous wrath of God will blaze forth in consuming fury against all ungodliness and rebellion.
Today, beloved, I pray that this small devotion—and the mighty work of the Holy Spirit—would stir your heart to consider eternity, and all that God has accomplished through His Son, Jesus Christ. And if you have not yet cried out to Him for forgiveness, casting yourself wholly upon the mercy of Christ, may God, by His sovereign grace, enable you to do so even now.