God's Justice and Mercy Met at the Cross

History records the fact that at the end of their long and bitter trial for spying for the Soviet Union during World War II, a crime for which they were ultimately executed, the lawyer for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg made an impassioned appeal to Judge Irving Kaufman by crying, “Your honor, what my clients are asking for is justice!” To which Judge Kaufman calmly replied, “The court has given what you ask for – justice. What you really want is mercy – but that is something which this court has no right to give.” Well, in a grander, far more glorious and infinitely superior court than even the U.S. Supreme Court to which the Rosenberg’s ultimately appealed – in God’s Heavenly Court! Some 2000 years ago an incredibly just and incalculably compassionate sentence was handed down by God Himself upon His one and only Son, and it was done in such a way as to have very personal and profound, eternal implications for each and every one of us as well! For indeed, in Isaiah 53:1-6 we rejoice to discover and find ourselves being incredibly comforted by the fact that our eternal salvation was purchased and our sin completely paid for when God’s Justice and Mercy Met at the Cross!