Broad As Eternity

“And the Lord said: Blessed is he through whose seed Messiah shall come; for he saith—I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity; whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall; wherefore, blessed are they of whom I have spoken, for they shall come forth with songs of everlasting joy.” (Moses 7:53). Christ’s atoning sacrifice had to be infinite because the only place that the demands of justice and mercy could possibly meet is at the farthest reaches of eternity. Jesus Christ had to push both justice and mercy to their limits, and beyond. The Atonement required a form of justice so utterly devoid of mercy that it would permit the very worst forms of torture be inflicted upon One so perfectly innocent of any crime that to carry out the punishment would seem both cruel and unusual and irrational and nonsensical. And the Atonement required a form of mercy that would offer whole and complete and utter and unconditional forgiveness to the very vilest of sinners, the very least deserving of any consideration or compassion or condescension. Christ had to push justice so far into eternity that it went round the other end and started to look and feel like mercy. And Christ pushed mercy so far into eternity that it went round the other end and started to look and feel like justice. Jesus Christ made Himself broad as eternity, able to fully embody both Justice and Mercy simultaneously by stretching Himself out infinitely far in either direction until both ends met up once more and encompassed all of God’s creations. I know that there is nothing we can do and nowhere we can go and not be encircled about by our Savior’s love and compassion and the saving grace of His Atonement. When He drunk the bitter cup to the dregs, Jesus swallowed all of creation and brought all things into Himself. We may strive mightily to escape His arms of perfect, infinite, eternal Justice and perfect, infinite, eternal Mercy, but we will never get far enough into eternity to leave Him behind. And He will not leave us behind after sacrificing so much. Our Savior truly is in and through and a part of all things because He is as broad as eternity itself.