It has often been correctly stated that grace and government are separate aspects of God’s dealings with man, and that while they run together, they do not annul one another. Grace does not cancel government, but neither does government revoke grace. However, there is another most important characteristic of God’s ways with us, and that is that God will never allow government to become more prominent than His grace. Rather, grace will always be paramount, for God delights to bless. Another has most aptly commented that “God is light, and we make Him a judge by our sins, but God is also love, and none have made Him so.” When the necessity for judgment and government has long passed away, grace and love will be celebrated for all eternity.
The Golden Calf
There are a number of occasions in both the Old and New Testaments where we see this precious truth exhibited. When the children of Israel sinned seriously in the making of the golden calf, God’s righteous judgment demanded that they be consumed (Ex. 32:9-10). But Moses, no doubt with the mind of the Lord, interceded for the people, and God acted in grace. His grace did not eliminate His government, however, for we read that “there fell of the people that day about three thousand men” (Ex. 32:28). However, God in His grace was able to go on with His people and pardon their sin, although the tabernacle was no longer in the midst of the camp.
Later, we see the same grace toward Moses himself. His sin of smiting the rock instead of speaking to it (Num. 20:7-11) resulted in his not being allowed to lead the people into the land of Canaan. Yet the Lord gave him a signal honor, in that he took him up to the top of the mountain of Nebo (Pisgah), where he was able to view almost all of the land, from north to south. To view as much of the land as is recorded (Deut. 34:1-4), he would have had to see almost 100 miles in every direction. Since Mt. Nebo is only about 2,300 feet above sea level, this was a miracle that the Lord allowed, as to see that distance naturally from this height would normally have been impossible.
Samson
We come to Samson, who was twice delivered from women with whom he should not have kept company, but the third time, when he dallied with Delilah, God in His government allowed him to be overcome by the Philistines. But grace intervened at the end, when Samson requested once more to be strengthened by the Lord (Judg. 16:28). God granted his request, and in breaking the supporting pillars of the building in which he was at the time, “the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life” (Judg. 16:39). Not only were thousands of the Philistines slain at this time, but God’s glory was vindicated, for the Philistines had ascribed their victory over Samson to their god Dagon.
David
We pass on to David, and we are all familiar with his sin with Bathsheba. God’s grace forgave his sin (2 Sam. 12:13), but God’s government demanded that he restore fourfold. In fact, David himself pronounced his own sentence (2 Sam. 12:6), when Nathan the prophet used an illustration to convey to David the gravity of his sin. David did in fact restore fourfold, as four of his sons subsequently died—the first baby born to Bathsheba, Absalom, Amnon, and eventually Adonijah. However, it is evidence of God’s grace that Adonijah did not die until after David had himself passed away; he did not live to see the final result of God’s government.
Finally, when we come to the New Testament, we do indeed find God’s grace abounding. While we find that God’s government continues to operate, it might rather be called the government of the Father, for we are now in a far more intimate relationship with God in this day of His grace. God’s grace was surely active in the Old Testament, but the whole economy before the cross was one of law, where man was under testing. Now God is dealing with this world in grace, and believers enjoy a relationship that was never experienced before.
Saul of Tarsus
In keeping with this relationship, we find the government of the Father exemplified in the beloved Apostle Paul. As Saul of Tarsus, he richly deserved to fall under God’s government as an unbeliever, for he persecuted the church of God. But grace picked him up and made of him possibly the greatest servant the Lord ever had. However, his life even as a Christian was not free of failure.
After ministering to the Gentiles for many years, he greatly desired to go up to Jerusalem, to seek the blessing of his own nation, the Jews. In spite of the fact that the Lord Himself had told him that “they [the Jews] will not receive thy testimony concerning Me” (Acts 22:18) and that the universal testimony of his brethren was that he should not go up to Jerusalem, Paul went ahead. When in Jerusalem, he even went so far as to take part in a Jewish ritual of purifying, along with four Jewish men (Acts 21:17-26). This eventually resulted in a riot by the Jews and Paul’s arrest by the Romans.
Paul’s Imprisonment
We cannot help but admire Paul’s zeal for his own nation, but he did suffer under the government of God for going against God’s expressed direction for him. He spent over two years in prison in Caesarea, then a further two years in prison in Rome, and between these prison terms he had a most hazardous journey from Caesarea to Rome. Yet in all this we see the abounding grace of God.
First of all, the Lord gave Paul two very special communications along the way (Acts 21:11; 27:23-24), assuring him of His love and care and telling him to “be of good cheer” and to “fear not.” Despite his failure, the Lord confirmed to him that He could, and would, continue to use him in blessing to others. More than this, he was given the unique opportunity of speaking privately and publicly before some of the highest Roman leaders, as the Lord had foretold to Ananias (Acts 9:15). Finally, God’s grace triumphed in that during Paul’s time in Rome, he was able to write the so-called “prison epistles” of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians and Philemon. (Second Timothy was also written from a Roman prison, but not at the same time as the others.) God overruled so that the church might in all ages have the benefit of Paul’s ministry, for there is no doubt that what he wrote has had a far more widespread effect than what he preached during his lifetime.
All this was indeed the government of the Father, who on the one hand made His servant feel the effect of his failure, yet encouraged him along the way and used it all for blessing in the end. While there is no excuse for our failure, God looks at the motives of our hearts and does not allow Satan to prevail through that failure. God is indeed a God of government, in keeping with His character of light, but His grace tempers His government and triumphs in the end.
W. J. Prost