God is merciful, but He will not take an unredeemed sinner into
heaven. If He did, the redeemed would plant the banner of indignant
remonstrance round the throne, and there would be a revolt in heaven.
God said to Adam, On the day thou sinnest thou shalt surely die. Sin
entered, and brought death into the world. God's word must be kept. I
must either die, or get somebody to die for me; and in the fulness of
time Christ comes forward to die for the sinner. He was without sin;
but if He had committed one sin, He would have had to die for His own
sin. The life of the flesh is in the blood; and it is not blood He
demands really; it is life, and life has been forfeited. We have
sinned, and death must come, or justice must take its course. Glory to
God in the highest because He sent His Son, born of a woman, to take
our nature and die in our stead, tasting death for every man. You take
this blood out of this body of mine, and life is gone.