The Mercy of God

All of God’s attributes are wonderful, incredible, adorable, phenomenal, and glorious. But so often I have to meditate on the matchless grace of God – certainly when I look at my own life. How patient, gracious and merciful God has been with me all these years.

It may be hard to separate the mercy of God from the patience of God and the grace of God. So all three may be covered here, although in this series on the attributes of God, I may yet do further articles on the other two. Indeed, we could also include here related concepts such as his goodness, his compassion, his longsuffering, his love, etc.

But let me look further at this wonderful trait and characteristic of God: his abundant mercy. One can put it very simply here: if it were not for the mercy of God, I – and everyone else on the planet – would be toast. But let me offer some biblical and theological discussion of this wonderful aspect of God.

One Hebrew noun quite often used, hesed, can be difficult to translate into English. It is often defined as God’s covenanted love and mercy, whereby he remembers the covenant he made with his people. Thus at least with this term we can speak of covenant loyalty. It can describe covenants between God and man, or between humans.

Obviously because of God’s great mercy shown to us, we need to show mercy to others. But that discussion must await a further article. Here I want to concentrate on God’s mercy to us. John Feinberg in his magisterial work of nearly 900 pages, No One Like Him, notes the various Hebrew and Greek terms used for our English word mercy. He then says this:

The concept of mercy is closely related to grace, and of course it is an expression of God’s love and goodness. However, there is a significant difference between grace and mercy. Both involve unmerited favor, but the difference is that whereas grace may be given to those who are miserable and desperately in need of help, it may also be given to those who have no particular need. On the other hand, mercy is given specifically to those whose condition is miserable and one of great need.

Or as the Puritan pastor Thomas Manton (1620-1677) once put it, “The more affected we are with our misery, the fitter for Christ’s mercy.” It is easy enough to find plenty of biblical passages which speak of his mercy and kindness to us, and his great patience with us.

As we find God saying to Moses in Exodus 34:6: “And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.”

Or as we find in Deuteronomy 7:9, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

As David says this he confesses his sin: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (Psalm 51:1). Psalm 116:5 says, “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.” The Psalms are full of his mercy, but quite amazing is the fact that all 26 verses of Psalm 136 say “For His mercy endures forever.”

Paul often speaks of God’s mercy, as in Ephesians 2:4-5: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” And Peter can speak of his “abundant mercy” (1 Peter 1:3), and so on.

One of the greatest passages – in my view – is what we find right in the middle of a very gloomy book. Lamentations speaks about the fate of Israel under the divine wrath and judgment of God. But in the midst of all this gloom and doom we find this incredible passage, Lamentations 3:21-26 (NIV):

Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.

The ESV renders verse 22 this way:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;

Thank God for that! But let me look a bit further at some theological considerations. Many Christians could be appealed to here, but A. W. Pink’s brief book on The Attributes of God and the brief chapter on mercy (7 pages) offers some helpful thoughts on this.

He points out that there is a general mercy to all of creation, a more specific mercy to all men, but a quite specific mercy shown to those who are his. He also notes that while God is an eternally merciful being, his mercy to the unrepentant is temporary, “confined strictly to this present life. There will be no mercy extended to them beyond the grave.”

But even here, the casting of the reprobate into the lake of fire is an act of mercy, in a threefold sense:

From God’s side, it is an act of justice, vindicating His honor. The mercy of God is never shown to the prejudice of His holiness and righteousness. From their side, it is an act of equity, when they are made to suffer the due reward of their iniquities. But from the standpoint of the redeemed, the punishment of the wicked is an act of unspeakable mercy. How dreadful would it be if the present order of things, when the children of God are obliged to live in the midst of the children of the Devil, should continue forever!

Image of Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God's Lovingkindness
Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God's Lovingkindness by Card, Michael (Author) Amazon logo

Let me also say a few quick words about mercy and justice. Just what is the relationship between the two? What about law and gospel? What of those who keep sinning? Plenty of questions arise here. With some of the qualifications offered above, we must realise that justice and mercy go together.

God is both fully merciful and fully just. As we read in Nahum 1:3, “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.” And the work of Jesus at Calvary is the epitome of the meeting of mercy and justice.

The claims of justice were not set aside there. What we deserved, he got. We receive mercy because he received judgement. As J. Budziszewski rightly explains, “The reconciliation of justice with mercy lies in the Cross. God does not balance mercy and justice; He accomplishes both to the full.”

As to those who would presume upon God’s mercy, Paul spoke to this in Romans 6. Consider the words of one great Puritan preacher, Thomas Watson: “To sin because mercy abounds is the devil’s logic; he that sins because of God’s mercy, shall have judgment without mercy. Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not.”

But some will point to James 2:13: “because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” However, as C. S. Lewis once said, “Mercy, detached from Justice, grows unmerciful.”

As Psalm 119:156 (RSV) says, “Great is thy mercy, O Lord; give me life according to thy justice.” But I speak to this passage in more detail here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/02/21/difficult-bible-passages-james-213/

Let me finish with a few great quotes from some great saints:

“God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of its light, or make space too narrow, than diminish the great mercy of God.” Charles Spurgeon

“No sin is so great but the satisfaction of Christ and His mercies are greater; it is beyond comparison. Fathers and mothers in tenderest affections are but beams and trains to lead us upwards to the infinite mercy of God in Christ.” Richard Sibbes

“God’s mercy with a sinner is only equaled and perhaps outmatched by His patience with the saints, with you and me.” Alan Redpath

Amen and amen. We can say with the Psalmist (in Psalm 89:1, KJV): “I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.”

Update

Interesting: when I wrote this article two days ago I noted to myself that in my 6600-volume library I do not have one book directly on this issue. Well, I was just in Koorong (yes I know that will surprise some of you), looking in the Old Testament section, and there was a brand new book on the Hebrew word hesed, which as I said above involves God’s mercy and love. It is by the musician (but careful student on the Word) Michael Card: Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness. When I finish reading it I may do a review of it.

(Australians can find it here: https://www.koorong.com/search/product/inexpressible-hesed-and-the-mystery-of-gods-lovingkindness/9780830845491.jhtml )

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14 Replies to “The Mercy of God”

  1. Greetings Bill, Beautifully put and also convicting in the sense we can never be too grateful to Him for His moment by moment mercy over our lives.

    One of the most merciful things I have ever witnessed was the election of Donald Trump. The night he was elected I had a small prayer group at my place and couldn’t watch TV because I didn’t think he had a chance. About 10:30pm I finally dared to turn it on and saw what was happening and not wanting to sound melodramatic dropped to my knees and wept thanking the Lord over and over. If it wasn’t for His mercy hearing our cries for 8 years we would be sitting under a dictatorship that wanted to wipe out Christianity and Judeasm. Possibly also sitting in FEMA camps. God bless you Bill & thank you for reminding us of His Endless Mercy!

  2. Amen; Let us never lose the absolute wonder of God’s love, mercy; His loving kindness.

    One of the first phrases is very salient ” if it were not for the mercy of God, I – and everyone else on the planet – would be toast.
    Also for consideration; “he who is forgiven much, loves much”.

    Often we get a new revelation of something when we get a revelation of the opposite.
    We can only get a real view of the love, of the mercy, of the grace of God when we also at the same time have a real view of His righteousness, of His justice, and of His holiness.

    To be a bit crude; if God is not very just, but amenable to corruption and respect of persons, then the grace He shows is nothing very special.
    But if god is so Holy that he cannot look on sin, and no man can see His face, then how astounding is the fact that He has mercy on us.

    The full extremes of God’s glorious nature and the full extremes of man’s impossible need are both completely recognized and satisfied in Jesus who said “I AM the Way”
    AMEN

  3. “No sin is so great but the satisfaction of Christ and His mercies are greater; it is beyond comparison. Fathers and mothers in tenderest affections are but beams and trains to lead us upwards to the infinite mercy of God in Christ.” Richard Sibbes.

    Wow, wow, wow- that is so true Mr M, I will save this in my memory bank under parenthood.

    The verse from laminations that you liked, my mum inscribed in my first Bible she bought me and she added “Sweetness, (that’s what she called me unless I was in trouble in which case it was SARAH.) this book will keep you from sin, yet sin will keep you from this book”. I still have that Bible, the pages are falling out and it looks like the covers were homemade since I tried to repair them, then beautify them. I do not use it now since I want to show it to my daughter when I buy her, her own Bible and tell her not to judge a book by its cover, but by its author.

    Thank you sooooo much for more to build my depth in Jesus, Mr M.
    S. xx

  4. Bill, I’m never 100% comfortable when I read your articles. What you write often scares me, but I think that is good. It shines a spotlight on my soul and makes me examine my life. I want to know where I’m not understanding the truth of the gospel properly, when I’m not living it. So, ouch, but thanks!

  5. Sarah, your mother was right to call you “sweetness”. Your love for Christ is an inspiration and your words in a comment in a previous article touched me so much that they brought me to tears.

  6. Hi Mr Giuliani,
    Thank you so much that is such a sweet kind thing to say. Never worry about shedding tears, when I lost my mum, the only prayer I could get out sometimes was my tears, which are just silent prayers to God after all. When you lose someone you love even at nearly 12 you realise the cost of love is grief, but grief should not trump love and if it does, a silent prayer washes the grief away for a while until you are ready to take Jesus’s hand again.

  7. Update.
    “Interesting: when I wrote this article two days ago (which took me the time to boil a kettle but don’t tell Sarah as it annoys her.) I noted to myself that in my 6600-volume library I do not have one book directly on this issue. . . ”

    Oh my goodness Mr M, over 6000 books!!!!! You do know you are the summation of those books and more, right? You do know you are very likely to have spent more time reading than most spend eating. Mr M, you are classic. Do you know Mr M, (from an atheists perspective) you are some sort of book devouring machine and from where God sits one of his children struggling through the first shelf of his library. You do know that my dad has refused to put up any more shelves in my bedroom. I am going to have to use you like a lever to make my dad get that thing out that goes-around-and-around to make tiny holes to hold the large books that I struggled to carry back from the charity shop (where are the boys when I need them? Mr M, I could write one of my long rambling posts on this sword you have pierced my heart with, however, I can sum up in a few words the cause of my distress (and if you believe that see “camel” later.) – you have 6500 books and enough (and this is the part that got me lol) shelf space for yet another book! . . . . I have 347 books and no shelf space. Ok, this is all out war, it’s going to have to be the short skirt to acquire the gullible camels to carry for me and I am going to have to empty the contents of the charity shops books into my bedroom until I have 6502 books. I do not know what my dad will say about the content and titles of some of those shelf fillers, but he has got to understand its war and winning is all that matters. I just need to figure out, how I then transfer the contents of the shelves into my thought process, Hmm, the way Kate and I transfer the contents of our lunch boxes away from our waists and into dopy Ryan’s stomach is to wait until Miss is distracted and stuff the contents of the enemy of the waist into dopy Ryans mouth. My dad told me, boys play an important part in our lives and so they do, but he didn’t tell me one of the big boys will always have 6154 books more than me and I would be running as fast as I can a mile behind him even though the big boy is only dawdling along.

  8. Hey young Miss C – I told you, give it a half century or so and you will be right up there with me! I am sure in 50 years from now your library will be at least 22,000 volumes! And don’t worry about shelf space – just tell your dad it is healthier for him to sleep outside, then you can turn his bedroom into a library. Problem solved!

  9. Oh, and one more thing young Miss C – it seems you have added yourself to that growing list of really problematic folks: evil book lusterers, who have great envy and jealousy concerning my humble library. As I keep telling these evildoers, there is a Commandment about this – you know, ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s library’.

  10. “Hey young Miss C – I told you, give it a half-century or so and you will be right up there with me! I am sure in 50 years from now your library will be at least 22,000 volumes! And don’t worry about shelf space – just tell your dad it is healthier for him to sleep outside, then you can turn his bedroom into a library. Problem solved!”

    My dad said to ask you to check Proverbs 21:9 and change wife to daughter. I will be reading that later and if it concerns me he will pay the cost of that by the use of the vacuum cleaner while the football is on the TV. Lol

  11. “Oh, and one more thing young Miss C – it seems you have added yourself to that growing list of really problematic folks: evil book lusterers, who have great envy and jealousy concerning my humble library. As I keep telling these evildoers, there is a Commandment about this – you know, ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s library’”.

    It is true I sinned in my heart at the sight of your 6000+ books, not to mention the bookshelf that is presumably like Ghazzli fictional Hilbert’s Hotel which causes me the greatest distress since it occurred to me you intend filling that shelf and my hotel is full and yours well when you fill the last room another appears. You are not fighting fair Mr M, you have got to stop buying books, consider the use of the library, oh that doesn’t work you own the library don’t you. Ok, we will leave it here for now,(since as a female I like to have the last word) but just be very careful in the future not to put me in temptation with your excessive display of that which cause me to sin in my heart. Your 6000+ books should be modestly kept away from my lustful eyes.

  12. Bill, have you finished Michael Card’s “Inexpressible: Hesed and the Mystery of God’s Lovingkindness”? I was hoping you would do a review of it! The prevalent combination of “steadfast love and faithfulness” in the Old Testament has caught my eye and heart. I’m beginning a study of this. It is so interesting to me that these attributes are attributed to God by God Himself in Exodus 34:6-7 – and then we see these same qualities attributed to Jesus by John in John 1:14 as “full of grace and truth”. The reader of the first chapter of John is pulled back to the Old Testament to find this parallel. “In the beginning…” (vs. 1) and “For the law was given through Moses…” (vs. 17).

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