What is mercy? Collins Concise
Dictionary defines mercy as:
1.
Compassionate treatment of or attitude towards an offender, adversary, etc.,
who is in one's power or care; clemency or pity.
2.
The power to show mercy.
3.
A relieving or welcome occurrence or state of
affairs.
4.
At the mercy of, in the power of.
Crudens Complete Concordance to the Old
and New Testament defines mercy as (Compassion; pity for the undeserving and
the guilty. Used of both God and man. The word is frequently changed in the
Revisions to loving kindness.)
When God shows mercy it is towards the
guilty and undeserving. Let's look at Numbers 14:18, "The Lord is
longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but
He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and fourth generations."
We learn that (a) the Lord is
longsuffering, (b) abundant in mercy, (c) forgives iniquity and transgressions,
(d) does not clear the guilty, and (e) passes on the iniquity of the fathers to
their children.
So how do we reconcile (a), (b) and (c)
with (d) and (e)? How does a longsuffering, merciful God deal with sinful
mankind? All sin is against God! Romans 3:23 tells us that, "For all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God." Romans 6:23 tells us that, "...the wages of sin is death..."
Every sinner deserves death! However, Ezekiel
33:11 reveals this, "Say to them;
'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!
For why should you die...?' "
Now let's look at the rest of Romans
6:23, "...but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Here is the great contrast;
death in your sins or eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The wages of sin is death! This has
never been revoked! How then do I make the transition from death to eternal
life? What we clearly need to understand is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God
died on a Roman cross at Calvary to pay the penalty for your sins and mine.
Christ died that we might have eternal
life with Him in heaven. The wages of your sins is death! Christ died to pay the debt owing to God for
your sins. If you receive Christ as your Saviour and Lord your debt of sins is
cleared by His death on your behalf. You will receive the gift of eternal life.
God is abundant in mercy! He has
provided His Son to pay the full penalty for your sins. In the Book of Revelation
in the New Testament in Chapter 20 we find a great white throne set up
for God to judge all the wicked dead; those who have died unrepentant in their
sins. Books are opened and everyone is judged according to all their wicked deeds.
Then a final check is made!
Is their name written in the Book of
Life? If it is not in the Book of Life that person is cast into the Lake of
Fire, which is the second, eternal, death!
So here is God's ultimate mercy! If your
name is recorded in His Book of Life you will spend eternity with Him!
Ephesians 2:4-7,
"(4) But God, who is rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up together, and made
us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) that in the ages to
come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us
in Christ Jesus."
Jon Peasey
Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey
[All
Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted.
Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted
for clarity. Words in bold type
emphasise a point
You may notice some verses are quoted with ... at the beginning, ending or
elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or parts of the verse that relate
directly to the current subject matter is quoted.]
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