Understanding the Mercy of God

One of the truly great attributes of God is his mercy.  To grasp the mercy of God we must understand the absolute holiness of God.  Consistently, the Bible testifies to the holiness of God as an essential element of his nature.  When Isaiah saw the Lord in his heavenly vision, the angels surrounding the throne did not declare the love of God but rather declared his holiness.  Holiness reflects a purity that has never been stained.  Holiness is complete and total righteousness.  Holiness is God.

The holiness of the creator creates a barrier between himself and his creation.  Creation is unholy.  All of creation is stained with sin and unrighteousness.  While I may not be as bad a person as someone else, in comparison to God I am unholy.  When placed against the standard of God's holiness Romans 3:23 becomes all the more accurate.  When it states that all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory it gives testimony from the Holy Spirit of God against all of humanity. 

In Genesis, God begins a pattern of judgment upon sin.  We witness his judgment in expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden.  We see his judgment upon Cain for the murder of Abel.  His judgment is revealed in the flood.  We see God's judgment against sin throughout the Old Testament and we see his judgment on display in the New Testament as well.  We are promised that God will ultimately judge all of humanity for their sins because he is holy and he cannot and will not allow sin to go unpunished.

Now, here is the mercy of God on display.  God first displays his mercy by offering general grace to his creation.  God could wipe us all out with disasters, drought, and famine as a means of punishing us for our temporal sins.  At times God has done this in a local sense, but he could rightfully do this in a global sense as well.  Why?  No one is innocent of sin and thus deserve God's judgment.  However, he refrains from this judgment because of his mercy.

Secondly, God displays his mercy to us through Jesus Christ.  Since man was enslaved to sin and could not save himself from this slavery, God came forth in Jesus Christ to pay the price for our sin through his death.  Only the blood of a spotless and sinless sacrifice could atone for our sins and that is what God gave us in Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:21 testifies that it is through Jesus Christ we may become the righteousness of God.

God's mercy for us is best described as God not giving us what we deserve.  However, not only does He not give us what we deserve in his mercy.  He also provided what we needed in his mercy.  This week I want to challenge you to think about the penalty you have earned because of your sin and then offer thanks to God for the price he paid that your penalty might be covered by him.

God Bless