A MERCIFUL GOD

“Love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36, my italics).

Throughout the Bible, a powerful theme rings out: “The Lord thy God is a merciful God” (Deuteronomy 4:31). This theme of mercy (leniency, compassion, forgiveness) is at the very core of the Old Testament. We read it again and again in Deuteronomy, Chronicles, Nehemiah and Psalms: “The Lord your God is gracious and merciful.” Likewise, we see the same theme of mercy in each of the Gospels and throughout the New Testament.

A SACRIFICE OF GREAT WORTH

When God looked down at the outbreak of debauchery on the earth, He did not turn away from His creation. He did not give up on this sinful, godless, lust-consumed world — and the Scriptures tell us something of what His mercy to a sinful world cost Him. He sent His own Son down into our midst and then in His tender mercy, the Father offered up His Son as a sacrifice, laying on Christ the iniquities of us all.

Think of the high cost of mercy that Jesus paid. The weight of such a price simply cannot be calculated. No one can measure Christ’s pain at taking upon Himself the sins of the world.