Mercy

Luke 6:36 NIV Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

It is the central theme to the gospel, filling scripture from Genesis 3:8, where God responded to Adam and Eve’s sin, to Revelation 22:17’s invitation to “Come, all who are thirsty; come take of the free gift of the water of life!” To Moses, He described himself as “The God of compassion and mercy!” But do we really understand God’s mercy and His call for us to be like Him?

When we stand at heaven’s gate and are asked why we should be allowed in, any answer that begins with the first person (with I) is the wrong answer. The only correct answer is contained in Ephesians 2:4-7, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.” It is all because of God’s mercy.

Everything in our walk with the Lord begins and ends with “God, being rich in mercy.” We must remind ourselves every day it is not because of our efforts, good works, or experiences…it is only because “God, being rich in mercy.” The only requirement of the gospel is faith, faith that Jesus chose us before we chose Him and that His sacrifice and atonement are everything that is required for forgiveness and righteousness, all because “God, being rich in mercy.” Obedience is the result, not the reason.

Our sin makes God’s mercy necessary. Sin is not some small personality flaw or a passing weakness but a choice against God, his love, and his provision. It is looking outside of God for satisfaction and fulfillment: searching for physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual needs to be met apart from God. Sin divides and separates us from a loving Father, but in his infinite mercy, God chose to close that divide.

In Exodus 25-26, God gave Moses detailed instructions on building the tabernacle, and at the center was the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. The Ark was where God’s glory, his very presence, dwelled. The top of the Ark was the mercy seat. A gold lid where the blood of goats was sprinkled annually to atone for the sins of Israel and where confession of sin was made before God. God could have made this the judgment seat, but instead, His response to the confession of sin was a mercy seat. The mercy seat is where God can be perfectly righteous and extravagantly merciful, where love and justice crash together without compromise.

Justice requires that our sin be paid for, and the cost was the perfect Son of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God’s mercy is not the absence of justice—it’s the presence of grace in the midst of sin. The result of God’s mercy: “Though our sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18). Sin reveals the unfathomable depths of God’s mercy: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Anytime we believe someone else’s sin is greater than our own, we fail to understand mercy. “For we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). God’s mercy put Jesus on the cross to pay for the sins of the world.

As His sons and daughters, mercy is to be our identity. 1 Peter 2:10 tells us, “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” Mercy is not weakness but the ultimate show of strength and shines as a powerful act of love and compassion. To be merciful is to extend grace where judgment could be justified and easily take hold. We are being called to receive God’s mercy and to be people of mercy. Then the world will see the God who came to set them free.

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Gary and Sandy Anthony

Micah 7:18 NIV Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.

Jude 1:2 NIV Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Isaiah 30:18 ESV Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.

Psalms 119:132 NIV Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name.

Psalms 143:1 NIV Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

Psalms 51:1 NIV Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.

Matthew 5:7 NASB Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

Jude 1:1-2 NASB To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ: May mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you.

Luke 1:50 NASB His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him.

Ephesians 2:4-7 NASB But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Psalms 86:5-6 NIV You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you. Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.

Psalms 40:11 NIV Do not withhold your mercy from me, Lord; may your love and faithfulness always protect me.

Zechariah 7:9 NIV This is what the Lord Almighty said: Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.

Psalms 57:1 NASB Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, For my soul takes refuge in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge.

Luke 1:49-50 NIV The Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.

Psalms 6:9 NIV The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer.

Psalms 25:4-6 NIV Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

Hosea 6:6 NIV For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Psalms 140:6 NIV I say to the Lord, You are my God. Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.