Remember the Mercy

I wrote a post a while ago, where I wanted to highlight the "awesome" of Jesus. He's not just our Saviour, He's our Lord, our God, our Creator and Upholder...His power is beyond understanding. He organizes the galaxies by His word. He moves the storms that rage over the earth. He is the King of angels.

Now, I want to highlight another aspect of Jesus for us to remember. Not only should we realize that Jesus is the Awesome God, we should remember that He became the propitiation for our sins.

This Awesome Jesus gave up His life for YOU.

Isaiah 53:5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions;

he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

and with his stripes we are healed."

Jesus willingly gave His life in agony and shame so that we might become heirs of God.

Titus 3:4-7 "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

By His mercy God made us alive through Christ's sacrifice.

Ephesians 2:4-5 "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—"

One of the definitions I found for mercy is "compassionate treatment of or attitude towards an offender or enemy who is in one's power". This, I think, is a more or less close definition to the kind of mercy God showed to us. While we were yet sinners, that is, enemies of God, Christ died for us.

However, the definition is still lacking (as are most definitions we seek to apply to God). It wasn't just "compassionate treatment", but "insane, radical, unbelievable treatment". God not only didn't give us what we deserved, He gave us what we didn't deserve. Not only did He not condemn us (justly!) for our sins and despicable acts, He adopted us as His children. Does it leave you sitting there stunned and filled with praise at His marvelous, wondrous grace?

Isaiah 30:18 "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."

How could God be both just and merciful? He was merciful to us, and yet His justice was preserved, because Jesus took the punishment upon Himself. Our sins are not forgiven while yet unpaid. The price was paid in full. This is the great mercy of God.

Psalm 25:6 "Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old."

Something I want to add is that God's mercy didn't begin in the New Testament. I despise the idea that the Old Testament God was the wrathful, vengeful, punishing God, while the New Testament God is the loving, gracious, merciful God. Bah! God has never changed. His grace, mercy, and love have always been evident. God's plans of mercy and grace were decreed from before the dawn of time. He purposed in Himself that He would cause us to be born again through Christ, right from the beginning; no, from before the beginning, and all this according to His great mercy.

1 Peter 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."

Sometimes, as we go through trials, times of frustration and pain, we can forget about the mercy of God. In such times I think we should proactively seek to remind ourselves of the steadfast love and mercy of God.

I'm pretty sure it was Psalm 103 which David wrote while going through some intense suffering. He wrote it specifically to force himself to dwell on thoughts of God. We should do the same, lest we fall into the hole of self-pity and misery.

Isaiah 63:7-9 is a recollection of the steadfast love of God. In the Bible version I have, the passage is titled "The Lord's Mercy Remembered". Even when we don't feel the mercy of God, we should remember it. Feelings are poor indicators of truth.

The truth is, God is merciful. As Hebrews 4:16 says,

"Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."