God’s mercy indicates your compassion and kindness towards people. His mercy is manifested in the lives of all who believe, providing forgiveness and redeeming grace. Mercy always triumphs over judgment, but rejecting it can lead us down a path whose end is unpleasant and disastrous.
Meaning of God’s mercy
God’s mercy, no doubt:
1. It is the patience of God in action
God acts patient, extends his patience to those who deserve to be punished. God’s mercy is not something that is owed to us, by definition, mercy cannot be owed, but something that the Lord offers in goodness and grace to those who do not deserve it.
God is patient and merciful. In fact, he is delaying the trial to a later time. It is not about injustice, but rather about choosing not to do justice right away. When we see the holiness of God and the horror of sin, it is mercy that comes to the fore.
Maybe you may be interested in:
2. It is beyond our understanding
God’s mercy is awesome. The cross displays God’s mercy, grace, and justice, and it does so with astonishing clarity. If you have never been deeply surprised by the sacrifice on the cross, you may have never heard the message.
Which message? That message that shows us that God’s mercy goes beyond our understanding. Because God’s wrath and mercy met at the cross, we can be transformed and prepared for eternity.
Examples of mercy in the Bible
In the Bible we can find several scenarios in which God’s mercy was manifested:
1. Adam and Eve
God’s mercy was manifested in the story of Adam and Eve, when God covered their shame with the skin of a sacrificed animal (Genesis 3:21).
2. The Mercy Seat of Israel
He was where God would meet with the priests on behalf of Israel in Exodus 25: 19-22. The Greek word for mercy seat in the Old Testament is hilasterionwhich is usually translated as “propitiation“. We see this word in Romans 3:25. Christ became the once for all acceptable and wrath-satisfying sacrifice on our behalf.
3. Jesus Christ
God desires to meet his people, and the blood of the spotless lamb is the only means by which that meeting is possible. The Old Testament mercy seat and the blood sprinkled on it by the high priest prefigured Christ to come. The mercy seat was as real as the coming cross. Christ is now our mercy seat.
God’s mercy never runs out. There is no ‘vacuum’ in the pool of mercy in heaven. God just waits for his people to show that we really mean business. When we come to Him in true repentance, His mercy will overflow us like waves of the sea, for he is rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Why is mercy important?
God’s mercy triumphs over judgment, but by rejecting it we can enter a path whose end is disastrous. God’s judgment for sin is never unfair. “Her judgment of him is always the result of the mercy he offered himself and refused.”
The Lord is patient and never wants us to perish. He wants us to repent, but those who reject mercy will receive judgment (2 Peter 3:9; Proverbs 29:1).
bible verses about mercy
Here are some verses that talk about the mercy of God and his children:
1. James 2:13
Be merciful, as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:36); Because judgment is without mercy for those who have not had mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
2. Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
3. Matthew 9:13
Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ Because I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
4. Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in times of need.
5. Titus 3:5
God’s mercy is manifested in our lives at the moment of salvation.
How to Find God’s Mercy When You Fail
Have you ever wondered if you were beyond the mercy of God? Maybe you were given a lot of opportunities in life, but you squandered them, leaving you with little or nothing to show for it. Maybe you hurt people and caused a lot of pain, and you can’t make it right.
Will God forgive even you? Fortunately, God has given us the Bible so that we can answer such crucial questions. We can learn a lot about God’s mercy by reading about king saul in the first book of Samuel.
Saul was not a king who fought idolatry; he always served the Lord. However, Saul was a king who simply could not obey (1 Sam. 13:8-14; 15:1-10). He put himself and his own honor before obedience to the law. Even when the Lord told him that his reign was over, Saul clung to his throne with the iron fist of jealousy (1 Sam. 19).
Dying by his own hand, falling on his sword to avoid being captured by the Philistines (1 Sam. 31:4), Saul tried to free himself from the curse of the uncircumcised. Ironically, his life ended up representing the classic consequence of sin. If ever there was a story that showed that “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23), this is one.
Saul literally died for his own sin, and this was God’s punishment. This man failed to execute the wrath of the Lord on the Amalekites, so the wrath fell on him. Like all sinners, he tried to escape his fate and free himself from God’s punishment. He tried to save himself by his own hand. You must understand one thing:
There is no “self-salvation” from sin.
There is no escape from God and his punishment. In fact, Saul thought that falling on his sword would spare him the shame of being savagely abused by the Philistines, but it happened anyway. The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and desecrated his body, cut off his head, and stripped him of his royal armor, just as he feared.
The Philistines did to Saul what David did to Goliath, and then they rejoiced over the evil they had perpetrated against the king of Israel. They deposited Saul’s armor in the temple of , the goddess of war. According to 1 Chronicles 10:10Saul’s head was placed in the temple of Dagon.
To deposit such trophies in a temple is to give credit to the god of the temple. for the victory. The Philistines then proceeded to proclaim their triumph throughout the land, praising Ashtaroth and Dagon for their victory over Saul and Yahweh. As king, it’s bad enough for your people to die for your own sins, but it’s even worse to dishonor the holy name of the Lord.
So, in his sin, Saul gave the Philistines an occasion to wallow in their idols; he brought shame to the name of God. the philistines they took the headless bodies of Saul and his sons and they nailed them on the wall of Beth Shan. They exposed Saul’s body to scavengers and vultures. As the law says, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree” (ga. 3:13; Deut. 21:23).
This was not the victory of an idol, but God’s just punishment. Because of his actual disobedience, the curse of the Lord fell on Saul. Truly, “it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). The day of judgment and the wrath of the Lord is a dark day.
Take a look at:
This dark day is pierced by a ray of hope
Just as the shadow of anger seems total, it is pierced by a ray of hope. While all the other Israelites fled in despair, some good men stood up. The brave men of Jabez Gilead rose to the occasion. These men remembered what Saul had done for them.
In 1 Samuel 11, the Ammonites had besieged Jabez de Gilead and were cruelly going to enslave them. But then, in one of the few truly immaculate acts of his, Saul freed his people from torture and slavery. Then Jabez’s men returned the favor. Overnight, they stole the bodies of Saul and his sons and set them free of exposure and desecration.
Once they got back to Jabez, the men burned the bodies, which is quite curious since cremation was not a common practice in Israel. Of course, this wasn’t even a proper cremation, as they saved the bones for burial. It is probable that, having been desecrated by the uncircumcised Philistines, the bodies were burned to purify and bury them.
Either way, the men of Jabez thought of it as an honor for Saul and his sons. Once their bones were collected, the men buried them under a tamarisk tree, which is a sacred place. The men of Jabez honored Saul and his sons by giving them a holy burial fit for a king, fit for a member of God’s covenant.
In his life, Saul could not avoid sin. In his death, the Lord punished him for his sins. But, at his burial, God’s mercy was manifested. Yes, this was a demonstration of God’s great mercy. He deserved to be left pinned to the wall, but fortunately, God granted him a burial in a holy place with his children.
The tale of Saul’s life, the story of a tragic sinner with an ugly, if appropriate, ending, still leaves room before the credits for mercy to have the last word. On the day of judgment, the mercy of God triumphed. At his death, Saul was abandoned by God; but at his burial, God granted him the sign of mercy and favor from him.
We see the immense mercy of God in Christ at the burial of Saul
Isn’t this an amazing picture of God’s immense mercy? One cannot stop thinking about what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15: There are some workers in the kingdom of God who build with wood and stubble, so that on the last day their work is burned. Such people will suffer losses.
How like this the reign of Saul! His life and his reign were marred by so much sin and folly, and yet, in the end, God’s mercy covered even him. Saul reminds us of the thief on the cross, a man who lived a life of crime and wickedness. He was a criminal who suffered the just consequences of his actions.
We are no better than Saul
Like Saul, we are sinners, but God’s mercy frees us to be honest. There is no sin, however heinous, that is beyond us. But by the grace of God, we are set free. We cannot save ourselves. In our sin we would all perish, falling under God’s wrath and curse forever.
Nevertheless, Mercy has triumphed in Christ. His mercy covers all your sins; his mercy forgives you. And why the mercy of God can perform such wonders? How can you be so merciful? He can, in fact, Christ bore the full penalty for your sin.
for his sin, Saul deserved to be pinned to the wall and exposed. NeverthelessIsn’t this the same curse he suffered…