God Is Abundant in Lovingkindness or Mercy
The general subject of this chapter is The God of the Bible: The God of the Bible as distinguished from the god of “Christian Science,” and the god of “Theosophy,” and the god of “New Thought,” and the god of Spiritualism, and the God of Unitarianism, and the God of “the New Theology,” and the God of Modern Philosophy and the god of “Modernism” in general.
The particular subject of this chapter is The God of the Bible: God is abundant in Lovingkindness (or, Mercy).
Let me read to you in the beginning of our study of this subject nineteen passages from the Word of God, that will be the foundation stones, tried and true, upon which the whole superstructure of the chapter will be erected. Nineteen passages of Scripture, some of them of several verses each and one of seven verses, may seem like an inordinate number of texts; but as I searched the Scriptures on this subject and pondered the verses in the Bible on this subject (in which the Word of God abounds) it was difficult to reduce them even to nineteen; and I know they will not be wearisome, but rather the most attention- fastening and
gladdening and thrilling part of the entire chapter, and the entire chapter aims only to interpret their teaching on the great theme that we have before us.
You will find my first text in Ps. 103:8:
‘‘Jehovah is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindnessd’
Now turn to another Psalm, Ps. 62:12:
“Also unto Thee, 0 Lord, belong eth lovingkindness;
For Thou renderest to every man according
to his work.’^
Turn now to still another Psalm, Ps. 145: 8:
“Jehovah is gracious, and merciful;
Slow to anger, and of great lozingkindncssT
We now turn back to one of the oldest books in the Bible, Deut. 4:31:
^’For Jehovah Thy God is a merciful God; He will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.”
Our next text is from the New Testament from Paul. He quotes the Old Testament and then makes a comment of his own, Rom. 9:15, 18:
“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on zvhoni I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom 1 have compassion. ... So then He hath mercy on whom He will, and whom he will he hardeneth.”
We will now turn back again to the Old Testament, Deut. 7:9:
“Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.”
Turn now to the second book in the Bible, Ex. 20: 5> 6:
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing lovingkindness unto thou¬ sands, (i. e., a thousand generations) of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”
The next text is Ps. 103: ii, 17:
“For as the heavens are high above the earth.
So great is His lovingkindness toward them that fear Him....
But the lovingkindness of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him,
And His righteousness unto children’s children.”
We turn now to one of the historical books of The Old Testament, II Chron. 6:14:
“And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like Thee, in heaven, or on earth; Who keepest covenant and lovingkindness with Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their heart.”
Our next text is from the book of Proverbs, Prov. 28: 13:
“He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper;
But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall obtain mercy.”
The next text is Ps. 32: 10:
“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he that trusteth in Jehovah, lovingkindness shall compass him about.”
Our next text is from still another Psalm, Ps. 86:5:
“For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to
forgive,
A’nd abundant in lovingkindness unto all
them that call upon Thee.”
Now turn to the book of Numbers, Num. 14: 18-20;
‘’Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. Pardon, I pray Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy lovingkindness and according as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy Word.”
We come now to the prophets, Isa. 55 7*
“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
Turn to still another prophet, Micah 7:18:
‘’Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighteth in lovingkindness?’
We turn now to one of the last to be written books in the Old Testament, Neh. 9: 16-18, 26, 27, 30, 31:
‘”But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to Thy commandments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of Thy wonders that Thou didst among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not. ... (26, 27.)
Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against Thee, and cast Thy law behind their back, and slew Thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto Thee, and they wrought great provocations. There¬ fore Thou deliveredst them into the hand of their adversaries, to distress them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto Thee, Thou heardest from heaven; and according to Thy manifold mercies Thou gavest them saviours who sailed them out of the hand of their adversaries, ... (30, 31.) Yet many
years didst Thou bear with them, and testifiedst against them by Thy Spirit through Thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: there¬ fore gavest Thou them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless in Thy manifold mercies Thou didst not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for Thou art a gracious and merciful God.”
Now turn to one of Paul’s Epistles, Phil. 2:27:
^‘For indeed he was sick nigh unto death:
but God had mercy on him; and not on him
only, but on me also, that I might not have sor¬
row upon sorrow.”
Turn back now to the Old Testament, Ex. 15: 13:
“Thou in Thy lovingkindness hast led the
people that Thou hast redeemed:
Thou hast guided them in Thy strength to
Thy holy habitation.”
And our last text is again from the Book of Psalms, Ps. 59: 16:
“But I will sing of Thy strength;
Yea, / will sing aloud of Thy lovingkindness in the morning:
For Thou hast been my High Tower,
And a Refuge in the day of my distress.”
We will group together the teachings found in these verses and others I shall be forced to introduce later, if we are to treat the subject with anything like adequate fullness, under three general heads:
1st. The Fact that God is Full of Lovingkindness.
2nd. Toward Whom the Lovingkindness of God
is Manifested.
3rd. How the Lovingkindness of God is Manifested.
Before taking up these three divisions of our subject, let me ask your very close attention to the fact that the same Hebrew word in the Old Testament is translated, sometimes, “Mercy,” and sometimes, “Lovingkindness.” These two words, therefore, in the Old Testament usage mean precisely the same thing. This Hebrew word should have been translated uniformly either the one way or the other. The word, “Mercy,” in our English translation of the Old Testament is in a few instances a translation of another Hebrew word. This latter Hebrew word corresponds to the Greek word always translated “Compassion” in the New Testament. It covers essentially the same thought as the other word. In fact in the quotation from the Old Testament which Paul makes in Rom. 9: 15, this other Hebrew word is translated by the Greek word not for “Compassion,” but for “Mercy.” The primary meaning of the word most frequently used is ‘’Kindness,” especially kindness exercised tozvard the suffering or sinning. It is so translated thirty-nine times in the Authorized Version. In thirty-one of these instances it is used of the kindness of man toward man, in the remaining eight instances of the kindness of God toward man. When this Hebrew word is used the Revised Version, as a rule, varies from the Authorized Version and translates by “Lovingkindness” and not by “Mercy,” and this is on the whole a better rendering of the Hebrew word, and we shall use it uniformly to translate this Hebrew word, and confine the use of the word “Mercy” to the translation of the other Hebrew word, the word which corresponds to the Greek word which is translated “Compassion” in the New Testament.
/. God Is Full of Lovingkindness.
In our first, second, third and fourth texts we are told that Jehovah, the God of the Bible Is Full of Mercy, That He Is Abundant in Lovingkindness. All these passages are from the Old Testament, which is supposed, by some of our modern so-called “advanced scholars” to present a stern and severe and relentless God, in contrast to the gentle and loving Father of Whom Jesus and John spoke. In our fifteenth text the prophet Micah declares that there is no other God like Jehovah, the God of the Bible, “Because He delighteth in lovingkindness,” and that He shows it by pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage (i. e., Israel).
The book of Psalms is one continuous Hebrew anthology of songs of praise to a God Who is “abundant in lovingkindness,” and Moses, the supposedly stern old law-giver, and also inspired prophets, sages, historians and kings, join in the swelling chorus.
Such is the God of the Bible, the God of the Old Testament as well as the God of the New Testament, a very different God from what many modern, popular preachers declare the God of the Old Testament to be. If these men would study the Old Testament more closely and thoroughly and talk less about it until they do, it would be better for their own reputation for intelligent and thorough scholarship and candor, and far better, for their befogged, befuddled, misled and grievously wronged hearers. It is a case of the “blind leading the blind,” and both together falling “into the ditch,” the slimy and pestilential ditch, of blasphemous dishonoring of God and His Word.
II, Toward Whom the Lovingkindness of God Is Manifested,
We come now to the exceedingly important question, ‘‘Toward Whom Is the Lovingkindness of God Manifested?” This question the Bible answers very plainly and with great fullness.
I. First of all, God’s Mercy Is Manifested Toward Whom He Will. He is absolutely Sovereign in the Exercise of His Mercy. Jehovah Himself declared to Moses, as recorded in Ex. 33: 19:
“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
And the Apostle Paul, after quoting in Rom. 9:15 this that Jehovah said to Moses declares in Rom. 9: 18:
“So thefi He hath mercy on whom He will,
and whom He will He hardeneth.”
But while we insist on this great truth that God is absolutely sovereign in the exercise of His mercy, and that His mercy is exercised toward whom He will, we should at the same time remember that while God is absolutely sovereign in the exercise of His mercy, while no one can dictate to Him as to upon whom He shall have mercy, in point of fact He wills to have mercy on all upon whom He can have mercy. Peter puts it in this way in II Pet. 3:9:
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, hut that all should come to repentance.
2. In the second place, God’s Lovingkindness is Manifested toward those who fear or love Him, to¬ ward His servants who walk before Him with all their hearts. We read way back in one of the earliest books of the Bible, Deut. 7:9:
“Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, He is God, the faithful God Who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.”
And in the second book in the Bible, Ex. 20: 5, 6, we read:
“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them; for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing loving kindness unto thousands (i. e., a thousand generations) of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”
In the very familiar 103rd Psalm, verses ii, 17, 18, we read:
“For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward them that fear Him.
But the lovingkindness of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.
And His righteousness unto children’s children;
To such as keep His covenant,
And to those that remember His precepts to do them.”
In II Chron. 6: 14, we read:
“And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like Thee, in heaven, or on earth; Who keepest covenant and lovingkindness with Thy servants, that walk before Thee with all their heart
It should be borne in mind that the phrases, the “fear of Jehovah,” as used in the Old Testament, and the “love of God,” as used in the New Testament, are practically synonymous. This appears by a comparison of Prov. 8: 13 and Prov. 16: 6, with I Jno. 5: 3. In Prov. 8: 13, we read:
‘’The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil:’*
and in Prov. 16:6, we read:
“By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for;
And by the fear of Jehovah men depart from evil”
But in I Jno. 5: 3, we read:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments,”
So we see that the two phrases, the “Fear of Jehovah,” and the “Love of God” describe practically the same thing, but viewed from different standpoints. The two phrases look at practically the same attitude of mind toward God from different points of view.
3. In the third place, The Mercy of God Is Manijested Toward Every One Who Confesses and For¬ sakes His Sim. This we are told in Prov. 28: 13:
‘‘He that covereth his transgression shall not prosper;
But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them
shall obtain mercy.”
God shows mercy toward the vilest sinner if he confesses and forsakes his sin, but if he seeks to hide or deny his sins, he will find no mercy. If we seek to cover up our sins from God, He will uncover them to the whole world, and severely punish them, but if we uncover them to God and forsake them, God will cover them up so deep that no one can ever find them. He will cover them with the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, which will hide them even from His own all-seeing eye (see Rom. 3: 23-26).
4. In the fourth place. The Lovingkindness of God is Manifested Toward the One Who trust eth in Jehovah. This, we are told in Ps. 32: 10:
“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he that trusteth in Jehovah, lovingkindness shall compass him about.”
If one will only put his whole trust in Jehovah (the God of the Bible), then will he not only find loving¬ kindness from the God of the Bible, but that “Loving¬ kindness (of Jehovah) shall compass him about” on every hand, and the enemy will not be able to get at him at any point.
5. In the fifth place, The Lovingkindness of God Is Manifested Toward All Them That Call Upon Him. This we are told in Ps. 86:5* “For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive.
And abundant in lomngkindness unto all
them that call upon Thee,”
We find the same thought, though couched in other words (the words “Mercy’’ or “Lovingkindness” not being used but the thought still there) in the New Testament, in Rom. 10:12, 13:
“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon Him: for. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Ill. How Is the Lovingkindness of God Manifested?
We come now to the last question, and it is a very practical question. How Is the Lovingkindness of God Manifested? The teaching of the Bible on this point is also very full and very rich.
I. In the first place. The Lovingkindness of God Is Manifested in His Pardoning Sin When It Is Confessed and Forsaken. This, we are told over and over again in the Bible. For example we are told in Ex. 34:6, 7:
“And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth; keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.”
One of the most familiar and at the same time clear¬ est and most forceful expressions of this precious truth is found in Isa. 55:7:
*‘Let the wicked forsake his way, and the un¬ righteous his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly par» donr
To backsliding Israel Jehovah says in Jer. 3:12,
13:
“Go, and proclaim these words toward the north and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy GodJ*
In Jonah 4:2, we read:
“And he prayed unto Jehovah and said... I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and repentest Thee of the eviH Micah proclaims the truth that the lovingkindness of Jehovah manifests itself in pardoning iniquity, in one of the most beautiful passages in his prophecy, a prophecy which abounds in marvelously beautiful passages, Micah 7:18:
“Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retaineth not His anger forever, because He delighteth in lovingkindness.
Again, David, who had fallen into his gross and appalling sins of adultery and murder, still counted on the forgiveness of Jehovah, because he had learned Jehovah’s lovingkindness and mercy; so we read in his Penitential Psalm this prayer as he makes full confession of his sin, Ps. 51:1:
‘‘Have mercy upon me, O God, according to
thy lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of thy tender
mercies blot out my transgressions.^^
And Moses, away back thirty-four hundred years ago, counting on the lovingkindness of Jehovah, pleaded with Him to forgive the oft-repeated sin and unfaithfulness of His people, as we read in Num. 14: 18-20:
“Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and trans gression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. Pardon, I pray Thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of Thy lovingkindness, and according as Thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word.”
Mercy has been defined by a great thinker and theologian, Charles G. Finney, in these words, “Mercy is exercised only where there is guilt.” Now this is true in law, and in the usage of the word “mercy” in law, but it is not true of the Bible usage of the word, “Mercy” or “lovingkindness,” as is clear from many of the passages to which I have already referred. Nevertheless, it is true that “Mercy” or “Lovingkindness” is manifested in the forgiveness of sins, and this manifestation of mercy lies at the basis of many other manifestations of God’s “Mercy” or “Lovingkindness” in His dealings with men; for the human race is a guilty race and when men recognize their guilt and confess their sins, then are they most likely to see God’s Lovingkindness manifested in a multitude of gracious ways.
2. In the second place. The Lovingkindness of God Is Manifested in His Bearing Long with Sinners, Even When They Harden Their Necks and Persist in Sin. We have a striking illustration of this in God’s dealings with constantly backsliding and rebellious Israel. Read for example, Neh. 9: 16-18, 26, 27, 30, 31:
“But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to Thy commandments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of Thy wonders that Thou didst among them, but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said. This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations.... (26.) Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against Thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and slew Thy prophets that testified against them to turn them again unto Thee, and they wrought great provocations. Therefore Thou deliveredst them into the hand of their adversaries, to distress them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto Thee, Thou heardest from heaven; and according to Thy manifold mercies Thou gavest them saviours who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries.... (30.) Yet many years didst Thou bear with them, and testifiedst against them by Thy Spirit through Thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest Thou them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. N evertheless In Thy manifold mercies Thou didst not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for Thou art a gracious and merciful God/^
Over and over again Israel departed from God and He chastened them sorely, but He did not forsake them. Israel as a nation is still departing from Jehovah, the God of the Bible, and how frightfully they have been chastened and scourged during the awful centuries since they crucified their “Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36); but God has never forsaken them. Their preservation and prosperity in the midst of the continued persecution and appalling calamities that have befallen them is the miracle of history.
And they are untrue to Jehovah and His Christ still, and God is chastening them and scourging them to this day, and what appalling things they are suffering to¬ day, and the worst is yet to come, ‘‘the Day of Jacob’s Trouble”; but Jehovah has not forsaken them, and will bring them out at last as the transcendently glorious nation of all nations. His lovingkindness makes that absolutely sure, and His Word makes it absolutely certain.
3. In the third place. The Lovingkindness of God Is Manifested in His Delivering from Sickness, Sorrow and Oppression. This blessed truth we find in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, for example, we read in Ps. 6: 1-4:
“O Jehovah, rebuke me not in Thine anger.
Neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.
Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am
withered away:
O Jehovah, heal me; for my bones are troubled.
My soul also is sore troubled:
And Thou, O Jehovah, how long?
Return, O Jehovah, deliver my soul:
Save me for Thy lovingkindness’ sake.”
And we read in Phil. 2:27:
‘ut God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow.”
And we read in Ex. 15: 13-17:
‘’Thou in Thy loving kindness hast led the people that Thou hast redeemed:
Thou hast guided them in Thy strength to
Thy holy habitation.
The peoples have heard, they tremble:
Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
Then were the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
The mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh
hold upon them:
All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted
away.
Terror and dread falleth upon them;
By the greatness of Thine arm they are as
still as a stone;
Till Thy people pass over, O Jehovah,
Till the people pass over that Thou hast purchased.
Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance.
The place, O Jehovah, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in.
The sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands
have established.
Jehovah shall reign for ever and ever.^’
4. In the fourth place. The Lovingkindness of God Is Manifested in His Maintaining the Security of Those Who Trust in Him. This David tells us in Ps. 21:7:
‘Tor the king trusteth in Jehovah;
And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he shall not he moved.”
Not only the king, even the King of Kings, Jesus, will be so established that all the powers of Satan can¬ not move Him because He “trusteth in Jehovah”; but the least of God’s own who trust in Him cannot be moved, because “the lovingkindness of the Most High” is on their side.
5. In the fifth place, The Lovingkindness of God Is Manifested in His Acting as a Defense and Refuge in the Day of Trouble. David, the sweet singer of Israel, sings in Ps. 59: 16:
“But I will sing of Thy strength;
Yea, I will sing aloud of Thy lovingkindness in the morning:
For Thou hast been my High Tower,
And a Refuge in the day of my distress/^
If we, in spite of all our infirmities and failures, put our trust in Jehovah and live for him as David did, in spite of all his infirmities and failures and appalling lapses, then can we too be sure that the Lovingkindness of Jehovah, the God of the Bible, will manifest it¬ self in His being our all-sufficient Defense and our perfectly secure Refuge and Hiding Place in every day of trouble and distress. And here we reluctantly close our study of the Lovingkindness of Jehovah, the God of the Bible.
Who would give up such a God for the paltry godlettes of “Christian Science,” or Theosophy, or “New Thought,” or Spiritualism, or Unitarianism, or “The New Theology,” or “Modern Philosophy” or “Mod¬ ernism” in general?