MAGNIFICENCE OF MERCY

“The Lord passed beside Him, and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a GOD MERCIFUL and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” – Exo.34:6

Mercy is manifest in God’s Person: “The LORD is merciful…” (Psa.103: 8a). Let's meditate on the MAGNIFICENCE of His MERCY! God personifies Mercy. God is not part mercy. He is the God of Mercies. Exodus 34 attests to the Magnificence of His Mercy. This was the second time God had met Moses on the mountain to make a covenant with the people of Israel. When Moses came down from the mountain the first time, the people had fallen in love with the works of their own hands – worshiping a molten calf (Exo.32:4). The covenant that God made with them on the mountain that first time was explicit: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine, and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exo.19:5-6a). But instead of resting in the value of God, the people became impatient and craved the value of their own workmanship. They exchanged the glory of the invisible God for the image of their own glory – a golden calf.

Israel had been unbelieving at the Red Sea. They had grumbled against God in the wilderness. So this rebellion with the golden calf should have ended God's patience. He should have terminated this stiff-necked people! But here they were on the mountain again, awaiting His revelation. The sheer fact of this meeting was proof of God’s Mercy! What was even more amazing than the sheer fact that God was willing to meet Moses again and renew the covenant, was the content of His revelation: “Then the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him, and proclaimed the name of the Lord…The LORD, the LORD God, MERCIFUL and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth” (vv.5-6). God literally spelt out the meaning of His Name in words of surpassing sweetness! God is YAHWEH – the God who is…who is free…who is almighty, and Merciful! This shows a connection between His absolute existence, Sovereignty, Omnipotence, and overflowing Mercy.

God’s Personification of Mercy offers hope for the downcast, the broken, the discouraged, and the hopeless – those who think they are beyond the reach of God’s forgiveness; that they are utterly disqualified for the Kingdom; or that God is unbendingly wrathful. Such people are blind to the Magnificence of Mercy. Some may say: “If God only knew what I am really like and what I have done, there is no way I could possibly be of any good to Him.” God is not asking you to be anything apart from who He can make you. He provides all that you need to become all that you can become. Knowing that God is not trusting in our performance should be encouraging news that should take a heavy burden right off of us. The essence of the gospel is WHO GOD IS, not who we are: we already know how wretched we’ve been in sin. Now, we need to know, not about our depravity, but about God's Magnificent Mercy.

When you come to the Lord, you are not coming to someone who is sitting with a whip ready to smite you for every false move. Mercy is His essential nature and character. Mercy holds back from us the worst we really deserve while grace gives us the best we do not deserve. Mercy is in God’s Person – in His Character. There is never a moment when you come to the Lord that He stops being merciful. The Magnificence of His Mercy must however not be interpreted as weakness that justifies licentiousness and unfettered freedom. Divine forgiveness does not equate feebleness or fickleness. The Lord of Mercy is capable of dispensing wrath. In Christ, God has made His Mercy crystal clear. Jesus Christ came into the world to confirm and demonstrate that God is who he said He was on Mount Sinai – “Merciful and gracious…” He lived and ministered Mercy, sealing it with His Blood!