God’s mercy is a display of His divine goodness whereby He withholds His just wrath and judgment from sinners. We make a distinction between God’s mercy and God’s grace, even though they are inseparable and commonly operate side by side in the economy of redemption. In His general dealings with mankind, God shows mercy by withholding the full manifestation of the miseries of life in this fallen world and in not giving men over to the full outworking of their evil desires. Accordingly, God’s mercy is the source of His common grace. Throughout redemptive history, God has revealed His saving mercy in covenant relationship with His people. In the Old Testament, God’s mercy is an essential aspect of His relationship with old covenant Israel. In the New Testament, God’s mercy is fully realized in Christ for believers. The mercy of Christ is highlighted in the compassionate way in which He healed the sick, demon-possessed, and those in despair who cried out to Him for that mercy. Ultimately, God displays His mercy most plainly in Christ’s propitiatory death on the cross.
Mercy is a manifestation of God’s goodness to those who are evil and justly deserve judgment. As Herman Bavinck noted, “The goodness of God, when shown to those in misery, is called mercy.” God’s mercy is intricately related to His compassion. As is true of His grace, God’s divine mercy is entirely unmerited. Mercy is an act of God’s sovereign good pleasure toward those whom He wishes to make the objects of His mercy (Rom. 9:18). Simply put, mercy is God’s providing for sinners in such a way that they do not get what they deserve.
In Scripture, God displays a general mercy toward all mankind and a saving mercy toward the elect. God’s general acts of mercy toward all mankind include His restraining natural disasters, diseases, war, famine, and so on. God also shows mercy to all men by not giving them over to act out to the full extent the evil of their hearts. God’s general mercy is correlated to what theologians have called common grace. These acts of general mercy do not save people. Nevertheless, these acts can assist in leading men and women who have heard the message of the gospel to recognize God’s goodness and turn to Him in faith and repentance. God manifests His saving mercy to the elect in removing the wrath they deserve and raising them to spiritual life because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. In Christ, God is the merciful justifier of all those who believe in Him.
In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself to Israel by a proclamation of His name and attributes (e.g., Ex. 34:6). God’s mercy is prominent among the divine attributes revealed in the Old Testament (Ex. 34:6; Deut. 4:31; 2 Chron. 30:9; Pss. 86:15; 103:8; 112:4; 145:8). In His dealings with Israel, God frequently sent chastisements on His people for their disobedience. When they groaned under the weight of them and returned to Him, the Lord manifested renewed demonstrations of His mercy. The mercy seat over the ark of the covenant symbolized the saving mercy of God toward sinners by the shed blood of the sacrifice that was killed as a substitute for them. The mercy seat was placed over the tablets of the Ten Commandments. When the blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, God came and dwelled between the cherubim. In this way, God typified the propitiatory mercy that He would show sinners through the sacrifice and priesthood of Christ.
In the New Testament, God’s mercy is fully manifest in the person and saving work of Christ. In Romans 3:25, we discover that Jesus is the fulfillment of what the mercy seat typified. He is the propitiatory sacrifice that turns God’s wrath away from sinners. Additionally, the writer of Hebrews taught that Jesus is the merciful and faithful High Priest of His people (Heb. 2:17). All of Jesus’ healing miracles were miracles of mercy. These acts of mercy were motivated by the same compassionate heart of Christ that led Him to lay down His life for sinners. The mercy displayed in the healing miracles of Christ is exhibited all the more in His taking the wrath of God for sinners on the cross. In the atoning and propitiatory death of Christ, God’s mercy triumphs over judgment. Once individuals become the recipients of God’s saving mercy in Christ, they become instruments of mercy to others (Luke 6:36).
Psalm 51 begins, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions” (Ps. 51:1). Here we see an element that is fundamental to repentance. Usually, when a person becomes aware of his sin and turns from it, he casts himself on the mercy of God. The first fruit of authentic repentance is the recognition of our profound need for mercy. David does not ask God for justice. He knows that if God were to deal with him according to justice, he would be immediately destroyed. As a result, David begins his confession with a plea for mercy.
R.C. Sproul
Ligonier.org
