“Because He Delighteth In Mercy…”
Micah 7:19-20
Not only is it true that our great and glorious God delights in mercy, but he is rich, infinitely rich, in mercy, too! “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved).” Here are three things promised by the Holy Spirit, written upon the pages of Inspiration. These three things we can and should be assured of, because God, who is rich in mercy, delights in mercy.
“Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” – This is a prophecy of and a promise. Here God’s prophet declares that when Christ has finished his work of redemption, the sins of God’s elect, for whom he would endure all the wrath of God, would be so thoroughly put away that they would be cast into the sea of divine forgetfulness, never to be seen or remembered again.
Though our God
sees our acts of sin, as a loving Father, and faithfully chastens us for our
sins to correct us, he does not behold our sins as a judge to punish us. He
does not see them with the eye of avenging justice. Justice, being satisfied,
has expunged our sins from its record (Jer. 50:20). That is what justice does
when it is satisfied. As Pharaoh and the armies of
John Gill wrote, “All the sins of God's people have been removed from them to Christ, and by him carried away into the land of oblivion; so that they are no more to be seen on them, who are through his blood and righteousness without fault, spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; and, being out of sight, they are out of mind, never remembered any more, and like things cast into the sea, destroyed and lost.”
“Thou
wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham.” - All the
gracious promises made to Jacob and his great predecessor, springing from God’s
mercy, love and grace, those promises regarding all spiritual things to
Abraham’s seed (Gal. 3:13-14), God will perform. His faithfulness and truth
secure them (Lk. 1:68, 72, 73). That eternal life which God promised to chosen
sinners (Abraham’s seed) in Christ before the world began, he will perform.
“Which
thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” – Because he
could swear by no greater, he swore by himself that he would perform all his
word and purpose of grace to all his elect. The oath was given to his own dear
Son as our Surety in the covenant of grace before the world began; and it shall
be performed (John
Don Fortner