Psalm 136:26
"O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever," Psalm 136:26. God is mercy. Like all of His attributes, God has always been mercy. Here is the definition for mercy from the Key Word Study Bible; "A masculine noun indicating kindness, lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love, acts of kindness. This aspect of God is one of several important features of His character: truth; faithfulness; mercy; steadfastness; justice; righteousness; goodness. The classic text for understanding the significance of this word is Psalm 136 where it is used twenty six times to proclaim that God's kindness and love are eternal. The psalmist made it clear that God's kindness and faithfulness serves as the foundation for His actions and His character: it underlies His goodness (Psalm 136:1); it supports His unchallenged position as God and Lord (Psalm 136:2, 3); it is the basis for His great and wondrous acts in creation (Psalm 136:4-9) and delivering and redeeming His people from Pharaoh and the Red Sea (Psalm 136:10-15); the reason and defeat of their enemies (Psalm 136:17-22); His ancient as well as His continuing deliverance of His people (Psalm 136:23-25); His rulership in heaven (Psalm 136:26). The entire span of creation to God's redemption, preservation, and permanent establishment is touched upon in this psalm. It all happened, is happening, and will continue to happen because of the Lord's covenant faithfulness and kindness."
God is full of mercy, and as our text says, His mercy endureth for ever. "For ever" means continuous existence, perpetual. As God has always been, and always will be, so is His mercy. Psalm 136 also clearly proclaims that this mercy belongs to God; for it is His mercy. Since it is His mercy, God is free to do with it as He sees fit. "For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Romans 9:15-18. God gives His saving mercy to those He chooses to.
God's mercy denotes the ready inclination of God to relieve the misery of His creatures. This is known as the general mercy of God. This mercy is shown to mankind, and to all that God has created. "The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works," Psalm 145:8-9. God is merciful to all of creation in meeting their needs. From season to season we see the mercies of God. The Scriptures tell us that God is faithful to feed the sparrows. God, in His mercy, provides for the beast of the field, the foul of the air, and the fish in the sea.
In God's general mercy He even provides for sinful man. "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust," Matthew 5:45. Since God is merciful in a general way, sinful man presumes God will always be merciful in all things. Sinful man takes God's mercy for granted. The lost person reads about the judgment of God, he hears the sermons on hell, he hears the command to repent from his sins and trust Jesus Christ alone for salvation. The lost person knows these things, yet he says, on judgment day God will be merciful to me. On what grounds will God be merciful to you? Lost person, do you think since God gives you temporal mercy while you live in your sins that He will give you eternal mercy? Oh! Dear lost person, He will not! Though God is merciful, He is also just. Since God is just, He must punish sin. If you stand before God unrepentant, unforgiven, and in your sins God will judge you according to your works and cast you into hell for eternity to suffer His wrath because of your sins. I beg you at this moment, turn from your sins, flee from the wrath to come, flee to Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness. Why would you spend eternity in hell for the temporal enjoyment of sin? "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," John 6:37.
God's mercy endureth for ever towards those whom He saves. It is His mercy, and He is the One who saves. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by he washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Titus 3:5. God gives us mercy according to the good pleasure of His will. God's mercy is not earned. All eternal benefits come through His Eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
"Again, though it be true, blessedly and gloriously true, that God's mercy "endureth forever," yet we must observe carefully the objects to whom his "mercy" is shown. Even the casting of the reprobate into the Lake of Fire is an act of mercy. The punishment of the wicked is to be contemplated from a threefold viewpoint. From God's side, it is an act of justice, vindicating his honor. The mercy of God is never shown to the prejudice of his holiness and righteousness. From their side, it is an act of equity, when they are made to suffer the due reward of their iniquities. But from the standpoint of the redeemed, the punishment of the wicked is an act of unspeakable mercy. How dreadful would it be if the present order of things, when the children of God are obliged to live in the midst of the children of the devil, should continue forever! Heaven would at once cease to be heaven if the ears of the saints still heard the blasphemous and filthy language of the reprobate. What a mercy that in the New Jerusalem "there shall in nowise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither worketh abomination" (Revelation 21:27)!" A.W. Pink.
For those of us whom the Lord has saved, do we take time to meditate upon God's mercy? Here are some Scriptures that we can meditate upon. "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort," II Corinthians 1:3. "And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory," Romans 9:23. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead," I Peter1:3. Turn to Psalm 103. "For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him," Psalm 103:11. It is wonderful to know that you are a vessel of mercy. God is mercy. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
