Blessed Are The
Merciful
“Blessed are the
merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt 5:7) (KJV)
Mercy A Kingdom
Promise
As Jesus
spoke the words which we call the Sermon on The Mount, He was explaining to the
people kingdom truths. He was teaching
the people about the righteousness of the kingdom, characteristics of the
kingdom, promises concerning the kingdom, and that the kingdom was His (Jesus’)
domain. The people were literate in Old
Testament truth, so the Beatitudes especially are simply reiterations and
reapplication of promises relating to the
“The
LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose
“Therefore will the LORD wait,
that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may
have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they
that wait for him. For the people shall dwell in
“It is a light thing that thou
shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the
preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that
thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. Thus
saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man
despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings
shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is
faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee. Thus
saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of
salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a
covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the
desolate heritages; That thou mayest say
to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They
shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They
shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he
that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he
guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my
highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these
from the north and from the west; and these from the
“For a small moment have I
forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a
little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting
kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer. For
this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of
Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be
wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills
be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. O thou
afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy
stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I
will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy
borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the
LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” (Isa 54:7-13) (KJV) Here we can once again see that mercy is
the everlasting possession of those how are the citizens of the
Mercy
Defined And Described
As we study this passage we must ask ourselves what sort of mercy this is that the Father promises and we are to show. What is its character? How does it act?
First of all, mercy is the rescuing of the sinner from the miserable, eternal consequences of his sin. “I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.” (Ps 86:12,13) (KJV) God’s mercy is seen in His delivering us from hell, though we deserve it. This mercy comes because of His love. “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…” (Eph 2:4) (KJV) God delivers us from hell because He loves us. (This deliverance is not at the cost of truth and righteousness See Rom 3:1-31) “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (James 2:13) (KJV) Mercy exults triumphantly over judgment. Truth called for condemnation of the sinner, but mercy delivers us from the condemnation through Jesus! “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Rom 8:1-4) (KJV)
As we meditate upon the verses which characterize and define mercy we find that mercy is unmerited. Paul told Titus “The kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7) (KJV) We are saved, not by our righteousness, but in spite of our lack of righteousness. We did not deserve or earn salvation: it was freely given because God is loving and merciful. True mercy is always unmerited and free.
The above characteristics should
not be thought to only apply to the mercy of God. We are called to be merciful even as our
Father is merciful (See Luke
For the child of God mercy should come easily. Oh, I realize that it is often very difficult to even tolerate those who mistreat us, and that is much less than doing good to those who despitefully use us and persecute us. On the other hand, we all know that there is a serious problem with the ever vindictive person. We understand that mercy should not be so difficult that it becomes impossible. As a matter of fact, mercy is part of our worship of God. In delighting in God and honoring God, we find ourselves modeling the ways of God in our lives. It is worship because we enjoy God and desire to manifest His worth to others by living as He would have us and acting as we should that others could get a taste of God’s goodness and worth. For this reason the following two statements were made:
“Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have
need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love
of God in him?” (1 John 3:17) (KJV)
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God;
and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He
that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:7,8) (KJV)
“He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed
no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (James 2:13) (KJV)
The person who loves with the love of Christ is manifestly the child of God. The love of God simply does not dwell in the person who is not kind and merciful as His Heavenly Father is merciful. The person who shows no mercy demonstrates that God and His mercy means very little to him. In fact, he demonstrates that he does not belong to God and will not receive mercy at the day of judgment.
The mercy of our Father is the mercy we are to show in our every day lives. Jesus said, “I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” (Luke 6:27-36) (KJV) How is God’s mercy to be shown in our lives? By our loving our enemies and those who hate us. It is shown by our returning good for the evil done to us. The mercy of God is shown by our willingness to help out those who are in need without seeking to profit from their poverty ( Lending without hoping to receive again speaks of loaning with intent of receiving interest.) It is shown by our being kind to evil people and to unthankful people, just as Jesus is kind to us. Yet, there is more….
The mercy of God that is to be shown in our lives is also to be an impartial mercy. “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (James 2:1-13) (KJV) There was a problem at the church. Well, actually it was not at the church: it was in the church. “Until the second century Christians were not permitted to erect churches, but were compelled to worship in private houses, in the open fields, or, to escape persecution, in the Catacombs (q.v.) and other concealed places.” (McClintock & Strong Encyclopedia) As wealthy people of influence entered their assemblies, some would give them places of prominence. The rich got the “good seats.” The poor man would be made to sit on the floor at the foot of someone who had a little more than he. James told the people that we should not be respecters of persons. After all, the gospel is no respecter of persons, and neither is the God of the gospel a respecter of persons. This partiality was detrimental to the health of the church in many ways. The call was for Christians to love one and all without partiality and without hypocrisy. This would be mercy. To treat the poor with the dignity and respect that is befitting one who is made in the image of God, and renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him is mercy. To love is to show mercy, for mercy is the product of love (See Eph 2:4). This is the mercy we are to show as the children of God.
Why Be Merciful?
Why should we be merciful? After all, it would seem that the merciful person would only get mistreated more by those who harm others to get advantage over them. Mercifulness seems to be a foolish thing, doesn’t it?
Mercy
should be a part of our character because mercy is the character of God. Jesus said, “I say unto you which hear,
Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them
which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one
cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to
take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of
him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as
ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if
ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those
that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to
you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if
ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners
also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
But love ye your enemies, and do
good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and
ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and
to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also
is merciful.” (Luke 6:27-36) (KJV) The
command which is given to the child of God is this: “He that saith he
abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” (1 John 2:6)
(KJV)
We should be merciful, too, because the merciful obtain mercy. There are two ways in which we can speak of the merciful obtaining mercy. The first is that the merciful obtain mercy by it being returned to them in this life. The Psalmist said, “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.” (Ps 41:1) (KJV) Being merciful to the poor will bring blessings to us in this life. The scripture tells us that the one who has mercy on the poor is a happy/blessed person. “He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.” (Prov 14:21) (KJV) Too often we are self-centered and careless concerning those who have less than we have. This selfishness often begets a bitterness within our hearts because we don’t have the things that we think we deserve. What a marked contrast is found in the person who is thankful for his blessings, and is willing to share them with others. That person is happy.
We should be merciful because the merciful obtain mercy. Now, we know that mercy is unmerited. Never can we earn mercy. If we could earn mercy, it would no longer be mercy. For this reason, we can be assured that the merciful obtain mercy for some reason other than their earning it. It is my understanding that the merciful obtain mercy because being merciful is characteristic of the child of God. It is not that one becomes a child of God by being merciful, but that one becomes merciful by being a child of God. This is why James said, “He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.” (James 2:13) (KJV) James understood that mercy is a quality that is unique to the children of God. That being so, he warns us that, if we fail to show mercy, we prove that we are not the children of God and that we shall not obtain mercy at the judgment.