According to the
Blue Letter Bible,
the word “mercy”, in
the King James
translation (KJV),
occurs 276 times in
261 verses. God’s
mercy is shown so
many times in the
Bible and in our own
lives we often fail
to see it. If you
would do a
concordance check of
this word, you will
see that God’s mercy
abounds. Keep in
mind too His mercy
is quite evident in
the Bible even when
the actual word,
“mercy”, is not in
the passage. I could
accurately begin by
stating that if but
for His mercy, we
would all be in
hell.
During the days of
Noah, the world had
become so corrupt
God told Noah to
build an
Ark,
because He was going
to destroy every
human and animal on
earth, excluding
those He
specifically saved
via the
Ark.
It took Noah and his
sons 120 years to
build the Ark, and during any part of that time, anyone
could have repented
and come to God, but
they did not. Some
will say that God
was cruel to destroy
so many, but how can
that be when He gave
mankind 120 years to
repent? They watched
the “gallows being
built”, so to speak,
but mocked their own
destiny. God’s mercy
is quite evident.
(Genesis 6:13 and
following)
Sodom
and
Gomorrah
and the cities
around them were
warned, and then
destroyed. In God’s
mercy He warned
them, and in His
mercy, He removed
His own first.
(Genesis 18:20 and
following)
Abraham had to send
Hagar and her son
Ishmael away. She
and her son were
ready to die of
thirst in the
desert, but God
provided water for
them, saved them
from the desert’s
elements, and made
of Ishmael a great
nation. That’s
mercy. (Genesis
21:14 and following)
When Elijah
prophesied to Ahab
that God would hold
the rain, the Lord
provided water and
fed Elijah at the
brook of Cherith via
ravens. “And
it shall be, that
thou shalt drink of
the brook; and I
have commanded the
ravens to feed thee
there.” (1 Kings
17:4) “And
the ravens brought
him bread and flesh
in the morning, and
bread and flesh in
the evening; and he
drank of the brook.”
(1 Kings 17:6) In
God’s mercy, He
provided for His
prophet.
On another occasion
Jezebel had sent
word to Elijah that
she was going to
kill him. He fled to Beersheba and found
himself a day’s
journey into the
wilderness. He
rested under the
shade of a juniper
tree (which would
grow up to ten feet)
and God gave him
water and fed him
via an angel. Again,
God’s mercy is shown
upon Elijah. (1Kings
19:1-7)
Another prophet,
Jonah, was
eventually
“persuaded” by God
to witness to Nineveh (the Assyrians). They repented. Jonah
didn’t like it,
because he hated the
corrupt Assyrians
and knew that God
was merciful and
would forgive them
if they repented. “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this
my saying, when I
was yet in my
country? Therefore I
fled before unto
Tarshish: for I knew
that thou art a
gracious God, and
merciful, slow to
anger, and of great
kindness, and
repentest thee of
the evil.”
(Jonah 4:2) The
Assyrians were very
evil and cruel
people, but they
repented, and God
granted them mercy.
So Jonah pouted,
left the city, sat
on the east side
(where it’s the
hottest), built a
crude shelter and
had a pity party.
God prepared a gourd
for Jonah to ease
his misery under the
hot sun, but then
also prepared a worm
to destroy the gourd
the next morning.
Therefore, the gourd
withered. The sun
arose again, and
Jonah complained,
again. However, I
believe God got the
last word. “And
God said to Jonah,
Doest thou well to
be angry for the
gourd? And he said,
I do well to be
angry even unto
death. Then said the
LORD, Thou hast had
pity on the gourd,
for the which thou
hast not laboured,
neither madest it
grow; which came up
in a night, and
perished in a night:
And should not I
spare Nineveh, that
great city, wherein
are more than
sixscore thousand
persons that cannot
discern between
their right hand and
their left hand; and
also much cattle?”
(Jonah 4:9-11) Isn’t
it great that God’s
mercy supersedes
ours?
In Luke 15:11 and
following, Jesus
gives the account of
what we commonly
call the “prodigal
son.” (The word
“prodigal” is not in
the Bible, as also
with words Trinity,
Bible, and Rapture).
There are three
accounts of mercy
shown by the Lord in
this passage: (1)
the elder son refers
to
Israel
and the younger son
refers to the
Gentiles. God always
intended for Israel to share
Him with the other
nations. Jesus is
telling them that He
will die on the
cross for
all who will
come to Him, not
just Jews, (2) the
elder son refers to
an elder son and the
younger son simply
refers to a younger
son. In other words,
God is waiting for
any child of His who
sins to come home (1
John 1:9), (3) same
as number two; any
person who is
without God in their
life can come
through Jesus and be
reborn (John 3:16).
The greatest example
of mercy in the
entire Bible is at
the cross. People
often talk about
being “fair.” “God
should be fair!” If
God were “fair,” we
would all be in hell
(Romans 3:23; 6:23),
but in His mercy He
gave His Son as a
redemption price for
anyone who would
come to Him through
His Son Jesus.
Some Christians say
that those of us who
believe in the
Rapture (because
it’s promised in the
Bible by the way)
are escapists. We
just want to escape
the Tribulation.
Well, guess what? I
want to escape the
Tribulation, and I
thank the Lord Jesus
Christ that as part
of His Church, the
bride, I shall
“escape” the
Tribulation. That is
mercy from God, and
I readily accept it.
If you want to go
through the
Tribulation ……. You
thought I was going
to say, “Have at
it.” No, I say you
will not, because
that is what Jesus
tells His bride. He
is coming to snatch
His bride away
before He pours out
His wrath upon this
world. Not even an
“earthly” groom
would pour his wrath
out on his own
bride, and I know
for sure that Jesus
will not do so.
Thank God for mercy.
Last of all, out of
multiplied trillions
of examples, I think
God shows mercy upon
the Tribulation
saints. Let me
explain. The Church
will avoid the
Tribulation, but we
don’t know when
Jesus is coming for
us. Those saved
during the
Tribulation will
suffer the trials of
that era, but they
can know, to the
day, when Jesus will
return for them.
That to me is a
clear case again of
God’s mercy.
The Lord says in
Romans 9:15-16, “For
God said to Moses,
"I will show mercy
to anyone I choose,
and I will show
compassion to anyone
I choose." So it is
God who decides to
show mercy. We can
neither choose it
nor work for it.”
(NLT) God decides
who, what, when and
how He will provide
mercy.
Maybe we should take
an inventory of our
lives and do a
reality check. I
sincerely feel that
we often don’t
recognize God’s
mercy in our lives.
We grumble that we
don’t have a lot of
money, but God knows
we couldn’t handle
it. That’s mercy. He
keeps things from us
that He knows will
hurt us. That’s
mercy. He allows us
to fail so we can
call out for Him.
That’s mercy. He
provides blessings
we don’t deserve.
That’s mercy. We
deserve hell, but He
provides Heaven.
That’s mercy. We
can’t save
ourselves, so He
does all the work.
That’s mercy. As His
children, we
disobey, but He
provides
forgiveness. That’s
mercy. We can’t hold
on to our salvation,
but He can and does.
That’s mercy.
I’m sure there are
many who are reading
this article who
feel they don’t
deserve any mercy.
The truth is you
don’t. I don’t. But
God provides mercy
for those who ask,
and even for those
who do not ask. Look
again at the eleven
examples above. For
both man and beast,
God’s mercy abounds.
How, you say? He
provides gravity so
we don’t float away.
He provides air so
we can breath. He
provides water and
food so we are
nourished. Are you
getting it?
Does God’s mercy
negate His justice?
It does not. Let us
not think we can
trifle with His
mercy and avoid any
justice He must
administer because
of His holiness.
Right now there is
mercy that can be
had in His greatest
work of mercy,
adoption into His
family by and
through His Son
Jesus, but one day
His mercy will step
aside for justice.
From the 2nd
Commandment God
says, “And
shewing mercy unto
thousands of them
that love me, and
keep my
commandments.”
(Exodus 20:6)
Consider His mercy
and avoid His
justice.
Grant Phillips
grantphillips@windstream.net
My articles are
posted at
“Pre-Rapture
Commentary”
http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
and many are also
posted at “Rapture
Ready”
http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html.
