FIRST QUARTER 2024
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
FEBRUARY 17, 2024
“YOUR MERCY REACHES UNTO THE HEAVENS”

 

Our memory text for this week is:

“I will praise You O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations. For Your mercy reaches unto the heavens, and Your truth unto the clouds” (Psalm 57:9,10, NKJV).

As we study God’s mercy this week, it becomes more and more clear that His mercy is there for all and that includes you and me. His mercy that “reaches unto the heavens” helps us to see that all of creation is a beneficiary of God’s mercy. His infinite agape love extends infinite mercy. However, He also gives us the choice as to whether or not we choose to accept His gift.

There are two articles by EJ Waggoner which I found very helpful in studying God’s mercy this week. The first is this one:

 

"Enduring Mercy" The Present Truth 15, 43. 

“O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; His mercy endureth forever.”

This is the first verse of the one hundred and thirty-sixth psalm, and every one of the twenty-six verses of the psalm in is in the same manner as this one: “His mercy endureth forever.”

To some this psalm seems monotonous; but it ought not to be so. It is surely a blessed thing to know that the mercy of the Lord is everlasting, and we should never be weary of hearing of it.

In this psalm we read of judgment visited upon certain people. It tells of the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt, the overthrow of Pharaoh and of his host in the Red Sea, and the smiting of famous kings. Now most people have the idea that God's mercy ceases, or at least is held in abeyance, when He executes punishment upon the ungodly. This, however, shows us that such an idea is a mistaken one. Nowhere does the Bible give the slightest warrant for the idea that at any time there will ever be any less mercy with the Lord than there is now. The common statement that by and by mercy will step down, and justice will take place, is most dishonouring to God. It implies a change in His character and in His dealing with His creatures. It not only teaches that sometime He will be less merciful than He is now, but it also teaches that now He is as just as He will be at some future time….

The mercy of God for the Egyptians was just as great as for the Israelites. They were most cruelly treating the people to whom they owed their lives, and whom God, in fulfilment of His promise, was about to bring into their own land. But He did not precipitately destroy their oppressors. He sent His servants to Pharaoh, making known the truth which would save him and his people as well as the Israelites. The promise to Abraham, which God was about to fulfil, included the justification of the heathen through faith, saying, “In thee shall all nations be blessed.” Galatians 3:8. This blessing was offered the Pharaoh and his people, and was rejected with scorn and contempt. “I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go,” was the reply of the haughty king. Therefore. God, in fulfilling the mercy promised to the fathers, was obliged to destroy the Egyptians. He shook them off, as they were endeavouring to stop Him in His work. His mercy did not change in the least, but the Egyptians refused to have it, and when people refuse to accept mercy, there is nothing left them but destruction.

He “hath redeemed us from all our enemies; for His mercy endureth forever.” This is identical with the inspired song of Zecharias, after the birth of John: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant; the oath which He swore to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.” Luke 1:68-75.

This does not indicate mercy for a special class. “All that hate us,” are they who resist the progress of God's merciful reign over the earth. They despise both justice and mercy. We are delivered from our enemies, only in order that we may serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness all the days of our life. If we were not desirous of thus serving the Lord, we certainly should not be delivered. God's everlasting mercy exists for all, and none fail of receiving its fullness except those who will not have it.

Do not be carried away with the idea that in the preaching of the Gospel mercy is revealed, and justice in the destruction of the wicked. God's attributes are not thus divided. In the Gospel the righteousness, or justice, of God is revealed. Romans 1:16, 17. The righteousness of God is revealed in Christ for the remission of sins of all who have faith in His blood, “that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:25, 26. If God were not strictly just, He could never justify the ungodly. There is kindness and everlasting mercy in the justice of the Lord.

The repetition of the sentence, “for His mercy endureth forever,” shows that there is need of the dwelling much on the mercy of the Lord. “I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto Thee, O Lord, will l sing.” Psalm 101:1. “The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy; teach me Thy statutes.” Psalm 119:64. In the commandments of the Lord,-the ten commandments,-which are commonly supposed to be the embodiment of stern justice, we learn that the mercy of the Lord endures to thousands of generations. He takes vengeance on them that reject all goodness, but His anger soon ceases in their destruction, while His mercy endures.

The mercy of the Lord not only fills the earth, but it is also “in the heavens.” Psalm 36:5. It “is great, unto the heavens,” and reaches unto the clouds. Psalm 57:10. The sun, moon, and stars reveal it to us. The exhortation is, “O give thanks unto the Lord of lords; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him who alone doeth great wonders; for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that by wisdom made the heavens; for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that stretched out the earth above the waters; for His mercy endureth forever. To Him that made great lights; for His mercy endureth forever. The sun to rule by day; for His mercy endureth forever.”

Therefore “lift up your eyes on high, and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; He calleth them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one is lacking.” Keep looking up, and meditating on the greatness of the Lord, and you will never more say or think, “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed away from my God.” He is always looking in every part of the earth for an opportunity to exert all His mighty power in behalf of the weak and the oppressed. “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.” “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.” Psalm 140:12. Therefore “give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever.” — E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, Oct. 26, 1899, pp.  677-678, emphasis supplied here and onward.

 

Looking through Waggoner’s article on mercy and, in particular, some of his key statements which I highlighted in bold print, it became clear to me that God’s mercy is indeed unlimited and has always been there for all of His creation! He was trying to reach Pharaoh and the Egyptians at the same time He was planning on freeing Moses and the Israelites from captivity.

The other E. J. Waggoner article which I found to be very helpful was this one:

"Justice and Mercy" The Present Truth 9, 4.

There is a strange idea prevalent in the world, and even in the professed Christian world, that justice and mercy are opposite qualities, and that they cannot be manifested in the same person at the same time. We remember a hymn long ago, in praise of “charity,” one line of which said, “Justice hath in thee no part.” This expresses the prevalent idea, that justice is harsh and cruel, and that in order to exercise mercy God has to lay aside His justice, and that when He exercises justice He lays aside mercy.

This is a most unfortunate idea. It represents God as changeable. But the fact is that He cannot deny Himself, and He changes not. “For I am the Lord, I change not.” Malachi 3:6. “Justice and judgment are the habitation [or foundation] of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.” Psalm 89:14. These are words of the man by whom the Holy Ghost spoke. The psalm begins, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever; Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens.” And again, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever.” Psalm 136:1. God is from everlasting to everlasting; both justice and mercy are parts of His character; He cannot change; therefore both the justice and the mercy of the Lord must endure forever, unchanged.

Justice no less than mercy is manifest in the plan of redemption. Thus, we read: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Romans 3:23-26. Here we are told that God does not lay aside His justice in saving men, but in the very act of redemption He displays His justice.

In the tabernacle which the Lord told Moses to build, and the pattern of which He showed him in the mount, the chief article of furniture was the ark. In this ark, the tables of the law were placed. The cover of the ark was called the mercy-seat, and upon this cover were the figures of two cherubim, one at each end, facing each other. See Exodus 25:10-21. Of this the Lord said, “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.” Exodus 25:22. “And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with Him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim; and He spoke unto him.” Numbers 7:89. From this we learn that as the tabernacle represented the dwelling place of God, corresponding to the temple of God in heaven (see Exodus 25:8; Hebrews 9:23, 24; Psalm 11:4), so the ark represented the throne of God. Thus, the law of God forms the foundation of His throne, yet the throne itself is the seat of mercy. In the throne of God “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Psalm 85:10. His throne is a throne of grace, where we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16.”  — E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, Feb. 23, 1893, p. 52.

It becomes clear as we review this last Waggoner article, which studies God’s justice and mercy, that they are both facets of God’s agape love and thus part of His character and cannot be separated. As we read in Psalm 89:14, “Justice and judgment are the habitation [or foundation] of Thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.”

As we continue, notice how Ellen White comments regarding King David’s plea for God’s mercy in Psalm 51:

And the fifty-first psalm is an expression of David's repentance, when the message of reproof came to him from God:

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy loving-kindness:

According unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out

my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me….

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness;

That the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide Thy face from my sins,

And blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart,tO God;

And renew a right spirit within me. m

Cast me not away from Thy presence;

And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. me

Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation;

And uphold me with Thy free Spirit.

Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways;

And sinners shall be converted unto Thee.

Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation:

And my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.” Psalm 51:1-14.

Thus, in a sacred song to be sung in the public assemblies of his people, in the presence of the court—priests and judges, princes and men of war—and which would preserve to the latest generation the knowledge of his fall, the king of Israel recounted his sin, his repentance, and his hope of pardon through the mercy of God. Instead of endeavoring to conceal his guilt he desired that others might be instructed by the sad history of his fall.

David's repentance was sincere and deep. There was no effort to palliate his crime. No desire to escape the judgments threatened, inspired his prayer. But he saw the enormity of his transgression against God; he saw the defilement of his soul; he loathed his sin. It was not for pardon only that he prayed, but for purity of heart. David did not in despair give over the struggle. In the promises of God to repentant sinners he saw the evidence of his pardon and acceptance ….

Whoever under the reproof of God will humble the soul with confession and repentance, as did David, may be sure that there is hope for him. Whoever will in faith accept God's promises, will find pardon. The Lord will never cast away one truly repentant soul. He has given this promise: “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.” Isaiah 27:5. “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7. —Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 724-726.

In closing, we serve a loving God whose love is an infinite agape love for His creation, including every precious soul in our world. This is manifested in His character where we see His infinite mercy, forgiveness and justice. He wants each of us to spend eternity with Him. May my desire and yours be the same as King David’s that He “create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.”

Blessings,

John Campbell