God of mercy



The above image represents a close-up view from just outside the top edge of the Ark of the Covenant: whereupon the lid stood two cherubim facing inward toward the center.  In that void of space just above the lid of the Ark, is where the Presence of God was manifested.  It was a most holy place, that little space between the cherubim.  Most holy.  For, there upon the top of that lid, between the cherubim, was poured the precious blood of the Sacrifice.  The cherubim signify the reverential worship of heaven in the Presence of God ~ and in the sight of the blood of God's Sacrifice.  Of all the places in the camp of Israel; of all the places in that beautiful Tabernacle in the Wilderness; of all the places in the whole world: that little space above the Ark was where God chose to Be, to rest, to dwell.  The blood-stained lid of the Ark of the Covenant even had a special name: it was called, the Mercy Seat.

The glory of God is most purely seen, I believe, in His mercy.  It seems to me that because we have long been passing through the time of the great Apostasy, we have only faintly perceived how great is the love of God.  But that is changing, as God is working deeply to restore "grace and truth" to His people in this awful time.

God is opening our eyes.  He is undoing many years of wrong thinking, wrong believing, wrong doing.  God is teaching us how to think aright; He is leading us, step by step, to understand the truth of God and of Christ.  How different that is from the lifeless ideas that are taught for doctrine in so many churches.

What is the truth?  That "God is love"; "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all".  God loves mankind.  God earnestly, deeply longs to save, to redeem, to heal, to bless ~ to love; it is His nature.

Does God wink at sin?  No!  Will God ignore sin?  No!  He is perfectly holy.  Is God angry with the sinner?  Yes!  Will God judge and punish those who persist in their rebellion?  Yes!  He must.  He will.  But that's not what God wants to do.  Truly, God does not even want to look at sin.  Not as if looking upon sin might somehow affect the holiness of God.  But it breaks God's heart, I sincerely believe, to see what people do to themselves and to others.  The pain, the darkness, the evil that is in the world ~ is all so alien and offensive to God.  I say again: God does not even want to look upon sin.  He doesn't want to see it.

That's why the blood of the Sacrifice is poured all upon the Mercy Seat ~ and God above it.  When God looks down upon mankind, all that God wants to see is the Blood of Christ ~ which was poured out for the sins of the whole world.  Who did that?  God and Christ did that.  God made a way for Himself to be able to move and work in the world of men; to reveal Himself, and to do what only God can do, that is, to save, to heal, to raise up.

God has a great desire, yea, a yearning toward you and me.  He did not create us and give us our being in vain.  God gave us life ~ with eternal purpose in mind; with absolute good will and perfect love toward us.  God did not willingly lose us to sin.  We, each and every one of us, walked that dark path in spite of God's pleadings.  But He is longsuffering, and so merciful.

I do not mean to make light of sin; it is brutal; deadly; filthy; heinous.  If we could only see God as He is, we might then understand the ugliness of sin, the horror of its treachery against all that is good.  God knows the reality of it.  Even so, God has moved ~ and yet is moving ~ to put away all sin, for me and for you.  He accomplished the dreadful feat: God overcame all the power and consequences of sin, in the Person of Jesus Christ, once and for all.  Now, God seeks to bring each and every one of us into the full possession of the great Victory which God wrought in Christ ~ at such awful cost to Himself.  Only in Jesus can we know such freedom and peace and love of God.

God's will is to bring us all the way with Him: all the way to enjoy what the Bible calls, "the glorious liberty of the sons of God".  There is hope for us in Jesus.  The devil ALWAYS tries by all means to bind us with chains of doubt, of guilt, of regret, of fear of judgment and wrath ~ because of our sins past (or, God forbid, our sins present)!  But God is restoring our vision . . . .  Consider Job.  God Himself told the devil that Job was a "perfect and upright" man.  But Job was not always so.  Just like the rest of us, Job was a natural-born sinner.  In fact, I wonder whether the reason Job made sacrifice to God every day for his (Job's) grown children, was because that in former days, Job had not been the faithful, God-fearing father he should have been, in the sight of his children.  Maybe, Job came to realize he had not raised his children in the fear and admonition of the Lord, as he ought to have done.  But Job did come at length to be that "perfect and upright" man, in the sight of God.

Or consider Enoch.  Enoch was translated, and did not see death; because, as the Scripture testifies, Enoch "walked with God".  But it was not always the case with Enoch.  For quite some time in his earlier life, Enoch struggled to overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil.  It MUST have been so.

The same can be said of such great men of faith as...; well, just pick the name of any godly person in the Bible (excepting, only, Jesus)!  Yet, even Jesus, the Bible declares, "learned obedience by the things he suffered".  Of course, that does not mean that Jesus ever sinned.  No.  But Jesus did need to learn and grow.

The God of mercy is "mighty to save".  He is able and willing to "bring many sons unto glory".

We ~ whosoever we are ~ who are praying and seeking God for Revival; we are not holier than God; we are not more merciful than God; we are not more loving, more compassionate, more zealous for souls.  Perish the thought that we must beg and plead with God to do something in the way of salvation!  In reality, it is God who is doing the seeking: He is seeking to make an opening IN US, for Him to have his way in and through us.  If we have any concern for God's honor and glory; if we have any appreciation and love for Christ; if we have any compassion for lost and dying souls; if we have any desire to see the kingdom of God grow and prosper: it is ONLY because we thus faintly reflect the mind and heart of God that is continually shining, trying to break through OUR DARKNESS.

But God is strong ~ stronger than the weakness of our flesh . . . if only we be willing.

God once spoke to me in my spirit, when I was battling daily against death.  He simply said: "Choose".  That was it.  I had been fasting and praying and seeking God for nearly a year for deliverance.  Then, one day, God simply said, "Choose".  I didn't understand.  I replied, "What do you mean?  I've done everything I know to do, to try and obtain my healing."  The Spirit of God answered me, again: "All I said was, Choose."   "Alright, Lord; I choose life; I choose to live."  Immediately, I felt the lifting up of my spirit.  Though it wasn't until about a week later that I was suddenly pain free.

I have since learned that all I can ever do is choose.  All the ability ~ including the faith, the will, the strength, the desire, the love of truth and of righteousness, the hatred of sin: all of it must come from God as the gift of His grace.  But choose we must, every day.

God is desiring ~ and working ~ to bring ALL WHO ARE WILLING ~ to walk in that very same place where men such as the apostle John walked: who wrote these words: "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight".  It is not only possible; it is God's will.

Imagine, if you will, what it would mean to your life, to walk with God in such a way that EVERYTHING you would ask of God, you will receive.  Would prayer then be a burden to you?  Would soul-winning seem laborious?  Oh! How can we know God as He is ~ unless, we know Him in the fullness of the outpouring of His Spirit?  How can we know God at a distance?  We must know Him up close.  We must know God ~ in Revival.  Only then can we know Him as He is.  He is the God of mercy!  We must find Him so in our own experience.

We can no more afford to be otherwise minded, but we must have the mind of Christ!  We must line up with God's desires, God's will, and God's way.  God has great desires.  But by His own sovereign will, God requires that man must align himself with God's desires, in order for God then to move to accomplish the same.  God is not going to change.  But we can be changed, by the mercy and power of God.  And, then, God can use us to change the course, the eternal destiny, for many of our generation.