“Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host’
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

“For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations” (Psalm 100:5 NKJV). His mercy is everlasting. Nothing I build is everlasting. Nothing I purchase is everlasting. Things wear out and decay. Men’s governments rise and fall. The world and all worldly things will one day pass away. Absolutely nothing in this world is everlasting except a person’s soul, which one day is to go to its “home of everlastingness” (Ecclesiastes 12:5 Adam Clarke Commentary reference). God’s mercy is everlasting! One can neither exhaust it nor outlive it. In fact, one could not even exist without it.

The Psalmist wrote, “Great are Thy mercies, O Lord” (Psalm 119:156 NASB). Over thirty times in the psalms you will find the expression, “For His mercy endures forever.” Throughout the Mosaic period, from the giving of the Law of Moses in Exodus to the close of the Gospel records in the New Testament, the Jews were kept aware of the wonderful mercy of God.

His laws have always been tempered with mercy. In the Tabernacle, and later in the Temple, the gold lid or cover of the Ark of the Covenant beneath the wings of the gold cherubim was called the “Mercy Seat” or “kapporeth.” This word means “propitiation” or “appeasement.” The Ark was located in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle first and later in the Temple. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would bring the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it on the Mercy Seat to make an atonement for the sins of the people (Leviticus 16). It was the place where law and mercy met. The Mercy Seat was God’s throne here on earth in the midst of His chosen people. God’s glory, called the “shekinah,” was the visible presence of God between the cherubim over the Mercy Seat.

David experienced the mercy of God and sang of it often in the psalms. “Thy mercy O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reaches up to the clouds” (Psalm 36:5). We find the same message throughout the writings of the prophets. “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him” (Daniel 9:9).

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23). As the song affirms, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end.” The same thought runs throughout the New Testament. “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:4–5). “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5). We could never do enough to earn or to merit our salvation; it will always be by God’s mercy or amazing grace that we are saved. Christ Jesus is our Mercy Seat! “God presented Him [Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement [“propitiation” KJV] through faith in His blood…” (Romans 3:25 NIV). The word translated “atonement” here in this verse is translated “mercy seat” in Hebrews 9:5 (KJV).

The mercy of God should be a powerful motivation that brings us to God. Paul wrote, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God” (Romans 12:1). God’s goodness, as well as His mercy, should lead us to Him.

When we are assailed by the storms and trials of life, it is God’s mercy that works in our lives in a providential way. As the beautiful old hymn says:

“From every stormy wind that blows,
From every swelling tide of woes,
There is a calm, a sure retreat;
‘Tis found beneath the mercy seat.”

Man has always cried out for justice, but in our relationship with God, what we need is not justice but mercy. The mercy of God is always there for us, everlastingly. We would all do well to pray the simple, yet profound, prayer of the publican at the Temple, “God have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13).

Author: Charles Cash