Abundant Mercy

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” — 1 Peter 1:3

I saw this Bible Verse of the Day and I thought I would do a search on “mercy”. Here is what I found:

It appears in 261 sections when I searched with my QuickVerse software.  Take a look at some of the wonderful things that are said about mercy.

The Lord was with Joseph when he was wrongfully imprisoned, He showed mercy to Joseph:

²¹But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²²And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. ²³The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper. (Genesis 39:21-23

Moses sang of the mercy of the Lord:

Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.(Exodus 15:13)

Moses begged the Lord’s pardon for his people:

¹⁸The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. ¹⁹Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. ²⁰And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: ²¹But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. (Numbers 14:18-20)

The Psalmist continually asked for mercy and he trusted in that mercy:

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed. (Psalms 6:2)

Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death: ¹⁴ That I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation. (Psalms 9:13-14)

But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. ⁶ I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. (Psalms 13:5-6)

For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. (Psalms 21:7)

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. (Psalms 23:6)

All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. (Psalms 25:10)

Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. (Psalms 36:5)

The prophets spoke of God’s mercy:

And 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.(Isaiah 30:18)

Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof. (Jeremiah 30:18)

It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. [23] They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. [24] The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. [25] The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. (Lamentations 3:22-25)

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; ²⁶After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid. (Ezekiel 39:25)

Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. (Daniel 4:27)

⁷But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. (Hosea 1:7)

Jesus spoke of mercy:

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. (Matthew 23:23)

Paul reminds us that mercy is extended to everyone because of Israel’s unbelief:

For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: ³¹Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. ³²For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. (Romans 11:30-32)

Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. ⁸Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: ⁹And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. ¹⁰And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. ¹¹And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. ¹²And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. (Romans 15:7-12)

And of all the verses and passages in the Bible that speak of God’s great and abundant mercy, this is my favorite:

⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, ⁵Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) ⁶And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: ⁷That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

Without the mercy of God we would be destined to an eternity without Him. He is merciful which means He does not give us what we deserve — certain death which is the wage that we owe for our sins (Romans 6:23). Because God is merciful He extends grace to us. To everyone! This grace is free for the taking — it is something we do not deserve. We are saved from death by grace through faith, not by any works that we do (Eph 2:8-9). We cannot earn our way into God’s Heaven.

Jesus already did everything that needed to be done

— in our place —

when He died the cruel death on the cross and then rose to life on the third day
according to the scriptures (1 Cor 15:2-4).

God is abundant in mercy in that He gave His only begotten Son to pay our sin debt for us. When you believe this truth you can realize that abundant mercy and look forward to the day when you meet your Saviour, Jesus when you are absent from your earthly body (2 Cor 5:8).

Will you believe this today? I was a grown woman before I ever knew the truth of the gospel. You can read about it here: Every Day Savior.

You can have “a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ” like Peter was talking about in our Verse of the Day.

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