“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
Matthew 5:7
The Lord states the fifth beatitude. Again He deals with a heart attitude – mercy. This statement follows His pattern. A person is broken in spirit – he recognizes his life is a disaster before God. That person mourns over his sin – he knows it is wrong but can do nothing about is. He is totally helpless in his separation from God. That person is meek. He reads God’s word and realizes what God says about him and his situation. God speaks to his heart about his sin and what God has done to pay for His sin. That man meekly knows there is no other way to forgiveness of his sin except through what God has done for him. Then that person develops an obsession to know God – he hungers to know the God who died for him and whom he needs to
serve. As that heart attitude develops in a person, an unbelievable change occurs – he is conformed into the image of God. The fruit of the spirit begin to demonstrate themselves in his life. He begins to look like the God he serves.
Blessed are the merciful Jesus tells the audience listening to Him on the Sermon on the Mount that those who enter His kingdom have a merciful heart. The Greek word the Lord uses means full of pity or compassionate. It is used only one other time in scripture – in Hebrews 2:17. There we read of Jesus “in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” He was merciful in that He paid for our sin – a debt He did not owe but which we could not pay. Mercy means that while we deserve punishment, God does not punish us. Unbelievably He blesses us instead. Mercy is the withholding of the just condemnation we deserve. The mercy God gives us is then seen in the person as he shows that same mercy to others.
One thing about mercy is that it is never deserved. The story is told of a mother once approached Napoleon seeking a pardon for her son. The emperor replied that the young man had committed a certain offense twice and justice demanded death. “But I don’t ask for justice,” the mother explained. “I plead for mercy.” “But your son does not deserve mercy”, Napoleon replied. “Sir,” the woman cried, “it would not be mercy if he deserved it, and mercy is all I ask for.” “Well, then,” the emperor said, “I will have mercy.” And he spared the woman’s son. The believer is always staggered at the mercy of God to him.
What can we learn? The first four beatitudes show the work of God in our heart to save us. When our hearts are changed by God one evidence we see is is a concern for others. This is what Paul tells us in Ephesians 4. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” How can this be? How can we forgive others who have grievously wronged us? That can only occur when the Holy Spirit has produces the first four beatitudes in us. The verb that the Lord uses is in the continuous sense – being merciful is not a one and done exercise. It is a continuous process for God continues to forgive us even as we sin against Him after we become His children. If we focus on ourselves mercy becomes very difficult to give. Peter struggled with this when he asked the Lord “How often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Our humanness says there is a time we should quit forgiving others. The Lord says those who
enter His kingdom never stop being merciful to others, no matter who they are or how many times they sin against us for that is the way God treats the believer..