MERCY

I have been praying for a man by the name of Paul who has read through the entire Bible and considers himself a skeptic and an unbeliever. I don’t know Paul personally, but I know he represents a category of people who can understand the God of the New Testament, in the person of Jesus Christ, but have a hard time grasping how the God of the Old Testament is the same loving, merciful God. I would like to share with every “Paul” out there, the first examples in the Bible that we have of God’s loving mercy. We find it in the very beginning of the Old Testament, in the book of Genesis. The meaning of the Greek word Genesis is “origin” or “beginning.” Genesis is the earliest written account of man. It is also the foundation of the Christian faith. Here we read that God creates the world and sees that it is good. God creates a man and a woman and blesses them, giving them rulership over all the animals and over every living thing. God places them a beautiful garden.  It is here in the story that we are introduced to two trees.

“And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground–trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9 NIV

God told the man:

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17 NIV

Maybe you know the story, but don’t miss the details in what’s ahead. The man and woman choose to eat of the forbidden tree. Before they eat of the tree, the Bible says they were naked and felt no shame. As soon as they eat it, we read:

“then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” Genesis 3:7  NIV

They felt shame because they had not obeyed God, so they tried to cover themselves. When they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden, they hid. God asks them what is going on. God already knew, but it was important for them to admit it.  They made excuses for their sin, in reality trying to pass blame and deny it. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us. There is such a beauty in the free will that God gave to us. He wants our devotion, our affection, our love and our sincere repentance from sin, but will never force it, as we see in the example of this story.

Next, God cursed the ground and banished the man and the woman from the garden. But here’s what we cannot miss. It’s so cool!

“The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” Genesis 3:21 NIV

Their attempt to cover themselves wasn’t enough (same as our own attempts).  God clothed them!  How cool is that?  Not only that, but he clothed them by sacrificing an animal (the future requirement of the Mosaic law for the remission of sin).  This is the first picture of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus death on the cross.  It is the first symbolic reference to the shedding of Jesus’ blood to cleanse sin.  God sheds the blood of an animal and covers their shame. Their shame came as a result of their sin. God could have left them in that state, but he planned a way out from the beginning of time. That is God’s wonderful mercy!

There’s more…

If you’ve heard the story, you know what happens next. Adam and Eve are forced out of the beautiful garden. You may think the story ends here.  If so, you’re forgetting the other tree in Genesis chapter 2.

“In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9  NIV

The tree of life; it is so easy to forget.  So whatever happened to the tree of life?

“The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” Genesis 3:22 NIV

We tend to think of the banishment from the garden as God’s judgement, but it is in fact an act of MERCY!  By eating of the tree of life, Adam and Eve would have lived forever in a sinful state.  God, in his mercy, did not allow this as an option.  He removed them from the possibility by casting them out of the garden.  He does this because He wants us to spend eternity with Him, in a perfect, sinless state and He has wants to provide an opportunity for redemption, in the promised Messiah to come.  And who other does he send as the promised Messiah, but Himself!  Jesus was God in the flesh, come to earth as ransom to take your place and mine as the punishment for our sin. Yep, we’ve inherited the sinful state because we’re descendants of the first man and woman God created. We’re all born sinners. But God came down to earth to take the punishment we deserve. Our own sin can be covered and forgiven by the sacrifice and blood of Jesus on the cross. How awesome that God Himself came to redeem us.

“…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” Romans 10:9 NIV

I love the examples in Genesis of God’s mercy, and His love for His fallen creation. We find the promise of the Messiah on every page of the Old Testament, written hundreds and sometimes thousands of years before the promise was fulfilled. Let the vastness of God’s MERCY penetrate deep in your heart, and trust Him! He won’t let you down.

Father, thank you for your mercy. Thank you for making a way for me to be reconciled to you. I don’t deserve your grace, but I accept it in awe that it is not based on what I do, but what you have done for me.   I desire to honor you with my life.

 

Click here to see other Hidden In My Heart posts

 

 

GET IN TOUCH

 

Send

Form submitted successfully, thank you.Error submitting form, please try again.