256. Salvation and Mercy
Jeremiah 33:26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.
The promise of the Lord for us as believers in Christ is that we are saved from captivity and God will have mercy on us. We shall return Home to God from the captivity to Sin, Death and Satan. Returning to the place where God designed for us to live is a wonderful promise. We innately know, if we are willing to believe it, that there is something wrong with life as we know it on earth. We know there is more to life somewhere, somehow, but we don’t know what it is, or what is missing. God is what is missing and God’s Place (Paradise) is where it is. We are in Adam, and so we know in the heart that we are missing Paradise, and something is wrong.
Therefore, God reveals to us where it is and He tells us what it is that is missing. What’s wrong is that we are in captivity to the Enemy. Eternity, as a hope and a dream, is what is missing. God has to tell us about it. We listen to the Word, and we say, “That’s it! That’s what I’ve been looking for.” We do not belong to the captivity into which we were born. We find ourselves in captivity because we are in Adam when he fell. By God’s Love in Christ He brought us back from captivity and placed us in His Presence. That is the place He has returned us to.
In that place, we in God and God in us, God has mercy on us. Out of mercy God the Father sent His Son for us, to bring us home. Out of mercy the Son died for us, to bring us to God. Out of mercy, the Holy Spirit has given us faith in the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation. The mercy of God the Father, Son, and Spirit is with us always, and it will continue to be with us all the days of our lives, until we leave this temporal earth to enjoy Him forever in heaven. While we wait, God brings heaven to us by the Gospel daily, and He shows mercy always and for every sin and problem we deal with. God will have mercy on us always. The Lord will make it happen. We receive this promise with great joy.