349. Mercy and a People
Hosea 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou are my people: and they shall say, Thou art my God.
We have not obtained mercy. We don’t deserve mercy. According to all that’s holy and just and right, we cannot have mercy shown to us. But in spite of the fact that each human being has forfeited God’s love, God’s life, and God Himself, God will have mercy. It is holy, just and right that we cannot be shown mercy or be acquitted. We justly deserved nothing but condemnation, the sentence of death, and eternal punishment.
But God has mercy because of what Jesus Christ, His only Son, has done for us. Because of Jesus the Lord can justly and rightly forgive our sins, give us eternal life, and bring us to Himself in heaven. God is merciful, but He does not just forgive because He decides to have mercy; He has mercy because of Christ. Our Sin has been justly and fully paid for, so both the holiness and the love of God is satisfied. In this way, God has mercy on us, the sinners, and we go to our home justified.
God, as a righteous judge, may decide anything He wants to, but He cannot and He will not decide against His nature and character. He cannot violate His Holiness. It must be maintained, or He could not be God any longer. So He did the only thing possible: He Himself came to fulfill righteousness for us, and died for us. Now He can and He will rightly, justly, totally and eternally forgive. He has mercy on us who have a snowball’s chance for mercy.
We are not His people. We lost that privilege through sin, disobedience and rebellion. Sinners have no relationship or connection to God. Sin separates. Sin brings death, which is eternal separation. By grace He makes a covenant with us, which makes us His people again. Our relationship, our connection, our communion with the Lord God is restored fully in Christ. We are His people; we belong to Him; we are at home in the family. “I am by Beloved’s, and He is mine.”
We receive that promise and complete the covenant by saying, “Thou art my God!” We love Him because He first loved us. Loving God is the outcome and fruit of faith. Jesus gives mercy and restores our relationship.