Delighting In Mercy

Micah 7:18-20

The problem with allegorizing the Bible where it does not tell you a passage is an allegory is that there is no end to what you will try to twist into a mystery to be solved. Soon plain passages are said to have some kind of hidden meaning that is almost completely unrelated to what was actually said. Sadly this has been done far too much over the centuries to push certain viewpoints on the church or end times. Unless God's word tells us otherwise, we need to let it say what it says.

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Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old.

Micah 7:18-20

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God is not finished with Israel. The Jews have been in a period of judgment for a long long time. While they have the land back, that period of judgment continues to this day. The way we know this is painfully obvious, especially in light of recent events; they still do not have peace from their enemies. Also, Jesus is not ruling from the throne of David.

Our passage from Micah today is a reassurance that God will pardon the sins of the Jewish people. All of their oppression has been for the sole purpose of turning them to God. In the Old Testament era the Jews rebelled against God and worshiped pagan gods. They violated God's law in this worship. They went into exile. In the New Testament era they claimed to worship God, but they were doing it their own way. Self-righteousness was their religion and they rejected Jesus. Today, some Jews are religious but many are agnostic and have turned secular. The promise of God has not been fulfilled yet.

What a comfort it is that God does not retain His anger forever. When we read about the nature of God in his word, it is appropriate to apply those truths to our lives, but it is not right to reappropriate those promises. What do I mean? There are some promises in the scripture that are made specifically to Israel. Some Christians believe that the church has taken the place of Israel. This simply is not taught by scripture. God's chosen people were the Jews in the Old Testament. The church was grafted in (Romans 11:17) but we did not replace Israel. Paul makes this very clear. When the church is raptured, Israel will again take the place of proclaiming God's word to the world. This time, they will get it right.

What a wonderful thought, that God delights in mercy and casts our sins into the depths of the sea! I do not know about you, but I have given God plenty of reasons to be mad at me. I have given Him reasons to be mad at me forever. So, it is a great comfort that He said, He delights in mercy. There are two great mysteries in this world: 1.) How God could love sinners and 2.) How sinners could not love God. While I cannot explain the second, the first one is because God's nature is to delight in mercy. Not only is He merciful, but He calls us to be merciful as well.

Father, I am grateful that You have not cast Israel off because of their sins. What comfort it is to know that You still love them and are calling them back to You. If this were not true, if You gave up on them after all You have invested in them, what assurance would I have that You would not give up on me? Thank You for being a God who delights in mercy!