The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Philip H. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Research on Mercy
Throughout all history God has possessed and exhibited his mercy, one of the many different attributes that he possesses. In order to better understand God's mercy it is helpful to have a definition. Dr. Wayne Grudem says that mercy is defined as, "God's goodness towards those in misery and distress." What he means by this definition is that God, in his mercy, shows unmerited love towards those who are in such a depraved state.
The first type of mercy that God exhibits is "common mercy". Essentially, this phrase refers to the type of mercy that God shows to all mankind by his universal restraint on evil. Each and every one of us has a sin nature that if left unchecked would show itself in many different ways. Without God's hand holding back the evil that exists in all of us due to the fall, then we would live in an incredibly bleak situation where every man does acts of wickedness all of the time. Thankfully, though, this is not what is happening. God has shown us common mercy by keeping mankind from self-destructing due to our sin nature. Another way that God shows us his common mercy is in how he provides for mankind's needs. Without God life couldn't exist – he has made life possible by creating and sustaining the universe. The mere fact that we can live, breathe, eat, and walk is a testament to God's mercy. Psalm 145:9 says, "The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made." The Psalmist is referring to God's provision of our needs to survive and how in that sense God shows mercy to all of his creation.
The second type of mercy that God exhibits is called his special mercy – this is shown in how God has provided a way of salvation through his son, Jesus Christ. We can agree that all of us have sinned and thus, according to Romans 6:23, deserve the eternal punishment of being separated from God. Part of God's nature is the fact that he is fully just; and as such, there must be a price paid for our sins. It would have been perfectly just for all of mankind to be tormented in Hell forever because of our sin nature and from that the sins that we have committed. However, this would not be at all merciful. God fulfilled justice through Christ's death and at the same time showed incredible mercy by dying for his elect. A.W. Pink clarifies this special type of mercy when he said, "there is a… mercy which is reserved for the heirs of salvation, which is communicated to them in a covenant way, through the Mediator." Christ has died for our sins in order to provide a way to salvation and this is the greatest of God's mercies.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:3 that God is the "father of mercies" and in Lamentations 3:22 it says that, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercy never comes to an end." We cannot doubt that our God is a God of mercy and he has revealed his mercy in a general sense by restraining evil and sustaining creation, but more importantly, he has shown us his mercy by providing salvation from our current hopeless state of depravity.
