April 1, 2022
Today’s reading: Exodus 34:6-7
God of mercy and justice
Did you know that Exodus 34:6-7 is among the most quoted OT passages in the NT? It is also among the most important passages in Judaism today.
So, I believe it deserves a greater focus for us today.
It says:
6 And Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh El, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
There are a lot of things we can learn about Yahweh’s character in just these two verses.
Yahweh is:
- Merciful
- Gracious
- Longsuffering
- Abounding in goodness
- Abounding in truth
- Keeping mercy for thousands
- Forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin
As you can see, Yahweh is the God of mercy, grace, and love. He is ready to forgive our sins when we repent.
We remember the rebellious act of the Israelites during the golden calf incident. It seems that it is all over for them. We might think that God won’t give them another chance.
Yet, God was willing to again call Moses to the mountain, set aside precious time for them, and even made new tablets of stones for them!
What an incredible display of love, mercy, and grace!
Now, here’s where things get interesting.
Yahweh is the God of mercy, but also the God of justice.
Notice when God gave His commands to Moses the second time, He didn’t change anything in it. They were the same commandments. God will not adjust His standards for us. We must still be willing to hit the mark.
Yes, God is merciful, but He will punish those who will continually disobey Him as we read:
“…by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
This dramatically tells us about God’s character. He won’t tolerate sin but at the same time, He is still loving and forgiving.
We can all be thankful for God’s mercy and love and at the same time, we must not abuse His patience, because God’s judgment will still be executed.
🔥 To learn more, I highly recommend you read, “What does being a living sacrifice mean?“
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