Psalm 89
1 I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known your faithfulness to all generations.
BUT nobody can live upon a past experience. The Christian’s rejoicing does not consist merely in telling what God did at some time in the past even for him. Life—real life—is not in the future nor in the past; it is now. Therefore the only reason why we can sing of the mercies of God forever, is that…
Psalm 136
1 …His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 89
2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever; your faithfulness shall You establish in the very heavens.
Psalm 36
5 Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and your faithfulness reaches unto the clouds.
Psalm 103
11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.
17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s children.
Someone will say,
“Yes, the mercy of the Lord is forever, but only to a certain class; there comes a time when His mercy ceases for sinners; and may it not be that it has now ceased?”
To this it is necessary only to say that it will be time enough for people to talk about God’s mercy ceasing, when they read something in the Bible to that effect; but in the face of the statement, repeated many times, that “His mercy endures for ever,” and that:
Psalm 145
9 The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works.
It is exceedingly presumptuous for anybody to say that there ever will come a time when God’s mercy for anybody will cease, or be in the least diminished. God’s mercy is himself, for He is love, and it must be as enduring as He is. We read that He is…
Psalm 90
2 …from everlasting to everlasting,
–and even so have we just read of His mercy. To say that there will come a time when God’s mercy will cease, is the same as saying that there will come a time when His righteousness will cease. There is no more reason to limit God’s mercy than there is to limit His righteousness.
True, it is said that His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, but the same thing is also said of His righteousness. But neither the one nor the other statement gives us any reason to conclude that either God’s mercy or His righteousness will ever cease, or ever be restricted in any degree.
The righteousness of God endures for ever, yet it will not be found on everybody. Why not? Because so many will not submit unto the righteousness of God.
Romans 5
18 The free gift comes upon all men unto justification of life.
But many reject the gift. It is evident, then, that God cannot be charged with unrighteousness. If men will not take what He freely gives, He is clear. So His tender mercy is over all, and it endures for ever; and the fact that many utterly refuse His loving mercy, does not in the least diminish it. In an otherwise most excellent hymn, occur these words:
But if you still His call refuse,
And all His wondrous love abuse,
Soon will He sadly from you turn,
Your bitter prayer for pardon spurn.[1]
No, never! That is not the Lord. Says Jesus,
John 6
37 Him that comes to me, I will in no wise cast out.
Hebrews 7
25 He is able to save to the uttermost,
–not simply the worst sinner; but to the longest time that any sinner may need and desire pardon, because…
Hebrews 7
25 He ever lives to make intercession for us.
There will indeed be a time when men who have abused His love, and definitely refused His call of mercy, will call, and will not be heard,[2] but the reason why is that:
- They do not desire pardon—cleansing from sin.
- They would gladly escape the consequences of sin, but they do not desire holiness.
- Their sorrow is not godly sorrow that works repentance.[3]
He does not heed their cry, because they do not ask for anything that He has to give. Even though they might seem to ask for life, they do not really ask for it, because they do not ask for holiness.
There will never be a time when a truly repentant sinner will be rejected by the Lord. The only reason why probation will cease, will be that there will no longer be any need of it. The decree will be made:
Revelation 22
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
This will not be an arbitrary fixing of destiny. It will not be that God’s patience is exhausted, so that He will say:
“I will not stand this any longer; I will not give them any more opportunity.”
No; it will simply be the announcement of the fact that everybody has made a final decision, so that no change would be made even were probation to be continued for a thousand years. And the mercy of God will be as great when the wicked are destroyed, as it was when Jesus hung on the cross.
Psalm 136
10 To Him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for His mercy endures for ever:
15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for His mercy endures for ever.
16 To Him which led His people through the wilderness: for His mercy endures for ever.
17 To Him which smote great kings: for His mercy endures for ever:
18 And slew famous kings: for His mercy endures for ever:
19 Sihon king of the Amorites: for His mercy endures for ever:
20 And Og the king of Bashan: for His mercy endures for ever.
The greater the thing refused, the greater the loss. Let no one think that because the mercy of God is so infinite and so eternal, therefore he is safe without it. What a foolishly fatal conclusion!
The fact that the mercy of God is so great, filling heaven and earth, is the great reason why we should accept it; for if we reject it, there will be nothing left for us but eternal destruction. If His mercy were feeble, it might be rejected with comparative impunity; but since it fills eternity, the rejection of it is an eternal loss.
Let us rather at once accept His mercy, and accept it as freely as He gives it; and then, since “His mercy endures for ever,” we, being filled and surrounded and transformed and preserved by His mercy, must also endure for ever. Then indeed we can sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever.
____________________
[2] Proverbs 1:24, 33.
[3] 2 Corinthians 7:10.
Other articles by E. J. Waggoner:
- Principles and Precepts
- Waggoner on Deliverance
- The Cross of Christ
- Our Mighty Leader
- The Recompense of the Reward
- Beginning of Sin and Redemption
- The Joyful Sound
- How to Be a Witness
- Can We Keep the Sabbath?
- The Handwriting of Ordinances
- A Lesson from Real Life
- Scientific Morality
- Salvation: Present and Future
- The Unpardonable Sin
- Essentials and Non-essentials