Blessed are the merciful

By Arthur Pink and others.

[This is the fifth, in our series of eight beatitudes.]

(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7

Gospel mercy is not a product of human nature--it is the fruit of a heart transformed by divine grace. Before regeneration, we were hard, self-centered and indifferent to the souls of others. But when God had mercy on us--pardoning our sin, cleansing our guilt, and raising us from spiritual death--He made us into merciful people. This beatitude is not a call to earn mercy, but a declaration of the mercy which God's grace produces in those whom He saves.

Mercy is that compassion which is moved by the sight of misery, and which attempts to relieve those in misery.

What greater misery exists, than the misery of sin?

What deeper need can there be, than the need of pardon from the thrice holy God?

The merciful, then, are those who are moved--not merely by physical suffering--but by the eternal peril of those who are rushing madly on to a dreadful Hell! Having themselves tasted the sweetness of forgiveness, they long to see others reconciled to God. They pray, they plead, they labor that sinners might flee to Christ. They are not content to let men run undisturbed to damnation--they intervene, with the gospel of mercy in their mouths, and the love of Christ in their hearts.

And what is the promise? "They shall obtain mercy!" The merciful shall be shown mercy in their daily walk--receiving patience, grace, and strength from their Heavenly Father.

And on that final day when they stand before the Judge of all, they will not receive the awful sentence they so justly deserved. Instead of Hell, they will be met with mercy--divine, sovereign, everlasting mercy! The One who should have banished them to Hell, will, in His great mercy on the unworthy, welcome them into glory! With nail-pierced hands, He will receive them--those who were once ill-deserving and Hell-deserving, declaring before all Heaven: "These are My merciful ones . . .
  redeemed by My Son's sin-atoning death,
  kept by My power, and
  now brought Home by My marvelous mercy!"

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You may want to listen to John Newton's helpful hymn, "Tis a Point I Long to Know."