“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Matthew 9:12-13
In Matthew 9, Jesus is critiqued by the Pharisees for hanging out with tax collectors and sinners after calling one of His disciples, tax-collector Matthew, to follow Him. In His response to the religious leaders, Jesus quoted scripture from a time in the Old Testament – Hosea 6:6. A time when God’s people were concerned with following religious traditions like giving sacrifices rather than genuinely knowing God and following Him with their hearts. As a result, God called them to repentance by speaking the words we see Jesus speak in Matthew 9.
I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
I’ve pondered over what mercy means for a few weeks. It’s a word I hear alongside ‘grace’ and one I desperately wanted to understand. Mercy is often described this way:
- Mercy forgives and removes the punishment of sin
- Mercy is a compassionate response from God
- Mercy is a divine attribute of God
- Mercy withholds punishment even when well-deserved
These are a few explanations of mercy and they didn’t fully make sense to me. Of all of His attributes, why not stop at giving us grace, or love, or patience? Why also add mercy? I followed my curiosity to one of the most beautiful understandings of God’s merciful heart towards us. And it occurred during a bible study I did regarding The Ark of the Covenant in 1 Samuel 5 and 6.
In Old Testament times, God’s people had a sacred object that they called the “Ark of the Covenant” which stored a few relics including the stone tablets that the Ten Commandments were written on. God instructed for The Ark of the Covenant to be built alongside The Tabernacle; a portable and holy tent that stored the Ark and served as a place for God’s presence to be with the children of Israel while they wandered the desert. Within The Tabernacle, the Ark was placed behind a set of curtains in a section that was called the “Holy of Holies”. Only the High Priest had access to this section and he could only access it one day out of the year on the “Day of Atonement”; the day when this priest would perform blood rituals to atone for the sins of the Israelites. But before entering the Holy of Holies he would have to throw incense into the place because his vision had to be blurred. He couldn’t see the Ark of the Covenant in its fullness and live. In addition to that, those who carried the Ark could never physically or directly touch it with their hands. They had to use extensions or long sticks.
The High Priest was the only one allowed in the Holy of Holies, with an obscured view, and those carrying the Ark could only carry it, with extensions. Then why bother? Why did God even bother giving them the Ark and instructing them to build the tent if it required all of this? Because God always wanted for his presence to be with the Israelites. He wanted for them to walk with Him and have a relationship with Him. But accessing God’s presence without protection meant death for them. Accessing the presence of a perfect and holy God without mercy means death. So, God created a mercy seat over the top of the Ark. This mercy seat was God’s official throne amongst the Israelites. It was His dwelling place. The dwelling place that only the High Priest could commune with God on behalf of the people. It was on this mercy seat that the High Priest sprinkled the blood of an animal to atone for the sins of the Israelites during the Day of Atonement.
In 1 Samuel 6, a group of Israelites and Philistines decided to look into the Ark of the Covenant themselves. Unfortunately, they died. Not only did they not go through the High Priest, they also rejected using God’s mercy seat. The Ten Commandments that were stored within the Ark of the Covenant represent God. They are the face of God which is why they’re also referred to as the “Law of God”. It’s the righteous standards of His perfect deity. The law reflects His nature, His Holiness, His attributes. And we fall short of the law because of our sinful nature. That’s why in the Old Testament, so much of walking with God required atonement. When we look into the face of the law, when we look into the face of His nature, the power of His nature, the fullness of His deity, we cannot sustain it. We are imperfect beings so we need a High Priest. We need a mercy seat. To attempt to look at His deity without His mercy seat is to say that we don’t need it when we do. To attempt to look at the law on our own is like telling God we don’t need His help. It’s self-righteousness that led the group in 1 Samuel 6 to reject the mercy seat. It’s self-righteousness that led the Pharisees to rebuke Jesus in Matthew 9. And He responded as only God can, I require mercy and not sacrifice.
Mercy is an attribute of God because of His unconditional love towards us. Just like the days of the Old Testament, His all-consuming holiness, his perfect deity can’t be sustained by us without mercy. It was physically impossible to dwell in the presence of God in the Old Testament without His mercy seat. It’s spiritually impossible to dwell in the presence of God in the New Testament or modern times without His mercy seat. Because of His mercy, God provided a way for an imperfect and sinful people to dwell in the presence of the most perfect. Though unlike Old Testament times, all of us can now choose to access ‘The Tabernacle’. All of us can now choose to access the ‘Holy of Holies’ through His greatest gift of mercy.
Jesus is our High Priest. The Highest Priest.
Jesus is our mercy seat. He’s God’s mercy.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus demonstrated compassion for those who understood their inherent need for Him. That’s why Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6 to the Pharisees in Matthew 9. No amount of actions can be done on our part to deserve the gift we’ve been given to dwell in God’s presence. God’s mercy frees us from legalism, religious doctrine, or obligations we convince ourselves we need to do to walk with God. It frees us from thinking we could ever be ‘perfect’ enough to walk with God. God’s merciful heart towards us isn’t to take sacrifices from us for our sins that have already been paid for so that we can make up for the weaknesses He already knows we have. The perfect Law of God now lives in us through the power of the Holy Spirit despite how imperfect we are. We will never fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law of God and He knows it, but He loves us so much that He made a way for us to be with Him despite our sinful nature. It’s now so clear to me why Jesus said those words. He said it because God exemplified mercy for us.
Jesus Christ is the fullest, most personal, most magnetic, truest form, truest definition of mercy.
When we learn what mercy is, what mercy does, what mercy has done on the cross, it leads us to fall away from the religious doctrines or legalist postures that the Pharisees had in Matthew 9 or the Israelites had in Hosea 6. It leads us to fall away from the self-righteousness of the group in 1 Samuel 6. It leads us to forgive ourselves. It leads us to apply that type of forgiveness to others.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
Romans 8:31-35
Book and Scripture to meditate on for the week:
- Exodus describes the building of The Tabernacle (Exodus 25-30). Exodus 3, Exodus 33, and 34 do a good job of depicting God’s overwhelming and all-consuming presence and deity. As well as the encounter Moses had when he asked to see God face-to-face.
- Galatians 3-5 explains why and how we’re freed from the law with Christ. It also helps us on our walk on how to be guided by the Spirit.
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:14-16
“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Galatians 5:18
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Luke 6:36-37
“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.”
Psalm 19:7
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
Romans 3:23-25
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.”
Deuteronomy 32:4
How would you describe mercy in your own words? I’d love to read it. Comment below! 🙂
Have a great week,
Anne
Daughter in Waiting Ministry 
Leave a comment