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“But now He [Jesus Christ] has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.” (Hebrews 8.6-7).

The passage just cited makes a clear distinction between the first covenant, the one which involved the literal mercy seat, and the better covenant that involved Jesus Christ, the Mediator of the second. The first covenant was one which God authored and put forth for Israel to accept and follow. God does all things well, but He does not do everything all at once. The first covenant is called the first covenant because God planned it that way. From eternity, the second covenant, the one involving the mediatorship of Jesus Christ, had been in the mind of God. It was to be the second covenant (by way of chronology) and the Last Will and Testament (by way of efficacy) of Jesus Christ. It is this Last Covenant that we frequently refer to as the New Testament, the last 27 books of the Bible. It is this last testament that graphically and eternally displays God’s mercy in all of its aspects. It is to that Testament that we turn for further study on the subject of mercy.

Turning the pages of the New Testament, our first encounter with the term mercy in any of its forms comes as we begin to read the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes are the opening words of that great discourse. The Beatitudes consist of nine “blessed are” statements that form the foundational attitudes that were to be present in and required of Kingdom citizens. The fifth of these states, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5.7). One can rightly conclude from this statement the truth that only the merciful will obtain mercy. That being the case, and recognizing that no one can stand before Holy God on his or her own merits, the obtaining of mercy is of tremendous eternal importance. Without mercy, not a single accountable human being could even gain access to God’s ear, say nothing about actually become the recipient of His favor!

Foy E. Wallace, Jr., a powerful gospel preacher of a by-gone era, never spoke more eloquently than when he preached expositorily from the Sermon on the Mount. In fact, one of his favorite sermons (and one of his last) was one which he styled, The Beatitudes: Pentecost Pointers. When he addressed this topic, he always showed mightily that the attitudes of the beatitudes were the attitudes that God expected of those who pleased Him. He further showed that Jesus perfectly demonstrated these attitudes, mercy, of course, being one of them. This opening gospel volley from none other than Jesus Himself was to set the stage upon which He would show repeatedly that one way in which the Jews had missed the mark was by attempting to keep the law without heeding the attitudes that should have undergirded all of their deeds. He showed that although attitude is not everything, it certainly is something!

Mercy is one of our Lord’s Pentecost Pointers. It is a trait which man must possess if he is to have any hope of pleasing the Father. Mercy is best defined by the Life of Christ!

Questions:

1. Who referred to the Law of Moses as the first covenant? Who referred to the gospel as the second covenant? Who decided that these two covenants would exist as they did?

2. Why are the beatitudes referred to as Pentecost pointers?

3. What relationship exists between being merciful and receiving mercy?

4. Is it conceivable that a person can keep every overt demand of the gospel and yet be lost? Can a person obey God with an improper attitude? (THINK!!!) Does the gospel demand certain attitudes of believers?

"Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life" from Tom Kelley

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