The Faithfulness & Mercifulness of God

“He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” - Micah 6:8

It wasn’t personal or racial to Israel. It was moral. It was obedience to the Moral One. It had nothing to do with the patriotism & national pride embodied by the Pharisees of 1st Century Judaism, whose immoral hatred Jesus utterly denounced in the Sermon on the Mount. This was Israel’s childlike submission to God’s paternity. The Canaanites deserved their fate as a last resort of divine justice. The loveliness of divine anger in the Moral One spiritually inspired the morally pure Israelites to act as doers of justice as they walked humbly with God. Even so, as doers of justice, they were loving the transcending purposes of divine mercy at hand in the total annihilation. Justice and mercy in God always go hand in hand. God is faithful. In fact, God supplies mercy through justice! Israel’s dealings with Canaan were no different. The LORD personally proclaimed this balance of character in Himself at Sinai, in the following:

“…for I the Jehovah thy God am a Jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments…” - Exodus 20:5-7

“…Jehovah, Jehovah Elohim, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation…For thou shalt worship no other god: for Jehovah, whose Name is Jealous, is a Jealous God” - Exodus 34:5-7, 14

“He made known His Ways unto Moses, His Acts unto the children of Israel.” - Psalms 103:7

The mercy of God wasn’t boundless or arbitrary. It was strictly administered within the parameters of justice. This balance of character was explicitly emphasized in a balance of action in the Godhead – acts of mercy / love & justice. The mercy / love that Jehovah feels emotionally in heart manifests in the act of “shewing” mercy, which includes various ways of “keeping” it with longsuffering through “forgiving” the saints when they fall into sin, all of which amounts to a shocking demonstration of grace, goodness, and truth. However, the acts of “shewing”, “keeping”, and “forgiving” are harmoniously balanced with contrasting acts of “visiting” justice upon men when God refuses to “clear” sin. The act of “visiting” is a visitation of justice upon men whom God refuses to forgive without punishing the malefactors.

“Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his Name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:” - Jeremiah 32:18-19

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the Faithful God, which keepeth Covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.” - Deuteronomy 7:9-10 [Deut. 29:16-21; Heb. 12:15; 2 Tim. 2:11-13; 2 Pet. 3:9]

Moses and Jeremiah elaborated upon the divine action of visitation with two synonyms. In total, the contrasting divine actions of mercy and justice are: acts of “shewing”, “keeping”, and “forgiving”, and acts of “visiting”, “recompensing”, and “repaying”. These contrasting actions target two different kinds of people: “the guilty” & the innocent (“…by no means clear the guilty” – Ex. 34:7). God makes a real time determination between men on a heart level: “them that hate Me” & “them that love Me” (Ex. 20:5-7). Of course, the Canaanites impenitently hated the LORD and therefore their death was warranted; but the LORD wasn’t partial in visiting Israel with the death penalty when and if they became presumptuous sinners like the Canaanites (Num. 15:22-31, Deut. 29:16-21; 1 Pet. 1:16-17). Jehovah is El-Aman – the Faithful God (Deut. 7:9-10, 2 Tim. 2:11-13). Namely, in that Jehovah is faithful to both mercy and judgment.

“…nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.” – Ex. 32:34

God’s possessive jealousy for every individual saint was strong, however no matter its strength it always complied with justice. Israel tasted the jealousy of El-Kanah in the visitation of justice upon certain targeted survivors during the Great Pause (Ex. 32:34). More specifically, they learned how the justice of God in a divine visitation could potentially erase men from the elect and covenanted people of Israel in order to regulate and restore the purity of the Bride. Without controversy, the LORD said: “Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot out of My Book” (Ex. 32:33, Rev. 3:5). This frightening potential soon became a reality in the “breach” of the Exodus Generation (Num. 14:34) when they denied the Gospel at Kadesh-barnea (Num. 3:7-4:11) and afterwards were essentially erased – in being blotted out they became totally irrelevant to the Covenant at Horeb originally given to them (Deut. 4:1-4, 5:2-3; Rev. 3:5)! However, the LORD didn’t erase them without making them an example to their immediate Children and all following generations (1 Cor. 10:11).

“…lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law:” - Deuteronomy 29:18-21 [Heb. 12:15, 28-29; Rev. 3:5]

By the end of the Day of Deuteronomy, it was no secret why the Exodus Generation failed the grace of God (Deut. 29:16-21, Heb. 12:15). They failed to diligently consider the Spectacle of Salvation before them, otherwise they would have abounded more and more in reverential love for the Names, Ways, and Attributes of Jehovah as revealed in the Theater of the Gospel (Diligence: Ex. 15:26, Deut. 4:9, 6:7, 17, 11:13, 22, 13:14, 17:4, 24:8, 28:1). The Exodus Generation was thoroughly proven and faithfully visited with justice according to the protocols set forth in Numbers 15:22-31 – laws that were legislated immediately following the divine oath of Numbers 14. Chiefly, that justice repaid those who “despised” or hated the word of the LORD (Num. 15:31, Heb. 10:28-29; Deut. 7:9-10), even as El-Kanah forewarned concerning those who “hate” God (Ex. 20:5-7).

I’m sure the upright souls of Jeshurun in the Exodus Generation never thought they would “hate” the LORD (Deut. 32:7-22). Such a thought is inconceivable to most Christians today, even while they despise El-esh-oklah and ascribe monstrous blasphemies to many sacred Names of God. Fearfully, this is exactly how the Exodus Generation backslid into a presumptuous despite of the Gospel (Ps. 95:10, Heb. 4:2, Ps. 91:14-16). Christians today should fear for themselves (Heb. 4:1) as David did for his own soul when reading the Law (Ps. 19:7-14), lest secret sin be our eventual downfall (Ps. 90:8, 19:12). God is faithful to show no mercy in the recompense of all such that continue in this kind of rebellion (Deut. 7:9-10, Heb. 10:28, Num. 15:30-31, Ps. 68:21). Survival was for the love of the Name (Ps. 91:14-16)! – which empowers men to “cleave” unto God (Deut. 4:1-4)! While destruction was for a despite of God as men acted in total disregard for the beautiful “Name” (Ps. 90:3, 8, 16-17, 91:14). In other words, it was simply impossible to believe the Gospel at Kadesh-barnea while being personally offended with El-esh-oklah, all of which alienated their souls from Jehovah-Ishi (Heb. 12:28-29).

Jehovah-Ishi wanted the wifely congregation to understand and corporately agree with their Husband’s faithfulness in this matter (Deut. 7:9-10). Remarkably, those who lovingly believed in God’s faithfulness did so by welcoming the “shewing” of love or the “visitation” of justice according to the jealous safekeeping of their possessive Husband. Even when the fiery anger of El-esh-oklah (that consumed men outwardly) did turn inwardly to consume Israelites-turned-Adversaries, the Bride was expected to act in agreement with El-esh-oklah. There was a merciful purpose in the moral hatred when El-esh-oklah commanded Israel to show no mercy in the total annihilation of the Canaanite Nations, and the same was true when an Israelite in the Church turned into a Canaanite, which happens when a saint is turned into a sinner. The Israelites were commanded to show no mercy to impenitent sinners in acts of judgment inwardly (Deut. 7:16, 13:8, 19:13, 21), for the same reasons they were commanded to act in judgment outwardly. The rules of love demand justice. Like Elijah, and Phinehas before him, the Bride should confessedly be possessed by the kanah of El-kanah in all the zealous causes of justice.

“…because he was kanah for his God” – Num. 25:13

“…I have been very kanah for the LORD God of Hosts” – 1 Kings 19:14

Such men act to prevent an outbreak of unmitigated jealousy in times of apostasy by doing justice and judgment on behalf of the Bridegroom (Num. 25:11, Josh. 24:19-20; Jer. 22:15). Urgency is necessary. The consequences of the Bride ignoring her Husband’s love should not be taken lightly by anyone (Deut. 32:15). According to Exodus 20:5-7, 34:5-7, & 14, the original emphasis of jealousy speaks on behalf of love when it is scorned, promising an inevitable visitation of justice to all such that behave despitefully against love (Num. 15:31). Even so, consider how in every case of murmuring and disputing, the people should have been glorying in the fact that divine love was miraculously keeping them alive, when instead they were lamenting about how it appeared to them that divine hatred was putting them to death. Fearfully, if Israel can’t see the good, they have lost sight of the Gospel; or, if they are displeased at the Way forward, they have lost sight of God leading them at the forefront. Converted recipients of the Gospel are expected to continue believing the Gospel as they grow in their understanding of the character of God – the Names and Ways of God.

Even so, let every saint of God beware of divine love! Let every believer tremble before divine goodness by faith in the Gospel (Jer. 33:9)! For, divine love zealously desires the dove eyes of the Bride and jealously acts in violence and cruelty to get what it covets to possess (Song 8:5-7). The jealousy of God must act to recover the Bride even if some perish for the preservation of the whole (Isa. 1:21-31).

“Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” - Amos 3:1-2 [Deut. 32:12, Ps. 81:8-9, Hos. 13:4-8]

The Husband jealousy eyed the Bride looking for wholeness of heart, only that He mighty rejoice over her whole-heartedly (Lev. 26:1-46), like Joshua and Caleb wholly followed the LORD in contrast to the Exodus Generation (Deut. 1:36). This is the passion of perseverance. Wholeness of heart was divinely required because it was the essence of reciprocal love that the Wife gives back to Jehovah-Ishi (Deut. 6:5, 10:12, 11:13, 22, 13:3-4). No matter the circumstance, El-Rahum promised to restore the souls of everyone who returns to the LORD whole-heartedly (Deut. 4:27-31, Lev. 26:40-46, Deut. 30:1-6). In a true soul religion of love, each man’s heart is what matters most to God; therefore, everyone can experience automatic personal restoration from anywhere if men rediscover the beauty of knowing the LORD whole-heartedly. To be wholly consumed by the passion of El-esh-oklah is the essence of divine romance with the Bride. Therefore, true lovers of El-esh-oklah were lovers of divine fearfulness – they charged in stride with the fearful anger of El-esh-oklah with swords without and perpetuated this fear by stones within (Deut. 13:11, 17:13, 19:20, 21:21; 1 Cor. 5:12-13).

“And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?” – Deut. 10:12-13

“Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” - Micah 6:6-8 [Ps. 95:6-11]

This divine requirement was for their life. It was their reasonable service (Rom. 12:1-2, Eph. 5:1-2; Jn. 3:16, 1 Jn. 3:16). Israelite survival depended upon it (Deut. 4:1-4, 5:33, 8:6, 10:12, 20, 11:22-23, 13:4, 19:9, 26:17, 28:9, 30:15-20, 32:4; Acts 11:22-24). Even as the Exodus Generation died because of it (Ps. 95:6-11)! They were turned to “destruction” (Ps. 90:3), and then “consumed” by El-esh-oklah (Ps. 90:7). Why? Because the divine pursuit of justice was not merely a King enforcing the law upon the Citizenry of his domain. Much more, it was a Father acting to chastise his Children whom He loves. Even more, it was a Husband acting to recover his Bride whom He jealously cherishes. Jehovah is El-Aman (Deut. 7:9-10). Jehovah cultivated such a love in the Bride, it constrained her to whole-heartedly cleave to God in a vibrant walk with the LORD in real time requiring a growing agreement with all the Names & Ways of God being increasingly revealed. This is the Doctrine of Cleaving according to the Bible (Deut. 30:19-20, Acts 11:22-24).

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” - Deut. 30:19-20 [Lk. 10:25-28, Mk. 12:28-34]

“Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.” - Acts 11:22-24

Confessions of faith in true religion mean nothing if there is no cleaving of the soul to the presence of the Living God. This is expressly forbidden (Ex. 20:7). If anyone tells you otherwise, then they aren’t good men who are full of the Holy Ghost and faith like Barnabas (Acts 11:22-24). Does not even nature itself teach us that the Bride should cleave to her Husband (Eph. 5:32)? A Bride that no longer cleaves has lost her spiritual identity of reciprocal love to Jehovah-Ishi. This loss removes from the Bride the foremost sign of the Marriage Covenant, comparable to the loss of circumcision in the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 17:10-14). Can you image a physically circumcised man somehow becoming uncircumcised (Rom. 2:25-29)? Such a man should not glory as an inheritor of the Kingdom of God (Lk. 3:8, Jn. 8:33). For, the loss of this “token” would mean banishment from the Covenant (Gen. 17:11, 14)! Even so, when the Bride loses her sweetheart love for the Bridegroom it means inestimable loss (Jer. 3:8-9)!

“…the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” – 1 Sam. 16:;7

In looking upon the Bride, the Bridegroom “looketh on the heart” in search for love (Prov. 20:27, Ps. 139:23). If Jehovah-Ishi looks and doesn’t see perfect love in the Bride (1 Jn. 2:4-6, 4:17-18; Rev. 2:4-5), he denounces this unacceptable heart condition by calling the people: “uncircumcised in heart” (Lev. 26:41, Jer. 9:26, Ezek. 44:7, 9; Acts 7:51). Infuriated jealousy speaks strongly at such times, saying, “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.” (Jer. 4:4). Why? Because El-esh-oklah is longing to repossess the Bride.

This repeated use of the word “circumcise”, describing an inward spiritual circumcision of heart, is used broadly like the term “convert” in the Bible (Lk. 22:32, James 5:19). Both are used to describe the inward change that takes place when a sinner is born again or a backslidden believer is restored from a fallen condition, all of which is impossible without the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost changing the heart in a spiritual operation of God (Deut. 30:1-6; Tit. 3:5). Like Jesus sought the restoration and final perseverance of Peter, when he spoke to him about his restoration in terms of conversion, saying, “when thou art converted” (Lk. 22:32), Jehovah sought the restoration and final perseverance of the Children of the Exodus Generation in the Day of Deuteronomy using the word “circumcision”.

The surviving Children were truly converted believers (Deut. 4:1-4), howbeit they were showing signs of following in the footsteps of their recently deceased fathers judging by the episode of rebellion at Baal-Peor. Jehovah was determined to stop this once and for all. Clearly, the chosen generation scarcely survived theretofore by “cleaving” (1 Pet. 4:17-18, Deut. 4:1-4), but God wanted them to learn to “cleave” with perseverance without repeated episodes of rebellion (Deut. 10:20). The Bridegroom was searching for permanent love in the Bride! Therefore, Moses said: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” (Deut. 10:16). Hardly anything could emphasize the importance of spiritual identity to Jews more than God speaking of love in these terms. Truly! This kind of language would drive the point home. To discover the loss or restoration of bridal love in terms of a heart circumcision would be life changing to lukewarm backsliders in Israel. Such men would learn to pray even as backslidden David personally described this very experience in synonymous terms.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy Presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” - Psalms 51:10-11

A loss of love in the backslider means a forfeiting of the cleanness of heart and rightness of spirit that David spoke about in Psalm 51:10-11. Of course, it wasn’t that David had never loved the LORD before, nor could it be said that he had never been spiritually circumcised in heart, but for the past year David was a stiffnecked backslider who was fallen from grace (Gal. 4:19; Rev. 3:16-19). David knew what this meant. He had a heart problem in a soul religion! In other words, David had a wrong spirit. He could feel it (Ps. 32:3-4). David knew the inward blessedness of a man who is truly forgiven by God, a man “in whose spirit there is no guile” (Ps. 32:2), so David cried out for a renewal of “a right spirit” within him (Ps. 51:10). Had David believed what people commonly do about the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, he would have just offered a sacrifice for an atonement and been done with it. Instead, he consciously withheld animal sacrifices (Ps. 51:16-19) until he was sure that the inward impurities of heart and spirit were made right by God (Ps. 51:6-7). Speaking of this, David said, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalms 51:17).

What the LORD accomplished at Sinai through Moses, and then perpetuated in a mobile Tabernacle, was later permanently fixed in a stationary way on Zion through the instrumentality of David (1 Chron. 28:19). Tracing the development and progress of redemption from Abraham to David makes this abundantly clear. We can be sure that David understood the importance of “a pure heart” to ascend and abide upon Zion (Ps. 24:4, 73:10), just as Moses demanded the same at Sinai (Ex. 19, 24); which is why David prayed to God for “a clean heart” when he was backslidden lest he die (Ps. 51:10, 101:1-8). What else but God’s forgiveness through imputed righteousness could give David “a right spirit” again (Rom. 4:3, 8; Ps. 32:1-2; Ps. 51:10)? Surely, the inward rightness of spirit that David was searching for was an imputation of righteousness into the heart and soul of a man (Rom. 4:3, 8, 8:10). Even so, he knew exactly what Moses was speaking about in Deuteronomy 10:16 when he commanded the Children of the Exodus Generation to make sure that their hearts were spiritually circumcised. Again, David perpetuated theseS codes of conduct at Zion!

“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” - Deuteronomy 10:16

“Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a NEW heart and a NEW spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” - Ezekiel 18:31

The mosaic mandate for a spiritual circumcision is exactly interpreted by this prophetic command. The two are perfectly equivalent: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart” = “make you a NEW heart and a NEW spirit”. When David cried out for his own personal restoration in the words, “Create in me a CLEAN heart, O God; and renew a RIGHT spirit within me.” (Ps. 51:10), he could have said: Create in me “a NEW heart and a NEW spirit” (Ezek. 18:31). It means the same thing. Under inspiration, Ezekiel was quoting from Psalm 51:10. The cleanliness and rightness being “renewed” is the newness.

This use of the word “new” speaks of a renewed cleanness and rightness of heart and spirit even in Ezekiel’s time. Why? Because Ezekiel was primarily speaking to true believers who were backslidden in context, like David was backslidden in Psalm 51. Josiah’s reign and the subsequent falling away set the stage for this appeal. Therefore, like David, this generation needed a restoration of heart and spirit. Are you seeing the harmony?

The divine outcry, “…for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek. 18:31, 33:11), emphasizes the certainty of death promised to the impenitent whom God called “wicked” through memory omitting powers (Ezek. 3:17-21, 18:21-24, 30-32, 33:11-20; Note: these same appeals can be observed in the New Testament, when the legal status of backslidden believers is altered at their fall into sin). All the Prophets of the Wilderness periods were very bold to set before the Church the way of life and death with all authority (Deut. 30:15-20; Jer. 21:8-10, 27:13). Love cries to endangered souls showing them how to survive Jehovah-M’Kadesh, while whole-hearted listeners answer the cry and live to tell the story (Ps. 91:1-16). In this case Babylon was a chastisement to aid each man’s personal restoration, which of course comes by a personal revival of whole-heartedness or a heart circumcision (Deut. 4:27-31, Lev. 26:40-46, Deut. 30:1-6). In turn, this leads to a corporate restoration of the Church in Covenantal Idealism that reunites Israel and Judah under Jehovah once again.

“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” - Deuteronomy 30:6

“And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:” - Ezekiel 11:19

“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” - Ezekiel 36:26

Sadly, such verses as these are grossly misinterpreted to be prophecies that exclusively describe salvation in the New Testament. However, this description isn’t a “new” experience of salvation in the sense that it didn’t exist in the Old Testament. Rather, these scriptures speak of a renewed work of salvation in a newly restored operation, one that was already at work in the Old Testament at better times. These prophecies powered the work of God in the 1st Restoration Generation of the Jews, when they were regathered from Babylon and restored to the Holy Land, according to Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, & Zechariah. Accordingly, with the spiritual identity of the Bride restored, the Bridegroom was rejoicing!

Through a divine repentance Jehovah-Ishi was rejoicing over the Bride as in days of old (Deut. 28:63, 30:9; Hag. 2:5)! However, sadly, despite God’s full intention to glorify the Jews in a fully restored Kingdom in the Holy Land, the people fell into sin with continuance (Neh. 13; Mal. 1-4). A failure to meet the moral criterion is unacceptable to the LORD. Therefore, the 1st Restoration Generation was breached and the vision was recalibrated and recast to the 2nd Restoration Generation. Then, upon the Jews rejecting their Messiah, the vision was recast once again to a 3rd Restoration Generation. However, this is where the story ends (Rev. 19): the espoused Bride will be happily wedded to the Bridegroom and their rejoicing together shall fill the infinite space of eternity forevermore! “He brought me to the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love.” (Song of Solomon 2:4). Even so, Amen.