Read Micah 7:14-20

The Magnitude Of God’s Mercy

Most are familiar with Paul’s inspired words in Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There is not one person alive on this earth today who can claim sinless perfection. Perhaps, however, there are not enough people that understand what sin really does to a person. Isaiah declared that “your iniquities have separated you from your God” (Isaiah 59:2). That fact should devastate all sober-minded people.

Yet, despite our sin, there is good news. God, in His infinite grace and mercy, provides for us an avenue by which we can be pardoned of our sins and escape the consequences of our less-than-holy behaviors. The apostle Peter informed the Jews gathered for Pentecost what they needed to do: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). In another passage, Peter said, “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

Repentance and submission to God’s command to be immersed—Biblical conversion—is the path to God’s grace and mercy. Jeremiah foretold of the day that God “will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). When one repents, turning from sin and to God, and submits to His Word, God forgives.

The scale of God’s mercy is expansive. David proclaimed, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). If one travels north and keeps walking when he gets all the way to the top of the globe, then north becomes south, doesn’t it? But if one walks east and keeps walking, and keeps walking, and keeps walking, he never reaches the west. God has put our sins in the west and we walk east away from them and they get further and further behind us!

Micah marvels at the magnitude of God’s mercy. “Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19). What a glorious, merciful God we serve!