THE TENDER MERCY OF OUR GOD
Luke 1:77-79
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Last Sunday we heard the wonderful Song of Mary and this morning we are going to hear the equally wonderful Song of Zacharias. There is, however, a discernable difference. Both were parents of key figures in the Advent story, Mary, the expectant mother of our Savior, and Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. While Mary was young and filled with enthusiasm over the grace of her Lord who puts down the proud and mighty and chooses the lowliest for His purposes, Zacharias found the remission of sins one of the most extraordinary proofs of the tender mercies of His God. Zacharias says nothing about how God humbles the proud and brings down the mighty because he, himself, had just been humbled. When an angel had told his aged wife Elizabeth that she was going to have a baby, Zacharias didn’t believe it. This was not a matter of wonder, but of unbelief. He asked in His heart, “Could God really do that?” As a chastisement for his unbelief, he was unable to speak until the baby was born. Now, after months of silence, Zacharias used his newly recovered speech to praise his God for giving the “knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God.”
No salvation is possible without remission of sins, and no one knew that any better than Zacharias did. He was thankful with all his heart that his God did not deal with him based on justice, but forgave his unbelief purely through His tender mercy. In much the same way God does not deal with us based on justice, which demands, “the soul that sinneth shall die.” Ezekiel 18:20. Instead, he forgives us, not through any merit of our’s, but purely through His tender mercy.
We have chosen as the theme of our sermon this morning those few choice words, "the tender mercy of our God." If "mercy" is music to our ears, than "tender mercy" is exquisite. The word “tender mercy” fills us with wonder because we do not ordinarily think of tenderness in connection with God. We may think of Him as the all-powerful Creator of heaven and earth who rules the world for the benefit of His believers. We may think of His might, and omniscience, and omnipresence, His crushing energy. We may think of Him of the great Judge who will hold the entire world accountable on the last day. Seldom, however, do we think of Him as tender! How can one so great be tender?
For all His might and power, our Lord has a tender heart. He cries out “as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live,” Ezekiel 33:11. The Apostle Peter tells us, “The Lord is longsuffering to us-ward [He puts up with a lot] , not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9. The Psalmist writes, “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” Psalm 86:5. Note well, these words are not the words of a God who only dwells millions of miles away in the heavens. These words are the words of our God who chooses personally to visit us with his mercy by sending His Son as the “Dayspring from on high!” Tender mercy is at the very center of God’s soul.
Think of it. God is here this morning. He is visiting us personally through His word and not because we deserve it. The Psalmist asks, "Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him? Psalm 8:4. Indeed, God had visited His children repeatedly in the Old Testament, but the most wonderful visit began with the incarnation of our Savior during the first Advent. He visited us first as a babe and then as a child and then as a carpenter’s son and as an itinerant preacher who went about Palestine doing good. Most of all, He visited us so that He actually might die for us. He was made a curse for us, as it is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Galatians 3:13.
He came to earth as a man among men to share the consequences of our sin, to bear in His heart all the foolish woes that we bring on ourselves by our failure to do His bidding. He was tempted in all points like as you and I are, though without sin. He is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, and as close to us as any friend or brother or sister could possibly be. He despises no man's lowliness; He turns aside from no man's sin, as the prophet Isaiah tells us, “He himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:15. He knows all about our work and our weariness and our weaknesses and our moments of depression. In our affliction, He is afflicted; when we suffer pain, He suffers pain. When we know not what to pray, His Spirit helps our infirmities as the Apostle reminds us, “for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings, which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26. What but tender mercy, hearty mercy, intense mercy could move our God to visit us in such an intimate and blessed way!
The text goes on to describe our Advent Savior as “the Dayspring from on high.” Just as the sun rises at the break of day to shed its light and warmth upon the earth, so Jesus visits us “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.” What a meaningful description of the world. They don’t merely walk around in darkness; they sit in it. They are a people who have lost hope. The shadow of death stops the joy of life in its tracks. It is like a nagging pain that numbs the hearts and chills the spirit. It brings confusion and depression and dread of the unknown, horror of the past and terror of the future. This bondage, that holds the world in its grip, is the state into which our sins constantly lead us, a state from which Jesus Christ rescued us unworthy, hell-deserving sinners by shining the precious light of the Gospel into our hearts. Is not this tender mercy? If He had not come to shine on such a sinner as I, I should never have been saved. “He commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. When Jesus comes, “He gives light to them that sit in darkness, and guides our feet into the way of peace.”
The light that Jesus brings is, of course, the Gospel, the light that shines over the whole world. Though the world comprehends it not, and continues in backbiting, bitterness, hate, war, and strife, this light shines in our hearts as the “way of peace,” the wonderful peace that Jesus sets up between our God and us. God is no longer angry with us because of our sin, and we no longer have to be afraid of Him. It is called the “way of peace” because it governs every step we take and everything we do. The forgiving love of God in our hearts affects how husbands deal with their wives and wives with their husbands, how parents deal with their children and children with their parents, and we could go on to speak of every phase of human life. This wonderful peace enables us to go to sleep at night and to rise each day with peaceful hearts, as the Psalmist says, “I will both lay me down in peace and sleep.” Psalm 4:8. This peace surpasses human understanding because only the tender mercy of our God could do something like that for us.
O come, Thou Day-spring from on high, and cheer us by Thy drawing nigh. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight. O come, O come, O come, Emmanuel. TLH 62, 3
This sermon was preached by Pastor Robert Dommer on December 16, 2007.