The Thirteen Attributes Of Mercy

The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy

Maybe you feel the need for God’s compassion today. Indeed, any time I am in the pulpit, I know that in my audience that there is at least one person whose sin he or she thinks God will not forgive. If you feel that way or if you know someone that does, this sermon is for you.

Over the many decades studying the scriptures, I have come to see the Bible not as an Old Testament and New Testament but as one book affirming the story of God’s desire for the salvation of humankind. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are One as scriptures like John 8:58 attest. “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.’”

“Before Abraham”, this scripture indicates Jesus divine nature, His eternal existence and His authority. The phrase “I am” is a direct reference to God’s self-identification in Exodus 3:14 further affirming Christ divine nature. It is a declaration of Christ sovereignty and authority over creation and the significance of His presence in the world. Seven times Jesus refers to Himself as “I Am.” 1. "I Am the Bread of Life" (John 6:35). 2. "I Am the Light of the World" (John 8:12). 3. "I Am the Gate for the Sheep" (John 10:7). 4. "I Am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:14). 5. "I Am the Resurrection and the Life" (John 11:25). 6. "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John 14:6). 7. "I Am the True Vine” (John 15:5). The Nicene Creed states: “Lord Jesus Christ … begotten, not made, substantial with the Father, through Him all things were made.” Christ and God the Father and the Holy Spirit are indeed One.

We see this relationship plainly after the grave sin of the golden calf. There, Moses ascended Mt. Sinai and pleaded with God to forgive the Israelites. After God accepted his supplications, Moses felt it was a good time to ask God to give the Israelites a way to obtain mercy should they fail again in the future. God agreed with Moses and told him to wait on a mountain where God would show him His glory. Then God passed before Moses and proclaimed God’s Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, a Mercy that would become clean, more obvious, with the coming of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount.

It is often difficult for us humans to understand God; the Bibles descriptions of God are far from concrete. The name of God is not a name, as we understand the expression; rather it is a number of portrayals of His nature by means of a series of nicknames, for example, Father, The Rock, The Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings. At the burning bush, God had revealed His eternal, self-existent character. With the ten plagues and the parting of the sea, God had revealed His power. Here in the “cleft of the rock”, God reveals His attributes of mercy. The words in Exodus that God taught Moses are for the people to use whenever they needed to beg for divine compassion, when they need to feel forgiveness.

We find Christ in God’s promise in Exodus 34:6-7, “6 And the LORD passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, 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.’”

I am going to go through these thirteen attributes one by one. The first two words (2 of 13) In Hebrew, Adonai, Adonai. In English “The LORD, The LORD.” There are many words used in our Bibles that refer to God. Each of the Hebrew words for God are unique reflecting some special characteristic of God. For example, at the burning bush, Moses asked who shall I say you are and God said, say “I am.” We also see God referred to as El Shaddi, Yahweh, Elohim. By some counts there are 35 difference names used for God in the Bible. The best translation of Adonai too English would not be Lord. Adonai is a friendly warm name best translated in English as Daddy or Poppa or Dad. Adonai is whatever you call whatever you call your Father at home. So, this scripture starts off on a very friend first name basis.

It repeats this Adonai. “The LORD, The LORD God.” By repeating His name meaning, ‘I am the merciful God before you sin, and I am the same God of mercy after you sin.’ Whatever change you make in yourself is up to you, God is still there with you. ‘I, God, was with you before you sinned and I will stand with you after you sin.’ I am the All-mighty Lord of the Universe. I am ruler of Nature and all humankind. Go and know that I am with you through the changes you must make in your life that will make you more Christ like.