Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Matthew chapter 5 verse 7.

Gospel mercy is not a product of human nature, it is the fruit of a heart transformed by divine grace. Before regeneration, we were hard, self-centered, and indifferent to the souls of others. But when God had mercy on us, pardoning our sin, cleansing our guilt, and raising us from spiritual death, He made us into merciful people.

This beatitude is not a call to earn mercy, but a declaration of the mercy which God's grace produces in those whom He saves. Mercy is that compassion which is moved by the sight of misery and which attempts to relieve those in misery. What greater misery exists than the misery of sin? What deeper need can there be than the need of pardon from the thrice holy God?

The merciful, then, are those who are moved, not merely by physical suffering, but by the eternal peril of those who are rushing madly on to a dreadful hell. Having themselves tasted the sweetness of forgiveness, they long to see others reconciled to God. They pray, they plead, they labor that sinners might flee to Christ. They are not content to let men run undisturbed to damnation. They intervene with the gospel of mercy in their mouths and the love of Christ in their hearts.

And what is the promise? They shall obtain mercy. The merciful shall be shown mercy in their daily walk, receiving patience, grace, and strength from their heavenly Father. And on that final day, when they stand before the Judge of all, they will not receive the awful sentence they so justly deserved. Instead of hell, they will be met with mercy, divine, sovereign, everlasting mercy.

The one who should have banished them to hell will, in His great mercy on the unworthy, welcome them into glory. With nail-pierced hands He will receive them. Those who were once ill-deserving and hell-deserving declaring before all heaven, These are my merciful ones, redeemed by my son's sin-atoning death, kept by my power, and now brought home by my marvellous mercy.