SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/2/2020
8:38 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Meaning of Mercy”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:12
Message
of the verse: “Happy are the merciful, for they will have mercy shown to
them!”
I
mentioned in our last SD that we would look at how the Roman’s viewed mercy as
we begin this SD. There was a popular
Roman philosopher who called mercy “the disease of the soul.” Mercy was as the supreme sign of weakness as
it was a sign that you did not have what it takes to be a real man, but also a
real Roman. That was the problem as the
Romans glorified manly courage, strict justice, firm discipline, and above all
they believed in absolute power.
MacArthur adds “They looked down on mercy, because mercy to them was
weakness, and weakness was despised above all other human limitations.”
Next we will move into some things that the Romans did that have been
happening in our own country, and around the world that are similar. Roman fathers had the right of patria opitestas. Here is the definition of patria Opitestas “Definition of patria opitestas:
“ the power of the head of a Roman family over his wife,
children, agnatic descendants, slaves, and freedmen including originally the
right to punish by death and always embracing complete control over the limited
personal and private rights and duties of all members of the family.” When a Roman
father was presented with the birth of a child he had the right, under Roman
law, to put a thumbs up to keep the baby, or thumbs down to have the baby
drowned. If the husband did not was not
thrilled with his wife he could have her killed, and if he did not like a slave
he could kill the slave also. As
mentioned this type of “law” goes along with the practice of abortion that has
killed many millions of babies in our country and around the world. John MacArthur writes “A society that despises mercy is
a society that glorifies brutality.”
Since
the fall of mankind back in Genesis chapter three the underlying motive of
self-concern has characterized men in general and societies in general. You can hear the expression “If you don’t
look out for yourself, no one else will.” What we can see since the fall of man
is that men are not naturally inclined to repay mercy for mercy, and so as
stated that is not the meaning of this fifth beatitude.
As a
believer looks through the gospels at the life of Christ they can determine
that He was the most merciful human being who ever lived. We can see this through the many miracles
that He did while on the earth, and John tells us at the end of his gospel “24 This is the disciple who is
testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his
testimony is true. 25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did,
which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself *would
not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:24-25).
I
want to close this SD by a quotation from MacArthur’s commentary which talks
about Jesus’ mercy and how it was a part of the reason that He was killed. “The more Jesus showed mercy, the more He
showed up the unmercifulness of the Jewish religious leaders. The more He showed mercy, the more they were determined
to put Him out of the way. The ultimate outcome of His mercy was the
cross. In Jesus’ crucifixion, two
merciless systems—merciless government and merciless religion—united to kill
Him. Totalitarian Rome joined intolerant
Judaism to destroy the Prince of mercy.
“The
fifth beatitude does not teach that mercy to men brings mercy from men, but
that mercy to men brings mercy from God.
If we are merciful to others, God will be merciful to us, whether men
are or not. God is the subject of the
second clause, just as in the other beatitudes.
It is God who gives the kingdom of heaven to the poor in spirit, comfort
to those who mourn, the earth to the meek, and satisfaction to those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness. Those who
are ‘merciful…shall receive mercy from God.’
God gives the divine blessings to those who obey His divine standards.”
Lord
willing we will finish this section on the meaning of mercy in our next SD.
5/2/2020 9:11 AM
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