Mercy is among the weightier matters according to Christ. Christ snapped at the Pharisees saying, “hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought you have done, and not left the other undone (Matthew 23:23). The Pharisees mistakenly placed religion before government. Matters of law, judgement, and mercy are established as governing principles.
The governing principle of mercy is that it must proceed non-offensive differences in order for us to reveal the truth. The scripture teaches us this saying, “Surely his salvation is near them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Psalm 85:9). Since we are worshipping the Father in spirit and truth, the commander is His commandment, so this scripture starts by saying His safety is near those who respect the law.
This scripture goes on to say that glory may dwell in their land. To glory is to be inspired (Psalm 106:20), therefore this scripture is saying when we respect the law, inspiration will dwell in our environment. We accomplish this when mercy and truth are met together. When mercy and truth are met, righteousness (i.e., freedom) and peace have kissed. When freedom and peace come together, it is like a match made in heaven. It’s like they fall in love and are very hard to separate. The two together become a powerful force against division when they are realized.
The meeting of mercy and truth proceeds the mating of righteousness and peace. This is why Christ taught us that mercy is serious business. This scripture declares that we can’t realize truth without mercy. Christ is the truth and he taught us not to put anything in the way of mercy. Christ said, “Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful”. Judge not, and you shall not be judged; condemn not, and you shall not be condemned; forgive and you shall be forgiven (Luke 6:36-37).
We are at our highest level of mercilessness when we divide over our non-offensive differences. This prevents us from realizing the truth which will reveal God’s plan. Jacob recognized God’s plan when he spoke of his sons Simeon and Levi. Jacob said they dug down a wall in their self-will (Genesis 49:6). Jacob realized that God had a plan to unite the sons of Noah. With the integrity provided by the Law, they would have been able to defend themselves without a king.
In America we see this form of government in practice. When we offend another with criminal intent, we are not charged by that person alone. When we are charged with a crime, it is us against the people. The citizens of the kingdom pledge allegiance to the law of the land rather than a man. This allows the people to form a great wall to defend their peace. This awesome power brought forth in the name of peace is the husband of freedom. When we execute God’s plan, freedom fulfills the love of peace and they kiss. Peace and freedom come together like lovers because they become indivisible.
When we don’t have righteousness, we need mercy to allow the truth to set us free. (John 8:32). The meeting of mercy and truth provide us with the integrity we need to know and believe the truth (Leviticus 10:10). Many of us can’t believe the truth until we see it in practice. The highest understanding of the truth is knowing where men can’t agree on morality, they can agree on peace and freedom. We are prevented from establishing this truth by our mercilessness. Again, the highest level of mercilessness is dividing over our non-offensive differences. Christ taught this to his disciples when he said, “he that is not against us is on our part” (Mark 9:40).
Our rejection of the Messiah’s commandment to be merciful keeps us from reaching the wisdom needed to defend our integrity. The scriptures teach us that, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all they that do his commandments” (Psalm 110:10). Wisdom is a heart condition that allows us to be repulsed by sin and satisfied with peace. The environment we create with our mercilessness forces us to become hard-hearted. The scriptures teach us that a hard heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9).
When we lack mercy, we lack integrity. Our lack of integrity forces many of us to suffer offenses without remedy. When we suffer offenses without redress, we create exceptions because the law fails us. We can see this play out at a low degree in a certain type of environment. When we look at an environment where there is a lack of integrity, we can see that lawlessness prevents us from executing God’s plan on a micro level. This is why God’s plan involves the scattering of the power of the holy (i.e., our leadership) (Daniel 12:7) . When we scatter the power of the holy, it will not be a single shepherd guiding a flock of male and female sheep. When we scatter the power of the holy, it will be a group of shepherds guiding their own women and children.
The institution of marriage plays a vital role in preventing cruelty and violence (Malachi 2:16). When a single mother moves into a rough neighborhood, she may send her son out to play. In absence of men with integrity, her son may become hard hearted. He may go out and get bullied by a boy that’s bigger and stronger. When he runs in the house crying, she may be hesitant to go out and confront the other child. She may tell him to go back outside and fight that kid back. He may then go out and make an attempt to no avail.
The second time she may tell him to pick something up and hit the other child with it. She chooses this exception rather than calling the police because they really can’t protect her. If she involves law enforcement, they may use it as an opportunity to search for individuals with warrants. They may pull up in five or more cars and ask individuals who are not involved for identification. This may turn hostile and someone who is not involved may get arrested as a result. It’s this kind of behavior that causes the law to fail her, so she tells her son to use a weapon to defend himself.
Now if we freeze frame and flash forward, this same little boy is now a young man walking the streets with a gun. This young man and his mother’s disposition stemmed from not having the integrity needed to give them a remedy. In a community where truth was not prevented by mercilessness, the people would have been able to prevent the hardening of this young man’s heart. They could have done so by collectively addressing the issue.
When the integrity of a community is diminished, young men learn the way of cruelty and violence. As a child, the young man found that being violent gave him peace. In a lawless environment, violent men are rewarded with respect. This causes the young man to grow up relying on cruelty and violence. This may also cause him to maintain his respect by having a violent and cruel demeanor. The fact that his cruelty is rewarded with peace becomes an evil treasure stored away in his heart.
This evil treasure in the young man’s heart is brought out into his environment (Luke 6:45). That evil then causes his environment to further confuse him. With respect, he is able to enjoy peace, but his peace can’t power the light needed to heal his heart. His environment will keep him perverted against God. There will be times when he could show mercy, but he won’t. He will not show mercy because he is living behind a face that reminds people that he is worthy of cruelty and violence.
In an environment enforced by cruelty and violence, keeping up a cruel and violent demeanor serves as a layer of protection. His demeanor and his environment’s response to it forces him to remain hard-hearted. Because he is hard-hearted, the word of God can’t take root in him. The word of God is replaced by a wicked ideology that says, its survival of the fittest in a dog-eat-dog world.
This environment enforced by cruelty and violence is the result of mercilessness. This mercilessness is the result of a breakdown of integrity. This breakdown of integrity begins with our taking the name of the Lord in vain. To take the Lords name in vain is to enforce the law when we haven’t been offended. The Father said, He will not hold a man guiltless who does so (Exodus 20:7). The Father made it simple saying that it is in an offense to offend when we haven’t been offended. Christ said he will send his angles to gather out of his kingdom all things that offend (Matthew 13:41).
Men think that they have been called to defend God’s image. The Father made it clear to us that he doesn’t need our help with that. The Father said, “Be still and know that I am God, I will be exalted in the heathen and in all the earth (Psalm 46:10). This extreme level of mercilessness causes men to be divided over differences that don’t offend. Men of God are now divided over things like what day they go to church, dancing, apparel, and even Christmas.
When the Father was about to destroy Sodom, he told Abraham that he would save the whole city if he could produce ten righteous men (Genesis 18:31). The Father only needed ten righteous men to revive the entire city. We have to ask ourselves how we can’t save a city. Surely, we can gather at least ten men who are righteous. I tell you why. It is because we have been taken the Lord’s name in vain. We have been merciless, and this has prevented us from understanding the truth. This how the revelation of God’s plan has been hidden from us. The first thing we have to do is acknowledge the fact that mercy is serious business.
