The Sure Mercies of David by ELIHU, JR.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1912

“The Sure Mercies of David”

By ELIHU, JR.

ELIHU, JR.

The writer has for many years wondered at the few, either direct or indirect, allusions found in the Old Testament Scriptures to the resurrection of Christ. Those which seem plainest are found in Psalm 16 and Isaiah 53. The former was used by Peter on the day of Pentecost and by Paul at Antioch in Pisidia. There is little doubt that it was used on many other occasions. “Thou wilt not leave my soul in hades” was the plainest promise that could be made, if it was possible to make it appear that David was speaking of the Messiah and not of himself. Peter and Paul both seemed to use this scripture effectively, as many accepted the truth that this meant Jesus of Nazareth, for they had the demonstration of his resurrection in Judea.

Isaiah 53 is equally clear if carefully read, and I have no doubt that, like the other scripture, it was often used to prove the resurrection of the Messiah.

“When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.” Though his soul is to be made an offering for sin, yet after that “he shall see his seed, and prolong his days.” Unless a rising again from the dead should intervene, the last clause of this statement could not come to pass. Again, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many.” Here is more of the same kind of evidence. The spoil—the human race—will be divided and a portion taken from the strong one, Satan, and given to the one who in the preceding chapter, where this subject begins, is called “my servant.” A little thoughtful reading will enable one to see the resurrection of the dead coming in between the pouring out of his soul unto death, and the fulfilment of the promises that accompany this statement.

But Paul at Antioch introduced another quotation from Isaiah 55 which is filled with a deeper meaning for us than either of those quoted. Acts 13:34: “And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.” A few questions will make clear the connection between the resurrection from the dead and the sure mercies of David. Why has the exercise of mercy become necessary?—Because of sin. What is sin?—The transgression of the law. What is the penalty for sin?—“The wages of sin is death.” What does mercy secure for the transgressor?—Pardon or forgiveness of sin. When the sin is forgiven, blotted out through the exercise of mercy, what becomes of the penalty for sin?—The penalty is set aside. What then becomes of death in those for whom mercy has exercised forgiveness?—Death ceases to be, comes to an end, is destroyed. How?—Through the resurrection of the dead. Mortality is swallowed up of life. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

So then it is not difficult to grasp the truth that forgiveness of sin through the mercy of our God insures the resurrection of the dead and the mercies promised to David. Those mercies are involved in the abolishment of death, as Paul said of Christ “who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Then every promise of forgiveness of sins is a promise of the resurrection of the dead. This means that death is no more a reality to the Christian. Hence Jesus and his disciples call death a sleep. We sleep to awake, and the morning of the resurrection is the time of the awakening.

But some one may stumble over the application of this explanation to Jesus. How did the sure mercies of David mean to him the forgiveness of sin and the lifting off of the penalty of death? Had not the Lord laid upon him the sin of Adam and all its consequences? Then did he not need the application of mercy and forgiveness in the setting aside of the penalty as much as any sinner, if he proved himself to be worthy of forgiveness?

Did he make such proof of worthiness? The Word of the Lord is, “With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful,” and, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” The Creator has ordained that the creature or being who develops his attributes of character shall be accounted worthy of life. God loves his enemies, but he hates their sins. He made the greatest sacrifice for sin that it was possible for him to make. He forgives sin whenever it is confessed and forsaken. He is patient with sinners and waits with long-suffering for their return. And the prophecies of his Word show he has perfect confidence in the outcome of his work. Isa. 55:9-13.

Now the prayer that we are taught to pray has in it the essence of all this, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” and also the comment following that prayer: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Jesus had the character of God developed in him to its fullest extent. He loved his enemies so well that he died for them. He hated sin so much that he did not become guilty of committing it. He forgave his enemies even in his last dying agony. And he had full confidence in the outcome of his work. This character which he developed insured full pardon for the load of sin that was laid upon him, and made it “not possible that he should be holden of it [death].” Acts 2:24.

The sure mercies of David—expressed, perhaps, fully in the eighty-ninth psalm, especially from the twenty-sixth to the thirty-seventh verse—are worthy of the most careful study. To them the reader is referred as a foundation for what Isaiah meant in the quotation made from the fifty-fifth chapter.

Wherever in the Scriptures mercy and the forgiveness of sin are taught, there is involved the removal of the penalty for sin, which is death, and a full and complete assurance of the resurrection of the dead.

If we have reached that point in the development of Christian character where we are able freely and gladly and fully, with delight and joy (see Micah 7:18, 19), to pass by the sins and wrongs committed against us, and cease speaking of the evil we see in our fellow men, then we know that our sin is forgiven in heaven. Death has lost all its terrors; for, so far as we are concerned, it is abolished, and we have “passed from death unto life.” We do not have to force ourselves to believe that we are accepted of the Lord. We know we are his children when we feel and act toward sinners as he feels and acts toward them. We are deciding our own destiny daily by our state of mind and our conduct toward our fellow men. If we have come to the place where

we feel that we are straightforward, upright, living justly and uprightly as Job did, and are expecting to be partakers of the life eternal at the revelation of Jesus Christ, and we find that the Lord has permitted enemies to develop even among our trusted brethren and friends, then may we know that this is our time of testing. Will our faith in God’s way of dealing with sinners prevail over our own natural way of dealing with them? If it does, we shall have, in that particular at least, “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.” God’s righteous course of conduct toward his enemies is revealed to us in the life of Jesus, and if our faith says God’s way is best, and we accept it and continue in it, then we have the faith of Jesus, and we are safe here and for eternity. May the tender mercies of our God be the means of bringing to every repentant soul the full assurance of life and peace here and now and for all eternity.