Chapter Fourteen: The Father of Mercies

Paul writes in II Corinthians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,”

We have been discussing the gentle and lowly-in-heart Savior over the past few months. It has been, I trust and pray, a delight to your soul. We have learned that He provides rest, soul-nourishing rest.

We have observed His heart toward sinners. We have relished the happiness that Christ enjoys in saving and sanctifying sinners. We have yearned to reach out to the Savior who is able to sympathize, who deals gently, who will never cast out, and who saves us to the uttermost.

We are left singing like the hymn writer Luther Bridgers on page 425 of our hymnals.

Dane Ortlund writes this, “A common perception among Christians is that, yes, to some degree anyway, the Father is less inclined to love and forgive than the Son.” (128)

In other words, God the Father is the wrathful one, the revengeful one. I mean take a look at some of the stories in the OT. In Genesis chapter 19 he wipes out several cities. God killed Uzzah for keeping the Ark from falling in 2 Sam. 6:7. It would seem that people are not wrong in their thinking, at least on the surface.

A few people in a church I previously served in called themselves “red letter Christians.” They were “first commandment, Great commission Christians.” On the surface it seems legitimate.

The truth is, however, that this is blatantly false. If one were to read the OT they would come away overwhelmed by God the Father, the Father of all mercies and comfort. Likewise, if you read the NT with any degree of objectivity, you will see a Christ filled with wrath. Like have you read the book of Revelation recently?

Ortlund goes on to write, “Objectively, the Father was the one needing to be placated, subjectively, his heart was one with the Son.”

Or, to put it in Paul’s language in Romans 3:21-26. You need to wrestle with those verses, to grasp their depth, if you are to hold to a Trinitarian view of God. God the Father is not all wrath while God the Son is all love. God the Father is the God of all comforts and the Father of mercy.

This is the heart of the Gospel. God is holy. Humanity, through the headship of Adam, sinned against God. They engaged in cosmic treason (I believe R. C. Sproul coined that phrase). It was not that the simply made a mistake. Adam did not have any sin. He was free from the impulses that you and I have toward sin.

He consciously chose to reject the good Creator and defy His authority. Through Adam’s sin, we all fell. Paul teaches us this in Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

So, how is the God the Father of mercies and all comforts?

Listen to Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:3-14.

He blessed us in Christ

He blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ

He chose us before we were even born in Christ

He predestined us for adoption in Christ

He lavished all grace on us in Christ

He made this plan of redemption known to us in Christ

He sealed us with the Holy Spirit in Christ

Listen to Ortlund’s words,

“Beyond what we are conscious of at any given moment, the Father’s tender care envelopes us with pursing gentleness, sweetly governing every last detail of our lives. He sovereignly ordains the particular angle of the flutter of the leaf that alls from the tree and the breeze that knocked it free (Matt. 10:29-31), and he sovereignly ordains the bomb that evil minds detonate (Amos 3:6; Luke 13:1-5).” (132)

Now, let us return to 2 Corinthians and see what more we can glean from Paul. (2 Cor. 1:3-11)

We see that we have comfort from God the Father in order to comfort others.

We see that though we suffer, we have an equal share of comfort and grace.

We see that the God of mercy uses our trials to grow believers.

We see that the merciful God removes self-sufficiency through our trials and couples that with more of His mercy.

We see that God has blessed us with the privilege of prayer.

Indeed, He is the God of all comfort and Father of mercies.