BIBLE STUDIES ARCHIVE.....

The Sure Mercies of David
 
“Incline your ear and come to Me, hear and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you – the sure mercies of David.  Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and a commander for the people.”   Isaiah 55:3-4
 
The prophet Isaiah writes about the sure mercies of David.  What are they?  How can they be defined?  What do the sure mercies of David have to do with us today as we walk out our faith?  Those are the questions under consideration as we explore the inerrant word of God.
 
Our study begins by looking at the text within the context.  In chapter 55 of the Book of Isaiah, the prophet is communicating God’s invitation to the exiles.  He extends the invitation to drink, to eat and to “let your soul delight itself in abundance” (v. 2).  God promises a covenant that is “everlasting.”  That covenant includes the sure mercies of David.  Isaiah then returns in the message to encourage the exiled chosen people to “seek the Lord while He may be found” (v.6), that God will “have mercy” and “abundantly pardon” (v. 7).
 
Sure Mercies
 
What are sure mercies?  The word sure in Hebrew is “aman” and means: enduring; trust; reliable; faithful; to confirm, support.  From aman we get the word Amen, meaning, sure or truly.  We can conclude that the mercies God is speaking of are faithful, reliable and enduring.  They are eternal.
 
The Hebrew word for mercy is “chesed” or “hesed.”  It is a vital word in the Old Testament and means: lovingkindness; love; benevolence; grace; mercy; and unfailing love.  The Hebrew word for mercy is very similar in nature to the Greek word for grace, which is “charis.”  Let’s return to our question – what are sure mercies?  We can summarize them as eternally faithful lovingkindnesses.   These sure mercies are elsewhere confirmed in God’s word, as found in Psalm 92:2:  “To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night…”   As part of his lament for the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah writes in Lamentations 3:22-23:  “Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”   Again in verse 32 of the same chapter we read: “Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.”   Despite the sins of Israel and ruin of a people, God offered His covenant love, or mercy.  The Lord did “not cast off forever” (Lam. 3:31), rather He demonstrated His faithful compassion as a remnant remained and ultimately returned. 
 
A Covenant of Mercy
 
The covenant God made with David was a covenant of mercy, or an agreement with eternally faithful lovingkindness.  The covenant with David was irrevocable, or an everlasting covenant.  There are numerous references in Scripture to the Davidic covenant as an eternal or everlasting covenant and as such, irrevocable.  Some of those references include:
Ø     2 Samuel 7:12-17:  “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.  I will be His Father and he shall be My son.  If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men.  But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.  And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you.  Your throne shall be established forever.  According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.”
 
Ø     Psalm 89:3-4:  “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David; your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.” 
 
Ø     Psalm 89:28-29:  “My mercy I will keep for him forever, and My covenant shall stand firm with him.  His seed also I will make to endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven.”
 
Ø     Psalm 89: 34-36:  “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.  Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David; his seed shall endure forever.  And his throne as the sun before Me…”
 
This covenant of sure mercies is defined as one that chastens those who commit iniquity (what we might call correction or consequences), yet the mercies remain.  This is unlike Saul, from whom God removed mercy.  David, his successor to the throne, continued to receive God’s sure mercies.  Those mercies were extended through David’s kingdom.  The mercies had to continue, as they were part of the irrevocable covenant God had made with David.  David’s seed, house, and throne had to endure, even in the midst of iniquity and correction.  The seed continued, even after it was prophesied that there would be one who “was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”  (Isa. 53:5)  The covenant and seed and sure mercies of David foreshadowed and typified what was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  He is of the seed of David, who ushered in the New Covenant, and fulfilled the sure mercies through His death and resurrection.
 
The New Covenant Fulfillment of Sure Mercies
 
Scripture supports that the sure mercies of David were ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ as found in Acts 13:33-37:  “God has fulfilled this for us their children, in that He has raised up Jesus.  As it is also written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.’  And that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken thus: ‘I will give you the sure mercies of David.’ Therefore He also says in another Psalm: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers and saw corruption; but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.” 
 
Paul was addressing the Jewish synagogue at Antioch and laid out the salvation message.  It is interesting to note that as “the Jews went out of the synagogue; the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.”  (v. 42)    As instructed by the Lord, the disciples would bring the gospel message first to the Jewish community, and then to the Gentiles.  As the Jews rejected the message, the Gentiles were eager for the sure word, containing the sure mercies. 
 
And now let us address the final question: what do the sure mercies of David have to do with us?  The eternally faithful lovingkindnesses shown to David, and to God’s chosen nation of Israel, were fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  We, as those “appointed to eternal life” (Acts 13:48) are the church, and are assured of the very same sure mercies.  As the church we receive mercy and are instructed to show mercy (compassion).  Jesus taught: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”  (Matthew 5:7)  It is this mercy, (eleos in the Greek) which is extended by God to alleviate the suffering and misery sin produces in people.  That is a manifestation of an eternally faithful lovingkindness.  As He provides it for us, we are to provide it for others.  Jesus acted when He was “moved with compassion,” or mercy.  May we be so moved with compassion and act in Christlikeness.