Exodus 34:6-7 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering… I. "THE LORD." There we lay our basis. Unless you are prepared to admit the perfect sovereignty of God, you can go no further — you will see no more. II. Then we put it in combination — "the Lord God." And oh! what a combination! We put all sovereignty with all the mystery of the Godhead — God, that unfathomable word. But amongst all those wondrous attributes which go to make the word God, there is one stands out — that name leads us to it. The root of the word is kindness — God, the good. The Lord the good; the Lord — love; God. We put the infinitude of His sovereignty in combination with the boundlessness of His affection, and we say, "The Lord, the Lord God." III. But now we come to the goings forth of that wonderful mystery of Godhead to man — MERCY. You know that the strict meaning of the word mercy is — a heart for misery. Therefore the first thought is — the great Lord God stooping to the wretched, going forth to the miserable. IV. And why merciful? Because GRACIOUS. Grace is the free flowing of undeserved favour. V. "LONG-SUFFERING!" It is the most marvellous part of the character of God — His patience — it is so contrasting with the impetuosity, the haste, the impulsiveness of man. He is provoked every day, but He continues patient. VI. Now it rises — "ABUNDANT IN GOODNESS AND TRUTH." Abundant is enough and something over — a cup so full that it mantles — abundant, "abundant in" — VII. "GOODNESS," and — VIII. "TRUTH." IX. "KEEPING MERCY FOR THOUSANDS." There are thousands who do not yet see or feel their mercy, for whom God is now keeping it in reserve — say, persons not yet converted. X. "FORGIVING INIQUITY AND TRANSGRESSION AND SIN." We are getting all the more now into the work of Christ. And what distinction shall we make between "iniquity, transgression, and sin?" Is "iniquity" acts of injustice to a fellow-creature — and "transgression" acts of injustice towards God — and "sin," the deep root of all in the human heart? Or is it thus? Is "iniquity " that principle of all wrongness, the want of uprightness, the acting unfairly by God or man; — and then "transgression" the act, whether it be to God or man, to God through man, "transgression," — and then "sin" again the inner nature from which that transgression, which makes that iniquity, springs. I think that is the true intention — iniquity, transgression, sin. But He pardons all. XI. "BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY." The word "guilty" is not in the original — "by no means clear." Whom? He will not clear any one whom He has not pardoned. "Guilty" means a man still subject to wrath. If a man does not accept Christ, he is still subject to wrath — that man God will never clear. XII. And then comes that very difficult part — THAT HE "VISITS THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN, AND UPON THE CHILDREN'S CHILDREN, UNTO THE THIRD AND TO THE FOURTH GENERATION." It seems to me to be an ever-standing visible proof and monument of God's holiness and justice. He visits sin from generation to generation. There are inherited dispensations, inherited calamities. Is it unjust? It is the principle of the greatest justice that we read of in the history of this world. For the atonement all depends upon that principle. If God does visit the sin of one in the sufferings of another, has not He also laid it down that He visits the righteousness of one in the happiness and the eternal salvation of another? And did we do away with that principle, where would be our hope? (J. Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, |
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