“[God] made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:7-12).
When the Lord sent Moses to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt, he made his ways and his deeds known to their oppressors.
The ten plagues against Egypt and its gods, culminating in the death of every Egyptian firstborn male in the land . . . the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh’s armies . . . the decisive defeat of the enemies of God’s people.
Is it any wonder that when God led his people to Mount Sinai and covered the mountaintop with smoke and fire, and thunder shook the mountain itself as lightning flashed across the sky, the Israelites were terrified?
But it was not in the visage of fire and smoke covering a mountain that God made himself known to Moses on the mountain. And God did not want his people to know him first and foremost by his deeds of destruction, wrath, and ruin against the Egyptians.
No, he gave them his name and described himself in the most wonderful of ways, as the psalmist paraphrased in the verses above. “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Why? Because the Israelites (along with you and me) are so worthy of God’s compassion and graciousness? Because we don’t incur his anger when we fail to live perfect and holy lives, when we don’t love him with our whole hearts? Of course not. God is holy and just. We’re not. God does not excuse sin or stand its existence in his people. He punishes sin. That punishment is not just physical death. Ultimately, it’s eternal death—separation from God forever.
But God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. Why? Because God punished his Son, Jesus, in our place. God treated him as we deserve for our sins. God repaid him according to our iniquities. Raised up on the cross, between earth and heaven, with arms stretched out wide, we see the love of God for us. We see our Savior removing our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west.
God has made his ways known, his deeds to us his people. Through the sprinkling of water and the Word spoken at our baptisms, he says, “You are mine, my dearly loved child and heir of eternal life. My kingdom is yours.”
In his Word, he reveals a compassionate and gracious heart, slow to anger and abounding in love, as the Scriptures point us to our Savior Jesus and what he has done for us, freely out of love. We hear him testify on the cross, “It is finished!” And it is. True and lasting peace with God has been established.
In the Lord’s Supper, Jesus comes to us with forgiveness and love. He himself is present in, with, and under the bread and wine with his very body and blood, given for us and for our salvation, shed for us for the forgiveness of all our sins.
These are the amazing deeds of love, the means of grace, that our God lavishly pours out to reassure us, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we are his dearly loved children. Our sins are all forgiven. We have a home in heaven waiting for us.
We don’t have to be afraid, dear Christian. Our God has made himself known to us because he loves us and wants all people to be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
Human hearts can be fickle things. Sometimes Christians are tempted to wonder if God’s heart is like that too. How can I be sure God loves me? I’ve done so many bad things. If that burning question has ever been on your heart and mind, discover God’s deepest heart—his sure and certain love for you—inside Seeing God’s Heart: The Certainty of His Love for Me by Pastor Lynn E. Wiedmann.
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Alex Brown is the marketing and content copywriter at Northwestern Publishing House. He has his Master of Divinity degree from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary and enjoys reading, writing, and spending time in God’s creation.
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