There is a word in the Old Testament for which there is no English translation. It occurs roughly 250 times in 241 verses from Genesis to Zechariah so we should not ignore it; especially since it describes one of God's chief characteristics. The word is chesed (Hebrew חֵסֵד ; pronounced HEH-sed, with a hard initial "H" that sounds as if you are getting something out of your throat.) Translators sometimes render it as love, mercy, faithfulness, kindness, or variations and combinations of the foregoing. It's not that they are adding their own interpretation to the word; it's because the word chesed actually means ALL of those things together. It describes the fact that God offers us love mercy, grace, kindness, and goodness, not as separate things but together as one thing. Why? Because that's who He is. After all, as the beloved apostle John wrote, "God is love" (1 John 4:8,16). Not that God loves or shows love, but that He IS love. In fact, immediately before verse 8 John explains that love originates with God (1 John 4:7). It is His root and, thus, His defining nature.
Everything else that God is or does flows from the fact that He is love. His jealousy over truth and righteousness, His anger at unrighteousness, His commandments, all stem from His love for His creation, of which we human beings are the chief, being the only ones in Creation that were made in His image (Genesis 1:27) and called His children (1 John 3:1). Anything that would harm a single one of us, He views with protective anger. Anything that would prevent us from being in communion with Him, He views with protective anger. All of His acts are to protect those two things-- His children and our ability to be in relationship with Him.
When He places temporal judgment on sinners, it is to bring them to repentance in order to restore them to His purpose in creating them. When He destroys those who harm His children, it is to protect His children and warn all who would harm them. When He punishes the rebellious for their unrighteousness, He is doing so to perfect those who will come to know Him as He intended. When He punishes sin in us, it is to correct us so that we may be restored to relationship with Him. It is all because He loves us. And that love is shown in His kindness, in His mercy, in His goodness toward us. We deserve none of it; but He offers it nonetheless. Because that's who He is.
Since this chesed is so important, so tied to His love for us, it is not surprising that more than half of its occurrences are found in Psalms, the Bible's book of comfort and of assurance and relationship between God and man. Every time you read the word love, lovingkindness, faithfulness, steadfast love, faithful love, kindness, mercy in your Bible you can almost be certain that if you go to the Hebrew you will find the word chesed (Strong's H2617).
Remember that this word not only reveals God's fundamental nature, it secure His covenants, and guarantees the security of our future as His children. And all that keeps every human being on the face of the Earth from being covered by this word is their desire to follow their own will rather than accept His.
When we go forward to proclaim the gospel to others, let us remember that it is this chesed, this loving kindness and mercy and goodness of God, that caused Him to save us, and anoints the words of the gospel that we speak as He uses us to call others into a loving relationship with Him. And it is the very same attitude of chesed that we should bear, and which not only prompts us to go out and speak to others but gives us the confidence to do so.
I hope this short word study blesses someone today.
Everything else that God is or does flows from the fact that He is love. His jealousy over truth and righteousness, His anger at unrighteousness, His commandments, all stem from His love for His creation, of which we human beings are the chief, being the only ones in Creation that were made in His image (Genesis 1:27) and called His children (1 John 3:1). Anything that would harm a single one of us, He views with protective anger. Anything that would prevent us from being in communion with Him, He views with protective anger. All of His acts are to protect those two things-- His children and our ability to be in relationship with Him.
When He places temporal judgment on sinners, it is to bring them to repentance in order to restore them to His purpose in creating them. When He destroys those who harm His children, it is to protect His children and warn all who would harm them. When He punishes the rebellious for their unrighteousness, He is doing so to perfect those who will come to know Him as He intended. When He punishes sin in us, it is to correct us so that we may be restored to relationship with Him. It is all because He loves us. And that love is shown in His kindness, in His mercy, in His goodness toward us. We deserve none of it; but He offers it nonetheless. Because that's who He is.
Since this chesed is so important, so tied to His love for us, it is not surprising that more than half of its occurrences are found in Psalms, the Bible's book of comfort and of assurance and relationship between God and man. Every time you read the word love, lovingkindness, faithfulness, steadfast love, faithful love, kindness, mercy in your Bible you can almost be certain that if you go to the Hebrew you will find the word chesed (Strong's H2617).
Remember that this word not only reveals God's fundamental nature, it secure His covenants, and guarantees the security of our future as His children. And all that keeps every human being on the face of the Earth from being covered by this word is their desire to follow their own will rather than accept His.
When we go forward to proclaim the gospel to others, let us remember that it is this chesed, this loving kindness and mercy and goodness of God, that caused Him to save us, and anoints the words of the gospel that we speak as He uses us to call others into a loving relationship with Him. And it is the very same attitude of chesed that we should bear, and which not only prompts us to go out and speak to others but gives us the confidence to do so.
I hope this short word study blesses someone today.
