“The mercy of God’s heart means His hearty mercy, His cordial delight in mercy. Remission of sins is a business into which the Lord throws His heart.
He forgives with an intensity of will, and readiness of soul. God made heaven and earth with His fingers, but He gave His Son with His heart in order that He might save sinners.
The Eternal God has thrown His whole soul into the business of redeeming men. If you desire to see God most Godlike, it is in the pardon of sin, and the saving of men.
If you desire to read the character of God written out in capital letters, you must study the visitation of His love in the person of His dear Son, and all the wonderful works of infinite grace which spring therefrom.
It is a grand sight to behold God in earnest when He says, ‘Now will I arise.’
With awe we watch Him as He lays bare His arm: but this full energy of power is best seen when His work is grace.
When He stirs up His strength to come and save us, and brings the essence of His being into intense action to bless us, we are favoured indeed.
It is this watching to do us good, this eagerness to bless us, which is meant by the mercy of His heart. It is not only tenderness, but intensity, heartiness, eagerness, delight, and concentration of power.
All this is to be seen in the dealing of God with guilty men when He visits them to grant them the remission of their sins.”
–Charles H. Spurgeon, “The Tender Mercy of Our God,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. 32 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1886), 32: 350-351
