Lesson7
Book D
Hesed – The lovingkindness of God
Through the covenant, Abraham and his seed entered into a relationship with Jehovah which is characterised by the word "Hesed", or "lovingkindness" (often translated mercy).
Hesed is not a feeling or emotion. It is a will-love, love as an action based on a decision. It means I choose to align myself with you regardless of reciprocation. It means you can abuse and hurt me but I will still choose to love and bless you. It is a love that stays committed no matter how it is treated in return. It means a third party cannot separate us or snatch me out of your hand (cf. John 10:28). It is unfailing and will not let me go. When the world walks out on me, Hesed will still be there.
Hesed can be described in three ways:-
Covenant produces Hesed in fallen man
It is of course not natural for man to act in this way. Natural human love is fickle at the best of times and seeks it own way, not the service of others. Human love will not stick around once the going gets tough. Even natural family ties are brittle under pressure, the first murder in history was a case of fratricide, and yet earliest societies realised the need for such relationships in order to stay in existence. Therefore blood covenants were entered into, via marriage, national and personal allegiances, to produce Hesed lovingkindness. It was bound up in legal terminology, founded on and motivated by threat of failure, and the fear of God made a third party to the covenant, held the thing together.
God made covenant to show His nature
In one sense, God made covenant in exactly the same way as man made covenant with man, with the cut of an animal, the walk between the blood halves, the exchange of name, the covenant meal. But on the other hand the covenant God made with man was totally different to that which man made with himself. Man made covenant to produce Hesed. God made covenant in order to let man know beyond doubt that He is lovingkindness and He is Hesed. He does not have to produce it, the blood covenant simply proves it to us and bears testimony that He is it by nature.
The Name of the Lord – Exodus 33:18-19
Moses asked the Lord "Please show me your glory". He wanted to know what was at the heart of God. The Lord replied in answer that he would make all His goodness pass before him and proclaim the name of the Lord. The nature and glory of God are both revealed in his name.
Exodus 34:5-7 – "Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord, and the Lord passed before him and proclaimed "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands…"
Another translation reads – "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who keeps lovingkindness for thousands.…"
These scriptures are of immense importance as they show that the thing man had attempted to produce artificially via covenant is at the very heart of God. Hesed, mercy, lovingkindness are all found in Him. He doesn’t have to keep it through fear of not keeping it, it is His spiritual DNA – He abounds with it and can promise man that He will keep lovingkindness for thousands.
On face value, this sounds too good to be true, that God who we imagined to be short tempered, temperamental and totally unpredictable, could be abounding with Hesed. But it is true and to prove its truth in an understandable way, he made covenant (in the way that He made did to let us know His word is true). This was the type of relationship God sought with mankind. He began to achieve it through Abraham and continued in it through the seed of Abraham, Israel.
God – Covenant partner of his people
During the time of Moses when God was reviving covenant knowledge, He made known His name. Prior to the taking of the promised land at the start of Joshua’s headship, God again proclaimed His nature of lovingkindness and stressed that it was on the basis of Hesed that Israel could march successfully into battle. Two verses in Deuteronomy sum up the covenant.
Deuteronomy 31:6-8 – "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them for the Lord your God, He is the one who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you and the Lord, He is the one who goes before you".
Here the Hesed lovingkindness of God (or which is God) swears to go with you as partner and before you as leader. In the new covenant he is also in you via the new birth and upon you via the baptism in the spirit. Isaiah also talks of him as being behind you as a rear-guard (Isaiah 58:8).
God lets Joshua and we his people know that He is our shield and exceeding great reward, marching into battle ahead of us having sworn to never leave us nor forsake us for He is fighting with and for us as our covenant partner and friend.
Natural love says "I am with you so long as it doesn’t cost me too much, when the going gets tough, I’m off". Covenant love is so much more durable. Paul who had known many hard times wrote of this Hesed lovingkindness in Romans 8:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written "For your sake we are killed all day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter". Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Paul then writes and says that something had persuaded him of this lovingkindness which sears to be faithful and present even in the most difficult of troubles. Like Abraham, it was the blood covenant which persuaded him. He writes – "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord".
Malcolm Smith has said "God does not have a casual relationship with us, He has a committed one. He does not drift in and out of our lives, sometimes answering, some times not".
Perfect love casts out all fear – 1 John 4:18
It is a knowledge of God’s Hesed lovingkindness revealed us in the persuasive context of covenant that is the foundation for fearlessness. This Hesed lovingkindness is perfect love and our understanding of it drives out all fear. As we acknowledge it, receive it and become persuaded of its abiding presence, then like Joshua and Paul we will take on an attitude of triumph, we will not fear nor be dismayed and will know that we are more than conquerors through Him who abounds in Hesed lovingkindness towards us.
Hesed – The basis of every act of God
Psalm 136 is a celebration of the Hesed lovingkindness of God (translated often as mercy). The Psalmist declares that every act of God in the history of his people was a direct result of God keeping His covenant – for His Hesed endures forever.
In fact the entire Bible is a series of case histories which set out to prove that God has moved and intervened in accordance with the covenant. He does not bless and ;move because some days he feels like it, but somedays he doesn’t. The Bible lets us know that God has always acted as a result of Hesed lovingkindness in accordance with his Blood covenant faithfulness.
The Example of David
David better than any old covenant hero, understood covenant and was rooted and grounded in the length, breadth, height and depth of the Hesed lovingkindness of God.
Both Psalm 23 and Psalm 18 are excellent illustrations of fearless faith produced from covenant love. Psalm 23 was not written on a hillside as David quietly herded sheep. It was more than likely written at a time when David was cornered like a defenceless animal awaiting slaughter by the armies of Saul.
It was here in the midst of threat, walking through the valley of the shadow of death which Saul had cast that David gave voice to the faithfulness of God. He recognised that God was his shepherd and that because of this he would fear no evil (or be dismayed). He said "Your rod and staff comfort me", he could as easily have said "Your sword and shield". In the very presence of his enemies he sang "Surely goodness and Hesed lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life". This was a testimony to the presence of God, abounding with Hesed. The word follow means to hotly and relentlessly pursue. David was fully persuaded that the lovingkindness of God was chasing him in order to stoop low and serve him with the terms of his covenant.
Psalm 18 was written at either the same or similar time. He declares: - "I will love you, O Lord my strength, the Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer, my God my strength in whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies".
Notice how often David uses the word my. My means to belong to and be associated with. David here laid possessive claim to the Almighty. God is not just God, but through the covenant He is My God, like someone under threat today might say look out, this is my Rottweiler.
David then recognised the seriousness of his problem (v4-6), but stayed in remembrance of the covenant of Hesed lovingkindness which he had with his God. He then cried out to the Lord and God heard his voice from His temple.
When a covenant partner of God cries out in distress, calling on the Lord then Hesed lovingkindness is ready to leap into action as shield, strength, ferocious parent, salvation and stronghold. The rest of the Psalm tells of how the lovingkindness of God responded, shaking the hills splitting wide the Heavens riding on a Cherub through a storm with an air assault of hail. All for the sake of one covenant man who fearlessly believed in the lovingkindness of his covenant partner.
David had understood the secret of victory early on in his life. As he went to battle against Goliath, he did not go trusting in his own strength, ability or might. Rather he went trusting in the nature of His God. He declared as he approached the giant "I come to you in the name of the Lord God of hosts". (1 Samuel 17:45). What was the name of the Lord? "Compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness". Such was David’s trust in the Hesed lovingkindness of God that he was able to declare "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, for the battle is the Lord’s". (1 Samuel 17:46-47).
Toward the end of his life, David recalled the goodness of God and the benefits of covenant. He sang that lovingkindness had forgiven him all his sins for love keeps no record of wrong and covers the multitude of sin. He recognised that lovingkindness had served him with healing and health, and that when he was at his lowest, lovingkindness redeemed his life from the pit, lifting him up on wings like eagles. David then summarised declaring that his entire life had been crowned with lovingkindness and compassion , which had pursued and overtaken him with the blessings of God. (Psalm 103:1-5).
Not Just for Israel
In Christ we are invited to partake of this same Hesed lovingkindness. Hebrews 4:16 says – "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need".
Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we who are in Christ are the active recipients of this grace and Hesed lovingkindness of God. We are not strangers from the covenant of promise, but inheritors of it, having been brought near by the blood of Jesus (Eph 2:13).
For further study: "Hesed agape – covenant made by blood" teaching tapes by Kenneth Copeland.
QUESTION
Book D
Lesson 7
QUESTIONS FOR THIS SECTION
