421 FORGIVENESS OF SIN. nignity, bounty. He does not bid them hope in the Lord because theywere the seed of Abraham, the pecu- liar people of God, made partakers of privileges above all the people in the world ; much less because of their worthiness in themselves; but merely on account of mercy in God. The mercy of God, and the redemption that is with him, is the only ground to sinners for hope and confidence. Two points should be noticed in this grace, the one expressed, the other implied in the words. The first is, that it is plenteous, abundant. What principally dis- courages distressed souls from a comfortable waiting on God is, their fears lest they should not obtain mercy from him, and that because their sins are so great and so many, or attended with such aggravations, that it is impossible they should find acceptance with God. This ground of despondency and unbelief the Psalmist obviates, by representing the fulness, the plenty, the boundless plenty of the mercy in God. It is such as will suit the condition of the greatest sinners in their greatest depths ; the stores of its treasures are inex- haustible. And the force of the exhortation lies not so much in this, that there is redemption with God, as that this redemption is plenteous or abundant. Here is also an intimation in the word itself, of the relation which the goodness and grace of God have to the blood of Christ; whence it is called redemption. This, as was shown, has respect to a price ; the price whereby we are bought, that is, the blood of Christ. This is that whereby a way is made for the exercise of mercy towards sinners; redemption, which properly denotes actual deliverance, is said to be with God, or
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=