Jude 2, “Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.”
Jude introduced the letter in verse one by telling us who he was, then he told us who we are, now he tells us what we need by way of this short prayer. What do we need? I’m sure one of the first things that come to mind is our physical needs or financial needs. As great as those may be, our greatest need to enjoy life is God’s mercy, peace, and love. For true joy, we need God’s mercy and know His peace and have His love shed abroad in our hearts.
God shows mercy by having compassion on a sinner and relieving their suffering. Vile, wretched sinners as we are, the Father sent His only begotten Son into this world to die for the undeserving that we might have eternal life. God had compassion on Hell deserving rebels and in great mercy, the Great Physician, visits the sin-sick and relived our soul suffering and gave us life. God’s mercy is providing a sacrifice for our sins, freeing us from condemnation, and justifying us in giving us the righteousness of Christ. He relieved us from our dreadful condition.
We have peace with God (Romans 5:1, Colossians 1:20) through Christ that only comes through His precious blood. Our default position is enmity against God. We don’t like His law, and can’t keep it and can’t please God in the flesh (Romans 8:7-8). No peace, only war. But in Christ, we are reconciled and have peace with God. We are no longer enemies since the point of conflict (our heart and our sin) is dealt with on the cross. We are justified and have union with Jesus, the Son whom the Father is well pleased, the cause of the conflict (our sin), is gone. The unmatchable love of God is a sacrificing love, a pure, unconditional, complete, undying love. Because God loved us, He had mercy and provided the means of peace.
God is eternal and unchangeable. God does not grow in mercy nor increase in love. God is love. It isn’t God that multiplies or God’s love multiplies, but our need is, as John Gill wrote, “an enlarged view and fresh application” of these graces in our lives. We have God’s mercy in Christ, but no doubt need to remember we are saved by grace and not by works. We have perfect peace with Jesus Christ, but certainly we all could use a fresh view of the gospel and our justification. To remind ourselves the grounds of our peace, the certainty of our peace, and the perfection of our peace through the blood of Jesus. We need these graces multiplied. We need to peer deeper into the gospel and drink deeply from God’s Word and magnify and multiply mercy, love and peace in our hearts. Make it a point, every day, to think about how God showed you mercy, provided peace, because He loves you.
