BiblicalInsights.net

So, you want to get away from it all!  You are tired of Covid-19 restrictions and need a vacation where you don’t have to worry about contracting the virus.  I’ve got the perfect spot for you.  It is Point Nemo located in the Pacific Ocean.  This place is 1671 miles away from Easter Island which is the closest inhabited land.  It would take 15 days, 10 hours, and 37 minutes to get to Easter Island from Point Nemo.  But, the closest humans to you would actually be on the space station located 258 miles above the earth.  Now, that is truly getting away from it all.
Does God want you to live in isolation?  In Romans 14:7-8, Paul writes, “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.  For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”
God Created Us
God is a person and He created us in His image (Gen. 1:26-27).  We also have personhood and can live in relationship with God and with one another.  This fact is just one of the reasons that the one, true, and living God is unique.  God desires to live in covenant and spiritual relationship with the men and women whom He created.  God did not create us for isolation, but for fellowship.
Sin Separates Us From God
Isaiah specifies the problem between Israel and God. “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).  Sin causes a breach in relationship with God.  It did in Isaiah’s day and it does for us.
Our Redemption Through Christ Secures Fellowship With God                                                            However, through Jesus Christ, we can be reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:17-21).  Spiritual union with Christ is possible through obedience to the gospel of Christ.  When we are baptized into Christ, we become one with Him and spiritually united with Him (Gal. 3:26,27; Rom. 6:3-4).  Our sins are forgiven (Acts 2:38).  We become a new creature (II Cor. 5:17).  Our obedience to the gospel is our acceptance of the terms and conditions that God has given in the New Testament for remission of sins.  Through the new birth, we become new creatures in order to walk in newness of life.  We become the children of God.  We sustain a new relationship with God and have fellowship with Him, Christ and the Holy Spirit (I John 1:3; II Cor. 13:14).  Our redemption through Christ takes away the barrier caused by sin and opens up a new opportunity for fellowship with God.  God desires that we live in spiritual fellowship with Him rather than isolation from Him.
Fellowship With Other Christians
In Christ, we live in spiritual relationship with all of those of like precious faith.  Our redemption binds us to God and to one another.  We have responsibilities to God and to each other.  We have fellowship one with another (I John 1:7-9).  These responsibilities negate living in isolation.  “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (I Cor. 12:13).  The spiritual body of Christ is the kingdom of God.  In the kingdom of God, disciples of Christ (Christians) are to love one another (John 13:34); bear one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2); do good for one another (Gal. 6:10); forgive one another, be tenderhearted and be kind one to another (Eph. 4:32); exhort one another (Heb. 10:25); and worship and serve God together (I Cor. 14:23; I Cor. 16:1-2; Heb. 10:25-26).
God created us with the capacity to live in relationship with Him.  Christ redeemed us so that we could enjoy fellowship with God and all of those who share in the salvation we have in Him.  The antidote to isolation is fellowship.  In Christ, no man lives to himself and no man dies to himself.  We belong to the Lord.  We belong to God’s spiritual family.  This is an incredibly comforting reality for those who love the Lord.

Hesed is the Hebrew word commonly translated by the English word lovingkindness in the King James Version.  In 1535, Miles Coverdale “invented” the word lovingkindness to translate the Hebrew word hesed.  The KJV borrowed the term.  The KJV uses fourteen different words to translate hesed.  However, lovingkindness is a favorite among scholars.
Twice Jesus used the word hesed in quotations from Hosea 6:6, “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”  Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7.  Matthew 9 and 12 are separate occasions, but both involve conflict with the Pharisees.  Both occasions give Jesus an opportunity to show men  the heart of God.
Jesus’ First Use of Mercy
In Matt. 9:9-13, Jesus is in Matthew’s house after He called him to become a disciple.  Matthew readily answered the call.  He invited Jesus to his home along with some of his friends and associates.  The Pharisees criticized Jesus for eating with publicans and sinners.  The Pharisees were separatists who would not associate with sinners and kept a safe distance from them.  However, Jesus was on mission.  He came to seek and to save that which was lost.  Jesus’ response to the Pharisees was to quote from Hosea 6:6.  They that are whole have no need of a physician.  Jesus is the physician of men’s souls seeking through compassion to extend mercy and advance spiritual healing.  Sin sickness has a cure and Jesus can provide it.  Jesus’ use of Hoses 6:6 is an attempt to transform the hearts of the Pharisees. The Physician is in the house and He is working on the hearts of men to change them.  Jesus said, “Go and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”  One may know what the scriptures say and not understand what they mean.  Understanding transforms the heart which is shaped by the truth embraced by faith and volitionally implemented.  Mercy is compassion or lovingkindness.  The condition of one’s heart is more important than sacrifice.  The status of the heart of man determines the acceptability or unacceptability of the sacrifice (Matt. 5:23-24).
Jesus’ Second Use of Mercy
In Matthew 12:1-8, Jesus and His disciples are walking through a field of grain.  They pick the heads of grain and rub them in their hands and eat the kernels.  They did this on the Sabbath day, but they were well within the bounds of the Law of Moses (Deut. 23:25).  The Pharisees condemn Jesus and His disciples for violating the Sabbath.  Jesus’ response was to quote Hosea 6:6, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”  Jesus responded to transform the hardheartedness of the Pharisees aiming to improve their hearts with lovingkindness.  Their inability to see brokenness and hunger in people around them is a result of the fact that they did not understand the heart of God.  God revealed His heart to Moses in Exodus 34:6-7 after Moses requested to see God.  “And the LORD passed before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.  Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”  Behold, both the goodness and severity of God (Rom. 11:22).
Lovingkindness Reshapes the Human Heart
Lovingkindness:  mirrors the heart of God; opens up one’s life to others, is willing to bestow everything to those who are worthy of nothing; and combines two of the greatest virtues of the human heart:  love and mercy.  Go and learn what that meaneth, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.”