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Transcript/ notes from Session 5, “He Crowns Me with Lovingkindness and Tender Mercies”

Introduction: crown, lovingkindness

Welcome to, Session 5 of the Benefits of the Cross series. This session is entitled, “He Crowns Me with Lovingkindness and Tender Mercies, Part 1.”

So let’s dive right in to the 4th benefit of the cross in Psalm 103: 

Psalm 103:1-4 – Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,…

He “crowns you…” Crown is the Hebrew word āṭar. It doesn’t mean “tiara.” It’s an all encompassing covering. It means to encircle, to surround.  It was often used metaphorically to describe being surrounded with honor, blessing or a protective shield.  In ancient Israel, a crown on the head was a symbol of the authority, honor, and divine favor that surrounded a person. The act of crowning was not only a physical adornment but also an acknowledgment of one’s position and the blessings associated with it. What is our “position”? We are in Christ! The concept of being encircled or surrounded also carried connotation of protection and care which reflected the covenantal nature of God’s relationship with His people.

He “crowns you with lovingkindness…” Lovingkindness is the Hebrew word hesed [kheh’-sed]. God surrounds us and protects us with His hesed. This is the main word that we will focus on today. hesed is the central theme in the Hebrew Bible because it is the defining characteristic of God.

The translation “lovingkindness” only scratches the surface of the meaning of hesed. hesed is multifaceted and means not only lovingkindness, but also undeserved favor, mercy, love, faithfulness, and so much more.

In English it is indescribable with one word. There are about 170 different ways the English translators have attempted to translate this word!

I’m reading a book about hesed. The 1st page lists them. [Read from book]

This English word “lovingkindness” was actually invented by Miles Coverdale in 1535 in an attempt to translate hesed in the first modern English translation of the Bible, the “Coverdale Bible.”

hesed is a covenantal word. Unlike contracts which are transactional, covenants are relational. And unlike contracts, which are impersonal by nature, covenants were binding agreements that required hesed between both parties. Man failed to keep hesed in the Old Covenant because he was unfaithful, but God’s hesed endures forever!

Psalm 136:1 – Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy [His hesed – His lovingkindness, His unfailing love, His goodness, His mercy -] endures forever.

This declaration is repeated 26 times in the Bible!

While hesed is an inexpressible word, it resonates with your spirit when it’s revealed to you or when you see it in action. hesed evokes gratefulness.

A picture of hesed that kept coming to my mind as I studied this word is the woman with the alabaster box. She deserved nothing, but Jesus gave her everything. I can’t tell you why, but she is the woman I most relate to in the Bible. I think it’s because of her unabashed gratefulness to Jesus.

When you experience hesed, in your heart, when you are tempted to say, “This is too good to be true,” you realize because of the DNA of God within you – the image of God in you – His nature in you – that it actually is true. If you know Jesus, As one writer put it “It’s too good not to be true.”

When the hesed of Jesus was unveiled to me 15 years ago, I remember after it all sunk in, I thought, “I knew it! I knew this was true about Jesus!!”

hesed causes a burning in our hearts, (Emmaus) it brings tears, it takes our breath away. It evokes a heavenly experience when, like Job, we can say, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.”

Meditating on hesed

In the last couple of weeks, I haven’t been able to get hesed off my mind. And one day I had a realization. I have been searching for years for a way to adequately describe the encounter I had with Jesus years ago in that most pivotal moment, and last week, I heard the Holy Spirit say, “It’s hesed.”

You know my story, so you know what happened. In a flash of light, I saw what Jesus sees when He looks at me: glorious, blameless holiness. My first reaction was, “This can’t be true! This is so unfair!”

Now, this is not a small point. This is actually critical to even a surface-level understanding of hesed. We have to know that the unfairness of it is as impossible to describe as the word itself. But Jesus said to me,  “It is true, Tricia. This is what I have done in you and for you.” Because that is who He is and because of His Great Love for us.

This was His indescribable love. And I sensed His smile – His lovingkindness. He is the kindest Person I have ever known.

In that moment I felt a gush of love. I had never felt so loved. When that love flowed in, the do-do-do of religion fell off. The do-this, and God will accept you; do-that and God will be pleased with you. It was all gone in a moment of time!

If I had to use one word to describe that whole experience, it would be hesed. Jesus is the manifestation of hesed. And the word I would use to describe the unfolding revelation of Jesus is also hesed.

All these years, I have called this revelation of Jesus “grace.” But the problem is this: I have used the word “grace” my whole life, but it meant something different than what I mean by it now. 

When I have tried to explain the ministry of Parresia to people, and I say something like, “It’s about grace,” they smile, nod and say things like, “What a nice topic.” They don’t understand what I’m saying. It’s not a topic. It’s everything!

The grace of our Lord Jesus is not just undeserved, unmerited, unearned favor. It’s not just getting a blessing you don’t deserve. It’s not just being forgiven. It’s when you have no right to expect anything from Jesus, but it’s His pleasure to give you everything – even though it cost Him everything!

Hesed is when God didn’t – 

Romans 8:32- He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, [on a cross] how shall He not with [Jesus] Him also freely give us all things?

Inexpressible Hesed

I’ve been reading this book that my friend Brenda told me about called “Inexpressible hesed.” I’m not sure how she found it, but it’s written by someone very near and dear to our hearts, a songwriter we were familiar with in the 80’s and 90’s named Michael Card. 

He wrote beautiful music that touched us deeply in those years. One of the songs he wrote was “El Shaddai.” Do yall remember that one? One of his albums was a lullaby album called “Sleep Sound in Jesus.” I used to play it all the time when Martha Ellen was a baby. 

I found a song that Michael Card wrote more recently that might give some insight into hesed called “That Kind of Love.” Some of the lyrics:

Widows smile and strong men weep
And little ones play at its feet
The deaf can hear and the blind can see
That kind of Love

Love triumphant, Love on fire
Love that humbles and inspires
Love that does not hesitate
With no conditions, no restraints
That kind of Love

All these years, I have been teaching the truths that unveiled that kind of love to me, but have never felt like I could put into words until now. hesed.

Tender Mercies

Hesed is often joined with another word along with the conjunction “and.” In Hebrew that’s the letter “vav.” The pictograph is a nail. Other words are often “nailed” to hesed. It’s as if hesed attracts other attributes of God to more fully explain it.

The most common example of this is “hesed and truth” – which we will look at in a minute; but here in Psalm 103, He crowns us with hesed and tender mercies:

The Hebrew word for “tender mercies”  is “raḥam.” [rah-kham’] It literally means “womb” with the idea of cherishing and deeply loving a baby in the womb or the profound love, deep compassion, and tender mercy that a parent has for a child.

Raḥam in Psalm 103:4 is plural – it’s tender mercies – expressing all the ways that God nurtures us with His life-giving compassions. His compassions they fail not. Raḥam. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness!

He crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. hesed coupled with raḥam brings out that facet of hesed that highlights the Lord’s fatherly lovingkindness — His fatherly hesed – the enduring faithfulness of a merciful Father who will never cut you off, never disown you. He will always be there for you to care for you, no matter what!

He crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. It’s like we are in the cocoon of the womb – a cocoon of hesed va raḥam. The more we sense this indescribable love and merciful compassion of God, the more we will rely on it. So many are looking for it in all the wrong places. But God’s arms are always open wide when we get tired of seeking and wandering.

Exodus 34:6-7 – God’s defining characteristic – hesed

In Exodus 34, God revealed Himself as the God “abounding in hesed.” In this passage, God speaks His own name twice: “The LORD, the LORD – Yahweh, Yahweh” – the God who is, who was, and who is to come; the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end; the one who never changes, “I am who I am and I will be who I will be.” He is literally “to be.” Without Yahweh, there is nothing.

Acts 17:28 – In Him [Yahweh] we live and move and have our being.

So what is His being? He tells us in Exodus 34:6-7. It is the only time He speaks His name twice in the scriptures. It’s as if to express in the strongest terms “THIS IS WHO I AM!” Stop what you are doing and listen!

• I’ve got this running list of when God spoke someone’s name twice to get their attention: 
• Abraham, Abraham when he was about to offer Isaac – “Don’t lay your hand on the lad!”; 
• Moses, Moses at the burning bush; 
• Samuel, Samuel when God woke him up and called him; 
• Martha, Martha because she was worried and trouble about many things instead of choosing the one good thing; 
• Simon, Simon when Jesus prophesied his denial and his restoration. “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
• Saul, Saul when Jesus appeared to him on the Road to Damascus. 

Yahweh, Yahweh, as if to say, “Hear ye! Hear ye! Stop what you are doing and listen! THIS IS WHO I AM!!!! Exodus 34:6-7 is not just a description of God, it is God’s own self-identification. It is His definition of Himself.

Exodus 34:6 – And the LORD passed before him [Moses] and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious…

Yahweh is merciful. This is the adjective form of raḥam – “tender mercies” in Psalm 103:4. It describes the deep love and tender mercies of a compassionate Father.

The first defining adjective God gives Himself is the merciful compassionate love given to a helpless baby from a parent. The first word God used to describe Himself is a parental word! He is Father first! And He is the perfect Father! Earthly fathers fail, but Yahweh never fails!

Yahweh is merciful and gracious – ḥannûn [khan-noon’]. It’s similar to hesed. It describes God as One who extends favor, kindness, and compassion to us out of His great love for us.

Hannûn highlights His willingness to forgive and extend grace to anyone who will seek Him. It speaks of His intimate involvement in our lives and how He cares for us and responds to our needs, regardless of how we have failed Him. God defines Himself in so many beautiful, similar words. Why? Because He wants us to know how wonderful He is towards us.

Yahweh is merciful and gracious – there truly is no God like our God! I read a book once about the gods of this world. I learned that none of the gods of this world – not a single one – none of the gods of any of the religions is merciful and gracious. None of their gods are called “Love.”

Exodus 34:6-7 – [Back to verse 6: He is “merciful and gracious, – ] longsuffering, [A better translation is “slow to anger.” This is sandwiched in between the first two characteristics of God’s identity and the last two. 5 characteristics of God – 5, the number of grace, and the middle is “slow to anger.” A compassionate and gracious Father is slow to anger – ] and abounding in goodness [abounding in hesed! ESV says “steadfast love.” NLT says “unfailing love.” That’s the heart of His goodness! Can you see how multifaceted His hesed is?! It’s His goodness that leads us to repentance. His goodness is His lovingkindness. He is abounding – the KJV says “plenteous” – in goodness, in hesed – ] and truth [abounding in hesed and truth – the Hebrew word for “truth” is emet – trustworthiness, reliability, sureness, firmness, stability, integrity. And I came up with “covenantal relational faithfulness.” When emet is joined to hesed, it emphasizes the enduring, unchanging nature of God’s goodness towards us in His love. Yahweh is abounding in goodness and truth – in hesed va emet – ], 7 keeping mercy for thousands, [mercy is the word hesed again! The context tells us what facet of hesed – ] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,…”  [Keeping mercy for thousands! He doesn’t “keep” His anger. He keeps His mercy, His hesed endures forever!]

There is no God like Yahweh! I have to admit before Jesus revealed Himself as hesed to me 15 years ago, I did not know that God’s foundational attribute was lovingkindness! I knew He was all powerful, all knowing, almighty, but kind? I knew He was Creator and even found out in 1995 that He was Healer and Deliverer, but kind?

hesed is His unexpected and undeserved kindness. He had to unveil Jesus to me so I could see. And that’s why Jesus came for all of us! To show us who God is! God wants us to know Him!

Jesus is Grace and Truth

God defined Himself in Exodus 34 as the God abounding in hesed va emet. (Goodness and truth) And John defines Jesus as hesed va emet in the first chapter of his gospel. In the prelude, John begins a beautiful unwrapping of the Person of Jesus. From the start, he unveils Jesus as God Himself.

By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John was God’s scribe to tell the world that Jesus is hesed va emet in human flesh.

John 1:14 – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of [abounding in] grace and truth.

In Hebrew: hesed va emet. In this case, John chose the Greek word “charis” (or “grace” in English) to translate “hesed.” John – who was Jewish and certainly knew that hesed is most often translated “eleos,” in Greek (mercy),  not charis, chose charis!

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, eleos was used almost 200 times to translate hesed. There are a few other words used to translate hesed, but Charis is only used twice — both times in Esther 2: regarding the favor of the king that she was under.

Esther 2:17 – The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained grace and favor [hesed, one of two times this word is translated “charis” in the Septuagint] in his sight more than all the virgins; so he set the royal crown upon her head and made her queen…[Why did he make her queen? Why did he shower her with grace favor? Because he loved her more than all the others!] 

Do you think that maybe John, an expert in the languages, and the scriptures, and also the one who called himself “the disciple whom Jesus loved” chose “charis” (grace) instead of “eleos” (mercy) for hesed because he related to Queen Esther and the love the king had for her?

Esther 5:6 [repeated also in Esther 5:3 and Esther 7:2] – the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!” [He’s offering for her to be a co-equal heir with him!]

This is a picture of Jesus and us. Jesus is willing to treat us as a co-equal heirs with Him. Later in Esther, she is asked again  –

Esther 9:12, NASB – “Now what is your petition? It shall even be granted you. And what is your further request? It shall also be done.”

There is an endless supply of grace and favor for us through the love that Jesus has for us!

Maybe John knew that the more you know you’re loved, the more grace you will receive. He felt comfortable enough to lean on Jesus’s breast because he knew he was loved. He knew and believed the love that Jesus had for him. (1 John 4:16 – And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. [abides: menō – to remain as one, continue to be present, to be held and kept continually] John 15:7 – “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John often quoted Jesus’ words about asking and receiving.

Back to John 1:14 – Jesus is “full of grace and truth” – “hesed va emet.” Hesed and God’s covenantal relational faithfulness – is the word most commonly associated with hesed – more than any other word. (51 times!). 

Hesed va emet, a Hebraism

So John called Jesus “full of hesed va emet,” a phrase that any Hebrew person would know only refers to God Himself.

“Hesed va emet is what is known as a “Hebraism” – a Hebrew phrase that is repeated in the New Testament. John identifies Jesus as God through this Hebraism. 

Psalm 85:10 – [In Jesus] Mercy and truth [hesed va emet] have met together; Righteousness and peace [reconciliation] have kissed.

“Hesed “nailed” with emet – grace nailed to truth – is Jesus! The law has been magnified through His obedience.  Justice has been entirely satisfied and secured. Hesed has been nailed to God’s covenantal relational faithfulness! It’s speaks of the ironclad covenant – the New Covenant, based on God’s hesed not ours. Jesus has made peace between God and man. 

God cannot go back on His word – no matter how far short we fall. He is faithful! He is true to His word. God longs to be gracious to us, (Isaiah 30:18), and now He is free to lavish us with undeserved favor through Jesus.

Jesus is “full of [abounding in] grace and truth” because Jesus is God’s living, visible definition. 

Colossians 1:15  – He is the image of the invisible God… 

God made it so that we would not have to misunderstand Him. He made it perfectly clear – Jesus is the manifestation of hesed va emet.

I misunderstood God for so many years! I didn’t know He was abounding in grace – lovingkindness! A faraway God doesn’t have to be kind. He can be omnipotent, omniscient, and almighty, but only a relational God is full of hesed va emet. 

I was like so many who think that “truth” in John 1 means “law” or the obligation that God has to punish our sin – as if He has not already done that in Jesus. They see “grace and truth” as eternal opposites, with irreconcilable tension – which they think is good and necessary to make us behave. As if we ought to always feel a little shame in our relationship with God. They see “truth” as a balance to grace.

But that is not what truth is. The Greek word John chose for “emet” – “truth” in English – is alētheia [al-ay’-thi-a] which actually means “the real, the reality, what is.” Vines: “the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, the veritable essence of a matter.” It’s what IS behind that which is seen. 

John wanted us to know that Jesus is God! He wanted us to see Jesus so we could know what God is like! Jesus is grace and truth! The real God is abounding in lovingkindness! 

John 12:45 – [John recorded His words] “He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.”

John 14:9 – [And again -] “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

No other Gospel writer repeated these words of Jesus. Only John. It was of utmost importance to him the we know that when we look at Jesus, we are looking at the Father. What is the Father like? He’s abounding in hesed.

Every miracle Jesus performed and every interaction He had  demonstrated hesed . 

Matthew 9:10-13, NIV – While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, [hesed] not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, [or those who think are] but sinners.” [those who know they aren’t]

Jesus quoted Hosea 6:6 from the most beautiful story of redeeming love in the Bible.

Hosea 6:6 – For I desire mercy [hesed] and not sacrifice.

I love the Living Bible translation of Hosea 6:6 – 

Hosea 6:6, TLB – “I don’t want your sacrifices—I want your love; I don’t want your offerings—I want you to know me.”

God wants us to know Him and that’s why He sent Jesus! He doesn’t want our sacrifice. That’s why He sent Jesus. Jesus is our One Sacrifice for Sins Forever!

And because Jesus is full of emet – full of covenantal relational faithfulness – Jesus is the COMPLETE truth about God – we can know for sure that everything we see Jesus doing in the gospels this is the truth about God! He is still the same today! Jesus saves. He forgives. He heals. He delivers. He provides more than enough – with 12 basketfuls leftover!

Nothing we can do will change the unchanging nature of God. He is full of goodness and truth; hesed va emet; grace and truth.

John 1:17 – For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [Can you see that the Law is on one side and grace and truth are on the other?]

The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came, literally “came into being” in a Person!  

And that Greek word for “came” is a singular verb – which means that grace and truth are a singular subject.  Grace and truth – hesed va emet in Hebrew – is an inseparable whole in Jesus Christ. 

You can’t have grace without the reality of who God is. You can’t have the reality of who God is without grace.

God’s hesed could never be nailed to the truth about us. otherwise His hesed would held back because it would be dependent on our hesed. He wouldn’t have that! That’s why the Old Covenant made between God and man was only temporary. That’s why the Abrahamic Covenant of grace was never annulled.

Isaiah 30:18-19, NIV – Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. [rāḥam – the tender mercies of a good, good Father] For the Lord is a God of justice. [We’ll talk about that next time.]

God’s hesed had to be nailed to who He is – emet – His covenantal relational faithfulness – so that His hesed could be poured out on us with no conditions and no restraints!

That’s the heart of God! And Jesus shows us that.

Hebrews 1:3 – And He [Jesus] is the radiance [the never ending rays, the far-reaching radiance] of His [the Father’s] glory and the exact representation of His nature.

I have often said, “Grace is a Person, and His name is Jesus.” Now I can say, “Hesed” is a Person, and His name is Jesus! 

John 1:18 – [Next verse in John 1 – ] No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, e[Jesus] has declared Him.

The Amplified says – 

John 1:18, AMPC – He [Jesus] has declared Him [Jesus] has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He [Jesus] has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].

He doesn’t want our sacrifices—He wants your love; He doesn’t want our offerings—He wants us to know Him!

Context of crowns you with hesed and raḥam in Psalm 103

So now let’s look back to Psalm 103, and let’s envision Jesus – hesed incarnate – forgiving, healing, redeeming, and crowning us: 

Psalm 103:2-4 – Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, [In Session 3, we saw the pairing of forgiveness and healing throughout the scriptures, particularly in Isaiah 53. Now listen to the next two benefits -] 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, [the “pit”] Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,…

In verse 4 we see the next two benefits paired. “Redeemed from the pit” and “crowned with lovingkindness and tender mercies” go together. Jesus goes down in the pit with us, He pulls us up out of the pit, and carries us out of darkness into marvelous Light to heavenly places. All in one fell swoop. He identified with us so we could identify with Him.

As He carries us, we are “crowned with hesed and raḥam.” We are surrounded with the inexpressible lovingkindness of the Lord and His tender mercies, the compassion of a loving parent. 

Ephesians 2:4-6 – But God, who is rich in mercy, [eleos – same word used in the Septuagint to translate hesed in Psalm 103:4. God is rich in hesed!!] because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ [NKJV uses the word “together” 3 times in the passage – grace is nailed forever to truth about God in Jesus, and we are nailed forever to Jesus! When God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Jesus!] (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, [out of the pit] and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

 God is “rich in mercy” – that’s another Hebraism! He is rich in hesed! David who wrote Psalm 103 also wrote Psalm 86 where he uses God’s own words from Exodus 34:6 to repeat God’s definition of Himself. This is a lesson for us: over and over we should repeat God’s definition of Himself – knowing that we are speaking of the Person of Jesus every time. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. When life gets hard, when nothing in the natural seems to line up with God’s promises, repeat God’s own definition of Himself, revealed in Jesus, and faith will rise.

Psalm 86:5, 15 – For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy [rich in hesed] to all those who call upon You…. 15 But You, O Lord, are a God [from Exodus 34 -] full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth. [hesed va emet.]

He redeems our lives from the pit because He is rich in hesed. He seats us in heavenly places in Christ because He is rich in hesed – “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7) He surrounds us and wraps us with hesed and raḥam because He is rich in hesed.

Copyright info: All scriptures in the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

• (NKJV) New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
• (NASB) Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
• (TLB) The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.