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The original is, "The mercy of the heart of our God." This seems to mean not only tenderness, but much more. The mercy of the heart of God is, of course, the mercy of His great tenderness, the mercy of His infinite gentleness and consideration; but other thoughts also come forth from the expression, like bees from a hive. It means the mercy of God's very soul. The heart is the seat and centre of life, and mercy is to God as His own life. Mercy is of the Divine essence; there is no God apart from His heart, and mercy lies in the heart of God. Nor is this all; the mercy of God's heart means His hearty mercy, His cordial delight in mercy. Remission of sins is a business into which the Lord throws His heart. He forgives with an intensity of will and readiness of soul. God made heaven and earth with His fingers, but He gave His Son with His heart in order that He might save sinners. The eternal God has thrown His whole soul into the business of redeeming men.

I. God shows His tender mercy in that HE DEIGNS TO VISIT US. He has not merely pitied us from a distance, and sent us relief by way of the ladder which Jacob saw, but He has Himself visited us.

1. God's great visit to us is the incarnation of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

2. The proclamation of the gospel in a nation, or to any individual, is a visit of God's mercy.

3. He has visited some of us in a more remarkable manner still, for by the Holy Spirit He has entered into our hearts, and changed the current of our lives. He has turned our affections towards that which is right by enlightening our judgments. He has led us to the confession of sin, He has brought us to the acceptance of His mercy through the atoning blood; and so He has truly saved us.

II. God shows His tender mercy in that HE VISITS US AS THE DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH He does not come to us in Christ, or by His Spirit, as a tempest, as when He came from Paran, with ten thousand of His holy ones, in all the pomp of His fiery law; but He has visited us as smiling morn, which in gentle glory floods the world with joy. He has come, moreover, not as a blaze which will soon die down, but as a light which will last our day, yea, last for ever. After the long dark and cold night of our misery, the Lord cometh in the fittest and most effectual manner; neither as lightning, nor candle, nor flaming meteor, but as the sun which begins the day.

1. The visitation of the Lord to us is as the dayspring, because it suits our eye. Day, when it first breaks in the east, has not the blaze of burning noon about it; but peeps forth as a grey light, which gradually increases. So did Christ come; dimly, as it were, at first, at Bethlehem, but by and by He will appear in all the glory of the Father. So does the Spirit of God come to us in gradual progress. The revelation of God to each individual is made in form and manner tenderly agreeable to the condition and capacity of the favoured one. He shows us just so much of Himself as to delight us without utterly overwhelming us with the excess of brightness.

2. The visits of God are like the dayspring, because they end our darkness. Our night is ended once for all when we behold God visiting us in Christ Jesus. Our day may cloud over, but night will not return.

3. Christ's coming into the world is as the morning light, because He comes with such a largeness of present blessing. He is the Light which lighteneth every man. There is other light.

4. Christ's coming is as the dayspring, because He brings us hope of greater glory yet to come. The dayspring is not the noon, but it is the sure guarantee of it; and so the First Advent is the pledge of the glory to be revealed.

III. There is another instance of great tenderness in this, that THE LORD VISITS US IN OUR WRY LOWEST ESTATE. God comes to us as the morning, which does not wait for man, nor tarry for the sons of men. He gives with gladness to those who have no deservings of any kind (Romans 5:6, 8). He comes to us when we are —

1. In our sins.

2. In darkness.

3. In ruin.

IV. Our God shows His tender mercy, in that HE VISITS US WITH SUCH WONDERFUL AND JOYFUL RESULTS. Imagine a caravan in the desert, which has long lost its way, and is famishing. The sun has long gone down, and the darkness has caused every one's heart to droop. All around them is a waste of sand, and an Egyptian darkness. There they must remain and die unless they can find the track. They feel themselves to be in a fearful case, for hungry and thirsty, their soul fainteth in them. They cannot even sleep for fear. Heavier and heavier the night comes down, and the damps are on the tents, chilling the souls of the travellers. What is to be done? How they watch! Alas, no star comforts them! At last the watchmen cry, "The morning cometh!" It breaks over the sea of sand, and, what is better, it reveals a heap which had been set up as a waymark, and the travellers have found the track. The dayspring has saved them from swift destruction by discovering the way of peace. Conclusion: If the tender mercy of God has visited us; let us exhibit tender mercy in our dealings with our fellow-men.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

WEB: because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dawn from on high will visit us,