41 times in the King James Version these words appear. Clearly, God wants us to know His mercy endures for ever. What does this imply though? Short answer, that His mercy endures for "ever."
A topic of great debate among the controversy of an eternal hell or a restorative fire is the meaning of ever and forever. Of course, it would suffice to examine every time these words appear and deduct the true meaning through context. For some, however, it is just not enough. Perhaps it seems too far fetched. Perhaps it's thought the term forever can have multiple meanings. I of course cannot know what would cause a person to reject context and deductive reasoning. Here, though, I see a simple point to be raised.
Mercy implies sin. Like compassion, grace, and forgiveness, there can be no mercy without sin. So if His mercy endures forever, does not also sin? Of course the objection raised to this point would be that once He has mercy on someone, it extends forever, and He never "takes back" His mercy or "unforgives" someone. That the mercy He shows on someone lasts forever. There is truth in saying that no one will ever be unforgiven. This is not, however, because God consistently has mercy to keep up with the memory of the sin like a never-ending neck-and-neck race. No, sins are never unforgiven because God cannot unforgive. A simple reason is because when He forgives He also forgets (Heb. 8:12). A forgotten sin does not require a continuation of mercy. A forgotten sin is vanished completely and finally. The other point is because sin is reckoned as debt. The only way to owe more money once a debt has been payed is to incur more debt. For God to forgive and forget the debt we owe Him means the only way He can possibly forgive again is if we incur more debt. So once again, mercy implies sin.
In order for God's mercy to endure forever, sin must also endure forever. God cannot forgive what does not exist. So the question to be begged is how long is for ever?
Sin ends, therefore mercy and forgiveness end. So for ever must also end. Perhaps this is why Jonah's time in the belly of the whale ended. For we see:
"I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God." -Jonah 2:6 KJV
The Hebrew word for "ever" in Jonah 2:6 and 2 Chronicles 7:3 ("His mercy endureth for ever") is the same word.
עולם
'Owlam
Translated here as "ever."
And thus we rely on scripture.
In His love,
Rebekah
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