What Is Chesed? …And Why You Need to Know

Have you ever heard of Chesed? This revelation about God could change everything.

What we’re about to share with you is something Kenneth Copeland says changed his life more than any single revelation.

It changed the way he reads the New Testament. It has settled every question he has ever had—or could have—about prosperity, healing and every other blessing of God.

The revelation is as big as eternity, yet it can be summed up in one, small Hebrew word—chesed. That word may mean nothing to you right now, but once you gain insight into it, your spirit will take off like a bird out of a cage. It will help you understand why you have a place at the Table of the King.

What truth could be that powerful? Read it for yourself: “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant” (Hosea 6:6-7, KJV).

Chesed Is God’s Mercy

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy [chesed] endureth for ever.” –Psalm 136:1 (KJV)

The word mercy in that verse is actually the Hebrew word chesed (pronounced kheh’-sed). It is translated in the Old Testament as “mercy, kindness, tender mercies, lovingkindness and fidelity.” Its counterpart in the Greek language is agape. Although agape was in the Greek language in Jesus’ day, until He used it, most people didn’t know what it meant. It was not heard on the streets.

People still don’t know what it means. You talk to most of them about unconditional love or real mercy, and they just bat their eyes at you like a frog in a hailstorm. Yet, without that understanding, we can’t even begin to grasp the nature of our relationship with God.

If you doubt it, take some time and read Psalm 136. Chesed is mentioned in all 26 verses. Obviously, the psalmist was driving home a point. He was telling us that the compelling force behind all of God’s actions is chesed.

Listen in as Kenneth Copeland explains more about what chesed means.

Chesed Is God’s Faithfulness

“O give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever.” –Psalm 136:1 (AMPC)

How is it that we’ve failed to grasp something as vital as this chesed of God? Because it is a word rooted in and born out of covenant relationship, and modern men (especially those from Western cultures) don’t know much about covenant—or being faithful no matter what.

Our society, as a whole, is so full of backbiting and lying that we don’t even think in terms of unbreakable covenants, but God does. In fact, the whole Bible—Old Testament and New—is absolutely, irrevocably, forever based on covenant relationship.

Faithfulness is a concept that is tough to wrap our heads around, with so much deceit and self-serving in the world today. But God is faithful. Faithful to His promises. Faithful to protect us, faithful to heal us, faithful to provide for us. God cannot exist without showing chesed.

In the natural realm, chesed can be compared to that tender yet fiercely protective love a mother has, when she holds her baby in her arms and her heart goes out to it. It’s the love that causes her to say, “I’ll nurse you, little one. I’ll care for you. I’ll teach you all that I know. I’ll see to it that no one harms you.”

That is a picture of chesed. It’s a picture of God Almighty saying to you, “I’ll never leave you nor forsake you.”

Watch Kenneth Copeland teach you more about the meaning of chesed.

Chesed Is God’s Love for You

“For God so loved the world….” –John 3:16 (KJV)

More than just a quality He possesses, chesed is God’s very nature. The New Testament puts it this way: “God is agape” (1 John 4:16).

The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word agape is chesed. It literally refers to the compulsion to give and to love without limit those who have no merit. That is why, in the New Testament, the English translators sometimes used the word charity.

Chesed is the force that rises inside someone, causing them to stand up for the benefit of another. Another way of saying it is that it’s the picture of having a blood brother. From God’s perspective, it might best be described in John 3:16 (KJV): “For God so ‘chesed’ the world, that he gave his only Son….”

As born-again believers, we’re commissioned as heaven’s ambassadors to the world, sent as witnesses that God—the Father, Creator of heaven and earth—loves them, and has provided for them the priceless gift of eternal life and the glorious magnitude of all that His amazing and powerful chesed/agape love includes.

He has made us His representatives, filled with His Anointing, to boldly let the world know there’s sight for blind eyes, healing for sick bodies, provision for lack, deliverance from bondages and help for families. (Find out how the names of God reveal His promises to you HERE.)

We’re sent to tell them of His chesed/agape and that there’s victory in the Anointed One and His Anointing—Jesus Christ!

God loves you because He wants to love you. He loves you because you and He are connected by the pure, covenant blood of Jesus—and there’s nothing you can do to change that. That’s what agape—chesed—is!

No matter how you feel today, you are loved. Your feelings may tell you otherwise, but your heavenly Father has loved you with His chesed from the beginning of your life. He loves you unconditionally, just the way you are, every day of your life. He never changes…He never leaves nor forsakes you. Receive His embrace today. Receive His love.

Get the Revelation

When you get a revelation of chesed, that’s how you’ll talk about your relationship to God. God wants you to talk that way! He is burning up on the inside to give to you. Chesed is driving Him every moment of every day to love you, protect you and give you everything He has. He has been trying for years to get us to come to His Table. But we’ve been crawling underneath it, begging for the crumbs!

Today He’s calling to us more fervently than ever! “Get out from under the Table and put your robe on. Take My promises by faith. They’re yours. Come boldly to the throne of grace and obtain chesed.” It’s time we listened to Him.

It’s time we all took our place at the Table of the King.

Watch Kenneth Copeland teach you why God’s covenant with you is His offer of friendship.