The Wednesday Word ~ 29 April, 2026 A.D.

Plush!

by D G Miles McKee

 

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved)." -Ephesians 2:4-5 [KJV]

 

In the beginning part of our verse, we are given an amazing picture of God.  We are told that He is rich in mercy.

   

Rich in mercy?  .....What does that mean? It means, among other things, that the Lord´s mercy is neither meagre nor miserly. Indeed, His supply of mercy is munificent and very generous.  He is rich in mercy.

The Greek word for rich in our verse is plousios and speaks of wealth and abundance. It is the Greek word from which we get our English word plush.  Literally, the Lord is plush in mercy (we see this in His treatment of the woman caught in adultery, John 8). We also see it in David´s repentance after his affair with Bathsheba (Psalm 51:1) Etc, Etc.  He is plush in mercy-

Plush...what a great word!

When we, for example, see an expensive, luxurious carpet we rightly describe it as plush. Now consider this, the Lord is plush with mercy.  In other words, in Jesus, there is an inexhaustible fullness of mercy which we can never drain. There is no believer reading this who has exhausted the mercy of God. How do I know that? I know it because God is plush in mercy. 

You ask are grace and mercy the same? The answer to that question is No.  Mercy, although it is intertwined with grace is distinct from grace. Mercy is the Lord withholding what we do deserve—Wrath.

 

Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve---Salvation. What motivates the Lord to act in this way?  Someone says, “it is because of His love.”  That´s true but it´s not merely love, it’s His great love for us that motivates Him.

 

His great love brings us into His family (I John.3:1),

His great love and mercy is ever new (Lamentations 3:22-23),

His great love is full of grace and mercy (Ephesians 2:4).

The Gospel is filled with the good news of love and mercy to the undeserving.  As Spurgeon said, “God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water, or deprive the sun of its light, or make space too narrow than diminish the great mercy of God.”  The Lord is plush in mercy.

In addition to this, the scriptures say our Lord delights in mercy (see Micah 7:18).

 We nowhere in the Bible read,

 God delights in wrath;

 Or God delights in judgment,

 Or God delights in excommunication.

No!! He delights in mercy.  He is plush with mercy.

As someone once said, “Mercy is not something God has, but something God is.”

An old servant of the Lord was desperately ill and teetered on the brink of eternity. A preacher from another community came to visit him one last time and sought to admonish his dying acquaintance. "Brother John," he said, "as you will soon see the dear Saviour face to face, is it not comforting to your soul that you can look back upon a lifetime of faithful service rendered to the Lord?"

The old missionary replied, "No, I have done nothing myself. I have not fought, but Christ has fought for me; I have not run, but Christ has carried me; I have not worked, but Christ has worked through me. I have done nothing. Christ has done it all. I have no merits; I look only to His abundant mercy for He is rich, so very rich in mercy."

 

And that`s the Gospel Truth!

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