88 - The Plan

<p class="ng-scope" style="margin:5.55pt 0in 5.55pt 0in;">What Jesus was about to do would change everything. All that God had done with the human race, from the time of Adam and Eve onward, looked forward to this moment. Even before He made the world, God peered into the future and saw everything. Listen to how Peter explained this,  “…knowing that you were ransomed, not with corruptible silver or gold from your futile conduct [which was] given to you by [your] fathers, but with precious blood, as from a lamb without blemish or spot (stain), [the blood] of Christ, [who], having been foreknown from the foundations of the world, but revealed [for who He truly is] in the last times because of you who, through Him, believe in God who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (literal) (1Pe 1:18-21).</p> <p class="ng-scope" style="margin:5.55pt 0in 5.55pt 0in;">God saw human sin and all the trouble it would bring, yet His loving heart refused to let that sin ruin His plan to form a great family of children, as uncountable as the stars in the sky, filled with sons and daughters with whom He could fellowship forever. So, even though He knew we would misuse the freedom He gave us, He also knew there was a way He could save those who chose to use that same freedom to repent of their rebellion and return to Him. His plan would be terribly costly to Himself and His beloved Son. It would require His Son to leave heaven and join the human race. He would live on the planet for about thirty years, and during that time He would raise up disciples who would proclaim Him after He was gone. He would be brutally executed, but in doing so His death would become a substitute for all those who were willing to repent and believe. And then God would raise His Son to life, defeating the power of death by removing the condemnation that allows it to keep us in the grave.</p> <p class="ng-scope" style="margin:5.55pt 0in 5.55pt 0in;">But His plan contained even more. The cross and resurrection of Hi