The Plan of God

The wise men who came to see Jesus after His birth brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  No doubt these things were useful to Joseph as barter when he joined the line of refugees going to Egypt.  However, as useful as the gifts were to the family, there is something prophetic about the child Jesus being given spices useful as burial anointment.  Much later when the child became a man and was seen walking near the Jordan River, John the Baptist pointed to Him and said to those who had been following him, "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)

The first testimony given in the narrative of the gospel writer John concerning Jesus is as prophetic as the gifts of the wise men.

 

Jesus came teaching and preaching, but as much as He was about living, He came to die for us.  From the eternal to the earth He came as a sin sacrifice for each one of us.  The cross upon which He died is in its simplest definition an ancient means of execution, but there was nothing simple about what happened there on that dark Friday afternoon.  In some mysterious and divine way Jesus died that we might live.  He suffered and died so that we might be forgiven.  He was not killed, but gave His life to accomplish a divine plan of atonement for all of humanity.

 

It is something easy enough to talk about, but difficult for us to comprehend.  Such is the reason for the faith response.  An intellectual response that speaks of grasping completely what happened that day would not be something any of us are really able to choose.  As difficult as faith seems to some, it is the only response of which we are capable.  To believe in Jesus and to accept the cross by faith is always going to be the only response we can make.  We are not called to understand, but to believe.  Such is the plan of God.