Plan A

When my kids were younger, I began most mornings telling them about the day’s plan.  We would stop by the grocery store, the library, the post office, and some days, the park.  I stopped revealing the plan for the day as they grew older because they would grumble when Plan A morphed into Plan B or Plan C due to uncontrollable circumstances.  So far my track record with carrying out Plan A is lousy; I cannot think of a day that went according to plan.

But I know someone who is still on Plan A after many, many years.

            God.

He stated Plan A way back in Genesis.  He would send the Messiah through the woman’s seed to “crush” Satan’s head, defeating the power of sin in the life of those who believe in His Messiah.  As the years passed, God revealed more details with each passing generation, and in the NT, He perfectly executed Plan A.  The Messiah was born. 

A plan is easy to accomplish if there is only one element, but a plan with several elements is difficult to carry out.  With each added detail the intricacy  increases, making the plan very difficult to fulfill, but that is just what God did.  He made His plan intricate, full of details, creating a situation that looked impossible for the completion of plan A. 

                        Detail #1:  The Messiah would come through Abraham.    Genesis 22:17-18.

 

                        Detail #2:  The Messiah would come through Isaac.  Genesis 17:19.

                        Detail #3:  The Messiah would come through Jacob.  Genesis 28:14.

                        Detail #4:  The Messiah would come through Judah.  Genesis 49:9-10.  

           

                        Detail #5:  The Messiah would come through Jesse.  Isaiah 11:1.  

                        Detail #6:  The Messiah would come through King David.  2 Samuel 7:12.

                        Detail #7 The Messiah would come through Zerubbabel.  Haggai 2:23.

                       

Every promise, every covenant God made with men about the Messiah increased the intricacy of His plan.  The Messiah wasn’t just to come through the line of Abraham, He would come through the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, King David, and Zerubbabel.  Just read Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38 and you’ll see each of these men listed in the lineage of Jesus. 

            I have yet to execute Plan A when I have five things on my list for one day.

            Yet, God accomplished His Plan A, over centuries of time, following each intricate detail.  It is amazing to see how God makes Plan A then carries out Plan A to completion through His Son Jesus, the promised Messiah.

            What does that mean in our lives?

            “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”  Phil. 2:13. 

            If the God who orchestrated and carried out the plan for His Messiah is working in you, can you lose?  God, the maker of Plan A, will always carry it out unto completion.  You are part of that plan.  Don’t believe me because you’ve messed up so many times you are sure to be on Plan X by now?  Just study the men and women found in the genealogy of our Savior.  They were all sinners, and yet, somehow, God still used them to complete Plan A.  He can do the same in our lives.