2 Timothy 1: 8b-9 (NKJV) “the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began”
1 Peter 1: 20 (NKJV) “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you”
Before the foundation of the earth was laid in place and before the heavens were created, God had a plan. He designed this salvation plan for sinful man even before He created human beings. God knows all-past, present and future. He knew mankind would sin even before He created Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden.
The Garden was a perfect place for the first humans. Adam and Eve experienced the very presence of God as they walked with Him in the midst of the Garden. Being in the presence of God gave the first man and women a relationship not to be experienced by anyone else on earth.
When they sinned through their disobedience, that relationship was broken. They were no longer able to experience the intimate presence of a Holy God as they once had. In His love, grace and mercy for His creation, God had a plan to restore what evil had destroyed. Because sinful man can not save himself, God would provide a way.
Thus begins the story of redemption, God’s complete story written in the pages of His Word, the Holy Bible. From Genesis, when God created the heavens and the earth, to Revelation with the creation of a new heaven and a new earth, His divine plan would bring about salvation and His presence would once again reside with His people.
But sin would require a sacrifice. The death of an innocent who would become the Lamb of God. It is by the blood (the scarlet thread) of His one and only Son Jesus Christ sacrificed on the cross for man’s sins that redemption could be achieved.
God would begin teaching man of His plan in Genesis with the shed blood of an animal to make clothing for Adam and Eve. Throughout the Old Testament God prepares His people to receive the sacrifice of His Lamb by giving them the sacrificial system and telling them through the Psalms and the prophets of the coming of the Messiah. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus the Messiah.
God’s story is almost complete. The final words have been written in His book. The divine plan for redemption has been put in place. It is now your choice to accept Jesus as your Savior.
Have you met the Lamb of God who died for you? Is He your Savior?