Jesus was Plan A.

God’s plan to redeem us: Jesus. From the moment Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God put into action a plan that would one day cover every sin of humankind.

One day, Jesus would come to take away the sins of the world. And sin required a sacrifice, the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22). He would go to the cross, to shed His own blood for you and for me. He is the ultimate sacrifice, the perfect Lamb of God, and the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.

The sacrifices offered by Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and the generations of Israel were symbols and stop gaps along the way (Hebrews 9:23-28). They served as visual reminders that the sins of the people separated them from a holy God. While these sacrifices were acceptable to God, even ordained by Him, they were incomplete, insufficient, and meant to be only temporary.

Then Jesus came. “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29b).

God the Son, Son of Man, willing to carry the penalty of your sin, my sin, the sins of the entire world—past, present, and future. He shed His blood to cover our sin once, and for all.

There was no Plan B. Jesus was the One.

When the time came, Jesus made the sacrifice, laying down His own life to accomplish the plan (Hebrews 10:10-18; Ephesians 5:2).  

After His death, burial, and resurrection, He put in motion the next phase. With the debt of sin now paid, Jesus wants everyone to know His gift of forgiveness and grace is available to all who believe.

How will they know? Jesus entrusted this part of the plan to His disciples. Ordinary men and women, trusting His sacrifice on their behalf, embracing Him by faith, and taking the Good News to everyone they can.  

He spelled it out for them—and it encompasses geography and time: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Plan A.  

It looks so fragile, so high risk—to choose a few feeble, faulty, faithful humans and expect them to make Jesus known to the ends of the earth, and to every generation.

However, they—and we—are given all we need to be His witnesses. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

That plan is still in place. When you know Jesus and follow Him, you are part of His strategic plan to take the Good News to a waiting world. The Good News is that sins are forgiven, the sacrifice is made, the penalty is paid because Jesus did it for each and all.

Jesus entrusted us with Plan A. It is our mission to make Him known, to be the hands and feet and message of Jesus, reaching the world that doesn’t know Him. There is no Plan B.