Craig T. Owens

In my family, what starts off as Plan A at the beginning of the day is highly likely to end up as Plan K-13 by the end of the day! We just try to be flexible and roll with the changes.

But we must be careful about giving the characteristic of “flexibility” to God—He doesn’t need to be flexible and modify His plans. He has no Plan B; everything is His Plan A.

Jesus is described as being the sacrificial Lamb from before the dawn of Creation (1 Peter 1:18-20). And in Heaven Jesus is still known as the Lamb that was slain (Revelation 13:8 and 5:5-6). Jesus coming to earth to die on an old rugged Cross was always God’s Plan A. The whole time Jesus Christ was on earth, He knew what was happening.

Here are 5 things Jesus knew. He knew…

1. …when His time had come, and that all things were about to be fulfilled through His crucifixion—John 13:1, 3
2. …the exact sequence of events leading up to His death on Calvary—Matthew 20:17-19
3. …the immutability of the Scriptures—Matthew 26:53-56
4. …the infallibility of the Scriptures—Luke 24:25-27
5. …that God would be glorified in fulfilling His Plan A—John 12:27-28

With this in mind, here are 5 things we should know. We should know…

1. …that all my days were written down before the dawn of Creation—Psalm 139:16
2. …God loves me more than I can fathom—Psalm 139:17
3. …my life was always intended to be a part of God’s Plan A—Ephesians 2:10
4. …no weapon formed against God’s Plan A for me will succeed—Isaiah 54:17
5. …that God will be glorified in fulfilling His Plan A in my life—Romans 8:28

The old rugged Cross reminds us that God’s Plan A was always for Christ’s death to make it possible for our lives to make sense!

As Andrew Murray wrote: “God fully relied on His Son to see to it that His honor was respected. And in Jesus we too may bravely enter this covenant without fear that we will not be able to fulfill it. We can rely upon Jesus to see to it that He will bring everything to completion. Jesus has not only discharged our old debt but also undertaken the responsibility for whatever else may be required.”

I’ll be continuing our series on The Old Rugged Cross this Sunday, and I hope you can join me.