Editor's note: Enjoy today's devotion written for Devotionals Daily by John Bevere, author of The King Is Coming.
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But as it is written, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. — 1 Corinthians 2:9–10 NKJV, emphasis mine
Imagine hiding a wonderful secret from those you love — a plan you’ve devised for their best interest, keeping it a mystery not just for a few months, years, or even decades but longer. You’d give them clues along the way, but you’d refrain from sharing your magnificent strategy with the very ones for whom it’s intended.
Not an easy thing to do, yet the Lord did exactly this!
- God kept His grandest plan, the one He made “for our ultimate glory,” a secret, for thousands of years.
He knew if it leaked out, the dark rulers of this world wouldn’t have played into it so perfectly.
When the prophetic vision is unknown, not only humans but even spirit beings end up doing the opposite of what they would have done had they known. Sorrow ultimately prevails from ignorant actions. But not for Christ followers. The master plan, which includes what lies ahead, is no longer a secret; it has been revealed!
In the Garden of Eden, Satan successfully captured humanity through Adam’s betrayal. It didn’t just affect human beings but all visible creation (Romans 8:20). The Lord God was ahead of the problem as He had previously devised a plan to recover what had been lost. The first clue was in the garden when He promised the woman’s Seed — the Messiah — would destroy Satan’s works (Genesis 3:15).
As generations passed, promises were made and covenants cut with select individuals: Noah, Abraham, Moses, King David, the prophets, Mary, and John the Baptist. God’s tactical moves with these faithful men and women were all part of His end goal of bringing forth the Seed — the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Bits and pieces of God’s strategic plan were revealed right up to Messiah’s first appearance. The wonder and depth of love in the divine plan is too marvelous to fully articulate here, but here is a taste of how it unfolded.
Our Creator makes the decision to leave the unimaginable glories of Heaven. He enters a cursed earth through a woman’s body — God becoming flesh and blood! His name is Yēshūʿa, known to us who speak English as Jesus.
Like any other human, He develops in His mother’s womb, is birthed, and comes forth as an infant. He requires the parenting of His mother and stepfather.
Our Creator put Himself into the care of His creation.
Even though He is God, He sets aside His divine privileges and lives as a Man filled with God’s Spirit. He doesn’t bring obedience to earth, rather He learns it by what He suffers. He is tested in every way. The enemy throws His shrewdest, meanest, and most difficult temptations at Him, but not one succeeds (Philippians 2:6–7; Hebrews 4:15, 5:8).
Jesus spends three years teaching and revealing two main truths: first, who God is, and second, how man should live before Him. In the process He becomes incessantly resisted — slandered, labeled a heretic, threatened. This persecution only escalates right up to the climactic purpose of His coming.
He is keenly aware of the unfathomable agony He will face to finish His assignment, giving small bits of insight to His close followers in advance.
What Jesus faces brings such turmoil in both soul and body that His sweat becomes drops of blood. He pleads with His Father that if there is any other way to accomplish mankind’s salvation, He would alter the course, but there isn’t. It is Jesus’ greatest temptation: knowing He can call for legions of angels to deliver Him from the gruesome treatment that awaits but that doing so will forgo the very purpose of His coming and lose those He deeply loves.
- He chooses to stay the course and face unspeakable suffering.
Jesus is quite aware of what He’d revealed to Isaiah hundreds of years earlier:
I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. — Isaiah 50:6
The extent of the horror He endured is woven throughout the four Gospels. The main thread that emerges is this:
He didn’t do it all for Himself — He did it for you and me.
But why would He undergo such agony and sacrifice to rescue us when we were totally at fault and had betrayed Him?
Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross. — Hebrews 12:2
He saw something that kept Him going. It was the prophetic vision of a faithful bride! He foresaw beautiful, intimate companionship, deep love, and trust between Himself and His bride in the ages to come. He saw the wedding and the celebration of our lives being united as one. He saw us reigning together for all eternity.
- His devotion to you and me is affirmed by His suffering for us, and our dedication to Him would be affirmed in our suffering for Him.
Are you as overwhelmed as I am by what He went through for an intimate relationship with you and me — His bride to be? Jesus loves you so deeply that He willingly suffered and died for you. God has poured out His love so that we can receive it and then love others. Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Dear Father, You gave Your Son as a sacrifice in my place, and He willingly endured brutal torture and death in my stead. Please help me to comprehend the depth of Your sacrificial love so that I can walk in this same love toward You and others. Amen.
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Written for Devotionals Daily by John Bevere, author of The King Is Coming.
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Your Turn
He did it all for you. Because He loves you. Let that soak in today and then walk in it! ~ Devotionals Daily