By Joe Sluler – Via Bulletin Gold
We cannot fully comprehend the horror Jesus faced that night
in Gethsemane. A merciless scourging awaited Him, followed by
nails being driven through His hands and feet. For six endless
hours searing pain would wrack His battered body as He
struggled for every breath.
But that scarcely begins to describe our Savior’s woe. Who
can fathom the agony of taking the whole world’s sins and
bearing them in His body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24)? No wonder
He cried out, “0 My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from Me” (Matthew 26:39a). Yet even as He pleaded, He knew
there was no Plan B. Unless He stayed the course all the way to
the cross, no sinner could be saved. Therefore, He continued,
“nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (26:39b).
Jesus had no Plan B when He sent His apostles to preach His
gospel to the world. Not that long ago they had scattered like a
covey of quail when Judas brought the Roman soldiers and
temple police to arrest Him. Peter had denied three times that he
even knew Jesus, much less that he was His disciple. Would you
entrust those men with the most powerful and desperately needed
message the world will ever know? Jesus did! And ten days after
He commissioned them, they demonstrated that His confidence
in them was fully justified. About 3000 souls believed and
obeyed the glad tidings that the apostles proclaimed boldly. From
that point on, the church grew by leaps and bounds.
You and I are still part of Jesus’ Plan A. He is still the one and
only way anyone can come to the Father (John 14:6), and His
gospel is still God’s power to save (Romans 1:16). He has no
Plan B, so don’t bother looking! Just follow Plan A, the plan
“ordained from the foundation of the world!” (1 Peter 1:20).