The Greatest of Good News

By Glenn Hascall

God had plans. No. They weren't plans exactly. They were specific details promised to come true. He had always known the outcome of things before they came to be, but if He wanted something to happen – it would happen. That's what plans are like for God.

No wishful thinking involved, no simple wistful hope, no 'wouldn't it be nice' for God. When He made plans they were as good as done, as solid as a mountain, and richer than all the gold in the world.

He had known since the beginning of time that there would come a day when His greatest plan would be delivered to His greatest creation providing His greatest deliverance.

Humanity had been waiting centuries for God's plan, but they misunderstood. They thought God would send a warrior, a political zealot, and a king that would wield a sword of justice against the nations that stood in the way. They thought the Messiah would make their lives on earth better. They wanted stuff and they assumed the Messiah would come to make sure they got what they wanted.

God's plan was not their plan. All the things the people wanted from God's 'Messiah' were temporary fixes to the problems they faced. God's plan was to help them endure, put a cornerstone in their temple of hope, provide forgiveness when they themselves dabbled in injustice, and give them the blessing of His presence.

Like a blind man trying to describe a sunrise the people were all too certain of what they did not understand.

God's plan was not to make a spectacle, but a sacrifice. God offered salvation in a way that was never expected. God brought hope through humility. God demonstrated love when mankind only wanted revenge.

The Creator of heaven and earth would come down to live among people who had proved over and over again that they could not be trusted, would not listen, and should not be forgiven. Yet, if there was any chance of saving mankind from itself the Creator would discover what it was like to be one of us.

He would take every part of who He was as God and become every part of what it means to be man, and the two would co-exist for a while.

This had never been done. This was the greatest of good news. This was something the world needed to know. Yet few would hear. Fewer would understand.

So much love. So much heartache. So much pain. It was all coming. It all had purpose. It was part of the plan.

As God's Son opened His eyes in the flesh of mankind He experienced so many things He had never known; hunger, physical limitation, and pain.

God, in the flesh of man, had to learn to speak, walk, and run. He faced temptation, yet walked away. He lived to fulfill a plan that would one day separate the every part of who He was as God from the every part of what it meant to be human.

This was the misunderstood but perfect plan that God used to bring an imperfect people into His perfect world. God always understands what we don't, loves when we won't, and rescues when we're certain He shouldn't.

God has never needed our permission to set His plans in motion. In its purest form God's plan was to save mankind from themselves using the only perfect sacrifice, His Son. He didn't need a parade, a king's palace, or comfy cushions when His Son arrived. God's plans are always bigger than comfort.

And when few were listening, God's Christmas miracle cried. Perhaps it was sorrow at the injustice of the people He came to save. Perhaps it was joy that salvation had come to mankind. Perhaps it was something less spiritual like hunger.

Salvation had come and God's plan was as real that first Christmas as it was the first Easter. The story had begun and God, the Author, would finish it. And it would be a masterpiece.

In a stable, lying in straw, and listening to smelly animals God knew that this was the beginning of His best story.