Planning an event can be huge! My sister’s son was married last weekend, and while everything was beautiful and appeared to go as planned, I know of at least one detail that got a bit confused. Our efforts and good detailing beforehand don’t always end up with the results we had planned for.
As I’ve been reading through the Christmas story, however, I was struck by the reading of a phrase that I found three times within two chapters of Matthew 1 and 2. In Matthew 1:22 we read the first mention. The verse reads: “Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet…” Then next time we read it is in Matthew 2:15, “And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Then, lastly, in verse 23 it reads, “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.” Each event in Christ’s birth was done “that it might be fulfilled.” God had a plan, a perfect plan that was executed to the minute detail.
That plan continues in Christ’s life as He lives His perfect life, then heads toward the cross of Calvary. In Matthew 24 we find Jesus in the Garden praying and being arrested by the soldiers, led by Judas, his betrayer. It tells us in verse 56, “But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.” The last time we read this phrase in the book of Matthew is in chapter 27:35, “And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.”
How my heart grieves when I see what was necessary for my salvation. The plans that had to be fulfilled cost my Savior such pain, sorrow, and suffering. His life was in jeopardy from the time He was born. He was forsaken by all those that had followed Him. He was stripped of His clothes and hung on a tree to die in shame. It was all because He loved me that He was willing to fulfill God’s plan. God’s perfect plan for our salvation was fulfilled exactly as it had been prophesied. There were no slip-ups. Nothing was forgotten. No detail was missed. Our salvation was no accident, it came as a result of God’s plan and was revealed in His Word exactly as it would come to pass. We can be sure we have eternal life because, praise God, it was fulfilled!
RefreshHer 