“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:18
It was Cyber Monday… the day of the online deal! In order to kick off the Christmas season of gift giving, merchandisers had set up their online catalogs and specials… ‘just for me.’ The prices were promised the best of the year! I searched, found an item I needed, and was about to click to order… but then paused as the thought struck me…”What if…?”
I’ve run into this before because I have been BURNED before. We all have! So I backed up and looked at all the details surrounding the sale to see if there was ANY reference to the dreaded announcement that “All Sales are Final,” or “No Refunds, no Returns!” Just under the detailed description of the product I found the words, “Free Returns.” Instant peace was mine! So I headed back to the checkout box and ‘1 Clicked’ the box to order. DONE!
Later, I was later reading something on the Incarnation of Christ… from Omni-God to fleshy man. A question had been submitted asking “When and COULD the Second person of the Trinity cancel out of the deal to save mankind?” At what point could Jesus have changed His mind concerning the whole “save the world” experience? My mind went to the Bible.
I remembered Jesus in the Garden as He prayed to His Father, “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” There is NO doubt that God the Son had second thoughts on physical death! Don’t we all? But at that point, Jesus had to consider my value AND the terms to ‘1 click’ on ME. Personally, “I” wouldn’t have saved me either! But the author of this article stated that the time to cancel the order HAD to have come, before the story even began!
It was a fun thought for me because I LOVE to think and meditate on The Word. But thinking about it didn’t cost me a doggone thing. So at what point did ‘The Word’ (Jesus) have to cross before the sale was final? Then it dawned on me. The point HAD to have been BEFORE He was deposited in the cart (manger) and given that name!
Once God had made the decision to become flesh, there was no turning back. ‘No deposit’ on the planet also meant ‘no return’ to Heaven when it was over! For God to cancel the transaction, once He became flesh, would mean that God would have failed, I would never have been purchased, and HE (a failure) would no longer be God!
O.K. So it may seem like a small point? But when I THOUGHT about it… it became HUGE! Before Jesus (the Savior) Christ (the Anointed One) could even be born, He HAD to consider HOW He would DIE! How horrific! And yet, by the time the angels informed Mary and Joe of what lay in her womb… the decision had already been made! The Story was already DONE!
Think about that!
