March 14
Father, I want those you have given me to . . . see . . . the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. - John 17:24, NIV
Before the foundation of the world was laid, God, in His divine sovereignty, planned to send His own Son to the cross to be our Savior. Before the beginning of time and space and human history, He took counsel with Himself and decided to bring us into existence, knowing full well that we would rebel against Him and become separated from Him by our sin. So He made preparations for our redemption-preparations that were finished once and for all time at the cross.
The heartbeat of Jesus was to finish His Father’s plan and, in so doing, bring glory to God. In other words, through His own death on the cross, Jesus would reveal the love of God in such a way that people throughout the ages would praise Him and love Him and lay down their lives before Him. So He embraced the cross and all that it meant.
