Why the Cross?Sample

God's Plan Have you ever made a major decision based on the wrong information? Have you worried over unfounded fears that never came to fruition? Have you ever experienced utter hopelessness only to find that God intervened supernaturally on your behalf? In Mark 16, we find three women who experienced all of these struggles at once. After Jesus's death on the Cross, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome prepared for the worst. Going on their own assumptions that Jesus lay dead in His tomb, they took spices to anoint His body. As the women walked to the tomb, they began to worry that even their plan to anoint Him would fail. "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb? They asked each other" (see Mark 16:3). This was no small rock, but a large, heavy stone big enough to block the entrance to the tomb. And again their anxieties mounted. They arrived at the tomb, fully expecting to anoint the dead body of Christ if they could even get past the entrance. Yet what they saw was beyond what they could have imagined. Not only had the stone been moved, but an angel announced the resurrection of Jesus! "Don't be alarmed, he said. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him" (Mark 16:6). How much better are all of God's plans than any one of ours? We can plot and scheme all we want, but even our most detailed plans are no match for His plans. God's plan was not for these caring women to mourn over a lifeless body in a tomb, but to show them that the Messiah was alive. God's plan was for Jesus to conquer death and the grave, not to remain in a dark cave. God's plan did not end at the Cross, but continued into the glorious resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven. Praise God for His most amazing, loving plan of salvation. Prayer: God thank You for Your loving and perfect plan which is far greater than any plan I could ever imagine. Amen. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (Hebrews 11:40).