There are times where the story looks to us like it’s going one way, and then God steps in, changes the plan, and takes the whole story another direction.
When we see God call the play and then call an audible, we get a glimpse into how in control God really is, and how much foresight He has.
Adam and Eve
In Genesis 1, God creates the heavens and the earth. He creates sky, water, ground, plants, light, and animals, and God calls all of those things “good.”
Then He creates Adam in his own image, specifically for relationship with Him, and God calls him “very good.” Not long after that God creates Eve, and they all have a perfect relationship.
Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Like we usually do as humans, we screwed it up and chose sin.
So, God is prepared for this, He has another play up his sleeve, and He already KNEW we were going to screw it up. So, He shifts His strategy, to match changes in the environment and the movement of the enemy, and he calls an Audible
Temporary Payment for Sin
God essentially makes a deal with Moses in Exodus, and gives him a process to lead God’s people in to pay the price for their sins. They had to create a Tabernacle.
The instructions for how to do this are so extensive, that it takes 7 chapters to explain how it all works.
… It’s, A LOT! Because making imperfect, broken, sinful people good enough to be with a perfect God is not easy.
There was 1 day a year called Yom Kippur where the High Priest could perform a LENGTHLY series of rituals and sprinkle blood from innocent animals on the ark of covenant to forgive the sins of the people.
This process worked, for a really long time, but it was always temporary. The blood of that innocent animal wasn’t enough to make it permanent.
Permanent Payment for Sin
Hebrews 9:1-3, 6-7
1 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. 2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. 3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place
…
6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. 7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
The REAL PLAY, that he’d been planning since of the beginning of time was the Audible:
Hebrews 9:11-12
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
The REAL PLAY, was Jesus dying on the cross in your place, and raising from the dead on Easter Sunday, a little over 2000 years ago.
A sinless, perfect savior, dying so you don’t have to anymore.
