The plan that God had from the very
beginning was lost because of the fall. Man's disobedience became an obstacle
for him to attain salvation and eternal life with his Creator, and for the
devil, it became a moment of victory. God’s plan was to restore what was lost
because of the Devil. The Devil had a plan in mind; he wanted to take away from
God what he truly loved. He knew that he had no opportunity to return to heaven
because he himself was prideful and tried to be above God. God, on the other
hand, did not allowed him to take ownership of heaven and earth because he was
willing to serve creatures on earth because he was of a higher kind in the
realms of angelic beings. For this reason, he refuses to serve mankind on
earth, so God and his angels waged a war against Satan and his followers. He
was thrown out of heaven along with those that followed him. He knew that he
did not have a chance against God, so he went after God's creation; thus, God’s
enemy threatened mankind.
The Devil's plan was to enter the
Garden of Eden and disguised himself like a serpent. He manages to succeed
without God noticing that his enemy was in the Garden of Eden. He found the
moment to trick Eve and manipulate her mind because he knew that he was smarter
than Creation and tried to be cunning before the Creator. His plan was to
destroy God's beautiful creation, since he knew that he had no chance against
God. Thus, he succeeded in taking away that which was precious and beautiful to
God, namely, mankind and the entire Cosmos. From the very beginning, the devil
has been very selfish and destructive because he wanted something he could not
obtain. His deception was an art of work because he had a plan and that plan
was to disconnect mankind from his Creator. As soon as he found the opportune
with the woman, he tells the woman, surely, you will not die but you will
attain knowledge of good and evil and you will be like your Creator (Gen 3:2-3).
In the eyes of Eve, imitating the Creator was the greatest thing to do; how can
one resist the temptation in not trying to be acquire the qualities of God,
such as loving, merciful, kind, and good? She had the right intention of
choosing something that will please Adam and God. However, the Devil succeeded
in his plan in deceiving Eve and Adam. He brought death and sin into the world
because he was not willing to summit to God nor was he willing to serve
mankind. He was already instructed in the Word of God and knew how to counter
act against God’s Word. Because of his artifice deception, he brought with him
all of God's creation under his dominion.
With this being said, God had a
different plan in mind, and that was to save mankind from perdition. His human beings
were fallen from grace, and he needed to rise what was fallen into glory. He prophesied
to the serpent that a woman would bring enmity between her and the serpent
(Gen. 3:15). In return, she will crush the head of the serpent; this prophesy
came about hundred of thousands of years later, since one day for God is a thousand
years. When Mary obeyed God and surrender her will, she trusted on God's plan
for her life. She obeyed until she saw that the Jews crucified her Son. Christ,
who was hidden before all ages, came down from Heaven in order to fulfill what
said about him through the prophets. For it was written, a messiah will come
and save his people from their sins (Mt.1:21). God had a plan in mind, and that
plan was to send his only begotten Son to die for the sins of mankind in
fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah says, “But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities” (Is. 53:5). God has this
plan hidden from the Devil because God needed to offer the perfect sacrifice to
redeem mankind.
God sends his only Son to enter the
realms of time and disguise himself in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He came in
the flesh and fulfilled what the prophet Isaiah said, "A virgin will give
birth to the savior, and she shall call him Emmanuel (God with us)” (Is. 7:14).
Unlike the Devil who disguised himself as a serpent, God does the impossible by
taking the form of man and going into a Virgins womb. The devil realized that
God enter his kingdom, but he did not know the virgin that conceived him. For
this reason, the devil was working hard trying to kill the son from the very
beginning of his birth. He used Herod to kill every first-born male in Judea
and Bethlehem. He was furious when he found out that a new king of Israel was
born. Yet, he did not know that God had a perfect plan for restoring humanity.
When Devil tried to torment Jesus
with demons, Jesus defeated him by forgiving sins, healing the sick and blind,
deliberating people from demonic influence, and raising the dead. He, the
devil, sought a way to defeat Jesus and his teaching about the way. He realized
that the only way to defeat Jesus was to cut him off from the land of the
living. For this reason, He used the High Priest Caiaphas to arrest Jesus and
put him to death. After the crucifixion, the devil thought he won the victory
against God by defeating his only Son. However, the devil was furious when
Jesus, the Son of God, went into the place of Sheol. He took away from the
devil everything that he had, namely, Creation and Mankind.
God’s plan was to restore back to
life what was taken away from him from the very beginning. Jesus with his
precious wounds gives the evidence of that unfailing love is. His sacrifice
paid the debt that was needed to liberate humanity from the grips of the devil.
On the third day, Christ rose from the dead and revealed himself to more than
five hundred people in Galilee. There, he ascended onto heaven, and the angels
could not recognize him because he had a glorified body. The psalmist says,
"Oh Gates lift up your heads! Let him enter the king of Glory!"
Christ, who bears the marks of his ultimate sacrifice, enters through the gates
of Paradise that once was close and expelled humanity. Here, the plan of Christ
was to restore humanity back to its original state, namely, sons and daughters
of God the Father.
Today, God has reveled to us the plan of salvation for
mankind. God has a plan just for you in this life. The prophet Jeremiah says,
“For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and
not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11). The plan that God
has in mind to follow the way fo Jesus. The person has to pattern his or her
life in accordance to belief of the Son of God. His or her life must resemble
Jesus by dying to sin. The person dies to sin when he or she loves God and
avoids anything that will take that love away. When St. Paul persecuted the
Church, he heard of the message of salvation. He, then, had an encounter with
Christ on his way to Damascus. Paul heard about the Good News because many
believers testified to death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul believed
and trusted that if his life resembled Christ to the fullest than he too will
rise from the grave. The purpose in every Christian is to rise from the grave
and not allow the devil to defeat us by taking away the love of God in our
hearts. The Christian must have the firm conviction that he too can rise with
Christ from the dead and enter the realms of Eternity with Christ.
