John 3 v16 Greatest Plan

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life"     John 3 v16

6)  The greatest plan ever devised

Twenty five glorious words, in which there are ten major words;  God...loved...world...gave...Son...whosoever...believeth...perish...have...life.  Do these complete the triad of tens in the bible?  The ten words of creation proclaiming the power of God;  The ten commandments proclaiming the holiness of God;  now the ten words of salvation proclaiming the love of God!  These can be linked together in couplets to form a beautiful summary of Divine intervention in the plight of the human race.

God....Son                   the source of the message, no higher source, no higher authority.

Loved...Gave               the script of the message, why it happened, how it happened.

World...Whosoever     the scope of the message, for the whole and for every individual.

Believeth....Have         the simplicity of the message, faith means guaranteed possession.

Perish...Life                the solemnity of the message, they are life and death issues.

God always knew that mankind, born with the genetic flaw of sin, as part of Adam's fallen race, could never measure up to His standards, making reconciliation to God impossible.  The principle is summed up in the Roman epistle chapter 5 v6 "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly".  Note the link between "yet" and "due time";  History shows that God, through nigh on 4000 years demonstrated the helplessness of man to save himself.  He separated one nation, and gave them a set of laws, which if they could keep, they would be right with God.  In the event not one did, nor could, and after thousands of years he was yet "ungodly"; and so mankind was dependent on God's intervention.  He did not even give the laws to test if man could keep them, He gave the laws to prove they never could(Romans 5 v20).  Intervene He did, by sending His Son, to create a new human race, of which His Son is the head, and all who put their trust in Him are saved.  What a wonderful plan! the terms are simple "whosoever believeth in Him".  That is it, nothing more, nothing less.  We can't work for this, we can't earn it, we don't deserve it, family connections won't help us; religious observance means nothing to God in the matter of human salvation; it is to believe in Him, to believe in God's only begotten Son; it is to believe in His person and His work and His status with God as head of the new creation;  in His own words to Nicodemus "Ye must be born again!".  Only God's Son fulfilled the laws of God, only He could die for the race, only He has been accepted by God, only He can open heaven's door to all.  Every one who puts their trust in Him, not on themselves, not in their peers, not in their leaders, not in their families, not in their works, but in Him will have everlasting life.  Note the certainty, God does not lie, whoever believes shall have everlasting life.  Jesus says a similar thing in John 5 v24 "He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life.

Instantaneous, certain, and eternal salvation by simply believing Him!  Only by this greatest plan could God make it freely available to all men without exception, no matter their colour creed or connections in life; no matter their sins great or small, many or few.  Only this way does it depend alone on the Son and not on us.