1 Peter 1:20,21

Review: That last three versus explained that we can always call on God to help us because He is fair and will not place one person above another.  He can't be bribed.  Jesus, His Son, was the only One who was perfect and had no problems.  So He was the only one (though maybe the Father could have?) who could take our place on death row and die for our mistakes.

"He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."

~1 Peter 1:20,21

Before God created the Earth.  Before God created humans and all the pretty plants and animals.  Before this place existed, God set up a plan in case this world should become corrupted.  It was decided then that God's Son would have the unique purpose of dying in our place.  Once this was decided, then God created Earth and all that was and is in it.

However, despite having a plan in place, that plan wasn't really shown to us until Jesus came.  Don't get me wrong, God sees far further than we do.  He set many things in motion so that when the time was right, Jesus would come and save us.  However, it wasn't until Jesus came that we started to really have an idea of what Jesus saving us was going to entail.  I think even to this day, we don't understand.

God did all this for you.  God set it up for Jesus to take your place before He created the Earth.  God set it up for Jesus to take your place before He created the first humans.  God protected and prepared generations in a family so that Jesus would be born fulfilling all the prophecies that He did... for you.  Are you listening to me?  God wants you with Him, alive and well.

All you have to do is believe in God.  Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.  Believe that God gave Jesus glory.  Believe that God did all that for you.  So that you place your faith and hope in God and God alone.  That is all.  So simple, but for some reason so hard to understand.  God loves you!  Truly.