As you read through this section you may like to refer back to the diagram which gives an overview of God’s plan of salvation.  See also this map.

The need for preparation

There was once an obstinate and ill-tempered man who became ill.  At first he didn’t feel very bad but only rather tired, and he took little notice of it.  His friends, however, were worried about him and thought that unless he saw a doctor he would become very ill indeed.  So one day they suggested that he should make an appointment and see a doctor.  This annoyed the man who said, “I’m not a bit ill, and I’m certainly not going to bother to see a doctor”.  “Well”, they replied, “shall we ask him to come and see you?”  This made him extremely angry.  “You can if you like”, he said, “but I won’t open the door to him”.  It was only after some weeks that he realised he was ill and needed a doctor, and then he called one in who was able to make him better.

In the same way, it was of little use for God to come into the world in the Person of Our Lord Jesus Christ until the world, or part of it, realised that it needed him and was ready to receive him.  First of all people had to learn to love him, and to grasp the fact that their sins and wickedness were keeping them from him. Only when they knew that, would they want him to save them from being separated from him for ever after this life was over.  So, before God became a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ, he spent 2,000 years in making the world ready to receive him.

He did this by choosing one people – the Hebrew people, the People of Israel (later known as the Jews) – among whom he would be born.  And then all the nations of the world, all the families of the earth would have the chance of being brought by him to Heaven.  But we must go back in time now to the days of Abraham.