I love the way the New Living Translation phrases Ephesians 1:5, “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him pleasure.” (Emphasis mine)
God was not pleased that his son had to die, but he was pleased that the rift between us humans and he had been covered by Christ’s blood. Since he created the world he knew that the day would come, as the Three person God looked at creation he knew it would come, but he created us anyway. He knew we were always weak, but he created Adam and Eve anyway. He knew we couldn’t keep promises so he made a promise to himself on Abraham’s behalf because he knew Abraham couldn’t keep it. He knew the Israelites couldn’t hold up their end of the bargain so he gave them judges and a king to lead them. He gave them every sign to look for in a Messiah knowing they would miss him, but he sent him anyway. God knows we are weak and fragile humans. He knows we can’t save ourselves, and he knows we will try our best to save our selves, but he calls us to trust in Christ anyway.
God is pleased that we have a way to him now. He is pleased that our sin is covered by the blood Jesus shed on the cross. He is pleased that Jesus’ death and resurrection gave us new life. He is not pleased that people still turn from him and curse him and live terrible sinful lives. But he also knows that we would be robots unable to make our own choices if he had created us any other way.
God always had a plan. Even if it doesn’t always look like a good one to you it is perfect in his eyes because he knows there was no other way.
