God has one plan. And He has no other. There is no contingency plan or Plan B. He has planned everything beforehand about which He says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” – 1 Cor 2:9.

God foreknew man’s fall. So, the plan of Salvation from the punishment, power, and presence of sin for man and the process of redemption of the fallen mankind was planned well ahead. No mitigation plan would be needed as nothing has gone haywire so far and nothing will – He is all-powerful to accomplish what He has planned. There is no need for God to bring back the past – an answer to one of the “intelligent” arguments put forward by atheists (Can God, if He is God, bring back the past?).

God was not shocked, surprised, or taken aback when His superior-most creation, man, fell into sin. In fact, elsewhere in the Scriptures, we read that the commandment/law was given to show man that He can’t please God by keeping God’s laws with his own strength and effort; it only functioned as an instructor to bring man to God. Man has been devising his own methods and inventing new ways now and again to please God – living a life of seclusion (on Himalayas!), renouncing the desires of life, sacrificing animals, birds and even children, offering gold, silver, money, agricultural produce and hair (man’s glory), going on pilgrimages, going to a church building or temple regularly, singing and dancing with a frantic crowd, doing penance – sitting in a yogic position for hours or days, walking or climbing steps to a holy place, rolling around a temple (angapradhakshanam), repeating prayer (and counting it with a rosary), breaking coconuts and vermillion-filled pumpkins / gourds, lighting lamps and candles, hurting oneself by piercing one’s own body, giving alms, contributing to noble causes likes medical research, environmental-care and care for the sick, instituting charity funds and socially-minded trusts to build hospitals, orphanages and old-age homes and sometimes, even giving his/her whole life over to one or more of these causes. God would accept none of these self-righteous acts; God gives man His righteousness in His grace which man can receive only by faith in God’s way.

God has given man a second chance, another opportunity, to submit to Him willfully by accepting His plan of Salvation. So, in His love, God chose to come down in His Son to be slain as the Lamb of God. The Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. – Rev 13:8. Faith in the plan of God and obedience to His word is the key.