God did nothing wrong.  His plan was to create man for fellowship--which is meaningless without free will.  When Ken asked me to marry him, I said no, but he continued to ask.  If it had been something that I had no choice about--an arranged marriage--Ken would have never known if I had chosen him back.  But of my own free will, eventually, I chose him because I fell in love with him.  The conditions were that I would be a Marine wife and all that that involved.  I knew that would be my life.  I would no longer live in Pryor near my folks.   I was starting a new life.

God must have wanted that.  He wanted you and I to choose him back, like He had first chosen us.  To love him like He loves us.  That was, and is, the only condition.  But we are rebellious.  We want our own way.  And His mercy, after our rebellion, is the only way back to God.  His mercy.  So that is why the Mercy Seat is so aptly named.  No other name would do.

God must have looked at man and said, "This sacrificial system isn't working.  Yearly sacrifices don't change their hearts.  So, I will become a man, live inside a physical body.  Take on all the restrictions that entails.  And then I will give myself up as a sacrifice for their sins.  I will shed my own blood for them.  And then, if they accept my condition, I will take up residence in their lives.  I will change them from the inside out.   My only condition is that they choose me back.  Give themselves to me."

The first Chapter of John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Jesus was God himself, wrapped up in human flesh.  God, trying once and for all to convince us that He loved us and wanted our love in return and was willing to sacrifice himself for us.  "There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

A perfect Lamb.  Slaughtered.  Hung on a cross, shedding blood for sin.  Not just your sin.  Not just mine.  But he also took on all the sin of every person, including those who would ultimately reject him.  The sins of the world.  He is our sacrifice.  His blood the atoning price for mercy.