Jesus died… just about every theologian and historian agrees on that point. Was Jesus a victim at the hands of lawless men? Before Peter lay blame on those gathered at Pentecost, he said something very peculiar. He said that Jesus was delivered up to death “according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God…” In other words, those who successfully had Pilate condemn Jesus to death by crucifixion were only able to do so because it was God’s plan. Not only did Peter see Jesus’ death this way, but so did the first Christians, for when they faced certain religious persecution, they gathered together to pray: “…for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:27-28).
Do you know what Acts 2 and 4 is saying? Peter preached and the first century Christians understood that God killed His Son and He used wicked people to do it! One of the most staggering passages in the Bible for me is found in Isaiah 53. Hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born; these words were written about One who would come:
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.
These verses cause me stagger into grateful and humble worship over the great price Jesus paid on my behalf because He alone bore my grief’s and carried my sorrows, he alone was wounded for my transgressions, He alone was crushed for my iniquities, upon Him alone was the chastisement that brought me peace with God, and by His stripes alone am I healed. But what staggers me more than anything else is what I read in the verses that follow, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all…. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief” (vv. 6, 10). The murder of Jesus was premeditated.
As you recall, in Genesis 3 God promises that a deliverer would come who would fatally crush the head of the serpent (Satan) for his role in tempting Adam and Eve to sin against Him. It would be through this deliverer that God would reverse the curse of sin that has plagued all of creation since that terrible day in the Garden. From Genesis all the way through Malachi the Old Testament not only prophesied that this deliverer would one day come, but even spoke of the nature of His suffering leading up to His death. In other words, God was even involved in the details of His Son’s death; consider the following verses:
- Jesus would be rejected (Psalm 118:22; Matt. 21:42)
- Jesus would be hated (Psalm 35:19; John 15:25)
- Jesus would be abandoned by his own friends (Zech. 13:7; Matt. 26:31)
- Jesus would be pierced without any of his bones being broken (Psalm 34:20; Zech. 12:10; John 19:34-37)
- Jesus would be betrayed by a close friend (Psalm 41:9; John 13:18)
- Jesus would be handed over for 30 pieces of silver (Jer. 19:1-13; Zech. 11:12-13; Matt. 27:9-10)
- Jesus understood the details and reason for His impending death (Isa. 53:3-10; Mark 10:33-34)
There is a popular story used to illustrate John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should no perish but have eternal life.” The story is about a bridge operator who brought his son to work one day. The operator thought his son was fishing and didn’t realize that his son was playing by the gears that open and close the bride for boats to pass through. The bridge was opened for a boat to pass through, but while it was opened his son fell into the gear room. The son could have been rescued had not it been for a train full of passengers making its way towards the bridge that was still up. So, the operator was faced with a horrible decision: save his son and allow the train with all the people to perish or kill his son by closing the bridge for the purpose of saving the people on the train from certain doom. The bridge operator chose to save the people on the train by closing the bridge and killing his one and only son.
There is only one problem with that very touching and emotional story. Jesus’ death was not a last minute decision made by God the Father for the purpose of saving the likes of us from certain doom in hell. Unlike the bridge operator, God planned the death of His Son long before this world was ever cursed, long before Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden. As John Piper put it so well: “God was at work in all the circumstances that brought Jesus to the cross. Behind the spitting and flogging and mocking and piercing is the invisible hand and plan of God.” [1]
[1] John Piper. Spectacular Sins (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books; 2008), p. 103.
No comments:
Post a Comment