Jesus did not wrestle his angry Father to the floor of heaven
and take the whip out of his hand. He
did not force him to be merciful to humanity.
His death was not the begrudging consent of God to be lenient to
sinners. No, what Jesus did when he
suffered and died was the Father’s idea.
It was a breathtaking strategy, conceived even before creation, as God
saw and planned the history of the world.
That is why the Bible speaks of God’s “purpose and grace, which he gave
us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (2 Timothy 1:9).
Already in the Jewish Scriptures the plan was
unfolding. The prophet Isaiah foretold the
sufferings of the Messiah, who was to take the place of sinners. He said that the Christ would be “smitten by
God” in our place.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he
was crushed for our iniquities…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. (Isaiah 53:4-6)
But what is most astonishing about this substitution of
Christ for sinners is that it was God’s idea.
Christ did not intrude on God’s plan to punish sinners. God planned for him to be there. One Old Testament prophet says, “It was the
will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief” (Isaiah 53:10).
This explains the paradox of the New Testament. On the one hand, the suffering of Christ is
an outpouring of God’s wrath because of sin.
But on the other hand, Christ’s suffering is a beautiful act of
submission and obedience to the will of the Father. So Christ cried from the cross, “My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And yet the Bible says that the suffering of
Christ was a fragrance to God. “Christ
loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God”
(Ephesians 5:2).
Piper, John. The Passion of Jesus Christ. Wheaton: Crossway Books. 2004. 22-23.
