Jay_7 wrote:When God sent Jesus to be crucified to die for our sins, was it planned? Did he force the people who crucified Jesus too do it? It sounds a little weird that he would do that.. why would God make people nail Jesus too the cross??
Hi Jay,
This is one of the most important questions for any seeker, or even many Christians who have never really thought about the significance of humans nailing Christ to the cross. It is a long answer, but this is the key message of Christianity, so it is worth it.
I want to start with the passage in Scripture that to me captures the essence of what it means:
Gal 6:14(ESV): But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
The word "boast" here can also be translated as "glory", "to rejoice in" or "to exult in", and in many other places in the NT it is translated as such. It would then read that we should rejoice in nothing but in the cross of Jesus. It should be our single passion and joy, the one thing we love and cherish. That sure seems weird at the very least, but to the average person, at face value, it is shocking. If you saw the "Passion of of the Christ", with all the graphic detail of Christ's unfair hearing, torture and death, this passage, and in light of your related questions above, one does wonder why would be told to rejoice in such an abhorrant act. It's like being told to be happy and tell everyone to be happy about the gas chamber or gallows, and, that it should be the only thing in your life to be really happy about!
So why would we be told that? Of course there is more to it:
The cross, the symbol of Jesus's suffering, death and resurrection, is the symbol of salvation by a crucified Redeemer. It is the basis of all joy and hope for Christians, the message we are to preach, whatever else comes across our way.
The second part of the verse tells us that through the death of Christ on the cross, we are dead to the world, and the world to us. By the power and the virtue of Jesus's death, we have been seperated from the earthly. For redeemed sinners, everything good, and everything bad turned for good, comes through the cross. Apart from the death of Christ, we sinners face nothing but judgment, nothing but condemnation.
That is why are told to rejoice, because everything we as Christians enjoy is as a result of Christ's crucifixion, where all our blessings were purchased with the blood and life of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. We mostly take our blessings for granted, thinking that it is ours by right, not always remembering that we are undeserving. God is not obligated to give His creatures anything, He can give and take and still do us no injustice. And besides being undeserving creatures, through sin we have fallen way short of the glory of God. We have failed God, disobeyed Him, disrespected Him, ignored Him and failed to trust and love Him. That is the reason that men crucified Jesus, we have failed so completely that God had to intervene or condemn all to eternal damnation. We had to see, feel, hear and smell the judgment that we as humans were going to be subject to, but for the sacrifice of Jesus. It is ironical that men were allowed to kill Jesus, He took our place on the cross, He died on our behalf, all of our sin was nailed to that cross, and died with Christ, if only we trust Him. Only God could make that sacrifice, only men could be the instrument to fulfill the prophesy.
All we really deserve is judgment, but the good news is that Jesus took the punishment for that judgment on our behalf. Every breath we take, every smile, every tear, every beautiful sight our eyes take in, every sound we hear, every sunrise, every step we take is an undeserving gift bought with the blood of Christ. Every blessing in life is a magnification of the cross of Christ, every good thing, and bad thing turned good, shines a spotlight on the life and death of Christ.
I will close with the following:
Gal 2:20 (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
When Jesus died, all His own died with Him, to be resurrected through Him, in Him. We are united with Christ in death, death of the sinful, failed, rebellious, unbelieving self, and united with Christ in a new life, that of Him living in us. The believer lives, because of the death of Christ. When we put our trust in Christ, our bondage to the world is broken, the allure of the flesh and material world is broken. According to Gal 6:15, we are new creations. And that is the meaning of the crucifixion....
Being dead to the world does not mean being out of the world, it means that everything that happens is a blood-bought evidence of Christ's love, and an opportunity to boast in the cross. I would encourage you to read Galatians 6.
God bless.
(Some info from Desiring God Ministries, Henry's Commentary)
