Jesus’ Death on the Cross

Was Jesus’ death on the cross the most desired Will of God?

Let us first examine the words and deeds of the disciples as recorded in the Bible.

There was one unanimous feeling evident among the disciples concerning the death of Jesus: they were grief-stricken and indignant. Stephen, for example, burned with indignation over the ignorance and disbelief of the Jewish leaders, and he condemned their actions, calling them murderers and rebels (Acts 7:51-53). Christians since then have commonly shared the same feelings as the disciples of Jesus’ day.

If Jesus’ death had been the foreordained outcome for the fulfillment of God’s Will, then it might have been natural for the disciples to grieve over his death, but they would not have been so bitterly resentful over it, nor so angry at those Jewish leaders who caused it. We can infer from their bitter reaction that Jesus’ death was unjust and undue.

Next, let us examine from the viewpoint of God’s providence whether the crucifixion of Jesus was inevitable as the predestined Will of God.

God called the chosen people of Israel out of the descendants of Abraham. He protected them, nurtured them, and at times disciplined them with tribulations and trials. God sent prophets to comfort them with the unshakable promise that one day He would send them a Messiah. He prepared them to receive the Messiah by having them build the Tabernacle and the Temple. When Jesus was born, God proclaimed his advent. He sent the three wise men from the East as well as Simon, Anna, John the Baptist and others to testify widely.

Concerning John the Baptist in particular, many people knew that an angel had appeared and testified to his conception (Luke 1:13). The miracles surrounding his birth stirred all of Judea in expectation (Luke 1:63-66).

Furthermore, John’s ascetic life in the wilderness was so impressive that many people questioned in their hearts whether perhaps he was the Christ (Luke 3:15). God’s purpose behind sending such a great personality as John the Baptist to bear witness to Jesus as the Messiah was to encourage the Jewish people to believe in Jesus.

Since God’s Will was thus to have the Jewish people of that time believe that Jesus was their Messiah, the Jewish people, who were trained to live by God’s Will, should have believed in him. Had they believed in him as God desired, would they have even entertained the thought of sending him to the cross?

Would they have wanted any harm to come to the Messiah whom they had so long and eagerly awaited?

However, because they went against God’s Will and did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, he was delivered to be crucified. We must understand, therefore, that Jesus did not come to die on the cross.

Next, let us examine the words and deeds of Jesus himself to ascertain whether his crucifixion was in fact the way to completely accomplish his mission as the Messiah.

Jesus’ words and deeds were meant to engender belief on the part of the people that he was the Messiah. For example, when the people asked him what they must do to be doing the works of God, Jesus replied: This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent (John 6:29).

One day, when he was agonizing over the Pharisees’ disbelief and having no one with whom to share his heart, Jesus looked down sadly over the city of Jerusalem. He wept as he lamented the fate of the Jewish people, whom God had so laboriously and lovingly guided for two thousand years.

Jesus prophesied that the city would be so utterly laid waste that not one stone would be left upon another. He clearly pointed to the ignorance of the people, saying, “you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:44).

On another occasion, Jesus lamented the stubbornness and disbelief of the people of Jerusalem, saying: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! (Matt. 23:37).

Jesus reproached the people who refused to believe in him, even though they were familiar with the Scriptures which testified to him: You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life (John 5:39-40). I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me . . . if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me (John 5:43-46).

How many miracles and signs did Jesus perform in his desperate efforts to lift the people from their disbelief? Yet, even as they were witnessing the wondrous works of Jesus, the religious leaders mocked him as one possessed by Beelzebul (Matt. 12:24). In the midst of such a wretched situation, Jesus cried out: Even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father (John 10:38).

Then, confronting his opponents, he scathingly denounced their hypocrisy (Matt. 23:13-36). Through his words and deeds, Jesus tried to bring his people to believe in him, because it was God’s Will that they do so. If they had followed God’s Will and believed in Jesus as their Messiah, then who among them would have dared to send him to the cross?

From all the above evidence, we can deduce that Jesus’ death on the cross was the unfortunate outcome of the ignorance and disbelief of the people of his day; it was not necessary for the complete fulfillment of his mission as the Messiah. This is well illustrated by Jesus’ last words on the cross: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34).

If God had originally predestined Jesus to die on the cross, Jesus would have expected to go that path as his due course. Why, then, did he pray three times, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt”? (Matt. 26:39).

In truth, Jesus offered those desperate prayers because he knew well that his death would shatter the hope of attaining the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This would be a tragic disappointment to God, who had worked so laboriously to realize this hope through the long ages since the Fall. Furthermore, Jesus knew that humanity’s afflictions would continue unrelieved until the time of his Second Coming.

Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). When the Israelites lost faith in Moses on the way to Canaan, fiery serpents appeared and began to kill them. God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole, so that all who looked upon the serpent might live (Num. 21:4-9).

Similarly, Jesus foresaw that due to the chosen people’s failure to believe in him, humankind would be consigned to hell. He foresaw that he would then be nailed to the cross like the bronze serpent in order to save all humankind, granting salvation to all who look to him. Foreseeing this eventuality, Jesus uttered this foreboding prophecy with a mournful heart.

Another indication that Jesus’ death on the cross was not the Will of God, but rather due to the disbelief of the people, is that Israel declined after the crucifixion (Luke 19:44).

After all, it had been prophesied that Jesus would come and sit on the throne of David and establish an everlasting kingdom: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this (Isa. 9:6-7). An angel appeared to Mary prior to Jesus’ conception and made a similar prediction: Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:31-33).

God’s clear intention for the chosen people of Israel, whom He had led through all manner of difficulty from the time of Abraham, was to send them a Messiah and build an eternal Kingdom on earth.

Nevertheless, when the Jewish leadership persecuted Jesus and led him to the cross, Israel lost its qualification to be the founding nation of God’s Kingdom.

Within a few generations, the people of Israel would be scattered over the face of the earth. They have suffered oppression and persecution ever since.

This can be viewed as the tragic consequence of the mistake their ancestors committed when they condemned to death the Messiah, whom they should have honored, thereby preventing the completion of the providence of restoration. Moreover, not only the Jews, but also many faithful Christians have shouldered the cross as their portion for the collective sin of having killed Jesus.