It Pleased God to Crucify His Son
There is no truth more breathtaking than
God’s gift of His Son. It could not have been said better than when it
was spoken by John, the Apostle that leaned on Jesus’ breast. "For God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John
3:16) Neither the Romans nor the Jews crucified Jesus. The Father sent
His Son, His own Eternal Son, out of His own bosom for the designed
purpose of being the sacrifice of death to save from sin. Just as the
Father slew the first sacrifice in the Garden of Eden to provide a
temporary covering from sin, the Father provided the finished work on
Calvary.
No one ever described the death of
the Son of God better than Isaiah, Israel’s statesman prophet. Isaiah
first spoke of the viciousness of Jesus’ suffering in His fleshly body
that He bore as the instrument of sacrifice. "As many were astonished at
thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more
than the sons of men." (Isaiah 52:14) He did not bare this body, His
instrument of sacrifice, that we might glory in the beauty or the pain.
It was God’s love and Christ’s love in that we were to rejoice, the
willingness to take our place in the judgment of sin. This is the glory
of the cross. The writer strengthened this truth in the following words,
"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out
of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid
as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him
not." (Isaiah 53:2-3) We are not to glory in His flesh or our flesh, but
in the triumph of that cross where God bridged the gap of separation
between Himself and His redeemed saints.
Isaiah spoke of that bridge of
redemption as He continued to prophesy of Christ, hundreds of years in
advance. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet
we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." (Isaiah
53:4) He was our substitute; He took our place. Everything we deserved
was laid upon Him. For all the pain that sin had earned, He was God’s
answer and God’s offering in our stead. It is so easy to glory in the
gore of His death without one moment of deep repentance for our own sins
that he was dying to amend and atone.
This prophecy is careful not to bypass
the real truth of His death. The Spirit said, "All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) The Father laid on
the very heart and soul of His Son every transgression of human history.
The Word said, ".laid on him the iniquity of us all." No sinner need
despair because the debt is paid for all that turn wholly to Him. How
could one man bare the sin of the world? Only because He was God in the
flesh. "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a
son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is,
God with us." (Matthew 1:23) The sacrifice was the Son of God because no
one else could possibly be the sufficient sacrifice. It had to be God
or all was lost.
The pleasure of the Father in this great
moment of redemption must be understood by the largeness of His Divine
capacity. We understand on a human level, but our Father knows love in
the glory of His holiness. Isaiah dared to describe this glory of His
love. "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his
seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall
be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many;
for he shall bear their iniquities." (Isaiah 53:10-11) This is an even
greater expression of love that John spoke about in his gospel. "For God
so loved the world" is beautiful; but, to say, "Yet it pleased the LORD
to bruise him," overwhelms our soul. This is too high for me; it is
love that stretches the breadth and length of this universe and must
lift our hearts to reverence our God and to love Him with an everlasting
love.
When the Son of God was dying and the
throes of suffering had reached the highest levels, the Father turned
from this universe and darkness enveloped the whole of it. Men have
often contemplated those three hours of utter darkness. "Now from the
sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour."
(Matthew 27:45) The answer for this darkness is so beautiful. The Father
was willing, even pleased to sacrifice His Son, but He turned His head
from the sorrows of this supernatural accomplishment. He could not
watch, nor did He allow the crowd gathered around the scene to watch the
darkest moments. "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud
voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) It was done; the Father
was pleased, although His heart was grieved for His Son.
The Son of God had walked where no one
else could walk and He declared, "It is finished." The Father has
exalted His Son and given Him a name, which is above every name.
Eternity will reveal the glory of the Father’s love for His Son and His
saints will rejoice in that glory.
